Lights, Camera, Action: How senior Campbell Carpenter is supporting his dream of working in the film industry

Senior Campbell Carpenter began questioning his plans for the future at a young age as he explored the world of cinematography through Disney films. Whether spending a rainy day watching movies, or scrolling through YouTube videos reviewing the latest blockbuster, his interest sparked. Carpenter began spending hours watching reviews, and dissecting films. 

While he developed his passion in elementary school, it was isolation during COVID-19 that truly allowed him to foster his sense of curiosity and a critical eye when watching movies, pushing him to further explore his opportunities in the film industry. 

“As an only child during the pandemic, I didn’t have a lot of people to reach out to.” Carpenter said, “I just thought a lot. I was thinking, and when the brain is thinking you grow creativity.”

In his sophomore year of high school, Campbell Carpenter took his first step toward being in the film industry. As he entered room 402F through the library, he knew that his childhood daydreams could be more than dreams. He could make it happen.

While almost all kids dream of being a movie star or film producer at some point in their childhood, few follow through, according to Psychology Today. That’s where senior Campbell Carpenter differs.

Most high school seniors spend their free time perfecting college essays, making final campus visits and planning their graduation parties, but for Carpenter, post-graduation preparation is watching movies, attending film festivals and skipping the four-years of higher level classes that come with college. 

While his parents want him to attend college, Carpenter feels that’s a waste of time since so many of the classes would be focused on topics of little interest to him, when he would rather be studying the ins and outs of movies. 

“Spending four years at a college is a long time,” Carpenter said. “Instead I could take money that would go to college to go to film festivals to form connections.”

Carpenter would rather obtain the skills and trade to be successful anywhere in the film industry by traveling the country to meet new people with similar interests. By doing so, he says he’ll form professional connections with various figures in the industry in order to learn and grow in his craft.

“[What’s] more important is who you know and what you do, rather than what you know,” Carpenter said.

Drawing inspiration from directors such as James Gunn, who has broken cinematographic boundaries with intense fight scenes for nearly three decades, Carpenter hopes to contribute to many productions, no matter how small the role. Any sort of time spent on set is a step close to his goal of being the mind behind the scene, either as an actor or a producer. Much like his role model, Carpenter wants to be an innovator by bringing new aspects of film to movies already made, or by making his own. 

“Honestly, I would be fine being the coffee runner as long as I could experience being on set,” Carpenter said.

As restrictions loosened post-COVID, Carpenter decided to make his dreams possible, one voyage at a time: traveling both the state and the country to attend film festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival, South by Southwest in Austin and Tallgrass Festival in Wichita. 

According to Carpenter, his creative mindset is what sets him apart from his peers.

“Where I’m putting my time is what separates me,” Carpenter claims, “I’m always looking at things from different perspectives.”