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“Leader of the Pack”: A Reflection
While I was away from my blog, I decided to start a video profile series known as “Leader of the Pack.” I came up with the idea for this show right before I went home for my winter break. I got my camera right before Claflin’s homecoming and despite filming all throughout homecoming week, I had no video or photo content to show for it. On top of this, my mom kept getting on me about the need to put out content with my camera, and as much as it annoyed me when she did that, I knew for a fact that she was right. I couldn’t just have a camera for the sake of having a camera, I had to create something.
As I packed my stuff to leave for winter break, I decided to open the notebook app on my phone and take down some content ideas. I had an idea for an MTV Cribs style show that would show off student dorms, and some others, but then I came to “Leader of the Pack”. I was inspired by a show on Complex called “The Blueprint” where they interview influencers, brand owners, and other notable figures and gave viewers their blueprints to how they got to where they are now. So I decided to do something similar to that with students around Claflin. I thought about the talented musicians, business owners, and other students doing noteworthy things around campus.
Seems easy enough right? Nah. However, most of the hurdles I came across while coming up with this show were mostly internal. As the winter break drew closer and closer to an end, fears started popping up in my mind.
“What if nobody watches it?”
“What if people think it’s lame?”
“What if people think I’m copying somebody else?”
I had many doubts in my mind while coming up with this show since I’ve never done something like this before. Not to mention that I tend to talk too fast and stumble over my words from time to time, I often thought “How the hell am I’m going to do an interview series if I can barely speak clearly?!” But out of all the fears I had, there was one fear that was the biggest of them all:
“WHAT IF I DON’T GO THROUGH WITH THIS?”
What if I don’t create anything? Another missed opportunity. I couldn’t let that happen again. That one thought pushed me to see this through to the end and go through with the show.
Episode I: Movement
I decided to do my first episode with my friend and fellow creator Alexis Pipkins and his jazz band, Movement. I knew about them for a while and watched one of their performances during the solar eclipse festival earlier in the school year, so I thought they would be perfect for the first episode. I wanted different angles for the interview, I got my friends Aaron “AJ” Nelson and Juwann Smith to help with the camera work. The night of the interview, I was filled with excitement and nervousness. I came to their practice to get some b-roll footage, and I got to see their group dynamics firsthand. I initially thought I was only interviewing Alexis, but since most of the band members were there, I got the opportunity to talk to different members of the band and get different viewpoints which made the interview better. The interview went better than I expected, especially considering the fact that I was coming up with questions on the fly to keep the interview to running smoothly. Once the interview was finished, I walked back to my dorm excited to start editing the footage, but more importantly, I felt accomplished. I went and did something that I set out to do and I didn’t let my fears and doubts stop me from doing it. I was so excited about working on the first episode that I left a party that I went to later that night to go work on the episode, and thus Leader of the Pack was born.
Episode II: Mors Calumnia
Next, I decided to interview another one of my friends and fellow creator, Aaron “AJ” Nelson. Since I’ve known AJ, I have seen him work on multiple different projects. From producing music to writing and filming short films and a mini-series, AJ is a man of many talents. I’ve seen an interview he already had on his music production, so I thought it would be cool to do an interview on his video production since he’s been working on his mini-series “Dying is Easy, College is Hard” since the beginning of the school year.
I have to say, this was one of the most entertaining interviews I’ve done this year. AJ is filled with self-confidence and made for a great and inspiring interview. His goals and work ethic inspires others to take their work to the next level and dropped plenty of knowledge that viewers could take from the interview. One of the best parts of that interview was when he discussed the impact he hopes to leave in his hometown of Kingstree (Where’s there’s nothing but a McDonald’s and a stoplight) and supporting fellow content creators from Claflin, SC State, and all around South Carolina.
Bakari Sellers Special
The fact that I even got to have a one on one interview with Bakari Sellers was amazing. This interview was supposed to happen after the Orangeburg Massacre 50th anniversary ceremony, but Bakari, like many people, left early since the ceremony dragged on too long. Luckily, I was able to get his contact info and set up another day for the interview. It just so happen that he was coming to Charleston to speak at an event, and there was my next opportunity. My parents picked me up from Orangeburg early Saturday morning to go to the venue, and we waited about 30 minutes to an hour for Sellers to show up. The interview was initially supposed to be outside, but we met him at the venue to do the interview. Despite being slightly nervous, the interview came out great.
Episode III: Kicknosis
This was one of the episodes I was looking forward to since I’ve been a fan of their content for a while now. This was a dope interview to do because I finally got to get a deeper look into this group of talented creators who have pretty much raised the bar for content in Claflin’s mass communications department. What amazed me even more during this interview was how far they’ve come in a short period of time. From shooting videos on their iPhones to getting shots from a drone, it was amazing to hear Kicknosis’ story and see how far they came.
Episode IV: Barlex
This was the last interview I did for the school year. I was able to gather some b-roll of Meleq selling his products while in post-production for the Kicknosis episode, so I was able to kill two birds with one stone. His story was great to listen to as he discussed how he came up with the idea of selling bracelets and other accessories and continuing to grow his company Barlex. He’s talented at what he does, and his products are very popular. I still get a lot compliments on the bracelets that I got from him to this day.
It’s amazing how much I was able to accomplish with this series in such a short period of time. I’ve had many doubts before I started doing Leader of the Pack, but I’ve had those same doubts about blogging, and yet here we are almost 3 1/2 years later. From episode one to episode four, I have continued to grow and make the show better with each episode. My goal with this show is to give the viewers something deeper than just another interview. Each episode, I try to present it as a conversation between creators rather than an interview and give viewers a deeper look into the minds of these young creators.