How ‘Super 8’ Inspired Me

I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker ever since I was in elementary school but I never attempted to pick up a camera until I was in high school. The previous summer before I started my freshman year, I saw a movie called Super 8 directed by J.J. Abrams. Seeing Super 8 in theaters was a memorable experience for me because as a child I was obsessed with Spielberg movies. Super 8 is a homage to Spielberg’s earlier films as it captures the same style and feel. 

The film tells the story of a group of kids who are making their own movie when strange things begin plaguing their small town after a train derailment. Watching a film about kids my age making their own movie inspired me to make my own movie. The movie was an amateur zombie film starring me and my friends. Due to the limitations of being a young high school student I didn’t get very far but the experience was fun and led to some great memories. While I don’t have anything to show for that experience, the memory of making that short film still stays with me. 

Recently I re-watched Super 8 after not seeing it in a few years. Watching it made me think a lot of the experience I had making my first film. While I found that certain elements of the film such as the ending don’t hold up as well, I still have an affinity for it. It reminded me of my humble beginnings as a filmmaker and made me realize how far I’ve come since then. While other movies have influenced me more, I’m sure that if I never saw Super 8 I wouldn’t have had the memorable experience that I had in high school.

Music Video Production

 Had a great time working on this music video with Bradley. It was really awesome to go to different locations and shoot. This church scene was the most difficult part of the production because we had to travel to several locations before finally finding one. We also had to work around some situations that the church would not allow, but it was a success overall.  

Production With Grossman

It was a great opportunity to work with Michael Grossman. It was really fun to experience how an actual hollywood director works with a crew. I learned a lot on how to work together as a team and I think we definitely made this a smooth process. (Sorry, I don’t know how to rotate the image)

A sign, that things are going to be alright….

You walk in into battle ready to fight only for yourself to lose sight of everything you believe in, the hopes, the good memories, the aspiration of once a dream. Broken from not your foe truly, but those you fight for and those you fight with. Tensions can be high when a life is on the line and the sight through one’s eyes becomes faded. The calls made never seem right and never save the day.

US Review

I just went to go see Us . This film was enjoyable. The film had it’s ups and downs. The story was driven, but it need a few fixes. Jordan Peele’s horror shocker can’t compete with a masterpiece successes as Get Out. The film is still fun to go see. The story is great. It’s got action, humor, suspense and thriller. It’s just not as close to be greater than Get Out. I would give it 7/10.

It’s Okay To Crash and Burn

    These words were spoke to us in the office at 4381 production by our EP and it made me realize I made a mistake. I was so afraid of crashing and burning I gave up on every project I set to start. If it was. a script, I wouldn’t finish it because I hated my dialogue, if it was directing I would ask others to help more than put effort into showing my own ideas because I would think I’m not that creative, and I even have not done a storyboard because I was afraid of my drawing ability but what I didn’t see was, at least I’m doing something. 

    I’m sure you all are aware of my departing of the title Director of Photography but I thought I was making the correct decision, however I did exactly what I did in the past few blogs I talked about and I feel that no lesson was truly learned except I’m calling myself on it now.  

    I believe Guillermo will do a fantastic job and honestly I no longer regret my decision, I will prove myself to be reliable and even though I have made my mistakes I am learning even if it feels like I’m not.  I know this to be true because each day in this production I fine myself learning something new about myself and about how to properly tell a narrative. Yes of course we fall and we make some failures in our films but at least we did it. We created something, even if it wasn’t perfect, we made something together as a team and did something amazing with the knowledge that I hope we all learned here together.  

     I was also told today that a finished film is better than a perfect unfinished one, and hearing that I think I grew a little more confident in myself because I have a lot of finished projects now.  In fact I have managed to have a project done each year for the past 6 years, Of course they weren’t all perfect but they are mine and I love that. I know I can be a bit melodramatic but I really wanted to share this because I’m happy with my progress, finally after a few bumps in the road I think I finally know what I want and even if I crash and burn I’ll get back up and move on to the next project.

  

The Painting

Currently working on a horror film titled “The Painting”. The script is still being revised with major changes. Our first shoot is Saturday and I am definitely looking forward to it! 

Kessler Crane, a new animal.

Excited to say that we’ll be using the Kessler Crane for some really cool, slow, and spooky shots in our next production!

Us-Movie Review

Us is the latest film directed by Jordan Peele after his critically acclaimed  directorial debut film Get Out. Writing and directing the horror film Get Out served as a career change for Peele who was mostly associated with the comedy genre due to his popular sketch comedy series Key and Peele. Despite having the pressure of following Get Out, Peele once again succeeds in making a great horror film.

Us tells the story of a family that is terrorized by a family of doppelgangers while on vacation. It’s a film that’s filled with tons of suspense and a little bit of humor sprinkled throughout. There is also very clever imagery sprinkled throughout the film that represents themes of duality. The cast is also terrific and has an especially great leading performance from Lupita Nyong’o. Us further cements Jordan Peele as not only a great director but also a great storyteller in his own right.