Before the digital experience work, there was film school. The New York Film Academy served as a central point to harness my interest in film and storytelling into delivery that outpaced my career progression in the field. While I ultimately diverted from film, the shorts highlight where my digital storytelling root in. They're student work, rough around the edges, but they are where the foundation was laid. Seven steps in learning to tell stories with a camera, editing, light, and sound.
Assassin Remastered - Shot on 8mm film with no live recorded audio at the New York Film Academy (NYFA), this taught me principles that zeroed in my storytelling. From this point, I started to bring storytelling into the forefront of my thoughts. This also refined my technical abilities as a cinematographer that will later be seen in other work.
The Proposal - Technically just an amalgamation of clips into an Animated Music Video. These tell a story of me and my wife through bringing together several animes into a unique delivery and ultimately a proposal. While none of the visuals are uniquely mine, the edits create something that is a story told only by me. While much later in the sequence of content and a deviation in format vs the rest, the DNA is the same.
Bonus: Watch the proposal reaction video
Mussolini - A high school based short that was made shortly after the NYFA refinement. This detailed the impact of broadcast propaganda as it compares to the actors in control of the softened media. With a "twist" in the storytelling, it follows actions of Mussolini and the manipulation that he directly had over the media creating a mismatch of reality and the news.
Infinite Chill - Another high school short and my final high school short film also after NYFA. This one was more intended to harness special effects and action. Using many inspired techniques to build suspense and keep the viewer excited. Candidly, the dialogue is subpar but the visual and audio storytelling prevails to make this a proud piece for me.
Jack of Blades - When college boredom meets a cinematic ambition. Made as a freshman at the University of Alabama in the Rose Tower Dorm Rooms, we just used light and sweet visuals to tell a short story about cheating in poker. Don't cheat, friends.
Infiltration - Early work that was leading up to NYFA and the process that motivated me to attend. This was my first attempt at action with a story. Infiltrating a base to get important information to take down a terrorist group. Built as a three part series, this first-of-three is the only file that I can still find but is the series that got me locked-in on cinematography. In a word, unrefined ... yet with potential.
Extreme Highlight - The result of a summer camp that ignited the fire. This video is more symbolic than it is incredible, you know, other than how incredibly amateur it looks. This was made when my main goal in life was to play baseball. The process grabbed me, at the time, mostly in the editing with Final Cut Studio 2. A box I keep behind me proudly on my shelf at my desk, visible in podcast episodes.