Meet This Artist: Filmmaker Jordan Wiley

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Jordan Wiley’s artistic ambitions started back at Pittsboro Elementary School, with a teacher his mom credits with igniting his art interest, Darren Wellman. Jordan is now a prolific filmmaker and a freshman at Northwood High School, with a few short film festivals already under his belt. For some, the pandemic was a time to slow down, but for Jordan, it was a time to really dig deep into his filmmaking interest, and perhaps follow in his dad’s (local actor Mike Wiley) film career footsteps. Read on to read about this talented young filmmaker, including some interesting perspectives from his mom, Jodi Wiley!

Tell me about yourself.

Jordan: I’ve always been drawn to creativity. I have a lot of ideas that I’ve been holding on to, so whenever I have a chance to do a video, I feel like all those ideas come flooding out. When I started doing films, I started with stop motion, then I learned how to edit, and then I began making short films.

Where do you think your interest in film came from? 

Jordan: Probably my dad, but I also think my interest in movies is about the stories and all the different shots and everything. I just love it. 

Jodi: He really got going with film when the pandemic hit. He just started videoing everything. That’s also when he started his YouTube channel. I wasn’t surprised by it because he’s always been into movies. I’m not an artist at all, so it’s really cool to see it. He likes to teach himself how to do things—he taught himself how to play the keyboard, how to play the ukulele, and how to edit videos. That’s just what he does. 

Tell me about some of your influences in film. What kind of movies do you like?

Jordan: I like comedies, but I feel like I’m more inspired by serious films. Comedies are hilarious, but serious movies are more about the shots and angles. I feel like if it’s not about being funny the whole time, you have to work harder to get your audience focused on the story.

Are there certain directors that you tend to gravitate toward? 

Jordan: Spielberg has been a big influence because of all the classic movies he’s made. I also like Guy Richie’s gangster movies, and of course Jordan Peele.

What’s your favorite movie? 

Jordan: I can only pick one? That’s hard.

Okay, how about your top three? 

Jordan: One of my top ones is the movie “Harriet,” which is about Harry Tubman. My second one is the new movie about Elvis, and the third is “Indiana Jones.” In “Elvis,” the shots, the camera movements, the details, and all of the colors tell a story. How they captured all of that on film is incredible. I was talking about this with my dad, about how you see a guy holding a shovel way in the background in one of the scenes. You don’t see that a lot in movies—the attention to detail that they put into it astounds me. 

So you’re a Jordan Peele fan? 

Jordan: Definitely. I haven’t seen all of his movies. Some of them are pretty scary. But I’ve seen “Nope,” and I love “Key and Peele.” I like how he writes comedy sketches. I think he’s really talented at combining comedy with good shots. “Nope” is one of the movies that has great attention to detail. All the different Easter eggs in it are amazing. With somebody like Jordan Peele, there’s nothing in his movies that was an accident. There are so many things that he clearly put in for a reason, even though they were small. 

What do you think makes a good film? 

Jordan: Obviously you have to have good actors, but sometimes it just takes a great director plus a solid crew because the lighting, the storytelling, and the sound combined will make a film. You can’t just have one person doing that—you have to have a whole army. 

What catches your eye when you’re watching a movie? Do you feel you tend to pay more attention to the dialogue, the cinematography, or the details? 

Jordan: I pay more attention to what the actor is doing, rather than what he’s saying. I feel like the facial expressions seal the deal. 

Jodi: He always notices things in movies that we don’t see. Even his dad, who’s really into movies, doesn’t always notice the things that Jordan does. Jordan will say, “Dad, did you see what just happened?” It could be something in the background. Then he’ll rewind it to rewatch what he observed. He notices all of the small details that might not be right in front of you. 

Let’s talk a little bit about your movies. Let’s start with the short film, “Roll” which features a can rolling through the town. 

Jodi: In February, he was asked to submit a short film for the Black Theater Festival in Chapel Hill. He submitted “Roll.”

Jordan: I was thinking about different things I could do, and it was hard because my ideas are big, and it needed to be a short film. I remember we were riding in the car, and I saw a plastic bag drifting by, which made me think about inanimate objects. Then I had the idea of a can rolling through different places. I would have liked to work on that film a little bit more, but maybe I’ll come back to it in the future. But I had a very short timeframe to put it together. 

What made you choose “Blackbird” by the Beatles as the featured song in “Roll”? 

Jordan: I definitely wanted a Beatles song in there, so I listened to a lot of Beatles music when I was putting the film together. I chose “Blackbird” because the can rolling away is like the bird is leaving the nest. 

Tell me about your remake of the “The Wolf Man.” Where did that idea come from? 

Jordan: That was definitely my favorite short film that I’ve ever done. I love 1940s horror movies in black and white. 

Jodi: Jordan’s favorite holiday is Halloween. He wanted to premiere his version of “The Wolf Man” on Halloween night. This was during the earlier days of the pandemic, so they had all this free time. He kept watching the original version of “The Wolf Man” over and over, and then he said he had an amazing idea. During that stage of the pandemic, we set up a movie screen in the front yard by the garage and then invited Jordan’s friends over to play video games or watch movies outside because it was something safe to do. Then he came up with the idea of having this movie premiere. 

We decided to give him a $100 budget for it so he could buy props and pay actors as he saw fit. We thought he could learn some math skills in the process and learn budgeting. He had to write out what he was using the money for, calculate how much money he had left, and make sure he didn’t go over his budget. 

Jordan: Paying the actors was definitely the biggest expense because it was hot out, and we were just standing out there in the woods for a very long time, trying to perfect the shot. 

What was it like having your dad as an actor in your movie? 

Jordan: It was tough because obviously he knows a lot more than me. Telling him what to do was strange, but he did give me a lot of feedback. 

Did you write the screenplay yourself? 

Jordan: Yeah, but I didn’t write the whole thing all at once because I didn’t have enough time. After every scene we shot, I would go back home and type the next scene out. 

Who did all the editing? 

Jordan: Just me. 

Wow. Did you teach yourself how to edit? 

Jordan: Kind of. My dad taught me the basics of iMovie, but after that, it was just me. 

Jodi: Jordan’s gone way above and beyond his dad at this point. Jordan shows him what to do sometimes! In fact, Mike has even given him little editing jobs to do for him. 

Tell me about the short film you did for the Hayti Film Festival, “Change.” 

Jordan: That was very challenging because there was a 72-hour limit. They sent us an email about what the topic was, and then we only had 72 hours to produce the short film. 

Jodi: He was the only kid who submitted a film, and he got third place!

Jordan: I’d like to give a shout-out to my dad’s friend Jay, who gave me a bunch of stock video to use. That was a blessing.

Who inspires you? 

Jordan: I’d say definitely my parents, seeing how hard they work on their jobs and what really inspires them. I’m also inspired by different directors who had it really rough when they started out.  

Jodi: Ever since Jordan was little, he’s always been into art. In elementary school, he was definitely into drawing and other types of art. Mr. Wellman was his art teacher at Pittsboro Elementary, and I feel like he’s probably one of Jordan’s favorite teachers. They still keep in touch—he just gave Jordan a bunch of art supplies a couple weeks ago. In fact, Jordan still goes and volunteers at the summer camps that Mr. Wellman runs. I feel like he really tried to pull the art out of Jordan. I think he was one of the biggest inspirations.