Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Mundinger.
Jeff, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was able to get my creative start in the confines of my small Missouri town of Warrensburg, Missouri. With only limited amount of activities available for us kids at the time, my friends and I were able to expand our imaginations through townwide scavenger hunts and making videos for ourselves with my a RCA VHS Camcorder we were able to use from my neighborhood friend’s parents. It was then that the passion for filmmaking was ignited in me. Primarily at the time with how much fun we had, but also how much every one got along for the filmmaking process. It was one of the few times in my life back then that I was able to witness people coming together to really build something together, and on their own without the agenda of an entity behind them. I took that passion and ran with it. Through high school I attended all video and broadcast classes, did a bit of it in community college before I took a hiatus from higher education all together. Eventually to go back to finish my undergrad at the University of Missouri – Kansas City for their Film and Media Arts program. Since then I’ve been diving into the industry in the Kansas City region head first. I interned at the Kansas City Film Office for a about half a year and learned so much about how film production navigates the logistics through a city level. Then I started working at Lights On Kansas City I was able to get hands on experience with lights, grip equipment, cameras, dollies, everything you needed for a production. It was a perfect hub to be a part of to get the way of the land here in Kansas City.
After about two years at Lights On Kansas City I was able to go to Strange Music, the music record label made by Kansas City’s own, Tech N9ne and that was a wonderful time for me to just experiment in their beautiful 1700 sqft video studio, really get time with the Arri camera system and just have fun making cool things with my friends. Though nothing gold can stay and found myself seeing a plateau of sorts very shortly there. An opportunity arose from a close friend and I took the call and went in house at a tourims marketing agency, MMGY Global. Which was a fantastic opportunity, I really got in and out of there at the perfect time. I was only there for two years but in that two years I was able to travel all around the world and meet some wonderful people and see some beautiful spots that I never would of had the chance to otherwise. The company sold out to a conglomerate out in New York and I saw the writing on the wall and left there.
Since then I’ve been freelancing out of the Kansas City area, though work wherever makes sense for me! It’s been a fun time and the vertical micro drama craze has really been a help for me in starting back into the world of freelance. Shout out to 9:16 Productions and their lovely team of people that keep these circus’s coming. I know there is a lot of flack with the vertical micro drama series and some of which is very valid. However I can say that the vertical format is here to stay, so I’ve been open to the shift and excited to see where it all goes. Lately though it’s been such a busy time of year in Kansas City with the FIFA World Cup here and so many agencies and productions taking off. It’s been a wonderful time to be in film production in Kansas City for me personally, but I can only see that growing for everyone in our market as the year continues.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road at all. With the various episodes of Stockholm Syndrome rearing his evil head, financial hardships, and becoming a single father along the way, it all has really slowed some career momentum for me. Though in that slowness I’ve been able to find and recollect all the things that have ignited me in the first place and the rediscovering the reasoning for all doing all of this. To be a dedicated freelance artist in this day in age is truly preposterous. Everything is so hard, so expensive, and so saturated. But to be able to make a comfortable living by doing what you love in a creative field is the victory only some of us strive for. It’s slowly beginning to feel like becoming “famous” is kind of cringe, as with the fame usually comes guidelines to live by from whatever company or entity may be sponsoring you or the event you’re invited to. There seems to be a lack of creative autonomy these days but we are all becoming of aware of that too.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’ve started this industry with the passions of a cinematographer, as a lot of us have. But as of recently, like the past two years or so I’ve really dove into lighting. Lighting on bigger productions has shown me a lot of fun and new and different techniques that I can see in real time and experiment with and then take those techniques to my own smaller shoots where I can DP and experiment what I’ve learned or experienced from other DPs. I’m most proud of creating my own travel gigs that have taken me all around the world, some with that agency I worked for, but some I’ve been able to conjure on my own. It was such an important career goal for me to get paid to travel and film things out in the world and being able to achieve that childhood dream just meant everything to me. I think what sets me apart most from others in this industry is that I refuse to let it jade me in any sense. I’m here to have fun and make things with my friends (or at least with people I like), there is nothing like the creative collaborative process. Lately I’ve been shifting to creating my own opportunites with small business to business marketing as well as in the writing and pre production works for some vertical content as well!
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Taking risk is basically mandatory for living a truly creative life. There are so many avenues to live a life many of which hold a safety net for you to live in America in this day and age. Though to live your life, on your own accord and in your own creative autonomy takes a risk. I remember having a similar conversation like this with my own father back when I stayed with him for a stint in my young adult life, in between living situations. But he told me big risk can facilitate big rewards, just depends on how much I really want it. So if you really want something in life go and take the risk to get it, the risk of failure, the risk of getting so broke and having to pivot to a day job, the risk of losing friends along the way. Because if you want it THAT much it all may be worth it for you in the end.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jeffmundinger.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffmundinger/
