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Jason R. Johnston
Jason R. Johnston
	Self Portrait, 2007
Born	Jason Randolph Johnston; 10 July 1979 (age 45); McAllen, Texas, USA
Nationality	American
Occupations	cinematographer; film director; producer; editor;
Years active	1996–present
Website	https://www.jasonrjohnston.com

Jason R. Johnston (born July 10, 1979 in McAllen, TX) is an American multi-award-winning cinematographer, director, producer, and editor of independent films.

Life and career

A multi-faceted independent filmmaker since childhood, Jason began his career in the television advertising industry in 1997, producing thousands of regional commercials for small businesses in southern Texas. Transitioning to feature films in 2007, Jason began work as a unit stills photographer, then camera assistant, then camera operator, on a few low budget feature films.

Progressing to cinematography in 2009 and working on several short films, Jason shot his first feature film as Director of Photography in 2010. By 2023, Jason has shot 7 feature films, 18 short films (directed 5 of them), 44 music videos (directed 30), competed in 18 timed filmmaking competitions (awarded 6 times for his cinematography), several of which became official selections, won awards, and gathered critical recognition, at film festivals across the world.

Personal life

A native Texan, Jason resides near Nashville, Tennessee where he works as a full-time freelance cinematographer or director on narrative feature films and short films, as well as music videos, advertisements, commercial documentaries, and broadcast television programs. He also dabbles in photography, drawing and painting, playing the piano, singing, and composing music and film scores.

Jason is primarily influenced by film directors Ridley Scott, Norman Jewison, Michael Mann, and Steven Spielberg; cinematographers Derek Vanlint, Jordan Cronenweth, Alex Thomson, Adrian Biddle, Oswald Morris, John Mathieson, Douglas Slocombe, Dean Cundey, Jan de Bont, Bill Butler, Michael Chapman, Allen Daviau, Vilmos Zsigmond, Geoffrey Unsworth, Vittorio Storaro, and Roger Deakins; as well as Baroque painters Rembrandt, Caravaggio, and Vermeer.

His favorite film is Jaws. Jason is Christian and regularly freelances for TBN. He is currently working on his first feature film as director.

Filmography

Feature Films

Year	Title	Director	Cinematographer	Producer	Editor	Notes
2024	Killin' Jim Kelly	John Marrs	Yes	No	No
2023	M30 Oxy	Wesley Mullins	Yes	No	No
2016	Ingress	Christian Blake	Yes	Yes	No
2014	Death Slate	Charlie Brenner	Yes	Yes	Yes
2013	The Cloth	Justin Price	Yes	No	No	uncredited original DP
2012	The Party at the End of the World	Cristina Treviño	Yes	Yes	Yes
2011	Wasted Away	David Ventura Garcia	Yes	No	No
2010	Goonie-Boys: Curse of the Mayan Coin	Valenté Rodriguez	No	No	No	“A” camera operator
	Gone Hollywood	Demetrius Navarro	No	No	No	“A” camera operator
	Family, Texas	Gabriel Ramirez	Yes	No	No
	The Battle: Cinco de Mayo	Paul C. Miller	No	No	No	unit stills photographer

Short Films

Year	Title	Director	Cinematographer	Producer	Editor	Notes
2023	Pure Evil	Walter J. Buck	Yes	Yes	Yes
	First Drop of Rain	Madison Goodyear-Brown	Yes	No	Yes
	Others	Justin Fussell	Yes	No	Yes
	Grace – A Story Album	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	Yes	Yes	also director
2022	It’s Going to Be Fine	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	Yes	Yes	film race, also director
	Mending	Christopher Lee Herod, Justin James	Yes	No	No	film race
	For Mother’s Day	Justin Fussell	Yes	No	Yes
	All the Kingdoms of the World	Mikayla Denny	Yes	No	Yes	film race
	Faith Healing	Branton McMahan	Yes	Yes	No
	All for Me	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	No	Yes	film race, also director
2019	Back to the Manger	Christian Blake	Yes	No	No
2019	Ribbons	Marcela Cantú	Yes	Yes	Yes
2018	The Girls We Know	Kahea Kiwaha	No	No	No	additional photography
2017	Adalynn	Christian Blake	Yes	No	No	film race
	Here	Christian Blake	Yes	No	No
	Piper	Jackie Magdelano	Yes	No	No
2015	Immobile	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	Yes	Yes	film race, also director
2014	Oz	Randy Garcia	Yes	Yes	Yes
2013	Morning Star	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	Yes	No	film race, also director
	Mullen’s Shadow	Andy Anzaldua	Yes	No	No
	Perfect Timing	Christian Blake	Yes	No	No	film race
2012	Gertie	Charlie Brenner	Yes	No	Yes	film race
	Mauris	Charlie Brenner, Jason R. Johnston	Yes	No	Yes	also co-director
	Assassin’s Creed: Descend	Jordan Prater	Yes	No	No
	Hunger Pains	Charlie Brenner, Jason R. Johnston	Yes	No	Yes	film race, also co-director
2011	Welcome to Eden	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	Yes	Yes	film race, also director
	Pulga Wars	Javier Solis	Yes	No	No
	The Rescue	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	Yes	Yes	also director
2010	Coming Home	Jay Suarez	Yes	No	No	film race
2010	Ecstasy of Gold II	Jason R. Johnston	No	No	No	film race, also director
2009	Sex, Trafficking & Luchadores	Jose Lomas	Yes	No	No	film race
	The Bench	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	No	No	also director
	Twisted Date	Eduardo Cordero	Yes	No	No	film race
2008	Finding Cochino	Eduardo Cordero	Yes	No	No	film race
2008	Files	Jason R. Johnston	Yes	No	No	also director
2007	The End	Gabriel Ramirez	No	No	No	film race