IN OUR COMMUNITY: ALUMNI
Awakening Lifelong Dreams
Class of 1982 alumnus discovered a passion for cinematography through his Minimester internship.
PHOTOS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: William " Bunt " Young ' 82 in 2013; Mr. Young filmed for the Great TV Auction at WCVE PBS in 1981; Working as a camera operator on“ Mercy Street” in 2016; Shooting a TV commercial for American Family Fitness Center in 2011
When William“ Bunt” Young’ 82 reflects on his preteen years, he remembers a young man who was lost. He wasn’ t succeeding academically or socially. He felt he didn’ t fit in with most children his age, so his self-confidence was low. But that all changed when he came to The Steward School in eighth grade.
“ It was a shock at first to come to a school where there were maybe a dozen people in the entire grade,” he said.“ But after a while, I started to feel like I could fit in. I made lots of friends and I started to feel comfortable with myself, and I think it was largely due to those small class sizes.”
If it weren’ t for Steward, Mr. Young may have never discovered his passion for cinematography. He now has more than 35 years of experience in the television and film industry as a director of photography and camera operator for dozens of commercials, TV series documentaries, and TV films. Notable projects include photographing the Indianapolis 500 for ESPN, capturing the unearthing of an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus for Fox News’“ Opening the Tombs of Golden Mummies Live,” and shooting 36 episodes of the crime series Wicked Attraction on Investigation Discovery.
It all started when Mr. Young was preparing for Minimester( previously known as“ Alternate Program”) during his sophomore year at Steward. Former Steward art teacher Paul Osborne knew about his interest in television and film, so he helped Mr. Young acquire an internship at WCVE PBS. During that time, he learned the basics of TV lighting and how to operate studio camera equipment.
His interest in communications spilled over into his extracurricular involvement at Steward, where he participated in the creation of the yearbook and made several short films for class projects. In addition, his love of film was solidified when his English class read Joseph Conrad’ s classic novel Heart of Darkness followed by a viewing of Francis Ford Coppola’ s famous war drama Apocalypse Now starring Marlon Brando.
“ Seeing that film on the big screen made me say,‘ yeah, that’ s what I want to do,’” he said.“ I felt encouraged by the faculty and empowered to pursue what I knew I really enjoyed, so I had the confidence to go after my dreams.”
After his Minimester internship was completed, Mr. Young ended up working for WCVE PBS part time after school. He later worked at the station full time for two years before leaving to pursue an opportunity at a commercial production company called BES Teleproductions( now BES Studios), where he took on his first position as director of photography.
He went on to work for a traveling production company owned by Canadian comedian and producer Norm Macdonald before becoming a full-time freelance cinematographer, which he still is today. Currently, Mr. Young is working with a friend to get a new TV series off the ground, in addition to shooting commercials in his spare time.
“ I have the confidence and drive to keep moving forward because of Steward, where no one ever said to me,‘ you can’ t do that’ or‘ that’ s never going to happen,’” he said.
22 | The Colonnade
Check out the trailer for the 2006 documentary "God Grew Tired of Us: The Story of Lost Boys of Sudan," which Mr. Young worked on.