Artist Statement 2010
I started making videos as a youth, before we had computers. In those days, we had to plan and think carefully about the projects we were making- we didn’t have the privilege of fixing, enhancing, and editing our work with a computer. Working with friends who shared my interests, I made dozens of short movies and videos, building my skills with the camera, storytelling, acting, writing and directing. I spent much of my free time entertaining myself with video production.
Soon after, I got involved in theater, acting in plays and studying the acting craft at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. Most of my free time in my High School years was dedicated to acting.
The emerging technologies I grew up with sparked my interests in Computer Graphics. I was very interested in the potential that these new technologies offered, and as they became accessible, I was able to open my mind to the possibilities that were becoming available to me. I spent a few years teaching myself on computer graphics software, using the Commodore Amiga platform. Long before CG became main stream, I was producing graphics and animation with my Amiga computer. I used a system running at 50 megahertz, with 10 megabytes of RAM and a 60 megabyte hard drive. Much of the computer graphic work I made had to fit on 1 megabyte floppy discs. I quickly maxed out the capabilities of the technology at hand, learning to optimize my ideas to fit the tight constraints of the available equipment.
Meanwhile, my involvement with friends in independent video production became my primary focus. I wrote scripts, developed ideas, and co-produced many short movies. Sometimes directing, always acting, and working hard to get the movies made, the allure of filmmaking recaptured my interests and never let go. The only thing I wanted to do was make movies.
In the late 1990s I studied film and screenwriting, earning an Associates Degree in filmmaking by 2002. The expensive and time consuming process of making films led me back to video, which was cheap and easily accessible. I never stopped making movies, but I did change my focus from time to time over the years.
I became a very small time “movie star” within my circle of friends, developing characters and acting in many independent video productions which I helped to produce. Sometimes a writer, sometimes a director, and always an integral part of the production process, I continued to make movies with my close friends.
In 1999, I began work as a portrait photographer. I loved being behind the camera. I took classes in fine art photography and began to focus on the art of photography. As a portrait photographer, I enjoyed working with average people to produce images that would forever represent their essence in portraits, capturing their personality and a moment in time that continues to live on in pictures. I have photographed, literally, thousands of people, in portraits, situations, and memorable moments.
In addition to portraits, I found an interest in unique imagery and visual interpretation of mood and place. I produced many black and white silver gelatin prints which capture timeless representations of people, places, and things, according to my vision of the moments I found and experienced.
My photography skills also related to my movie making roots, as I produced photos to represent characters and the independent movies I was working on. I learned to use Photoshop for refining my images, as well as graphic design for promotion of the movies.
While my focus shifted over the years, I still frequently appeared in front of the camera as an actor, equipped with my experience behind the camera to further develop my acting skills. My understanding of good images continues to translate into my acting performances, as I have learned to “feel” what the camera “sees”. I also studied “method” acting in Los Angeles for a time, furthering my training and continuing to refine my acting skills. I believe that the refinement of acting skills, whether for theater or on camera, is an ongoing process that continues to develop with much hard work and dedication, growing according to the effort invested by the actor. I am continuing to learn, practice, and understand the acting process, bringing me closer to my connection with the art of performance, which ultimately brings to life the characters that actors work so hard to create. As a director, I feel a connection with the actors based on my experience as an actor.
Eventually I decided to enrich my already diverse experience with studies of Conceptual Information Art at San Francisco State University. I started to focus on Conceptual Art in 2007, enrolling in the CIA program at SFSU. Through my experience in the CIA program, I found myself drawn back to my roots as a storyteller. I worked with media art, interactive art, and once again, video. Now I’m back where I started, telling stories and making videos for entertainment.
For my senior project at SFSU, I am currently in production of a short independent movie that I wrote, entitled, “Asshole Robot and the Benefits of an Artificial Mind”. I am producing, directing, and starring in this movie. I will also be the editor, and I intend to produce the sound track as well. This is a work in progress, and it will be my most ambitious endeavor, encompassing all the skills and experience I have developed so far. This movie will be a short feature from a 30 page script which I have been refining throughout the production process. It should translate into a movie about 25-30 minutes in length. As of this time, I am done with the principal photography of the movie and beginning to organize the scripted scenes into chunks that I will edit using Final Cut Pro.
The work I have put in so far has been extensive, from writing, to planning, research for the story and dialogue, to pre-production, gathering crew, coordinating locations, props and sets, production break-downs, crew assignments, casting, scheduling, storyboards, shot lists, rewriting, rehearsals, shooting, and re-shooting. I am just now beginning to review the footage and conceptualize the final edit. There is much work yet to be done, but I can see the movie coming together according to my original vision. The production I have started has extended beyond my personal involvement to include work by many other artists which I have overseen and coordinated including concept art, props construction, set design, cinematography, performances, and several other various production rolls.
Once this movie is done, I intend to take on more video projects and further refine my process for making movies. Each project will build on my experience from previous projects, and focus on refining certain elements of the process. Meanwhile I have been building foundations for future feature length productions. Eventually I will create feature films for world wide distribution.
