I was featured in Newsday as their October 2009 Scholar Artist. Photo by Newsday.

Just to give you some background about myself, the very first movie I made on my own was called ‘Frogs Attack Earth.’ I was eight. Since then, I’ve been consistently improving and figuring out what I want to do with my life (I’ve narrowed it down to a career involving a video camera.) I’m finishing up my senior year of high school and I’ll be attending Elon University’s School of Communications in the fall. Currently, in high school, I’m in charge of the DVD Yearbook and Ward Melville TV and we produce content about the school. It’s a small club (especially compared to my school’s yearbook) and sometimes I feel like I struggle to keep it alive. I also edit wedding and sweet 16 videos for I-Do Video (I just finished my first full wedding video a couple of days ago), I’ve been documenting the pedagogy of Valia Seiskaya of Seiskaya Ballet, I film district events and the plays for my school, and I also do my fair share of client work. The one thing I wish I did more of is creative video, ‘Frogs Attack Earth’ style, but I am currently making the Senior Video for my graduating class which has been fun.

Aside from video, it is worth noting that I do have a personal life (although, unlike the blogs of my youth, this will not focus on it nearly as much). I enjoy going to concerts, my favorite band being O.A.R. (I’ve seen them eight times and met them on a few occasions). My 2010 resolutions were to read more and be more fit. So far I’ve been more successful with the former. I like having friends and doing things with them. Lately, as college approaches, I’ve been becoming more and more nostalgic for the town I’ve grown up in all my life. Leaving will be sad, but I’m ready for what’s to come.
-from my first blog entry, 2/28/10

Personal Statement on Video

For me, video started as a hobby when I was seven, second grade. Our class project was to write, direct, and act in a short movie, which our teacher filmed. This one project would drastically influence the course of my life; soon I was asking my parents for a camera of my own and, armed with a small blue digital video camera that held about 5 minutes worth of footage, I began making movies with my friends.

Since then, that hobby has evolved into much more. I hope to find myself in the future doing just what I’m doing now (minus the high school part). I’ve come along way from that small blue video camera and I hope to see myself going even farther in another ten years. I’ve already had lots of experience in the real world: from producing a video for FHEA, a non-profit organization, to when I filmed the renowned New York Arabic Orchestra onstage. I’ve taken a three week program at the New York Film Academy and I’ve worked tirelessly on our school’s award-winning DVD Yearbook for the past two years.

The culmination of these experiences, and many others, exemplifies my passion for video.

-Jeff Stern