Walking across campus with his video camera in hand, Jason Palines, 22, president of the Cinema Arts Club, observes the scenery and gathers ideas to shoot his next film.

Palines said he picked up his first video camera at age 12 as a birthday gift that his older brother gave him. Growing up on the East Coast, he filmed car racing as a hobby.

“I would film inside the car and outside and at the drag strip,” Palines said. “I would even play around filming cars in the parking lot at night; it was like a new toy.”

Palines said he attended Westchester Community College in New York, where he majored in computer programming, but decided that was not what he wanted.

“I can’t sit in a cubicle from nine to five; that’s not me,” Palines said.

An interest in theater spurred him, Palines said, when he moved to California, so he decided to attend EC and major in theater arts. But after two years, it somehow led him back to his real passion – filmmaking and directing.

“I learned to pick up a script, read it and interpret it in my own way,” Palines said. “You then work with the actors, the lighting crew, the makeup artists and everybody works together to create this vision that you had from what you read. That’s the beauty of theater.”

Palines said he is most interested in making philosophical films that go beyond what the eye beholds.

“I want to make films that touch the souls of an audience; films that make an audience question things,” Palines said.

“Film is a modern-day book,” Palines said. “It’s a new storytelling medium.”

Palines said that being president of the Cinema Arts Club was something he never planned to do. He was approached by Flip Gomez, who was going to start the club again after it was inactive until last spring.

“Originally, I declined because I wanted to make projects on my own,” Palines said. “But then I thought that this would be a chance to get everyone involved in a network and have fun like all other clubs do, so I accepted it.”

Some of the projects Palines has done in his production class include documentaries, short narratives, music videos and 30-second commercials.

Palines said his goals are to earn his bachelor’s degree at New York University and he hopes to direct in Hollywood or internationally.

“My number one goal in the end is to produce,” Palines said.

Palines’ will and confidence drive him to aspire being the best in what he does.

“Deep down inside I know I could do whatever I want,” Palines said. “If you have the talent and combine it with your determination, you’ll go very far in anything you do.”