Banjo Carmichael
| Banjo Carmichael | |
|---|---|
| Born | Brandon G. Tiehen December 4, 1999 Redmond, Washington |
| 🏡 Residence | The Greater Seattle Area of Washington State |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Asian, Hawaiian, and Caucasian |
| Other names | Banjo Carmichael |
| 🏫 Education | Edmonds Woodway High School |
| 💼 Occupation | Actor, Filmmaker, & Musician |
| 📆 Years active | 2009 - Present |
| Known for | The Man Who Came To Dinner (Play), Inherit The Wind (Play), The Poker Table (Play), In The Gutter (One-Act Play), Curtain Call (Short Film), Intermental (Short Film), The Green Room (Short Film) |
| Notable work | Intermental (Short Film), The Green Room (Short Film), The Poker Table (One-Act Play), In The Gutter (One-Act Play), Curtain Call (Short Film) |
| 🏡 Home town | Edmonds, Washington |
| 🌐 Website | BanjoCarmichael.tk imdb.com/name/nm9399607/ |
Banjo Carmichael is an American actor, filmmaker, and musician. When Carmichael was a freshman in high school, he took an acting class, taught by Bruce Mindt, which later lead him to auditioning into Mindt's play production group at EWHS (ewhsplaypro.com, @ewhsplaypro). From there, Banjo's filmmaking took off. Throughout his high school career, he helped with and made videos including "Best of EW: Play Production", "Class of 2018 Sophomore Skit", teasers for the upcoming plays, and even videos for school clubs.
Over the summer of 2017, Carmichael got together with friends Ivy Votolato, Neo King, Muhamad Faal, and Josh Brown to film a short film called "Curtain Call", which is to be/was released December 4th, 2017. "The short was experimental; I'd never done a noir-style film before, so this was a fun challenge."
Carmichael has strong suits in acting, video editing, directing, writing, cinematography, and all the basic roles of video production as a whole. He even set up a website where people can view his work and portfolio by coding and designing it himself. Needless to say, aside from the arts, he likes to learn the software and coding side of technology in his free time.
Young Life[edit]
As a child, Banjo Carmichael always loved to watch movies, and listen to music. He would watch a movie, and then go "play it". One of his favorites was The Iron Giant. After watching that movie, Banjo would put on his little toy helmet, grab his hockey stick, which his mother had taped a flashlight to the end of, and put on a coat. The goal behind that was to become Hogarth Hughes, the main character in the movie. This was something Banjo did with various other films such as Brother Bear, Spiderman (starring Tobey Maguire), and more.
At the age of four, Banjo began dancing. As he got older, his main class was tap. Since that age, he has been performing on stage. When he was in the fourth grade, he auditioned into a marimba ensemble at his elementary school and continued in it through the sixth grade. That was really where he began learning to play percussion and piano.
Early Influences[edit]
Banjo has always loved watching "older" movies and shows, ranging as far back as Street Scene (movie, 1931) and I Love Lucy, and as classic as Married With Children, Knightrider, The Breakfast Club, A Few Good Men, and more including Ferris Bueller's Day Off. John Hughes movies were really the biggest film/video influence on Banjo. He would watch the angles, movements, and transitions carefully to learn about rules such as the 180° rule, and more. He also would watch a channel on YouTube widely known as Indy Mogul, a DIY low‐budget filmmaking.
Aside from Indy Mogul, Banjo also grew up (and continues to enjoy) watching the popular YouTube Channel known as Film Riot.[1] where he has learned much more of the advanced side of filmmaking that he knows today. On Film Riot, he learned advanced editing techniques, software options, cinematography techniques, and much more. "Film Riot is like free film school for me." Carmichael claimed[2]
In theatre an stage performances, Banjo's earliest influences were musicals such as The Phantom of the Opera, which his mother had introduced to him at a very young age. For music, Banjo always loved listening to music artists such as The Eagles, Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, and a plethora of other artists ranging from the 1920's up through the late 80's.
Play Production[edit]
Play Production has been one of—if not the—most impactful parts of Banjo's life, to this day. There is where he met some of his best friends, grew closer with his two closest friends, who are like brothers to him, and even met his director and mentor. "This class is more than just a class...it's a family." is how Banjo describes the group. "When I'm having a bad day, I can always go to the theatre, or to Play Pro and know that I'm home and free."
Getting Started[edit]
In the sixth grade, at the age of twelve, Banjo met his long‐time best friend, who also had interest in acting and filmmaking. Together they became the inseperable duo they are today. In 8th grade, they met a rapper by the name of "Moticulous". Banjo continued with them into Drama I and II in his freshman year of high school, where he met his director, and soon‐to‐be mentor, Bruce Mindt. Towards the end of the year, Mindt asked Banjo, Neo, and Muhamad if they were auditioning for Play Production. That was the deciding moment in Banjo's head. The deciding moment that he will audition.
In April, he auditioned and made it to the callbacks using a monologue from a one-act called Thirst by Eugene O'Neill. He then found out, the next day, that he had made it into Play Production. That was super exciting to Banjo. He then did many shows with that group including Street Scene, The Crucible, The Man Who Came To Dinner, You Can't Take It With You, and even wrote, directed, and acted in his own original one‐act, In The Gutter. That was an amazing experience. In fact, Muhamad was cast as the lead, and his friend, Adrian Mains, saved the show, memorizing an entire part the same week of the show during dress rehearsals. He now continues to write plays and short films on his own and with other filmmakers and actors he knows and meets.
The Impact[edit]
"I really owe it to Mindt for teaching me everything I know about theater and acting." In Play Production, so many lives have been changed by the sense of community and family. It has helped some people pull out of some really rough situations. Even though Banjo has not had to go through some of the stuff others have, he really appreciates all that the group and Mindt have done for him. He has had some very serious family issues happen, and during those times, that group and being able to be on stage and let out those emotions through a character has helped him tremendously in being happy.
"...Yes, we have a director, and that's helpful for notes, but in the end, it's between me and the stage, nobody to tell me what I can or can't do, who or what I can or can't be...and that's where the sense of freedom comes from, where as I don't really have that anywhere else..."
What He's Up To Now[edit]
Banjo Carmichael is now working and building his career as an actor, filmmaker, and musician. He is founder of the production companies Thespian Studios and Hole 17 Films, and does as much theater as he can.
Acting[edit]
As an actor, Banjo Carmichael had been in Street Scene, The Mouse That Roared, In The Gutter, The Man Who Came To Dinner, The Crucible, You Can't Take it With You, Museum, The Dining Room, The Whole Darn Shooting Match, The Poker Table, and Inherit The Wind by the time he was out of high school. He continues to do theater work when he can. Theater is one of Banjo's biggest loves and passions to this day.
He has been involved in community theater for a while now around the area where he lives, and has landed roles in shows such as A Christmas Carol[3] and Avenue Q.
Filmmaking[edit]
Carmichael continues to make films of all kinds and genres, and still loves it endlessly. "I will make movies until Hell freezes over...and I may not even stop then!" he says. He has been writing and shooting short films since the age of just twelve years old. Although some never made it out of his personal computer, he has learned a lot and has plenty of sketches to show for it.
"My buddy and I have a series of these 'Untitled' videos. They're just random videos full of strange, unrelated sketches from music videos to silent film chase scenes, to recreations of dances from popular TV shows." According to Banjo, he gained the most experience-based knowledge from these sketches because the challenges he and his friend posed each other with every time they came up with a new sketch or video.
However, he also has a strong-building portfolio of short films coming along just from the few years.
| Short Film | Release Date | Director | Company |
|---|---|---|---|
| Letters | October 19, 2018 | Brandon Tiehen | Hole 17 Films Rosburg Productions |
| The Green Room | October 5, 2018 | Brandon Tiehen | Thespian Studios Hole 17 Films |
| Intermental | April 25, 2018 | Josh Brown | (None) |
| Curtain Call | December 4, 2017 | Brandon Tiehen | TiehenKing |
Music[edit]
Having been self-taught on nearly every instrument he can play (including Guitar, Piano, Ukulele, Piano, and more). He even taught himself within the course of two weeks to play the trumpet, even learning an entire song for the show Inherit The Wind. Banjo continues to write his own pieces and learn new instruments as he pleases. He also works with a rapper from his area known as "Moticulous". He helps with bookings, media, and music engineering.
In late 2017, he begun work on writing an album entitled "Reflection", as well as another titled "Imperfectionist". As they are his first two albums, he really took his time in producing the songs. He never had written music before he started making the albums. However, with the help of his musical knowledge, and fellow artists around him, the journey has been so-far successful.
In his spare time, Banjo practices playing any instrument he can get his hands on. From the keys of a piano, to the strings of a harp, "I have yet to come across an instrument I cannot figure out how to play. Music is my way of escaping." He says, "Though it may not be my first career choice, I use it as my way to recharge and unwind at the end of the day. Picking up a guitar and feeling the strings on my finger tips, or feeling the vibration of a piano through my forearms really brings me to peace."
With music on the back burner as a hobby, Banjo still enjoys all arts from theater and film to music and writing immensely. "My career choice is clear to me. I decided at eight years old I wanted to be a performer" Carmichael says. "I even started my own (failed) band, 'The Lead Spiders'". However, nowadays, Banjo continues to play solo and collaboratively, allowing himself to both grow as a musician, and make connections with others and share his love of the arts.
Resources[edit]
Content in this article was copied from Brandon Tiehen at the Everybody wiki, which is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA 3.0) license.
References[edit]
- ↑ Film Riot "Film Riot", Film Riot, USA, 2009-Present
- ↑ Interview with Banjo Carmichael on October 5th 2018
- ↑ Red Curtain Foundation in Marysville, WA, December 2018
External links[edit]
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