Today we’d like to introduce you to Tyler Griffin
Hi Tyler, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I began working in the entertainment industry as little as 3 years old with family-made films, which, over time, turned into appearing on the big-screen at 11 years old under the “Insidious” franchise, among other films.
10 years into acting, at 13, I had realized that apart from being on-camera, I never had curiosities lead me to freshly different avenues when it came to any interests, or a career, so I decided I’d had enough. I quit acting, and only in a year, a new path found its way to me.
I began my career as a filmmaker at 14 in middle school, when I began taking my dad’s camera to school to make filly little projects or to document my daily life as a teenager. Since I have always tried to be friendly with everyone around me, it was only natural for me to have included everyone I know in these projects, which, in turn, had watching eyes on them grow steadfastly. I never thought twice as to why I made these projects, I just did, and I was having an absolute ball with it! I was eventually provided with higher-quality gear to document my daily life- life around town while hanging with friends, boy scout adventures, graduations, family trips, comic-cons, show choir nationals, summer camps like Camp Kesem (for kids and teens who has a parent going through cancer), etc.- and after a year or two, I’d known this type of documentation it was what I wanted to for the entire rest of my life.
I’d realized one thing that I enjoyed the absolute most about this whole thing was being able to show all of this young adventure experience to my mother, bedridden with breast cancer since I was only 5 years old. We’d bond over these videos, and it brought us to a very special place in our relationship for years, before she passed away when I was just 16 years old. I hit a very dark place afterwards, where it felt that life’s light was taken out of everything.
After six months of a grief-stricken depression, the only thing that pulled me out of it was once again picking up my camera, and documenting my expression in how I felt. I began doing so unwaveringly, making me realize that the light was always there, right in front of me; I saw my mother’s light touch everything around me, in the people I’d meet, in the places I’d visit, in the unique experiences that I had which made me, me. My art of filmmaking then exploded into an especially stylized, unique type of storytelling that had my life strung together as a visual journal.
I then began my current life’s work goal of documenting the joy you can experience in life after death, and to document these things for people like my mother, who can’t exactly experience life for themselves; every smile made from my art feels as if it could extend my life by another day 🙂
Now, at almost 22 years old, I uphold this goal with my entire being, and over the years, it has taken me places I’d never before envisioned– documenting a year of working in a production company filled with 20-year-olds, the Vegas NFL draft, a film festival in NYC, a music-writing retreat on a ranch in California’s Tahoe mountains, a 2-month van tour around the USA and Canada, a documentary on someone trying to make it into the NBA, giving back to communities that gave to me as a child (boy scouts, camp kesem), collaborations with many who do the same as I, lyric videos for artists with millions of views– many adventures still being documented. One stands out in particular; at 18, I did a 4-month European backpacking trip with two of my best friends after we all lost our last year and a half of high school to covid, after they each lost a brother, and after I lost my mother. We felt we deserved a break, so we went fully into it. I used some of my mother’s inheritance funds for half of the trip, making me realize years later, that this “project” was an over-3-hour documentary worth everything to me, titled “The Last Gift From My Mother: Europe, A Documentary.”
Projects like these are what I aspire to continue creating for years to come both for myself, for others, and for people in the same boat as I was who are trying to gather inspiration to find their yet-to-be expressive self as an artist!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, it has not been a smooth road for me. Being a young freelancer in the entertainment capital city of Los Angeles has led me to an amount of people who have tried to take advantage of me through examples like folk who underpay on jobs with high client projections, others working me on extensive jobs for free, and folk who lack communication when it comes to their creative expectations.
On the flip side of that, working on my own projects while dealing with said clientele has led to bouts of massive burnout. I feel overwhelmingly lucky to be in a place where my life’s passion has become my line of work, but with that being said, it comes with more responsibility and TLC; I can work a job that takes weeks or months, and not have the energy to be able to work on a project that I started for myself years before. Projects like these have fallen behind in time due to the struggle of being able to consistently provide for myself solely through freelance income, in turn, leading the inspiration for said projects to fizzle away. I’ve learned the only way to pull myself out of that is to work even harder, which fortunately, and eventually, builds motivation.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In my filmmaking, I do as much as I can: animation (paper), color grade, video editing, multi-media, sound design, music editing, film emulation, film integration, videography, photography, producing, directing & producing (small-scale), etc.
When it comes to lines of work, I also do as much as I can: documentary, music/lyric video, music tour, travel, sports (events & individual), promo, product, business advertising (church, camp, restaurant, etc.), interview, modeling, street, nature, etc.
My most well-rounded skills, or my specialties, are probably video editing, videography, photography, and music editing in travel, documentary, interview, music/lyric video, modeling and nature. I find my skillset shining the most when it comes to the documentation of people or places in and of themselves, and relative to that, at the moment, I’m most known for my travel filmmaking which showcases plenty of that. As for what sets me apart from others in my field, and what I’m most proud of, is my unique approach to my style of filmmaking. I’ve met filmmakers younger, and a lot older than me, and I’ve received comments like, “How do you even do that? Can you teach me? I’ve worked with a lot of people who do what you do, and I’ve never seen videos like this before.” It’s insanely surreal to hear, because I simply try to take little pieces of what I notice from other filmmakers who inspire me, and subtly implement said pieces in to my craft. I always try to look for more inspiration, to know that I can consistently better myself as a young, starting individual.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I see my industry of independent filmmaking taking a bend away from social media in the coming years, as ALL types of filmmaking have now been tailored to both the internet and social media. Social media has taken a lot away from long-form video creation, leading to a dip in interest when it comes to independent filmmaking. I’ve noticed many filmmakers around me tailoring to methods like the “half-second shot,” where the first half-second of a video posted to social media needs to be bombastic, visually loud, and audibly intriguing, usually with a “hook” or a “twist” to get people to lean into the usual being shown on-screen, even if it has *nothing* to do with the theme of the actual rest of the video.
Once independent filmmaking, or filmmaking in general takes a leap out of the social media realm and gains it’s own voice again, I feel that a lot of success is going to arrive for creators that grew up inspired by the first people who began YouTube’s original popularity.
Pricing:
- Photography – $80/hr
- Videography – $90/hr
- Editing (photo & video) prices vary
- Film photo & video – Price of film + editing
- Animation (paper) prices vary
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylergrifffin/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redwoodpeak/
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6lH9IIRs50CRpYq1kv0xy4
Image Credits
Tyler Griffin
