The Gift of a Camcorder Leads to a Passion for Film Making

By Kenneth Young (Whetstone Staff Writer)

Ever since he was a child, Ron Douglas has always loved motion pictures. He wanted a VHS camcorder at the age of 8. His parents didn’t see the point. But his grandparents could.

His grandparents were right.

Douglas, 40, an assistant professor of Multimedia Communication at Wesley, teaches Digital photography, Video Production, Audio Production, Media Aesthetics, and much more.

Douglas said he fits well into a program that mixes video and audio production, graphic design, journalism and liberal arts. These are all things that are important to him.

“I like the students and faculty,” he said. “Living in Delaware is a new experience. I had never been here before coming to Wesley.”

Sophomore Lily Engel had Douglas for Video Production and Photography.

“I liked him as a professor,” she said. “I liked the projects that he would have us do in class. They were both fun and interesting. He was always willing to help anyone with questions they had. He also helped me with other projects, including Scholars day and helping me out with internships.”

“When I first came to Wesley, I was only interested in journalism, but along with Professor Greto and Dr. Nielsen, Douglas convinced me to be a photographer,” said senior Melvin Keldo.

Douglas was born in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, just north of Pittsburgh.

“I grew up in an area that was heavily populated by factory workers,” he said. “When I was young, those factories were being shut down. Beaver Valley never recovered.”

As a child, he played baseball and rode BMX bikes.

“I thought Atari was real cool,” he said.

He was also a constant player of Dungeons and Dragons, but spent a great deal of time in the woods with his friends.

He was, and still is, into metal music.

“I listen to all kinds of metal, except hair metal,” he said. “I listen to that just to laugh at it.”

Some bands he enjoyed include Morbid Angel, Slayer, Megadeth and Crass,

“I enjoyed Iron Maiden before Bruce Dickinson left,” he said. “Anthrax without Joey Belladonna just wasn’t the same.”

Douglas said he remembers the quick evolution of technology in his life.

“I remember the appearance of the first stand-up video games, the VCR, personal computers, VHS camcorders – all things that were really exciting,” he said.

Douglas earned an Associate degree in Communications at the Community College of Beaver County, and then attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies and Religious Studies. He got his Master’s degree in Media Production at the University of Buffalo.

After college, Douglas took on several jobs to survive, including cab driver and freelance video maker. He worked for film crews, traveled the country and made art.

“I had no real career really, I was making my own way as an artist and thinker,” he said.

Douglas expresses a tongue-in-cheek approach to some moments in his life.

“Being born was pretty important, but I can’t say I remember it,” he said. “I had a dream about it once. Learning to talk and walk, but again I can’t say I remember that. I was fortunate enough for both of those things to take place. I’ve been walking and talking since.”

Douglas doesn’t call himself an independent filmmaker, although he’s made several acclaimed documentaries.

“I mean, I’ve never really made my living fully as a filmmaker,” he said – although he’s been making them since he was 8.

During his last year at Pittsburgh, his work started to be shown and distributed. He made short videos, often comedies, and some documentary news videos.

“It really wasn’t until graduate school that I really started to make substantial work that reached large audiences,” he said. “I continue to make short videos and experiment with digital media.”

He said he’s working on a “substantive documentary, but I don’t want to say too much about it since documentaries do not always pan out. I’m also about a quarter of the way through a horror/comedy screenplay and doing research on activist videos and educational films. I have always loved making film.”