Today we’d like to introduce you to Mikyla Jonck.
Mikyla, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started out creating stupid little edits as a child, using Windows Movie Maker timed perfectly to music. I think that was the defining moment for me – seeing the completed projects and feeling like I had accomplished so much to be proud of.
After high school, I went straight to film school and double majored in both filmmaking and motion design. It was really in film school that I started to really discover which aspects of filmmaking I really enjoyed.
I worked for two production companies during my undergrad both which taught me very different aspects of filmmaking.
Foghound Studios taught me strict commercial, very hyper-stylized content for products, that are tailored for broadcasting.
Dhizzy Khaki taught me a lot about thinking on my feet and allowed me creative freedom to explore my own style. Our content was based in the South-African Music scene that is very lively and open to creative exploration.
Later I was discovered by an agent in South-Africa that offered to bring me over to the states to complete my masters in cinematography at the New York Film Academy.
It’s rather funny to me now knowing that I was once afraid of using a camera purely because I knew absolutely nothing about it!
Now I’m here and I’ve been blessed to be mentored by great cinematographers such as Anthony B. Richmond (ASC & BSC) and Suki Medencevic (ASC).
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course not!
Our industry is constantly growing and changing.
The biggest challenge I face is that there is so much information out there that often you don’t know what you don’t know.
As much as it is a challenge, it is also a great opportunity to know that there is always room for improvement and an opportunity to learn.
This is why I personally love filmmaking because regardless of all the challenges you face, it really is a great feeling of accomplishment seeing the final product on screen knowing that you accepted and solved every challenge that came your way.
Please tell us about Sassy Sea Monster.
I’m the owner of Sassy Sea Monster. We specialize in nearly aspect of creative content, narrative, commercial, music videos as well as 2D animation.
I think Sassy Sea Monster is mostly known for a very strong use of color palettes in our visuals, there is a great amount of attention paid to production design and how it all falls together with the lighting.
I have to say I’m most proud of our first music video done here in LA for a great artist called Push Push – she completely trusted us in the creative process and Its a project filled with tons of strong visuals that showcase her as an artist.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
When I was probably six years old, my brothers and I always used to walk to the video store whenever our mother gave us some money. We would rent three videos and watch them as much as we possibly could over the weekend until we had to return them – we made sure we knew the movie off by heart.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://miekyj.wixsite.com/sassyseamonster
- Phone: +1 8186417542
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sassyseamonster/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sassyseamonster/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/sassyseamonster
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