Shane White B.A.’18, M.A.’21 started making videos when he was in seventh grade — stunt films in the style of MTV’s Jackass — with a crew of friends. His first stunt: “I slid down a frozen sidewalk shirtless.” He says he had a painful road rash for quite a while after that.
In high school, he started making videos of himself skateboarding and wakeboarding in the nearby lakes surrounding his hometown of Hot Springs. Those videos launched a semi-professional career, garnering sponsorships from Monster Energy drinks and some clothing companies.
“I’ve always loved the idea of being a storyteller,” he said. “Story is the foundation of all civilizations.”
After graduating from high school, his choice of college was clear: the University of Arkansas. He chose it because it was the alma mater of his father, Dan White B.A.’76.
He enrolled in the U of A’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media, majoring in broadcast journalism with an emphasis on documentary filmmaking.
During his time as an undergraduate student, he worked his way through college as a sous chef for Ella’s Restaurant, which sparked his deep love of food and culinary arts. “It’s what I’m most proud of,” he said.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in 2018, White was accepted into the master’s program for documentary filmmaking in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media. As a graduate student, he worked as the video production graduate assistant for UA Productions, the director of photography for the Agriculture Department’s Experimental Learning Lab and the student-run advertising agency, Main Hill Media.
That’s also when he began putting together his own production company, Live Deliciously. And it didn’t take him long to achieve recognition for his talent. After premiering at the Fayetteville Film Fest in 2018, his short documentary Homeless in Boomtown won a College Student Emmy for editing the following year.
The documentary, which he created with Denzel Jenkins, is about the day-to-day struggles of people experiencing homelessness in Northwest Arkansas, as told through the story of one transgender couple. It also went on to win the NATAS Mid-America College Student Award for Long-Form Nonfiction.
His next film, a full-length documentary, The Beautiful People, premiered in Springdale, Arkansas, as part of Interform’s Assembly program Interform, formerly known as NWA Fashion Week, is a month-long series of multimedia exhibitions in the summer of 2021.
Like Homeless in Boomtown, The Beautiful People is very much rooted in Northwest Arkansas. It explores the ways the fashion industry has, over time, shaped how people — especially women — think they need to look.
White said this film “takes on the ‘thinideal’ in media, especially fashion media, and how harmful it is to women’s body image and self-esteem.”
The Beautiful People explores this troubling subject through Interform, in which diverse clothing designers and models are “separating fashion from what the ideal body is supposed to look like and bringing people of all shapes, sizes, colors, and mentalities to the front of the line,” according to the Live Deliciously Productions website. White says the film is about “the ways these organizations are breaking the stigmas of fashion and redefining beauty.”
“The idea that I got [The Beautiful People] from was having dealt with negative body image my entire life,” he says. One year, he modeled for NWA Fashion Week. “I saw they were using models of every shape, size, and color,” he says, “and the people were coming out of it inspired and feeling confident about themselves.”
White says he used his “in” as a model to pivot and start filming the shows, then interviewing the designers and creators, who helped push the project along.
The biggest challenge, he says, was making a feature length-film during a pandemic. “I wanted to travel and get more global views on fashion and the thin ideal. [The pandemic] caused me to focus on NWA more.”
After its local premiere, The Beautiful People went on to be accepted into film festivals in New Orleans; St. Petersburg, Florida; and Portugal, among others.
It won the award for best editing from the Global Monthly Online Film Competition in June 2021.
His next short documentary, Over Fire: The Evolution of Barbecue, traces the history of one of the South’s favorite dishes. This film, which started as a class project, has bit of a wider geographic range, looking at pitmasters from the whole region, including Ray’s World Famous BBQ in West Memphis.
“I have been a chef, and food shows are a personal favorite,” White says. “I had seen shows about the people who make BBQ but not on the idea of BBQ in itself.”
Though it only premiered last year, Over Fire has been a hit on the film festival circuit, being accepted into seven festivals, including two international festivals.
White completed his master’s program in 2021, and despite his already blossoming career as a documentary filmmaker, he chose to continue his education at the U of A. He’s currently a doctoral candidate in agricultural education, communication and technology in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.
As a graduate assistant, he works as a video production assistant for the Department of Agricultural Education, Communication and Technology, creating videos for both internal and external audiences. Most of his work for the department is for projects like departmental recruiting videos or client promotional videos, which he shoots by himself. But he also supervises a team on projects like the annual Enclothe fashion show, created by the U of A’s apparel merchandising and product development students.
Another major aspect of his graduate assistantship is co-teaching an agriculture video production course on how to use video as a marketing tool on social media platforms.
Yet somehow, he still finds time to make more documentaries. He recently finished shooting a six-episode series called Arkansas Flavors, a sort of travel guide to minority-owned restaurants in the Natural State. He says his inspiration came from his time working as a chef and from his hero, the late chef, author and travel show host Anthony Bourdain.
His latest project, Keepers of the Horse, is a moving documentary about a rare heritage breed of horse, the Choctaw ponies, and the man who devotes his life to preserving them.
“I grew up with horses,” White says. “My dad ran a thoroughbred farm in Kentucky, so it’s in my blood. And with the Native American [heritage] I have, that made me want to make this film.”
White credits his journalism education for many of the skills he uses to make his films, as well as teaching him good interviewing and research skills.
But the most crucial skill he uses is that of a visual storyteller. “Stories can change the world, and I want to make changes with story.”
Editor’s Note: Shane White is a Graduate Assistant for Communications in the Division of Student Affairs. His photos, stories and videos have all appeared in this Blog, including his latest story about the opening of the Tsa La Gi Bike Park.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of Arkansas magazine.