Preface – Undergraduate Years (Graphic Design)
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This is not me by the way. But hey, I worked on the color detailing of this image.
Since I was young, I’ve always wanted to be involved in a career that allowed me to envision concepts in my head and subsequently visualize them on paper or build them from scratch. So as I kid, I would often build lego models and draw maps and landscape scenes, mostly urban. Interior & exterior “blueprints” were a favorite of mine, especially for preparing an outdoor clubhouse –– one to many times –– that never seemed to have gotten past the initial setup phase. At an early age, I would even brainstorm designs for everyday objects that don’t seem to fulfill its fullest purpose (like a school desk for instance…why can’t they be portable and feature a built-in screen with programs to replace all those bulky textbooks? 3rd grade by the way, in case you’re wondering when I was thinking of that).
In that same grade, I knew I wanted to become either an architect or an engineer. In the end however, I went with the latter upon entering college since I was strong in math and loved science in high school, but I always felt that architecture was a stronger calling for me. Midway through my undergraduate studies, I switched to graphic design (since it was already too late to go into architecture and I would lose a majority of my credits) and since the field shares aspects with it in having students illustrating ideas on computer and coming up with some very detailed sketches. Though not quite the same as drawing product abstracts or public structures for a living per se, graphic design still is a field that connects me with my inner artistic passion, though more on the technical side.
This passion in turn, has allowed me to explore various ways of producing my work, even in ways I previously didn’t give much thought to (such as focusing on properties of color, mood and shape). I’ve even explored the means of putting my work in different mediums (see creative portfolio), each to serve its own purpose, to which I fully embraced the field and appreciated the ubiquity for its use around the world.
I since have held a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Graphic Design from Northeastern University (2015) and attained my masters degree in Digital Media shortly after (2017). The plan is to use both degrees to become an online content producer, at least as a launching career. You will find the work that I do in this area under Mini-Studio Productions and my aforementioned Creative Portfolio.
Preface – Graduate Years (Digital Media)
Shortly after graduating with my bachelor’s degree, I knew I wanted to further my education through another creative medium I was passionate about. While I was in high school, I had briefly experimented in video editing. This interest didn’t come from out of thin air; at the time in 2010, YouTube was only a few years old but I had witnessed the craze that was the phenomenon called the “YouTube Poop” that hooked me into the hobby. In time, I began to use Windows Movie Maker (which really is a joke of a program, given what I’m used to using now) to edit a video of me and my senior class at a field trip. I wasn’t planning on creating a slideshow reel or anything professional or mature like that…I just wanted to play with effects and sentence-mixing!
Although new with grasping the “feel” of how to edit video, I quickly learned all about manipulating a timeline, adding effects, and importing/exporting media. I’m naturally a quick learner so that wasn’t surprising. I soon was able to craft myself a rather simplistic and funny video showing my peers saying things they didn’t originally say, in and out of context. It was fun doing this (though I only showed one person, who urged for more) but this was partially a practice exercise. However, I soon learned that there were limitations on the software I was using that prevented me from knowing how to create cooler effects (such as masking). Coupled with the focus at the time with applying to engineering schools, I sporadically came back to editing, only if I was bored and had nothing else to do. Later on, I would get an iMac and learn to use iMovie for more or less of a similar video-editing experience.
Years later as I was wrapping up my undergraduate studies (now in graphic design), I looked fondly back at my experiences with using primitive software to learn video editing, mostly self-taught (as I didn’t read any manuals or guides, nor didn’t I watch tutorials). I then thought to myself: “Hey, since I know a little bit about how to edit, why don’t I take what I know so far and turn my hobby into a career?” In all honestly, it wasn’t just editing, as the program I got into was a bit more broader than that. I had no problem with that. The name? Digital media.
Digital media, as I came to know, allowed me to learn various areas in design that I had or had not really experienced in a course of study under the graphic design curriculum. This included editing for video (duh), editing (and spotting) for audio, website creation, and even game coding to my VERY dismay (I love video games but I HATE programming them). The single element tying up all these disciplines? The format and delivery: online and/or by computer. I mean how else? Going into the program, I had an advantage in knowing and having the Adobe Creative Suite. My undergraduate courses even went as far as having me practice a little bit of animation and storytelling. These came in handy as I worked hard in building on top of those skills, acquiring new ones and refining others. And in no time, I became very adept at using Adobe Premiere, After Effects and Audition, to the point where I started to not only edit videos more sophisticatedly, but also create them from scratch!
So to go back to the beginning, what exactly is my other passion? For me, it’s content-creating. What started off as only video editing eventually blossomed into that and so much more. Enriching this experience was learning how to shoot video, learning how to light for camera, how to draft a screenplay excerpt that I hope to adapt into a film one day, among others. I have my influences as well, which played even a bigger impact in motivating me to pursue media production. But more on that later. In the meantime, check out Mini-Studio Productions and my Creative Portfolio for reference or mere enjoyment of my work – hopefully, the latter (or both, whichever counts).
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