Today we’d like to introduce you to Kenneth Merrill.
Kenneth, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was a philosophy major in college. And I loved it, but I knew that academia wasn’t the path for me. I wanted to reach more people than just a few academics at a high level of abstraction. I’d always loved photography but had never taken it seriously, and I’d also always loved movies–my family used to rent two or three movies a week, which was a lot back before Netflix. So my senior year of college I took an intro to film class, and that changed my path forever.
I pursued photography as a hobby while I jumped headfirst into film production. I added two years to my college degree, but I didn’t mind. It was the most exciting time I’d had in my life. I also met my wife who is a photographer, during that time, and she really helped propel me toward what I wanted to do, which was cinematography.
After college, I spent a couple of years in Utah picking up any job I could get in lighting or camera work until I started to pick up a few jobs down in LA. As my clientele grew down here, it finally became a nuisance to keep commuting, and so we made the move about 18 months ago. A have a couple family members and friends that had already started working down here; so I was lucky to have some good opportunities from the moment I arrived.
I’ve done a broad range of projects now, from commercials to narrative films to music videos and even some weddings, and I really love it all. Every project is a challenge in its own way, and I never stop learning, and that’s an important thing. The moment you look down your nose at a gig is the moment you stop learning, and if you can’t learn, then you can’t tell good stories. And that’s what it’s all about for me.
Has it been a smooth road?
I would be highly suspicious of anyone who tells you their artistic career has been a smooth road, haha. While I consider myself to be pretty lucky when it comes to work, there have definitely been some bumps, and there’s always that itch to reach for more. I would say I’m my worst enemy. Most of the struggles I’ve had so far are probably self-inflicted. Photography and filmmaking are both highly technical processes, and in many cases, you literally only have one shot to get something right. When it comes to my work, I tend to fly by the seat of my pants a little, and I’ve really learned that that is not the best way to do things. Planning and preparation are key to everything you do in the visual arts, and if you’re not prepared to shoot, then when something goes wrong (and it will), you’re like a sinking ship without any lifeboats. It’s only taken me about 4 years to learn that, haha.
The other challenge I’ve faced and still face to a huge degree is perfectionism. I think people tend to secretly look at that as a good thing; it’s not. In photography and filmmaking, it can take so much effort and money to get a project in the air that you want to be very confident in what you’re doing, to make sure it’s worth it. If you’re a perfectionist like me, then you will always find something wrong with your idea or your plans or whatever, and you will kill the project before it even hits the runway. It’s a massive problem because, like Andrew Stanton (the creator behind Pixar’s Finding Nemo and WALL-E) says, when it comes to creativity it’s important to fail as fast as you can because failure is a key aspect of creativity and success.
Tell us about your childhood, what were you like growing up?
I was really shy and quiet. You would definitely have called me a nerd, right down to my braces and love for board games. I loved history, math, languages–I honestly never even thought about a career in the arts.
Is there a specific memory from when you were younger that you really miss?
I had a really great childhood; so there are a lot to choose from. I must have been six or seven years old. I remember going over to the neighbors for a sleepover. We stayed up late playing spotlight and then Rampage on the old Super Nintendo, and the next morning I think someone put on Jaws. It’s one of my earliest movie memories. I still remember standing there watching the shark hunter get eaten.
What are your plans for the future?
I try not to make too many plans because I’ve found life always has its own plan. One big change I’m going to make this coming year is focusing a lot more energy on personal passion projects. I’ve spent the last 3 years hustling 24/7, doing mostly client work and trying to never say “no.” You never know where a gig will take you. It’s gotten me pretty far, but I really need to return to the ideas and stories that I want to tell; those are the ones that help me grow and take my craft to the next level.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kennethcmerrill.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @kennethcmerrill
