Update, March 29: The Music Video “Higher Way,” directed by Miguel Hernandez, has recently been accepted into the National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY). NFFTY is a film festival that recognizes young indie filmmakers. Hernandez’s video will be featured in the showcase, along with many more diverse films in Seattle, Washington on April 27 to 30.
Senior Miguel Hernandez has made a name for himself at the high school as a photographer and videographer. Previously, his primary focus was on covering sports events, an example being a documentary he made last year about the varsity basketball team called One Last Ride Wildcats Documentary. However, he has recently branched out and directed a music video.
The rap song featured in the video is called “Higher Way.” There are two artists in the video, Ten Peso Version, full name Ruben Resendiz Jr, is featured along side Jeremiah BGV, full name Jeremiah Wilkerson, who is the main musician featured.
Hernandez and Wilkerson were introduced to each other over a year ago at a graduation party. At the time, Hernandez was unaware he was in the presence of a musician.
“After a couple weeks, someone told me that he actually makes music,” Hernandez said. “It really was just a coincidence.”
Before Hernandez could reach out to Wilkerson about collaborating on a music video, he felt he needed to grow his portfolio. This led to the creation of photos and videos that Northview High School all knows and loves, found on Hernandez’s Instagram.
“Once I had some experience making videos, and I noticed it was my passion, I reached out to him and offered to make the music video,” Hernandez said.
After taking a look at some of his work, Wilkerson agreed. This officially started the process of the music video.
Sophomore Rachel Haagsma was among one of the 2,000 viewers of the music video. She was surprised by the artistry that took place in the video.
“Miguel is just a high school student, so I was surprised [by the video], because the cinematography, the directing and everything was just so good,” Haagsma said.
Despite his passion for filmmaking, Hernandez’s favorite part of the shoot was actually making connections in the film world. Throughout the process he grew acquainted with the actors, the director of photography and the musicians in the video.
“I actually met the people I connect the most with during this,” Hernandez said. “The whole production was me interacting with these people and it was just such a nice experience.”
A ton of planning and thought was put into the creation of the video. However, it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Hernandez and his team.
“The most difficult part [of the music video] was the pre-production. The pre-production consisted of us planning the video for two months, and it was the most stressful part. We did this on purpose, because we wanted the stress before so that way when we were shooting it was stress-free,” Hernandez said.
Even though the pre-production was stressful, post-production had its hassles.
“I don’t know which one was harder, though, because the post-production was tough, too,” Hernandez said. “We especially struggled editing, because none of us had much experience.”
From Wilkerson’s perspective, Hernandez made the whole experience much simpler.
“Miguel made things really fun and easy. I feel like the only thing I had to do was trust the vision,” Wilkerson said. “He had an open ear for suggestions and worked really hard.”
Wilkerson especially appreciates Hernandez’s attitude when working.
“I was able to see very clearly that [Hernandez] had a passion for videography,” Wilkerson said. “He adopted the song as his own and was somehow able to see the song from the artist’s perspective, which was incredibly impressive.”
Despite his confidence in Hernandez, Wilkerson still had doubts about the music video before seeing the final product.
“I saw the video before it was finalized, and I was honestly nervous, because it wasn’t what I envisioned, but the first time I saw the final version was at our premiere, and it blew me away beyond expectations,” Wilkerson said. “It was really cool to see how it all came together, and I’m humbled that I was able to be a part of it.”
For more information on the behind-the-scenes process of the shoot, check out Hernandez’s video where he dives deeper into how he managed to create it.
