Positioned near the tower of Davis Field with his camera, Matthew Sutton (12) stands out while filming at a football game. Decked out in neutral, yet multi-colored beaded necklaces, an army green flannel, and an Apple watch, he has the perfect combination of grunge and “street” style.

“I tend to wear this Apple watch, which either is never charged, or if it is charged, it is never paired to my phone, so it doesn’t really work,” Matthew said, laughing. “It’s more of a statement of what I wear. You know, it fits with the whole look.”

The camera is not just an accessory: it’s an extension of him.

“I feel with filmmaking, it gives you the ability to create your own world in a way and your own characters,” he said. “Then you create a story for them to play out. I think that can provoke a lot of emotions for people, and just being able to tell that and influence emotions is interesting.”

Matthew perfects his movies with the desire to elicit certain reactions from the audience.

“I tend to go away from the whole controlled kind of route of like, okay, this is what we are doing and this is the time, stuff like that,” he said. “I like to tell more of a story while doing it, and that usually means creating a script that is kind of comedic or thought-provoking. Something that you watch and you afterwards, you get shivers down your spine.”

His unique taste also pertains to the characters he admires, those who typically are not viewed as the traditional heroes of the story.

“I really enjoy characters who are the bad guys, but the audience feels sympathy for them,” Matthew said. “Someone like Loki. He’s the villain in Thor, but at the same time, everyone still loves him and his antics. This villain in the movie isn’t necessarily bad because he’s been through things, and there are so many layers to [his] character. We know why he does what he does.”

Despite the simplicity of the filmmaking concept, the process is not as simple as it seems. Some of his projects have taken up to two months to shoot.

“I tend to just like go overboard and spend the extra money and time and do the extra work just to see what I can create,” he said. “The majority of my time is spent in a dark room with my computer and just putting all these videos together with effects and things like that.”

Senior Lauren Napier pointed out his knack for cinematography.

“I’ve been in a couple of [his movies], and he has a way with making things look good and making a concept look good,” she said. “Even though if he were to tell you it in words, it wouldn’t really make sense to you.”

Matthew may capture characters in his films, but according to Lauren, he’s a character in his own right.

“He’s really sarcastic,” she said. “Sometimes, he’s just funny, but most of the times it’s sarcastic and sometimes it can kind of push people, not like the wrong way, but kind of be like, ‘Oh, wait, is he being sarcastic?’ But anyone who really knows Matthew knows that he’s being funny and to take everything just as a joke.”