Christopher SanPedro, a junior at High School North, received a diploma this summer from the New York Film Academy for his comprehensive program in filmmaking. He spent his time living and shooting on location in New York City.##M:[more]##
Interested in becoming a film director at a very early age, SanPedro was chosen in sixth grade to attend a symposium of the arts. During that time, he met a professor from New York University and they discussed his writings and desire to go to NYU in the future.
“I had been obsessed with watching as many movies as I could for a long time, and after some thinking about what I wanted to do as a career, film seemed like the most natural and fulfilling choice,” he says. “I noticed that I saw different things in movies than other people, and that I had an eye for what made films better.”
His past courses have included digital filmmaking at the Cranbury Arts Council. When he was 10, he worked with J Mitchel Management, a New York City talent agent, who lined up auditions for shows including Law and Order and the Sopranos. “I had a great time auditioning for various roles in New York and was able to get a limited understanding of the casting process, and meet producers and directors,” SanPedro says. “This also guided me towards film making, in that after a while I realized that I wanted to be a part of the greater process of directing, as opposed to acting.”
Now in his ninth year of studying piano at Westminster Conservatory, he also plays drums in his band, Aether, which has placed first, second, and third in various high school battles of the bands. The group has also played at Finnegan’s in East Windsor and at Plainsboro Founders Day. SanPedro also plays snare drum for North Marching Band.
“At every show we play a mix of covers and originals,” he says. “We write our own music as often as we can, but we also find it really entertaining for the audience when we play other artists songs that are obviously better known than our own.”
Future plans include studying filmmaking and updating his portfolio in pursuit of a filmmaking degree in the future. He hopes that his music, acting, writing, and filmmaking will help him to become the director he wants to be.
“I really do hope that everything I know will be able to make me a better director,” SanPedro says. “Because I have a little knowledge in all of these fields, I hope to dabble in all of the parts of making a film; from choosing and composing music, to working with actors, to building a creative vision, and then bringing it all together.”
