Bios
Christopher E. Weed
Born in Clearwater, Florida in 1969, Christopher Weed has always felt a calling to dramatic storytelling. Growing up during the age of the emerging blockbuster, he was heavily influenced by the summer offerings of Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, James Cameron and Walt Disney. From animated offerings like “The Fox in the Hound”, to more adult films like “Aliens” and “Back to the Future”. Christopher seemed compelled to view and study the films of the seventies and eighties. In 1977, the groundbreaking and revolutionary film “Star Wars” altered the film landscape and placed Christopher firmly on the path towards a career in the film and television industry.
After graduating high school in the sleepy town of Seymour, Tennessee, Christopher sought out education in the field at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Radio and Television and a minor in Film, Christopher returned to East Tennessee for his first job at a Knoxville news station, WKXT-TV Channel 8. Although a small station in a small market, WKXT gave Christopher the opportunity to explore the industry and all of its aspects. He was promoted from Teleprompter to Cameraman, then Audio Engineer and finally to Editor, where he settled in and honed his craft.
After editing promos and feature stories for several years, he moved to Atlanta, Georgia to work for the largest post-production facility in the South, Crawford Communications. At Crawford, as the lead Digital Assistant Editor, Christopher was able to further learn the art of editing while working with huge industry clients like CNN, Coca-Cola, TBS and the Cartoon Network where he edited two seasons of “Space Ghost: Coast to Coast”. He married his WKXT producer, Beth Schultz and the two were able to work together on several projects including a documentary about the dolphins of the Georgia coast.
After several years of Atlanta, Christopher and Beth moved to Orlando, Florida where he was offered and accepted the position of Senior Editor at Disney i.d.e.a.s., the post facility for the Walt Disney Entertainment Company. Christopher has played a crucial role in the advent of high definition at Disney and has worked with such clients as ABC, NBC, CBS, Discovery Channel, Jim Henson Productions, Lockheed Martin, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, and ESPN. Christopher has held that position since 1999 and continues to work closely with i.d.e.a.s. while also running Pier Productions, Inc., his own production company with his wife. Pier Productions has been fortunate enough to work with such clients as the Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm, Ltd. and for the last three years has been solely responsible for all the video for the Star Wars Weekends that is held every year at the Disney/MGM Studios, bringing full circle the creative process since it was “Star Wars”, thirty years ago, that inspired Christopher down this path in the first place.
JON CLEMMENSEN
Jon Clemmensen has taught undergraduate broadcast and print courses in a five-person department at Samford for the past 24 years. He came to Samford in the mid ‘80s to re-establish a Journalism and Mass Communication program that had been dormant for almost a decade. He served as chair of the department for 12 years before stepping down to return to full-time teaching in the late ‘90s.
He has been a professional summer intern at Fox 6 TV, WBRC-TV (ABC), Intermark Advertising and Vazda Studios in Birmingham. Previously, he was a professional summer intern at the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times. He came to Samford following a three-year stint at the University of Florida where he taught upper-level print courses and served as director of the Florida Scholastic Press Association. He came to Florida from the University of South Carolina College of Journalism where he taught for several years while earning his doctorate. Previously, he spent four years as a reporter and assistant city editor at the Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger. He has an undergraduate degree in history from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.