Film grad speaks of his passion for cinematography Warren Kommers puts the final touches on a car mount shout outside Los Andeles. Photo by Monte Zajicek. If the phone doesn't ring and meetings don't produce jobs, it's easy to lose confidence starting out in the film industry. After graduating with a master's degree in cinematography from the prestigious American Film Institute in Los Angeles in 2003, Warren Kommers, '01 MTA, sent out a reel of "spec" commercials to the biggest production companies. Several executive producers showed interest in Kommers'work, some of which may yet bring lucrative opportunities, but in the meantime winning an impressive award competition has served Kommers well in his cinematic pursuits. Kommers collaborated with fellow AFI graduate, director Eva Husson, as director of photography in the filming of "200x1," which won Esquire magazine's 2004 west coast short film competition - Celluloid Style. Now he has a manager and agent, and they're the ones out there on the front lines promoting his work through a daisy chain of connections. When Kommers came to the AFI program, it was with a lot of confidence. "When you come from MSU, one nice thing you have is a different perspective," he said. "There was uniqueness in the work I was doing, fresh perspectives. That made my experience at AFI that much better." Growing up in Bozeman, the son of MSU architecture professor Peter Kommers, he spent a lot of time on the ski slopes. "My first films in high school were ski films," he said But it wasn't until his sophomore year at MSU, sitting in Walter Metz's film theory class that he fell in love with film. "I developed the passion I have for it; the light bulb turned on," he said. "I began to understand the language of cinema." Through his interest in photography, he gravitated to cinematography, and at the same time, he discovered that he liked directing. "At AFI I studied cinematography, but I was also a closet director in many cases," he said. His current focus is on directing commercials and music videos. Kommers hopes to sign with a production company and become a part of their roster as a commercial and music video director, but he's also looking at doing an independent feature. "That's the beauty of working with a management company," he said. "I have access to feature scripts."