This week’s Spotlight is on Tyler Johnson. Tyler grew up in Walterboro and is the son of Scott Johnson and Laurie Bell. He attended Colleton Prep Academy and is a Junior at the University of South Carolina Beaufort (USCB) majoring in Communications Studies.
Johnson explains why he chose Communications Studies, “It was a good major choice for me, that allowed me to explore many of the avenues of media production that I’m interested in without kind of pigeonholing myself into one area.”
Media runs in Tyler’s family. His father, Scott works in media production and Tyler has been around it his entire life. Tyler says, “I have video footage, of me being four years old, running around the house with the mini DV, Sony camcorder. I like joking that I caused my parents to have to spend a lot of money on mini DV tapes, because I filled them up so much. I remember buying my first camera that was really mine. It was a was cheap Canon from Walmart. I instantly started working with my friends to make YouTube videos. I would write these loose scripts, and we would go out into Forest Hills on the neighborhood streets and make these little movies at 11 or 12 years old.”
Johnson is very creative and has a number of hobbies. He loves music explaining, “I love playing the guitar and writing music. I play the guitar. I play the bass. I can hold a beat on the drums and had to learn at least the basics of all of these instruments because there was really no one around my age to form a band, so I would play all these instruments out of necessity to record my own songs.”
In addition to music and video Tyler is also into woodworking and carpentry.
As part of his studies at USCB, Tyler is participating in the ETV Endowment Internship at WJWJ-TV in Beaufort. Working at ETV is a kind of homecoming for Tyler. His father was the station manager at the time and he says, “I spent a good portion of my childhood going to the station before it was temporarily shut down in 2012. I was eight when that happened, and that was heartbreaking for me. I loved going into that studio so much. When I heard that there was a summer internship being offered I just knew I had to apply, and I just felt like that would be almost poetic to return to the station. I was pulling back into the parking lot on my first day, and I saw Coleman Hall. I instantly started getting emotional, and I had to sit in the parking lot for a little bit to kind of collect myself. I had to make sure that I didn’t look teary eyed on my first day.”
One of the most notable projects he works on is the Coastal Kingdom program under direction of Rob Lewis. Coastal Kingdom is an award-winning wildlife program hosted by Tony Mills. Tyler explains some of his tasks. “The Coastal Kingdom shoots takes me from trudging through Lowcountry swamps all the way to the white sand beaches of Hunting Island. I am assisting by running cameras and even had the opportunity to edit some footage.”
Tyler did the piece on the Mather School; this regional program highlight a historical building on the Technical College of the Lowcountry campus. Tyler was given creative freedom on the project, “I shot it myself. I conducted the interviews, and I edited the whole project. I really appreciated that I it didn’t feel like there was some big figure over my shoulder directing the project. Holly Jackson and Rob Lewis just provided a helping guiding hand whenever I needed it.”
When asked about career goals, Tyler says, “I feel like at this stage, it would be almost foolish of me to try to hard line a specific goal for myself, because I just I have no idea where this could possibly go. I definitely see myself doing something in the creative field. Whether that is you know, working a full-time job in TV or freelance.
If Tyler had unlimited time and budget, he says he would eat very well, travel internationally and buy the best production gear money can buy.
Johnson added, “I have thoroughly enjoyed and loved working with Holly Jackson and Rob Lewis. It was evident from the first moment that I stepped back into the studio on day one, that they have created an environment that inspires learning and creativity. And I just I couldn’t ask for better people to work with. They do an amazing job.