James Wray: Aspiring Film-Maker

Junior Film Studies major James Wray gives a sneak peak into his new web series: A Brief Metaphorical History of the World. The series consists of four or so college room-mates who reenact key moments in world history with petty squabbles.

(PHOTO: Rick Allen Lippert)

The most recent episode was for a class, Electronic Field Production, which is taught by Professor Gerald Loessberg at the University of Oklahoma. Using equipment from Gaylord College, Wray finished shooting the project December 11th. He is still currently editing the final product, and will be showing the latest episode on Youtube on i106production's Channel.

Wray uses his real room mates as actors in the series. Recurring actors Nathan Drake and Jonathan Torrio are joined by Cortnie Garret, Ryan Bott, and James Wray himself in the latest episode, A Brief Metaphorical History of World War II. Drake and Torrio say, "I like it. It's witty and funny. [James] makes the time go by real fast and makes you want to do it more".

James began shooting shorts during his early high school years by filming various skateboarding videos with his friends. As he got into college, he set his goals higher little by little. Watching hundreds of films per year, Wray has developed his understanding of film, and has refined his technique as a cinematographer and director. Wray has a distinct fascination with stylistic films like Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. Wray has also had much experience with cameras working with OU Nightly.

It is unknown when Wray will be shooting another episode. Wray has his sights on being hired for Criterion Collection or Kino International. Wray allowed some sneak peak footage of the episode to be shown before its debut. The video below is a small biography of his career with the footage included. VIDEO: Matthew Shaffer, Runtime: 2:52.

Andrew Jenks on World of Jenks

Andrew Jenks visited the University of Oklahoma Memorial Union November 30th to give listeners an insight into his fortunate life as a documentary film-maker. He is currently working on the second season of his show, World of Jenks, where he infiltrates the lives of several individuals to flush out the lifestyles of typical Americans.

(PHOTO: Ida Skadberg)

His fortune came at the young age of 19 in the form of a documentary he shot at Harbor Place in Port St. Lucie, Florida five years ago. Home Box Office, HBO, would buy the documentary rights and would eventually show on January 15th, 2008. Shortly after, Jenks would meet professional baseball manager, Bobby Valentine, and after an agreement would shoot a documentary over the former baseball player in his journey to Japan, which would premiere the 12th of May, 2008

Jenks spoke mostly of his living conditions, his no-budget antics, and several hilarious phone-calls made to "fake and make it". He was interested in film-making but not in college, and was glad he jumped on this rare chance at documentary film making when he did.

The Campus Activities Council Speakers Bureau, Allison Mrasek was the woman responsible for Jenks's appearance, and she was more than grateful for the message that Jenks had given his listeners. "I love that he talked so much about how he just went out there. He kept getting no and he kept trying, and I think that's important for us to hear as we're all job searching as well." (VIDEO: Matthew Shaffer, Kelsey Hightower 5:06)

World of Jenks season one was 12 episodes according to their main website, and were 30 minute episodes about one person each. In season two, he says that the whole season will be covering three individuals in one hour episodes. The second season is scheduled to start in early 2012.