SCHS’s Filmmakers Club began two and a half months ago, with junior Matthew Malto – the director and editor behind the junior class skits – as its president. However, despite how much he loves the roar of the crowd and seeing his projects displayed during rallies, Malto’s camera goes beyond the school’s halls.

According to Malto, he began acting at age four and has been involved with video making ever since. Throughout his childhood, his father, Ben Malto, filmed him in an abundance of martial arts home movies, and it was near the end of elementary school that Malto stepped away from the spotlight to focus on the behind-the-scenes aspects.

“I started wondering what the camera was doing,” Malto said. “My dad introduced me to the editing part and actual creative process.”

Though he still acts, Malto said editing began to resonate with him more the older he became.

“I actually started off hating editing. You press C, [you] copy paste; it’s so mindless,” Malto said. “But what I like about it now is that, especially as I grew older, I really started liking the final product. And editing is the final step in creating the ideal project.”

Malto attributes his love for video to his father, who himself had a previous career in filmmaking, taking it on as a major and even working on the set of “Power Rangers.”

Aside from drawing influence from his father, Malto also finds inspiration in YouTubers like Wong Fu Productions and said that, if possible, he would like to enter the YouTube scene. His current channel – TEAM MALTO – has 12,060 subscribers and a “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen” parody video with over 6.6 million views.

“I really don’t want to go into ‘the industry,’” Malto said. “I mean if I get the chance to direct actual movies, I’d do it, but I really like YouTube.”

However, Malto is also realistic. Though he would like to continue with film past high school, he understands that he is in a stressful part of his life right now, and that video production as a profession might be a little too risky.

“I love filmmaking, though I feel like I really am too lazy to put it as a big part of my life,” Malto said. “Filmmaking is kind of like a ‘throw away school and go into filmmaking’ thing.”

Even if he does not find a job involving film, Malto claims that the camera will always be a part of his life, and that he would like to repeat what his father did for him with his kids.

“If I don’t continue, I’m definitely going to pick up a camera somewhere in the future,” Malto said. “I’ll probably incorporate it into my life somehow. Because memories and stuff.”

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/goldenboyben