Shooting Star

IN 2005, BRANDON RILEY ’06 WAS IN IN the green room at the Music Farm in Charleston, hanging out with Atlanta rap duo Ying Yang Twins as his bandmates in the hip-hop group The Outfit warmed the crowd up. And – although he’s still behind the scenes today – he’s come a long way since then.

Indeed, these days, the Atlanta-based Emmy-winning cinematographer and producer works with the likes of LeBron James, Tom Brady and Lewis Hamilton.

Riley started making music in high school back in his hometown of Chapin, S.C., and got even more into it when he came to the College, where he majored in psychology and religious studies because he “thought religion and psychology are like two of the cornerstones of humanity in a way. I always found it fascinating just to study people and kind of just the way they are.”

When he wasn’t studying, he was making music with his fellow students at Craig Residence Hall. His band, The Outfit, eventually started performing in King Street venues like rooftop bar Level 2 and pizza spot Mellow Mushroom – with Riley behind the scenes producing the music and making beats.

“Music opened my eyes to creative outlets that I didn’t know I wanted. I was heavily invested, emotionally and mentally,” says Riley, adding that the group signed a record deal with EMI Records, but an album was never released, leaving Riley with no real idea of what to do after graduation. He moved to Charlotte, N.C., and then to Chicago, where he took odd jobs within the music industry, eventually leading to shooting music videos.

“I didn’t have a plan, but at every fork in the road, you pick an option,” he says. “Sometimes you pick the right one at the right time, and you just keep doing that over and over. And sometimes it works.”

It certainly worked for Riley, who was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in 2016 for his work on Chance the Rapper’s “Angel” video.

“That allowed me to do the A24 movie with Chance (Slice), which helped to launch me into other productions,” he says. “And that kind of led me to my current career path in a way.”

Now Riley’s career includes titles like HBO’s Shaq, Amazon’s Shiny Happy People and Netflix’s Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.

“You meet one influential person, and that leads to another person, and that leads to this person, and all of a sudden, you’re in the room with Jay-Z and LeBron,” says Riley, referring to the HBO show The Shop. “That’s how it happened for me. I didn’t have a plan. I never had a dream of doing this. I didn’t even know this stuff was possible.”

– Erin Perkins ’08 (M.P.A)