Charles Franklin
I'm an aspiring filmmaker driven by a passion for storytelling, aesthetics, and emotional impact. I fell in love with film over 10 years ago, and I still attend the theater every month, staying connected to film as both an audience experience and a creative one. In May 2025, I graduated from Elon University, where I studied Cinema and Television Arts. In my short professional career, I’ve worked with production companies such as Beef And Pie Productions and Onion Creek Productions.
Previously, I worked as a Producer's Representative and Film Festival Strategist at Cinema Collet, completing the application process and
communicating with festival programmers to get our films into festivals such as Tribeca, Toronto International Film Festival, Doc NYC, and Telluride Film Festival, among others.
This portfolio brings together work created in academic settings, personal passion projects, and professional productions, reflecting my growth and ambition to evolve as a maker of visual media.
Portfolio
This Means Something
ABW Commercial
Director, Editor, Producer, Colorist, Sound Designer
This was my capstone project and the most ambitious film I’ve made so far. I spent several months developing it—writing, producing, planning, and ultimately serving as the director, among other roles. The shoot itself was condensed into just three days, which required a lot of preparation and quick decision-making on set. While I would have liked the chance for reshoots, the tight timeline meant I had only two weeks from the final shoot day to deliver a finished cut. Of course, it will never be perfect, and there are plenty of things I wish I could have improved, but I’m still very proud of what I was able to accomplish with the time and resources I had.
Chaparelle Live
Cinematographer, Production Assistant
Editor, Colorist
This project was a commercial created for a collaboration between Austin Beerworks and Barrett’s Coffee. I handled all of the editing and coloring, approaching the piece in a documentary-style format by following the Austin Beerworks team as they visited Barrett’s to see how the coffee is made and talk through the inspiration behind the collaboration. This project was one of my first professional jobs, giving me hands-on experience working with real clients in a professional production setting.
Thistle Ridge Live
Co-Producer, Editor, Sound Mixer
This is a live video filmed in collaboration with Do512 and Onion Creek Productions for the band Chaparelle. A team of about 5 of us filmed the set and captured live audio. This was a great opportunity for me to work with and learn from people who capture live music for a living, seeing how a team operates in a fast-paced, live environment, where we have to be on the same page at all times.
In college, I had the opportunity to create a live music video for the band Thistle Ridge at a bar near campus. A group of three of us took on the main responsibilities—producing, editing, and handling all the sound, including live mixing—while we had extra help running the cameras. It was great practice figuring out how to balance instruments in a live setting and experimenting with Premiere Pro’s multicam editing feature. Though I wish I could go back now and recolor, the whole experience taught me a lot about adapting on the fly and working as a team to capture something that can’t be recreated.
Growler Domestics Social Media
Currently, I'm creating social media videos for Growler Domestics, a custom furniture company that considers their work nothing short of functional artwork. At Growler, my goal is to capture the intricate technical ability that the work demands, as well as the personality of the people creating it. This job has allowed me to visualize each shot and how it will fit into the final edit in real time, as well as the freedom to experiment with every aspect of filmmaking.
Fading
Gaffer, First AC
For this short film, I was brought on fairly last minute as the gaffer and first AC for another student’s capstone film. It was my first real opportunity to experiment with lighting while also working behind the camera. As the only person handling the lights, I focused on matching the clear vibe the director wanted and finding ways to shape the mood through different setups. Having a role behind the camera and controlling the lighting gave me a chance to explore how the two work together, and it opened the door for me to start developing my own approach to visual style.
A Bad Day
Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Colorist
This short project was created with another student for our Narrative Aesthetics class as a sample/proposal for a longer short film. The goal was to use the skills we’d been learning—editing, framing, coloring, sound design, props, and visual storytelling—to tell a story entirely without words. Filming and editing were completed in just 24 hours, and we decided to scrap the ending scene for the full-length version, so we left the final scene unfinished, almost as a blooper for the class to laugh at.
De'Aaron Fox Edit
Editor
This project was an edit of my favorite basketball player, De’Aaron Fox. With the rise of “edits” on TikTok and other social media, I wanted to try putting my own spin on the format—combining gifs with sound and visual effects to create my own style. It was a fun way to use my editing skills to experiment with style and energy in a short format. Most importantly, it was fun, and it was me. I will certainly be making more of these.
Letting Go
Sound Mixer, Boom Operator
This was my first experience on a narrative set at Elon, where I worked as the sound mixer and boom operator. It gave me a chance to practice capturing clean audio while learning how a set operates and how the different departments work together. Being hands-on with sound in a professional setting helped me understand the pace, communication, and collaboration required to support a production effectively.