The Man Behind The Camera

Nikon 80D camera and press pass in hand, SM North sophomore and filmmaker Calen Domingues braced himself for the crowd of ripped shirts and white face paint at a classic rivalry game: East vs. Rock. 

After attending Prairie Elementary and Indian Hills Middle School, Calen went to East as a freshman, but transferred to North because he wanted to experience a different atmosphere. He got involved with video production at North through filming and broadcasting their basketball games but was soon drawn to film other schools for the experience and fun of it. His videography brought him back to East — he couldn’t stay from the eccentric buzz of the Lancer student section brought him back to East.

Calen first filmed an East game when he decided he wanted to capture the infamous energy of the East vs. Rockhurst basketball game.

That crowd will be crazy. 

The game’s gonna be wild. 

I need to get in there. 

“I picked up my camera bag and pretty much just walked in and started shooting,” Calen said. “I would have to say East [is my favorite crowd to film.] The crowd is just better there. When you hear the crowd erupt with noise after making a shot, [it] adds to the hype of it all.” 

Calen displays his work through his Instagram account @calen.films. His East vs. Rock video has gained the most traction, amassing over 3,700 views and 181 story reposts as of March 23 from players and fans. This grew his name not only with East students but to other people in the community. With all the recognition from that one video, he has been able to gain 430 followers in less than three months from filming videos for Bishop ward, North and East. and has even begun making money from filming collegiate/club sports teams.

“I’ve made a lot of connections and a lot of people have reached out to me wanting to film for them,” Calen said. “I’ve had Kansas City Community College reach out to me. I went out to shoot a scrimmage that they did, and I’ve also had Bishop Ward reach out to me for filming.”

As the notorious “man behind the camera,” he’s earned many fans in the East gym, including East’s basketball players themselves including junior and varsity basketball center Will Alexander.

“We’ll see him at the games and we’re like, ‘Oh Calen Films is here, we got to put on a show,’” Alexander said.

Senior and small forward Emmett Hill recognizes the effort and the amount of time that Calen puts into each video.

“Every time we got out of the locker room, he was always sitting there hyping us up before the game,” Emmett said.

Though most of his Instagram comment section is filled with praise from East’s student section and players, Calen still gets compliments from his friends at North.

“The North kids like it,” Calen said. “I’ve actually gotten multiple compliments. They really love my Rockhurst video, and I haven’t gotten any hate about filming other teams.”

Despite his growing social media following and newfound fans at East, Calen’s dad Jason Domingues, will always be his greatest support.

Jason can relate to Calen, being a photographer who takes pictures of anything from concerts to weddings. But although Calen creates content in a similar field, it’s not under his father’s influence despite being inspired by his overwhelming support.

“I’m really proud,” Jason said. “It’s really crazy he just landed. I want my kids to learn on their own and he just picked it up. I don’t know how he did it, he just taught himself.” 

Jason loves Calen’s newfound independence, but it wasn’t always like this.  Everything that he has created has been 100% using resources the school provided, and he learned how to use it solo through trial and error.

Calen’s work has also reached other professional photographers, who have reached out to Jason about the impressive quality.

“As soon as he posts something, I’ll know it,” Jason said. “I know that he posts something because all my friends will text me ‘Calen did this,’ ‘Calen did that,’ ‘Calen’s awesome.’”

With his filming and editing style, he tries to be different by keeping his videos action-packed and intense.

“I like close-up shooting,” Calen said. “I like getting up close and personal. The shake definitely adds to the movement and hype of it. When watching a basketball game on TV the camera is still the whole time and kinda boring, but my footage is way more intense.”

Though Calen has natural tech-savvy abilities that allow him to pick up on the ins and outs of editing softwares, it still takes him up to five hours to finish a video — two hours to film and gather his content, then another three to compile each clip and edit it down into a 50-second video.

As for the future, Calen wants to increase the amount of film he shoots and experiment with filming other sports — specifically looking forward to football. He also wants to grow his business through his Instagram account, using it to spread his name. Calen used to be extremely dependent on others, but according to Jason, something clicked in him and he became independent very fast.

“Send it,” Calen said. “That’s what I did. I got no help. I just picked up a camera trying to do it on my own. Just do whatever you want to do. There’s no harm in messing up or not liking your work.”