Alumni Wren Weichman's video, "The Hero," opened up the South by Southwest Video Game Awards in Austin, Texas last weekend
Maggie Smet |
Wren Weichman’s 133,867 subscribers on YouTube could fill up the Chiles Center almost 27 and a half times. But in 2011, Weichman was a senior University of Portland mechanical engineering major, pondering what to do after his impending graduation.
Weichman’s video opened up the South by Southwest (SXSW) Video Game Awards in Austin, Texas last weekend. He has amassed about 15 million total views on his YouTube videos featuring visual effects that rival your favorite summer blockbuster.
“It was pretty cool to actually see, or experience, a ton of people watching the video with you and laughing, and being like “OH SNAP!” at all the right moments” Weichman said in a video posted on YouTube.
Weichman’s channel, wrenthereaper, started out as a hobby during his time on The Bluff. He learned how to produce visual effects like clones, fire and smoke from online tutorials.He applied for the YouTube Next Up program that fosters youtuber talent, with a top prize of $35,000. Although he didn’t win, it was a turning point. Through the work and preparation of applying for Next Up, Weichman realized that film and effects was his passion.
A few months after graduation, he headed to Los Angeles to make a go at film.
“I literally packed up everything into my car, and just drove down to LA, no idea what to expect, no idea what to do,” Weichman said. “I ended up having to live in my car for a couple days and put all my stuff in a public storage locker. I realized when I got down there, I have no idea what I’m doing.”
Once settled in LA, Weichman honed his skills by working for and learning from the team behind popular YouTube channel CorridorDigital. He was a production assistant on their Sync video series, and started filming and editing behind the scenes videos on set.
Armed with new knowledge and experience, Weichman won the Next Up prize in January of 2013, one of 30 winners out of 20,000 applicants. This meant money, equipment and access to YouTube Space LA, a studio and editing space for YouTubers. Out of this experience, Weichman’s largest project was born.
“The OMEn Chronicles” is an action packed saga set in the wizarding world of Harry Potter 15 years after the Battle of Hogwarts. The 12 minute and 44 second video took Weichman and his collaborators almost a year from their initial concept, to clicking the upload button on YouTube. Weichman estimates he spent at least 1,600 hours total working on “OMEn”, most of it in post-production.
“The problem was, I didn’t know how to do most of the visual effects I wanted to do,” Weichman said with a laugh. “Like all the smoke stuff I had no idea how to do, I just knew I could probably figure out.”
Weichman’s newest project was a video that opened up the SXSW Video Game Awards. He was recommended by his friends at CorridorDigital, and boosted by the fact that the show manager and his kids regularly watched and quoted Weichman’s videos. The video takes on gaming culture in a fresh light, with a female lead character.
“That video we specifically wanted to have a female lead, because the guy who wrote it and myself felt that women are really underrepresented in gaming culture, but they’re still a huge presence in it,” Weichman said. “So we wanted to show the strong female character lead, but in a humorous fashion.”
Weichman and Technician Supervisor Allen Hansen met at UP while Weichman worked in the mechanical engineering lab. Hansen remembers seeing some of Weichman’s first videos.
“Some of his first videos, the stuff that he does, I was just blown away and his new stuff is just through the roof. It’s absolutely astonishing what he can accomplish,” Hansen said.
Weichman’s ultimate goal is to direct a feature-length movie, but knows it isn’t easy. Going forward, he is at a crossroad between being just another name in the credits, and following his own path.
“I honestly don’t know what I want. I’ve been in such a weird confused state, where I don’t know what I want to do with my life,” Weichman said. “I always wanted to helm my own ideas, which is every filmmaker’s dream. That isn’t necessarily something that can happen for everyone. A lot of luck plays into it. I’m just trying really hard to make sure that luck can possibly pay off.”
