Through a series of sports edits, Jordan Hunnell, more popularly known as Hundo Productions, has established an enthusiastic fan base. With almost 3,000 followers on Instagram, Hundo’s fans have grown rapidly since the start of his employment at Redwood eight years ago. When Hundo was hired, his primary goal and job was to film “hype” videos for the boys’ sports teams, which are short highlight clips paired with upbeat music.
But that’s not where his film journey began; he found his passion in high school when trying to create videos with his father.
“I got into filming during high school when I was trying to get recruited and my dad would take awful footage of me. I grew up watching NFL films and, looking back, I have many memories of [those times],” Hundo said.
However, this is not where Hundo’s career in Marin began. He was the junior varsity (JV) lacrosse coach for several years and also helped out with varsity. Since then, his role has slowly morphed into producing hype videos for various sports teams such as basketball, lacrosse, football and volleyball.
Hundo’s filming process is more than just editing. He typically gets onto the field an hour and 45 minutes before the game he is filming in an effort to catch every moment.
“I have to adjust the coloring on the video and [format] it for Instagram. Cinematic videos probably take like a day or so, depending on how hard I want to work on it,” Hundo said.
His main goal when filming these videos is to allow viewers to get background information and a deeper look at student-athletes.
“I think there’s little stories that need to be told. That’s pretty much what I want to do; I want to tell stories outside of highlight videos and what other kids see,” Hundo said.
After being coached by Hundo during his freshman year, senior Sam Lieberman, a three-year varsity lacrosse player and head of Redwood TV sports filming, got his inspiration from Hundo.
“Hundo is definitely an inspiration to me. Especially in my work [at Redwood TV], I really look up to him and try to mimic his style,” Lieberman said. “I remember when I was on JV, I would watch him produce videos for the varsity guys. His videos were incredible, so I [would think] to myself, ‘I can’t wait to be there one day.’”
While Hundo’s videos are entertaining and satisfying for viewers to watch, they also push athletes to perform better.
“Everyone loves being filmed by [Hundo]. [It’s] an incentive to perform well, because you want to be on the highlight reel,” Lieberman said.
Similar to Lieberman, senior Eddie Lin, who is a varsity football player and captain of the varsity boy’s lacrosse team, feels strongly about Hundo’s importance to him and his teammates.
“Seeing my friends and myself in videos was my favorite part. It was the first time I’d seen anything cinematic of myself and the team,” Lin said. “When he has the camera, you try not to mess up. [It] really boosts our performance.”
Although many students and athletes know and love Hundo, Redwood has struggled to acknowledge his position.
“I’ve been involved for eight years and they don’t support what I do, not because they don’t want to, but [because] they don’t even know how,” Hundo said.
When filming and editing these videos, there is more time and effort that gets put into it [videos] than it seems. Hundo works hard at Redwood to help with team spirit, as well as coaching.
“It wouldn’t be what it is without the kids. I’ve always said that since day one. That’s really what I make [videos] for. I make videos for the kids,” Hundo said.
