Student Profile: Janalee Budge

Janalee Budge, who hails from Whistler, BC, has a background in art direction and graphic design, giving her work a unique artistic style. “I want to make visually beautiful documentaries and with (my biography film) Unbound, that magical and super beautiful visual style is what I’d like to explore.”

Janalee took a leap of faith in going back to school to study filmmaking, and leave her relative work security – but it’s a leap that is paying off. “I was looking for a course that I could take part time, so I took a one day course to see what [InFocus] was all about, and I was super happy with it. So I decided to do the drama and documentary six month course. I was working as an art director before, and I was in charge of corporate ads and webisodes, but I wasn’t very hands on.“

Janalee is an avid believer in strong visual themes and images in her films but since studying at InFocus, her ideas and themes have broadened: ”I didn’t know what to expect because this program covers so much of film. When I first started I wanted to hone in on my camera and editing skills, but we also get a lot of classes here on directing, lighting and grip and all those other aspects of filmmaking. They’re all interconnected so I’m really happy I got to do some of those classes as well as focusing on my documentary filmmaking.”

What’s next for Janalee? “I wouldn’t mind trying to work on a bigger set while working on my own projects, and this school helped me utilize these different skill sets. I like the fact that I’m in such an intensive course and that it’s a small class (so) it’s more hands on.”

Watch Janalee’s biography film, Unbound, below.