Ivy Chan ’24
Dan Zagorii ‘23 is an upper-middler with a passion for videography who came to Mercersburg to develop his skills. Mercersburg News sat down with Dan Zagorii ’23 to discuss his videography career at Mercersburg.
Mercersburg News: When did you first get interested in videography?
Dan Zagorii: It all started really long ago, probably when I was like ten or eleven. All my friends were doing it, and I was hanging out with older people who were into videography. I started trying to learn more about it by helping them out and working on the sets. When I was thirteen, I started editing and when I got myself editing software on my Mac, it just pretty much went from there.
MN: What is the most important thing you need to remember when filming?
DZ: It’s really hard to say because every project is different, but I would say to always keep in mind that you’re telling someone’s story through your work. Put yourself in the shoes of the viewer and keep in mind how they perceive everything that you show.
MN: What do you like filming the most at Mercersburg?
DZ: Last year, I loved filming school events like Irving-Marshall. I really focused on capturing the importance of the tradition as well as how much it can bring the Mercersburg community together. Step Songs were also a really fun filming experience. This year, I’m probably going to do Irving-Marshall again, and probably a lot of sports games and meets.
MN: How does Mercersburg help you expand on your talents?
DZ: Last year, I worked on every single Stony Batter production, fall through spring. I was filming and editing them. And for the musical, I was the one filming and live streaming it. I also did a couple of school events that were fun, like step songs, the bonfire, and Irving-Marshall. In terms of expansion, I am focusing on a lot of freelance projects.
MN: How did you begin to work with Ms. Dowling and Stony Batter?
DZ: We all recognized the fact that last year due to COVID, Stony Batter was not able to perform in person. So, I reached out to Ms. Dowling and offered to film and edit; we just went from there. Most of the productions were adjusted in a way that they could be filmed. Some of them were challenging, and some were pretty straightforward. We had a lot of planning meetings about it, and it ended up working out pretty well.
MN: What does a camera mean to you?
DZ: To me, it’s just a tool that I use to film people – I don’t necessarily symbolize it in any way. I simply use it to accomplish projects and let myself do the rest.