By Gianna Barberia, lifestyle editor
At age 4, he saw “Jurassic Park,” and was inspired to make movies. At age 7, his parents gave him his first video camera, and he began directing short films with his three younger sisters. At age 14, he got his first laptop and taught himself how to edit videos. And now, at age 27, he has over 100 million views on YouTube and an ever-growing fan base.
Zach King, known by his audience as the “Final Cut King,” is best known for his “magic trick” vines and short videos in which he uses editing to make the impossible possible. He jumps into moving cars, gets sucked into vacuums and, most notably, makes kittens fight with lightsabers. On Sept.19 in Blackman Auditorium, King spoke to a crowd of more than 60 students to discuss his platform, aspirations and the seemingly magical world he created.
“I always thought he [King] was super cool,” said Marissa Mellenthin, a fourth-year communication studies major and lectures chair of the Council for University Programs. “I thought he would be a good fit for campus.”
Before the lecture even began, King was onstage organizing and rehearsing a Vine he was planning on making later during the talk. It wasn’t surprising given King’s hardworking demeanor, which has been a constant his entire life.
“I think I mowed 150 lawns, and I took some odd jobs at the mall working as a popcorn maker to save up for a $300 camera,” King said. “I submitted [my videos] to contests to help fund my first year of film school.”
What was surprising was learning that film school was delayed for King when he was denied right after high school. He decided to take that year off and make videos on his own, which lead to the creation of his YouTube channel. The channel, which he used to post Final Cut Pro tutorials, quickly garnered 30,000 subscribers. With his audience growing and requesting more content, he posted a video that would change his life forever: “Jedi Kittens.”
The video, which used special effects to make two kittens fight with lightsabers, became a viral sensation overnight and inspired two sequels: “Jedi Kittens Strike Back” and “Jedi Kittens with Force.” Realizing that YouTube was a successful platform, he continued to post new content every Friday with his signature special effects. At that point, he was finally a film student at Biola University in Los Angeles studying cinema and media arts.
“The main five people in my team I met at Biola,” King said. “It’s who you mingle with and the relationships that matter.”
When Vine was released in 2012, King knew it was the perfect platform for his short, awe-inspiring videos. Within four months, he gained 1 million followers. After the discontinuation of the Vine app, King moved his focus to Instagram, which piqued his interest when the video feature was released in 2013. He currently releases weekly content to over 20 million followers. When creating this content, King makes sure the premise fits in what he calls his “universe.” Every video shows real life with a magical twist.
“I’ve seen Zach King’s videos online a lot and always wondered how he filmed them,” said Samantha Rose, a second-year communication studies and business administration double major who attended King’s lecture. “It was really interesting seeing some behind the scenes videos showing how he and his team pulled their ‘magic’ off.”
King’s main focus throughout his career has been to make his videos engaging for all viewers. He keeps them clean, since he wants viewers of all ages to be able to experience them, and he bases them off of real ideas, wishes, inventions and fears. Recently, he decided to talk less during his videos to prevent language barriers.
“The United States is the smallest part of my audience,” King said. “It makes up only about 20 percent. My audience is mostly from the Middle East, Asia and South America.”
To cater to this audience, he tends to post his videos at 7:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, which is when people from the other side of the globe are mainly on their phones.
King’s latest endeavor is not filmmaking or social media-related, but rather a children’s book. Titled “Zach King: My Magical Life,” the graphic novel draws inspiration from books such as “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and follows an 11-year-old named Zach with magical abilities. However, it wouldn’t be a King project without a magical twist. After downloading the free app that goes along with his debut book and using it to scan the pages, special animations pop out.
“We were trying to work on this two years ago, but not a lot of software was available to do so,” King said. “But in the last year, more tools have been released that made this possible.”
The book will be released in the United States on Wednesday. Additionally, Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin already optioned the feature film rights to the book, meaning people may soon be able to see the magic on the big screen. Creating a feature film has been one of King’s biggest goals his entire life.
“I always loved making movies when I was a kid and loved seeing the screen coming alive,” King said. “I find playing with people’s emotions really fascinating, so that’s the goal.”
His advice to young filmmakers trying to make it in the industry: nurture and grow your fan base.
“You have to go deeper with your audience,” King said “Our mission isn’t to change the world — that’s a pretty hefty goal — but to change our community and the people around us.”
