Cinema Studies Spotlight: Brad Burke, B.A. '16

Cinema Studies Spotlight: Brad Burke, B.A. '16

Story By Kylie Elliot, Class of '18

Brad Burke graduated with a degree in Cinema Studies from the University of Oregon in 2016. He chose Cinema Studies as his major because “working in film had been my dream as long as I could remember,” and he actually wrote his “first screenplay in the second grade.”

Photo of Cinema Studies Alumni Brad Burke and Claire Haines

Burke said that he really enjoyed seeing the Cinema Studies major grow because he was able to get a better mix of theory and actual hands-on practice through the broadening list of classes. With the growth of the major, he was able to learn from a variety of faculty, including Associate Professor of Cinema Studies Priscilla Peña Ovalle and Instructor of Cinema Studies André Sirois. These faculty members and their classes had a major impact on Burke’s experiences at the UO and his ability to start his own production company after college. Burke said that “the biggest, and possibly most subtle” impact of the curriculum was providing him with multiple opportunities to work with other students. When Burke set out to make his award-winning film Waldgeist, more than a third of the cast and crew were people he had met during his time at the university.

By the time Burke had graduated from college, he had already written the script for Waldgeist and had his own production company. Working with 30 other UO students out of a cast and crew of 81, the film took approximately two years to shoot and edit. After completing production on the film, Burke entered it into the Oregon Independent Film Festival and, to Burke’s surprise, the film won two awards, Best Horror Film and Best Supporting Actress. Burke feels that winning these awards validated the work of him and his crew and confirmed their talent.

Burke’s main advice for anyone looking to get involved in the film industry is to never doubt your own skills or undersell yourself, but also realize that you are still learning. Burke says that every time he is on set he is constantly learning from the cast and crew around him. Burke also finds it extremely important to have a team that he trusts and with whom he enjoys working, in particular, editors. Burke promises that “as hard as you’re working in preproduction or on set, your editor is working 10 [times] as hard making any of your mistakes look like gold.”

Burke wishes that he had taken advantage of even more opportunities while still in school. First, he wishes he had taken business courses because as much as you “try to avoid the business side of film, you’re quite honestly screwed if you can’t sell what you’ve made.” Burke also wishes he had learned more about sound. “You can have the prettiest film in the world, but if the sound sucks, then your film sucks.” Burke feels he is very lucky to have sound people working for him at his production company; otherwise his films would not turn out nearly as well.

Burke has a lot planned for the future under the umbrella of his production company Green Studio Productions. They currently have three feature films in post-production, including Eight Types of Crazy, which is the studio’s largest film and stars Hollywood actor Stephen Tobolowsky. The studio has also taken on the challenge of creating a music video for former top 100 artist Blitzen Trapper and the video features Storm Large. The studio is also involved in the creation of a short film that was not directed by Burke. He is very excited that an additional director is a part of the company and that the “studio has grown beyond just [his] own vision.” The studio also has films currently in development and pre-production. As Burke says, the company must “always be moving onto the next project in order to make it in this wacky film world.”

Burke feels that at the end of the day, his experience at the UO really helped him gain his footing in the film industry after graduation. Now working in the industry, he is able to recognize how much the theory side of studying Cinema Studies at the UO has been beneficial to him. And putting the theory into practice in courses like “Making Music Videos” and “No Budget Filmmaking” has resulted in skills that have been the most useful to working in the film industry, helping him start a successful career.

Read more about Burke and the award-winning film, Waldgeist, in Around the O.