BYUH student Elias Jessop shares his diverse work experience and his involvement in the "The Chosen"
Elias Jessop, a sophomore majoring in TESOL education from Utah, is a videographer who has worked on music videos, wedding videos, commercials, movies and television shows all around the world. He said many of his projects have been good, but the ones that mean the most to him are those that have influenced people’s souls by attracting them with sophisticated camera work.
“The majority of the projects I’ve worked on have had a positive impact on people’s lives. It makes me feel like I’m bringing something good into the world,” he shared. “Many of the music videos I am involved in are capable of healing the audience because those productions have positive and uplifting tones.”
Yukina Moriya, a junior majoring in business marketing from Japan who is working with Jessop as a business consultant, explained Jessop has taught her to focus on building up her business rather than trying to gain new skills and talents in anticipation of starting her own business.
A camera operator for “The Chosen”
Jessop was involved in creating season two of “The Chosen,” which was released in the Spring of 2021. Jessop said he was lucky to have worked on “The Chosen” and explained, “I knew the right people.” “The Chosen” team needed a behind-the-scenes videographer to document the series, and he was recommended through a friend.
Moriya said Jessop is good at reaching out and building good relationships with people. She said Jessop cares about the people around him, whether they are his friends or his clients. “Elias puts in [a lot of] effort to make sure to make his clients happy. For instance, he spends more than 10 hours just choosing music for the wedding videos [he creates] by taking the clients’ atmosphere and the feel of the wedding into account,” Moriya explained.
Jessop said smiling, “I’ve gotten to work with incredible people who are outstanding characters. I was able to interact with people much more successful than me. My job was like a free mentorship program even though I got paid to do it.”
He said he’s been able to receive advice, counsel with others and be inspired by people he would normally never get to meet or talk with. “When you’re working with people who are very high achievers and are very successful, or very good at what they do, it inspires you while you’re working with them to do your best,” Jessop shared reflecting on his experiences.
Jessop said “The Chosen” production team wanted him to come back for season three, but he didn’t because he decided to come to BYU–Hawaii and get a degree. Moriya said, “He accomplishes a lot of things that many people never do. He does things that people usually think they do not have to do.”
Shooting music videos in Europe
Jessop said he traveled to Ireland to make a music video for classical musician Jason Lyle Black. While he was there, he also made a video for an Irish singing group called Celtic Woman, Jessop said. Later he said he went to England to film a music video for singer Patrice Tipoki and pianist Paul Cardall’s song, “Son of God,” a song about Jesus Christ’s birth told through Mary’s point of view.
In the same year, Jessop said he returned to Ireland and filmed a video with Camille Nelson, a singer and the sister of Steven Sharp Nelson, the cellist for The Piano Guys. The music video he created with her has more than 664,000 views on YouTube.
Working with Bollywood
Jessop said he has also worked as a camera operator in Bollywood, which refers to the popular genre Hindi cinema, and Tollywood, which is a form of cinema from India produced in the Telugu language. However, Jessop said he wasn’t working in India. Instead, he explained he worked with companies from India that filmed in Utah, New York and Detroit. One of his works with these companies was a Tollywood film called “Amar Akbar Anthony” in 2018, which is available on Amazon Prime.
He said, “In Tollywood or Bollywood, I had a few positions: gimbal operator, camera operator and first AC. The first AC stands for assistant camera. That means whenever the[director of photography] decided to operate the camera, I would work as a focus puller and make sure that the shots were in focus.” He added he was also in charge of setting up the camera for the set. He said he made sure all the settings were correct, the lenses were on it and everything was ready to go.
Developing new videography skills
Jessop said he has also worked on commercials for things like cars and university hospitals. He added, “I worked as a part of a team. There [were other] people who focused on lighting or focused on makeup or on set design.”
Jessop said when he worked on a commercial for Jeep, he had to make a cage on the front of the car looking into it, on the side of the car getting shots of the wheel and from behind looking under the car. He shared, “We working this way to flip it backwards.”
Moriya added, “He doesn’t do it all. If he thinks he is not good at something, he just asks others who are more familiar with it.”
Looking to the future
Jessop said at one time, he used to work in a call center but he hated it. He decided to change his job to videography because he could make money and do something he enjoyed.
“I used to be a stuntman. Then I started filming friends who did stunts ... just [to get] videos of me and my friends,” he shared. One of his first film projects was a wedding, Jessop said. He shared he has been doing weddings in Hawaii because they are very accessible.
Jessop continued, “In the wedding videos, I tried to do a good job of making them nostalgic and reminiscent of their wedding day. Even if you didn’t attend their wedding, for example, you could watch their video and feel like, ‘Oh, I feel like I was there. I feel like I connect with it.’”
In addition, Jessop explained videography is a pretty flexible job. He said he doesn’t like having to pick only one job and instead wants to have several jobs, including jobs as a videographer, photographer and English teacher.
Moriya said, “He is the kind of person who I have never met before. In a good way. He tries multiple things and he can manage them. For example, he had never shot videos before he started it for his business, but he managed the job.”
She said Jessop can find ways to manage new challenges since he never gives up and is always optimistic.
Jessop said in the future he wants to be able to work on projects that allow him todo an occasional documentary where he can travel the world and shoot a film for a month. However, that requires a more secure financial future, he explained.