Rising Stars: Meet Jay James

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay James.

Hi Jay, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been making movies since I was seven years old, using my toys before moving on to holding my friend’s hostage. After graduating from High School, on top of making my short films, I tried my hand at a lot of art forms such as music, screenwriting, and acting before getting a cool offer. My friend’s Milwaukee-based band, “Diet Lite”, really enjoyed my debut short film “Broker”, so they asked me to make a similar video to their song “Man Ray”.

It went extremely well, so I reached out to some friends of mine in the local music scene and told them what I was up to. For all of 2022, I was making video after video. Once winter in 2023 hit, I knew I wanted to upgrade to higher-end commercial work and try new things. This year, I’ve gotten to do product videos for a hair brand, shoot and edit for a few restaurants, and even record some amazing live events like The Fox and Beggar Theater.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I was a very emotional and sensitive kid, so I got picked on a lot once the school found my little movies on YouTube.

It felt like everybody around me was growing up so fast and I was still in my little world. Making my movies eventually became a place where I would cope with what was happening in my home and school life. I was deeply neurotic if I didn’t have something to make, so I’m pretty sure I haven’t been without a project for at least 15 years.

My mental health got a lot worse when I became an adult and those first few years of living on my own and trying to work things out felt like they had taken a few years away from me. In hindsight, those defining years have become the basis for a lot of my work and the positive messages I want to share.

I’ve also always been a jack of all trades, but a master at none. I can write, sing, and play music on top of writing, directing, shooting, acting in, and editing my movies, which sounds impressive if you say it all together like that, but in actuality I just didn’t commit to one for a long period.

The videography business has been my longest-lasting practice because it no longer keeps my finances and creativity separate, therefore I can invest in gear, classes, and anything I need to improve. Becoming competent in filmmaking has given me a newfound confidence I haven’t had before in my life, and I’m very grateful for it.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Right now, I would say I specialize in making narrative music videos, but I also record live events such as concerts and stage shows and make recap videos for the artist’s social media. With my background as a musician in the local scene, I feel like my colleagues/peers see me as the music guy in the film.

What sets me apart from others is how I often craft the narratives of my music videos around the lyrics and themes of the songs. It’s important to me to be very subtextual with every shot to capture the essence of the song. Wyatt Avery’s MR. NO ONE encapsulates this philosophy perfectly, and the trilogy of videos I did with Diet Lite are also some of my favorites as we had such great creative synergy when making them. “Stuck Again” in particular felt like my first real hit so to speak, as the band and I shared a similar dark sense of humor that made for a funny satirical video with a killer rock n’ roll tune.

I’m also really proud of the work I did with Fox and Beggar Theater. There were three shows put on this summer, and by the third one, I felt like I mastered shooting my workflow with them, so the edit for the last B.O.N.K show of the summer might be my favorite work I’ve done to date. I typically work best with the eccentric characters and surreal elements musicians and stage performers often bring to their work.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
This will be tough to narrow down… I’ve had so much support from my friends over the years. My colleague, Tanner Smith, who played The Broker in my first film “Broker”, works in hospitality and has set me up with a few clients and acted in a few projects since then. He introduced me to Black Wine and Trading Faces guitarist Timothy O’Neil, who has set me up with six different jobs and helped me on the business side of things.

The cinematographer I collaborate with on my passion projects, Eric Reimer, has been very influential on me as a developing cinematographer, and always reminds me of my value. My whole friend group showed up to be extras in JustHANO’s 187 music video, and since then has appeared in other stuff. As someone who started using their toys as actors, having this many people down to be a part of these videos fills me with such enormous gratitude. Shout-Out to Joseph, Jack, Sam, Ryn, Darnell, Carson… You’re all amazing.

Andrew Macht is my go-to sound guy on passion projects. He taught me a lot about sound design when we worked on my last short film, “Scratch-Off”, together, and has since then been a great friend and mentor for navigating the industry. The Sociable Cider Works Open Mic Community is also amazing and deserves a shout-out.

Pricing:

• Hourly rate- $50

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jayjamesfilms.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayjames_thesupersonicpro/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-james-8ba973148/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOn58PxqbVNFPhsVRFyj4yQ
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jay-james-dmwf

Image Credits
Sammie Jean, Cohen Scratch, Atom Fuel Scratch, Sam Wagoner, Nate Jacobi, Zack Zitto, Lynn Sabin, Lunny, and Tony Driscoll