Pittsburg State is home to a wide plethora of sports and events, from football to volleyball to basketball and everything in between. Within the world of sports, one of the important assets to any team is not just the athletes or coaches, but the media team, such as videographers, who help capture memories and generate excitement with their work.
That is exactly what Prince Miller, a sophomore communications major, does for Pittsburg State’s athletics. Miller serves as the Creative Director for the football team, Content Creator for the women’s basketball team, and he handles both team’s social media accounts.
Miller’s journey in videography began when he was eight years old, and aspired to become a Minecraft YouTuber.
“I had a very early introduction to the internet thanks to my mother, and being a Minecraft YouTuber was my main interest at the time, so I pursued it as seriously as an eight-year-old could” explains Miller. As he continued making videos to YouTube, Miller started to learn how to further improve his video editing and Photoshop skills. He would continue to make videos, gradually transitioning into making vlog (video blog) type videos into his freshman year of high school at Shawnee Mission South High in his hometown of Overland Park, KS.
In his sophomore year at Shawnee Mission South, Miller took a photojournalism class. Under the advisement of Tucker Love, a teacher who oversaw the photojournalism, newspaper, and yearbook programs at the school, Miller not only learned how to use a camera, but it was also his ticket into the world of sports media. Also at the time, Miller played football for Shawnee Mission South. However, an injury during a game soon turned out to be what would set him further along the creative path.
“I was playing football at the time but was injured, so I had the opportunity to grab angles and get access that none of my other classmates were able to get,” Miller cited, which allowed him to start using his photos as a means of storytelling. “Over the years, I’ve taken the skills that I learned in my photojournalism class, my experiences as an athlete, and years of studying the algorithm and what works on social media to capture raw emotion, create storytelling videos, and continue to build up Pitt State athletics the best way I can.”
His junior year, Miller joined KSMS, the video production program at Shawnee Mission South. It was during his time with KSMS that Caroline Ewing, the program’s director, helped Miller realize what he could really do. His football coach, Joe Kennard, was the one who pointed him towards Pittsburg State for college. After taking a tour and speaking with Dr. Troy Comeau, he fell in love with the university. While still a senior in high school, Miller found an opening to serve as the videographer for the Gorilla football team. A few months later, he got the job.
Since then, Miller has done a lot for the different groups and teams around campus, with one of his proudest achievements being creating the motion graphics for when the football team played Northwest Missouri State this past fall in Kansas City. Looking ahead, Miller hopes to help out professional sports teams with his skills, willing to take on any opportunity presented to him. He also hopes to see other creative-minded people make the most of their talents.
“If I could tell any creator who wants to make their creative passion a career, I would tell them keep pushing through adversity and to post your work.”