My name is Memphis Merk, and some people call me a passionate person. (Once I start something, I put my all into it, no matter the subject.) I, however, wouldn’t describe myself as such. I have simply always thought of myself as a highly driven person with a craving for knowledge, and a passion for film, and in high school is where I found that passion in the form of communications technology. I explored the many avenues of print media, film, and broadcasting while in high school. This is where I discovered that I wanted to be a director and producer for film and joined the Film and Broadcasting High Skills Major. Within this major I participated in a cooperative education, with native promoter and print artist Selena Mills and native film director Jennifer Podemski. Here I helped Selena upkeep the local Barrie Native Friendship Centre’s Instagram, Facebook, and website. We were responsible for the artistic look and the spread of information and current events happening within the community. My duties included anything from making digital posters about Hallowe’en movie night to Vigils to daily workshops. Under the guidance of Jennifer, I analyzed films, shows, documentaries, and scripts. Armed with research and learning I went on to write, film, direct, produce and edit a short film, and three short documentaries under her guidance. I then partook in competitions Skills Canada and KWN twice. I won KWN Canada, which sent me to Japan for a week to participate in a global summit where I represented Canada and met several other aspiring film artists who were representing their countries.

            During my time at high school, I also participated in broadcasting, tech. crew, and yearbook. Broadcasting was a class where instead of reading out the morning announcements to the school through the office PA system, we made a mock news show and broadcasted it to each class. Teachers and coaches would send our class their announcements, which would range from library hours, club meetings, sport game scores, to the cafeteria menu, and we would write a script, assemble graphics and b-roll, practice, and then go live in front of the school within first period. We gained practice in this course by being responsible for each roll at least twice; anchor, script, audio, switcher, and director. You also had to make promotional clips and commercials. Tech. crew is a club that is responsible for setting up assemblies, coffee houses, guest speakers, or any live event that happened at the school. As you can tell I fully immersed myself in the communications technology experience.

            I love storytelling and the art that comes with weaving a narrative and getting that across to the audience. The power to move people and invoke emotion with storytelling has always fascinated me. Film has been my main outlet for this desire, but when I came across Metalworks Institute, I saw that there are many other ways to express a story. I love working behind the scenes and diving into every element of production. I believe there is not enough credit given to the people that help drive the story working in the background, in any form. Concerts and theatre have always been something I loved and indulged in but had never seriously entertained the idea of working at one until Metalworks introduced me to the many avenues of the entertainment industry. Seeing the studios and warehouse at Metalworks lit a fire in me to explore the differences in the entertainment industry to better understand it from different points of view. In film, music and soundtracks are a vital part of any work, but it is mostly viewed as secondary. It is seen as something to help drive the storyline but is not taken into consideration when writing the script or filming. The soundtrack in most films is seriously given thought at the post-production stage, one of the last stages.  I have a good understanding of the visual and would now like to learn more about the auditory side of entertainment.

             Within the live event scene, I look forward to working at live events such as concerts, musicals and plays, and speaker events. One of my many goals is to work on a world tour There are many things I want to achieve in my lifetime; as my roots are in film, I want to direct and produce at least one documentary and, ideally, I want to live a life that is interesting enough to eventually write an autobiography or memoir.