For as long as he can remember, senior Ben Kegan has wanted to make films for a living.
“As a kid my friends and I would ‘play’ film during recess. We rehearsed scenes on the playground, and then the next day we would come out and pick up where we left off. When our parents took us to a new park we’d be like, this place is perfect, we’ll use these trees for the jungle scene,” he said. “Although to be honest, we didn’t really have any concept that in order to make a film we would need cameras. But there was something very true in that ignorance, like our collective imaginations were all we needed to make a film.”
Since then, Kegan has directed and produced an array of documentaries, TV shows and short films. He has previously done a television pilot with Kim Wetter, a graduate from last year’s senior class.
This year he and senior Evan Cartwright co-wrote a web series called “Dry Creek,” starring juniors Eliza Young and Finn Straley, senior Kevin Moore and Professor Withycombe, with first year Sam Alden doing the audio recording (watch it at www.DryCreekSeries.com).
Kegan also directed a short film called “Team Taliban,” which is listed on imdb.com.
There is only one user comment, but the user rated the film 9 out of 10 stars and wrote a rave review.
“Very thought-provoking and very well done! See this film! It’s a very interesting look at independent professional wrestling and explores various concepts about balancing religious faith with being a performer, finding a balance between being true to yourself and your family whilst also being an entertainer,” wrote “borelli.”
Kegan said that he really appreciates the experience he got from filmmaking classes at Whitman.
“With Intro to Filmmaking, you make 4 films in one semester, and that kind of intensity is very useful. In the Advanced Filmmaking class you make a documentary film. That was the first time I approached making a doc, and I completely fell in love with non-fiction storytelling,” he said.
Kegan said that he has appreciated the support by his film professors at Whitman, and he hopes to see the filmmaking opportunities expand in the future at the school.
“Whitman has been extremely supportive of filmmaking. I can’t thank Dr. [Robert] Sickels enough. Whitman has allowed me to take some great creative risks and supported me all the way,” he said. “If anything I’d like to see the department grow. We need more tenured positions in film and media studies.”
According to Kegan, finding time to film is extremely difficult because of peoples’ school schedules. However, the satisfaction of a job well done makes it worth it.
“One of my best moments from making films at Whitman was walking into the bedroom in the house we used for “Dry Creek,” and discovering Finn, Carly, Bryan, Eliza, Kevin and Sam all passed out on the bed together after a very long day,” he said.
After college, Kegan plans to dedicate himself to making movies.
“Filmmaking is awesome because it’s exhausting. It demands everything,” he said.
But that is exactly what Kegan likes about it.
