After spending almost his entire childhood life in England, Luke Gibson packed up his clothes, miscellaneous items and all of his memories and moved to an unknown world of Harrisonburg. Gibson, entirely new to the community and school, joined the Fall one act and the Newsstreak staff to connect to his new school but found his passion elsewhere; film.

“Towards my senior year of high school, I started applying to schools that had good film programs. I had no idea what that would become at the time. It was sort of instinctive but now it’s more serious,” Gibson said.

Gibson is now a junior at Emerson College studying media production with a focus on post production directing. Although his original choice to go into film being instinctive, he discovered he decided right when he began college.

“I definitely just thrived in college. You’re so exposed to your major and it kind of affirms your decision everyday,” Gibson said.

Gibson faced criticism after declaring his major in the Arts instead of a typically high paying major.

“A lot of people told me that it might be hard to find a job after film school but I think it’s one of those guaranteed things that we’re going to consume everyday. The amount of videos we passively watch is hundreds per week so I think [film] is very relevant and useful. It just feels very productive and relevant,” Gibson said.

Gibson primarily uses YouTube and Vimeo to promote his work. He makes videos and advertisements for startups that his colleagues are involved in, but tries focusing on short films and music videos.

“I have a passion for short films and music videos but I’m also working with promo reals and marketing advertisements with the short films and music videos which is very transferrable,” Gibson said.

At the end of his first semester of his junior year, Gibson was finishing his most proud work; his thesis film.  

“It’s the culmination of everything that I’ve practiced and learned in college. All the people I’ve met were involved. It’s a short film and music video called ‘NITE SHIFT.’ We had a crew of 25 really hard workers and that gave me a taste of what a career would look like,” Gibson said.

NITE SHIFT is about a barista named Eli who is called into cover a night shift at his employers cafe when all of the sudden he’s ambushed by a group of demons. The demons turn out to not be as formidable as expected and Eli forms a bond with them.

The song featured in the video is produced by Gibson’s friend, Iglooghost. The inspiration for the video comes from two main sources.

“I mainly just get my inspiration from watching a ton of other music videos. I look for pieces I like from one music video and connect that with another piece from another music video and you eventually get a unique new video. My films are also inspired by music. I listen to songs and imagine video sequences to them,” Gibson said.

In the upcoming semester, Gibson is set to travel to Los Angeles, California, where Emerson has a second campus, and intern for a professional media production company.

“Every student who does the LA program gets an internship one way or another so I’m going to be interning at Doomsday Entertainment. They do music videos and commercials so it’s perfect for what I want to do. I’m going to be getting some industry experience which is what I’m looking forward to,” Gibson said.

Gibson doesn’t yet know the exact specifications of his internship, just that he will be working under professionals with big names.

“I’m most likely going to be doing smaller tasks around the studios but working in a professional and competitive environment like that is going to be some of the best experience I can get,” Gibson said.

The move to Los Angeles follows Gibson’s philosophy about college; supporting your choice of major and your studies everyday.

“As college goes on, you need to affirm what you’re studying,” Gibson said. “Each day you do it, you need to make it your world and surround yourself in it. I don’t have an established career yet and it’ll be interesting to what happens after college. I’ll be starting from the ground up again and [my success] will be more affirmation that I was right about being in film.”