SHON WHOM

Shon Bell

My name is Shon Bell, however, I currently go by Shonwhomvideo on my socials. I’ve known that I was meant to be an artist when I was seven and started drawing along with taking art classes to the age of fourteen. During my middle school years, Youtube was gaining influence and I remember filming fan made music videos and skits with my best friends. Despite my body wanting to fold into itself in embarrassment at the thought of middle school me thinking I was hilarious, the process of recording and editing videos made me feel fulfilled.

Just a few years after making home videos, I was accepted into Communications Arts High School where I was able to taking multiple media classes including photoshop, coding, editing, script writing, and eventually video announcements that were published every other Friday or so. During my senior year, my video announcements group and I were privileged enough to be in charge of shooting and editing a “Don’t Drink and Drive” campaign video that resulted in the five of us each gaining a two-thousand dollar check for our hard efforts. It felt so rewarding, I knew that video is what I was meant to do, whether that be in product, music videos, short films, ads or full-length motion pictures.

Eventually when I graduated High School, like most, I felt lost. I didn’t have money to apply to college nor did I have money to go to college. I had no idea what I was doing and I didn’t want to waste money by changing my mind multiple times, switching schools ... view more »

My name is Shon Bell, however, I currently go by Shonwhomvideo on my socials. I’ve known that I was meant to be an artist when I was seven and started drawing along with taking art classes to the age of fourteen. During my middle school years, Youtube was gaining influence and I remember filming fan made music videos and skits with my best friends. Despite my body wanting to fold into itself in embarrassment at the thought of middle school me thinking I was hilarious, the process of recording and editing videos made me feel fulfilled.

Just a few years after making home videos, I was accepted into Communications Arts High School where I was able to taking multiple media classes including photoshop, coding, editing, script writing, and eventually video announcements that were published every other Friday or so. During my senior year, my video announcements group and I were privileged enough to be in charge of shooting and editing a “Don’t Drink and Drive” campaign video that resulted in the five of us each gaining a two-thousand dollar check for our hard efforts. It felt so rewarding, I knew that video is what I was meant to do, whether that be in product, music videos, short films, ads or full-length motion pictures.

Eventually when I graduated High School, like most, I felt lost. I didn’t have money to apply to college nor did I have money to go to college. I had no idea what I was doing and I didn’t want to waste money by changing my mind multiple times, switching schools or changing my degree. I’ve heard that you don’t need to go to film school but I was also told it doesn’t hurt and would be a good idea. Not knowing what to do, I just started working as a barista. I’d never made my own money before and making money seemed like a good past-time. Until, I needed it to survive and couldn’t make videos the way I’d always wanted to.

Fast forward to 2019, after not producing any video work, I met a photographer who ended up becoming my best friend and hype-woman. She encouraged me to pick up my camera again. She helped me shoot my first short film in December 2019-January 2020 after my four-year break and it reminded me of why I loved videography so much. We shot our first wedding in March of 2020 and then…you know… pandemic happened. I got an “adult” job in 2021 being an executive assistant for a realty review company that took up A LOT of my time and took me away from making videos along with draining the creative life out of me. I, again, needed to make more money to survive because there were bills and rent to pay.

I no longer work that “adult” job and filmed and finished a few product videos. Now I’m attempting to pick up more jobs in this year. It’s difficult because I feel like I’m still starting from square one but I’m trying my best to teach myself something new every day. I’m in the middle of writing several suspense/thriller short-films (my favorite genre) and making product work in the meantime.

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Resume (PDF)

SHON_BELL_VIDEOGRAPHER-RESUME-24

MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST

Artist Style: Visual Art : Abstract , Experimental ; product, short film

Artist Statement of Work

Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):

I adore suspense, thriller, psychological and analog horror. It scares but interests me because the genre, when done well, can make you question what you're actually afraid of. It's not scaring you for the sake of it, it will usually make you think something along the lines of "what if this WAS real" because it borders the line of what could very possibly happen to you. To me, the genre makes me feel like I've been there or I've seen it before in a dream, something intangible that I can't one hundred percent recall but makes my gut cave in a little at the familiarity. When it comes to creating or writing media like a film (short or full-length) or music video, I love there being at least one twist or element that is just weird enough to stand out and make people feel uneasy. I like the idea of making people think or being a little weirded out. Death, Ghosts, Evil Vs. Good, Morality, Purgatory, Dreams, the Subconscious, Emotions, Psychology, Sociology - these are all themes I usually love to touch on in some way, shape or form. I feel like the more conversation around these topics, the less scary they might become or the more willing humanity might be willing to embrace it. Along with that, I'd primarily prefer to include woman of brown, black and/or asian ethnicity into my stories. Not necessarily focusing on their ethnicity but different minorities just existing in these stories. I want to normalize seeing different faces/bodies in mainstream media.

Culturally Specific Art Category

Select Culturally Specific Art Category:: Black or African American, Asian or Asian American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander

VIDEOS

Product Reel(s)