Showcase

Hi, welcome to my Showcase page! My name is Reed Keenan. I’m 18 years old and have been a student at Freestyle Academy for the past two years. Through various creative projects in English, Digital Media, & Film Production, I have been able to completely transform both my knowledge and voice as an artist. However, I didn’t really discover my true love and passion for art until about 7th grade.

It all started when I would spend my days watching travel videos. I fell in love with the beautiful scenery’s and compositions they were able to create through the camera and in post-production. The seamless transitions from clip to clip. The feeling that you were there experiencing this all with them. In 7th grade I then downloaded Adobe Premiere Pro and started making my own edits for fun. My passion for little edits then turned into a passion for films. I specifically chose Los Altos High School over a local private school because of the opportunity I would have to do Film at Freestyle Academy. Now, four years later, I can say it was worth it.

When I’m not behind the camera, I’m an athlete. I was one of those kids that constantly had to be in motion. At one point, I was playing three different sports at the same time. The main sports I dedicated my time towards were soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, water polo, & track. Out of all of those sports, the one I primarily play today is basketball. Nonetheless, after playing sports for over 15 years one might ask what life skills have I developed from my experience? As you may notice, almost all the sports I’ve played are team sports. So through countless ups and downs, wins and losses, I’ve learned the importance of being a team and working together. And after working on various film’s I understand how a film crew is almost like a sports team. You need to work together to be successful.

Dominic Crosby Documentary

One of my lifelong friends, Dominic Christiansen, referred to as ‘Dominic Crosby’ on stage is an upcoming successful musician. I found Dom to be a really good profile subject because his story isn’t like others. In comparison to to the past, traditionally, a kid like Dom in the suburbs of the Bay Area would never have had a shot at releasing his own music. He would have needed an agent and a record label to sign him. But today, with all of the latest technology, Dom was able to teach himself the audio editing software called LogicPro by watching YouTube videos from the ground up. He’s never taken proper lessons with an instructor for any of the instruments he’s played either, he’s entirely self-taught. Even despite this, after posting his music on SoundCloud and then on Spotify, the music streaming platforms, he amassed over 60,000 plays in around 18 months. Dom’s story is striking because he brings such emotional intelligence to this decision, and that same emotional intelligence shows up in his music.

I didn’t only want to create this documentary as a way to promote Dom and his music, but also to show everybody else out there that faces a similar decision or is struggling go for it or not, that you should. One of the hardest things to do is actually committing to something and seeing it through. And I believe that Dom is the perfect example of that because he didn’t have lessons, he had to teach everything to himself, yet he still found the passion and inspiration to keep on creating, and that’s super important. And when you look at him now, he is on the verge of a successful music career because he kept on going, he didn’t quit.

Sugar, a short narrative film

This next featured project, “Sugar,” (writer/director/editor) is hands down the most difficult project I have ever done. Not necessarily because of the story, but because of the personal obstacles I was experiencing. Film school applications are probably the most demanding college applications of them all, in my opinion. And I feel like I can say that now after living through it. My original plan for college was to make the Early Decision I deadline for NYU, November 1st. However, in early October I suffered an already severe concussion. Then within a couple weeks after planning the final parts of my film, I got double concussed from an even more severe hit. I had to stop going to some of my classes. I would get dizzy driving. I couldn’t even look at any sort of screen, ultimately meaning I couldn’t edit. I literally had to dictate my college essays while someone else typed them, it bothered me that much. I was so angry with the circumstances that landed in my lap, but I knew deep in my heart that even if it wasn’t NYU, I wasn’t going to give up on my dreams of applying to film school. So, I had to work through the headaches and the early 5am shoots that ultimately made my concussion worse, but hey, the experience was worth it. The idea for this film was cut down to 5 minutes due to the submission requirements and maybe it wasn’t in every little way how I envisioned, but in the hardest months of my life I was able to get this film done and I’m proud of pushing through no matter what.

When reflecting on this project, I’d say it turned out the best possible way given the circumstances. Not only did I have my severe concussion, but the owner was super uptight about shooting times and even how many times we could shoot. My original idea was to have the film take place at night with a different ending storyline, but the owner said no, you can only shoot from 6:45-8am. On top of that I had two professional actors flake due to Covid which led me to turn to my friends. And when you’re trying to direct your friends, sometimes it doesn’t always go as planned. But I think the most important part to me about this film was guaranteeing the diner location. I had this spot envisioned the whole time and I did everything I could to convince the owner to even let us shoot there to begin with. Lastly, in comparison to all my other projects, from a compositional aspect, it’s the best. I understood framing a lot better than before hand and new what I want. In past films I also used to over-saturate a lot of things which was a preference, but I think the color correction I did on this film fit very nicely with everything else.

Reflection of Growth

If I take a look at my level of skill when I came into Freestyle versus when I left, there’s an enormous amount of improvement. Before Freestyle, I was really just making little edits of things for fun. I’d make an edit of one of my favorite artists. An edit of my friends and I on Sunday at the pool messing around and doing flips. Or even an edit of my buddies skiing. Since then, I’ve gained a much better understanding behind the way the industry works and what goes into each step of the process when it comes to making a film. One of the areas I’ve grown the most in is my ability to tell a story or write a screenplay. This past summer coming into senior year, I knew I wanted to challenge myself with some film intensive course. So, I applied to NYU’s Dramatic Writing course which is a 4-week long intensive program. I was one of the 25 or so kids that got accepted in and that experience definitely changed the way I view and create my own films. One thing that hasn’t changed though is knowing exactly what I want compositionally and behind the camera. My main attraction towards filmmaking has always been the cinematography. The way you are able to tell a story: beautiful, harsh, romantic, or tragic through breathtaking visuals. And as the cinematographer, you get to be the one who executes the way things look. And since 7th grade I have known I have wanted to go into film industry. My experiences at Freestyle Academy have further validated that dream of mine. Now, as I am about to graduate high school and go to college, I am trying to take every step I can to achieve that dream. Next year I will be attending Chapman University as a Film Studies major to deepen my knowledge of the techniques and history of film to further transform my style and professionalism behind the camera.