Check Out Justin Wilson’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Justin Wilson.

Hi Justin, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My main focus and passion in life is working on narrative films. I’ve also worked on commercial, music, live, corporate, and documentary productions. I graduated from the University of Central Florida in 2019 with a degree in Radio / Television Production. After interning at the production studio Adrenaline Films in Orlando, I moved to Los Angeles in 2021 and started work as a 2nd Assistant Camera. I quickly moved up to a 1st Assistant Camera before purchasing my Steadicam and moving into camera operating – all while practicing my cinematography since living in Florida.

In the past, I have worked as a poker player, esports commentator, and professional esports athlete. In my free time, I enjoy working out, socializing, playing challenging video games, watching movies, and learning new skills.
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Some of my favorite cinematographers include Roger Deakins, Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki, Greig Fraser, and Steve Yedlin to name a few.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not, I had multiple career switches, which brought me close to square one each time, but still gave me valuable lessons on how to learn something new and improve quickly. One of the issues I currently face is getting big enough budgets to hire the proper crew/equipment for projects I want to shoot as a Cinematographer. The only thing I can do is keep working on lower-budget productions and hope that the budgets will slowly increase so I have more creative freedom. Other challenges include continuing to build my network in order to get more work (since I am a freelancer) and properly utilizing my time during slow periods in the industry.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in narrative films as a cinematographer and live esports as a steadicam operator. I’d say I’m most known for my work at the esport tournaments EVO and Rocket League World Championship Series and for the short films Let’s Go Camping, Sincerely Your Friend, and Made In Technicolor. I am most proud of a project currently in the film festival circuit called “Bollywood Goes Hollywood”.

What sets me apart from others is my competitive drive to become as best as I possibly can be in filmmaking and my desire to see the film industry shift from a 24fps standard to a 120-1000fps standard for cinematic films.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I would say the people that have helped me out the most in my career are the many crewmembers I get to work with on set. They are producers, directors, people in the camera/lighting department, and more! Some of them include Bo-Yu Chen, Loren Maxine, James Choi, Joe Leonard, Niko Villemaire, Jurnee Woo, and Allan Light. They are just a small sample of the MANY people I owe credit to.

My steadicam instructor Greg Smith also taught me a lot at the start of my steadicam career and introduced me to an amazing community of camera operators in Los Angeles.

The esports organization Waveform has been very generous to hire me for many large live esport productions and has introduced me to so many amazing people that I absolutely love to work with and have the upmost regard for.

And of course my parents, they have helped me every step of my career (regardless of the field) since day one, and continue to be my biggest supporters.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.yeahwhiplash.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yeahwhiplash/
• Other: https://vimeo.com/yeahwhiplash

Image Credits
Dylan Marzke