Courtesy of Peter Martin

Westminster senior Trent Tarantino and Roseman face off in a scene from the film they created, “The Secret Life of Trent.” The film was made last year for Krewtube and the film was the product of days of work. “Single scenes can take up to 20 to 30 hours long because it’s difficult to get the shot perfectly down,” Martin said.

Seniors Joe Roseman, Joe Butler and Peter Martin have worked since 2015 to create short films and post them on YouTube.

“Around sophomore year I was introduced to this awesome youth group called Krew, and they have a video competition called Krewtube every year. Roseman and  Butler won the competition their freshman year, and then my sophomore year, they found out that I make videos. After they found out, we kind of go all out in Krewtube each year since,” Martin said. “It’s turned out to be one of my favorite projects.”

Martin’s interest in cinematography stems back to his elementary days at Mason Ridge, where one of his friends introduced him to a popular YouTuber, Freddie Wong.

“Freddie Wong was a guy who made videos, and the videos had all these cool visual effects. I had never seen anything like that before, and I saw that he put a lot Hollywood style effort in these videos. I thought that was really inspiring,” Martin said.

Directing and editing has not only allowed Martin to experience a  new hobby, but also helped him to make new friends.

“Not a lot of people know I make videos–I’m kind of a shy person. In middle school, I didn’t show anybody the stuff that I made. Because nobody knew I made videos, I could kind of post videos of whatever I wanted. As my skills got better, and I made some friends, Joe Butler and Joe Roseman, I could post better videos on YouTube,” Martin said.

While Martin specializes in editing and directing, Butler’s focus is on brainstorming initial ideas for the video.

“I call myself a creative consultant. I come up with a lot of the concepts and a lot of the jokes,” Butler said. “I’m not really a camera or editing guy. I’m the guy with a cup of coffee and a pad of paper in the beginning, not the guy with the final product in the end.”

Butler has stockpiled his videos in a portfolio.

“Every movie making group has a collection of bad videos that they look on and say, ‘I can’t believe we made this video.’ I feel like we are in that stage right now, making these poor videos before we all hopefully get big,” Butler said.

Roseman has been working on filming and directing since his freshman year, along with Martin, and it has been an integral part of his life. His major role on the team is helping with writing and directing the videos, which can take days to film.

“Writing and directing is such a free way to express ourselves and the stories we have in our imaginations,” Roseman said.

Roseman understands the difficulty associated with the filmmaking production process, but knows how to make it come together. Martin, Butler and Roseman’s newest video will be showcased April 18 at Krewtube at Chesterfield Presbyterian Church.

“Filmmaking is a culmination of creative elements. You have to pull from the skill sets of multiple talented people in order to lace the story together in a way that appeals to audiences, and I love doing it,” Roseman said. “Me, Joe and Peter all worked really hard, and I think that the final product is going to come out really well.”