While Jones might have “College Prep” right in its name, it might prepare its graduates for college, but that doesn’t mean it is the right fit for every former Eagle. Some, like Kevin Shannon ’16, are focused on bringing the professional goals to light before obtaining a degree.

After attending film school at DePaul University for a year, Shannon decided film school was not the right path for him and began to make feature films with his former classmate.

“A kid that dropped out with me, we teamed up again in Nashville and made a low budget feature film,” said Shannon.

After getting his first taste of independent filmmaking, Shannon has worked on a variety of projects, including dark comedies about southern crime and serious dramas regarding sexual abuse. 

The defining characteristic of his films is a certain adaptability and ability to use a small amount of resources to deliver a sophisticated product.

“A lot of my films are low budget, very limited cast and crew so a lot of the time we have to adapt and make do,” said Shannon.

Shannon credits a lot of his experience with self sufficiency and making do with limited resources to his experiences within the digital imaging community and classes at Jones.

“I learned to be independent and make films with what you have at your disposal, which has helped me with many of my projects,” said Shannon.

Shannon’s next project is a self described, “high energy crime drama” titled Goldfish 金鱼. It hopes to emulate the Hong Kong cinema style and use Chinese-American actors to create an authentic feeling of a crime drama.

The film depicts a Chinese family attempting to achieve the American dream with their restaurant when a crime boss rises to power in the area. The crime boss tries to extort the family, and the conflict leads the family on a journey as their dreams are put on hold as fate has another way for them.

The film will be crowdfunded, and investors will be put in the credits, and in some instances welcomed onto the team with producer roles.

Shannon ultimately hopes for his project be enjoyed by audiences, and to expose them a new audience to a new style of cinema.