Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing and hanging out with Justin Murray or MurrayMile as he is better known. Justin graduated from the Film program in December of 2007 and in almost no time at all has built a reputation along with fellow grad Wesley, Wuz Good, Armstrong. Together they form Lution Media and create some stunning visuals in music videos, behind the scenes and commercials. Below is the behind the scenes for their recent music video project for the band 16 Second Stare and my interview with Justin.
Interview:
RG: Tell us who you are, what program you graduated from, and what is it that you do now?
Justin: My name is Justin Murray, but everybody knows me as MurrayMile. I graduated from the Film program in December of 2007.
RG: Since 2007, I hear you’ve been involved with some crazy projects – tell us about them.
Justin: Yeah man, it’s been a ride for me. I’ve met and worked with some cool people. It all started from when I realized four months into going to Full Sail that my opportunities where gonna come to me by going out and doing outside projects. What I noticed was that everyone was just worried about getting good grades. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I wasn’t worried about that, but I knew there were other priorities.
I met cinematographer Steve Campbell and he told me, “It doesn’t matter what you do in film school, but it’s what you do outside of it,” and I’ve kept that in the back of my head. So now I’ve been so busy and there’s no more sleep; it’s just been power-naps. So there’s no more sleeping, man. (laughs)
RG: Wow, that’s crazy, but I can relate. Running FSNet and keeping things moving forward takes up a lot of my time, but as long as you’re having fun, that’s all that matters, in my opinion.
Justin: Yeah, as long as you’re having a good time with it and as long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters. You should never worry about what other people are thinking or doing.
What I realized too was that when you’re resting, someone else is out there getting ahead of you and I don’t want that to happen. It’s a competition; it’s a tough industry. One of the biggest tasks that I want to accomplish is making a feature film.
RG: Oh, cool.
Justin: Right now I’m writing a script with a buddy of mine called Fox Hunt [working title] and we’re on our third rough draft. So I’m doing that and I just directed a music video shoot for Universal Music Group with the band 16 Second Stare and then we have a shoot in Vegas right after. There’s a lot going on but I’m also learning some things and it’s guiding me in a good direction, which is cool.
RG: So let’s backtrack a bit. I’ve seen a few different student demo reels and I started noticing that a lot of them featured the same projects, yours included. I’m guessing you guys were all in the same class?
Justin: Here’s the thing: we weren’t. It was only Wesley, Wuz Good, Armstrong and I who were in the same class. The other people in our group were all in different months. We just adapted to other students who were hungry to do good work.
RG: There’s a preconceived notion that by going to a film school, you instantly become a director after graduation. Then people slowly realize that it’s just the beginning after you graduate. When was that realization for you that you weren’t gonna be Spielberg right after film school?
Justin: Honestly man, I realized that before I came to Full Sail. When I watch a movie with family and friends, I’ll put on the behind the scenes after they leave. I’ll watch for how people do things on the set and listen for the terms they use. There are so many hints and tricks you can learn from the director commentary. I watch movies for color coordination, correction, and theory. I would also watch with the audio off to study the visuals, body language, and cuts.
So I knew how difficult it’s gonna be. No one is going to have a script handed to them and be asked to direct the next big movie. I’ve had the door slammed on me constantly but I’m always emailing, always talking to people. The film industry is a family but I have to prove myself first.
Knowing everyone’s position on set and what they do is a big factor of being a director. When I’m directing a project I am a control freak for all departments. I’d rather do most of the work (Visuals) for each department. A lot of directors focus on talent and that’s okay but at the end of the day, I want to be pleased with every aspect of my film/product. It’s amazing what I’ve learned from doing so much research. I can make something look like it was a six-figure budget when I only really had between seven to fifteen thousand dollars to work with.
RG: You and your crew over at Lution Media are doing something different with music videos that not a lot of people are doing. Tell us about that.
Justin: Oh, you mean the teasers?
RG: Yeah! I’ve never seen or heard of anybody doing a teaser for a music video.
Justin: The way that came about was because I love movies and I love teasers. So when we shot the music video for TREAL, it had a lot of post production work that needed to be done to it. But I wanted to get something out there to show the fans and just hype it up. When we did 16 Second Stare, I really dove in and just made it really feel like a teaser and it took me two weeks to edit it. I’m picky with my work and I don’t like to do anything half-done. I have to think that something is awesome for me to release it. You have to care about your work.
RG: That’s really cool. Anything else you want to let people know about?
Justin: The one thing that I want current students to get out of this and take away is that they should do outside projects and get on real film sets that are in production, whether it’s commercials, music videos, or actual films because you get to see how they work and see how they run things for real. Because the best film school is being on an actual set. Take your classes and your GPA seriously but just remember, at the end of the day, it’s what your experience looks like outside of school that matters. That’s it really – you know, stay focused and believe in yourself.
RG: Thanks for coming out and doing this interview Justin and good luck to you and Lution Media.
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