Portfolio
Professional & Academic Experience
Falling For Destiny (2020)
Cassie needs a way out of her dead end relationship. When she meets Wes, an accidental glimpse into the future tells her she's found it. However, the more she learns about him in the present, the more the future looks uncertain.
My roles were Director, Visual Effects Artist.
Nerd Like Me (2012)
A parody of Taylor Swift's "Girl Like Me," Mike Rayburn's "Nerd Like Me" helped him gain fame and notoriety as one of America's leading motivational speakers. This project is dear to my heart as it was one of the first project I worked on with Mike as I also edited his keynote "What If?" for several years (different venues and versions) after this music video. I consider this to be my FIRST professional video.
I wrote the visual story, acted as casting director, cinematographer, director, editor, well... I did it all. Please enjoy!
The Proposal (2012)
A pitch video to Lifetime and Hallmark for a series that celebrated Las Vegas not as "Sin City," but at the "Proposal Capital of the World." I was hired to create a pitch video that followed several couples as they embarked on their journey to propose to their future brides.
While the pitch was never selected, the concept and pitch video turned out to be a great homage to the love that can be felt in this wonderful city.
Academic Films
MFA Reel (2015)
Ravenwoods (2012) - Undergraduate Thesis Film
The following examples are from my undergraduate and graduate educational training.
Although technically not a Thesis, as UNLV didn't have a thesis requirement, I took it upon myself to have that experience. This was the final film I created in my advanced coursework during undergrad.
I was the Producer, Director, Cinematographer, Editor, and VFX Artist for this film.
This is a culmination of all of the classwork I did while attending AAU for graduate studies. My goal was always to be an educator, so I took a very generalist approach in selecting classes and in developing techniques.
Having a BA in Film and an MFA in Visual Effects, I always saw the blend of both traditional and digital effects in education. It's been my desire to help create programs and curriculum that reflects more of the industry and it's collaboration with these two areas that are oftentimes separated in higher ed. Because of this, I focused on both traditional and VFX filmmaking. I consider myself a digital filmmaker who uses VFX, not just a VFX Artist.
Return of the Dragon (2015-2016)
Below is a series of videos showing my Thesis film required to obtain an MFA in Animation & Visual Effects from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. My focus was on compositing and using Adobe products, as they're the main tools we use in academia. My personal focus was on environment design in the form of matte painting and greenscreen work. The following videos shows the Animation for the film, the Thesis film, and a VFX Breakdown of the work that went into making the thesis project. Enjoy!
Animatic
Final Film
VFX Breakdown
Projects with Students
The Eclipse (2018)
"The Eclipse" is a story that was inspired by the 2018 full eclipse that was scheduled to pass through the Midwest USA. Students and faculty from Missouri Western State University worked on this film during the summer of 2018, just shortly after the eclipse passed over Saint Joseph, Mo. Unfortunately, 100's of people who flocked to the area missed the eclipse due to heavy cloud cover. In an attempt to provide the citizens with a small film to commemorate the event, "The Eclipse" was selected among student entries for this project.
I worked as the VFX and Post Production supervisor the summer prior to my appointment at MWSU.
Defects (2020)
This is a dramatic film reading of Deb Olin Unferth's mini-fiction, "Defects." This film was created in collaboration with the Missouri Western State University department on English for the 20210 Conference on Poetry. Due to lock-downs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was cancelled. However, the film was submitted and included in the 2021 virtual University Film and Video Association conference. The work was seen internationally and praised for it's dedication to the original story.
I worked as the Executive Producer and most of the production and post production due to COVID-19 restrictions.
New Normal (2024)
This film was the result of a research collaboration with students during the 2022-2023 academic year at Missouri Western State University. During the year the team focused on emerging technologies in creative media and one of the main focus areas was the use of Artificial Intelligence in media creation. "New Normal" was a result of that research.
The purpose of the project was to help a hypothetical voice over actress create a reel without any prior knowledge of filmmaking, and without the benefit of industry equipment or software. Using only an iPhone, Adobe Rush (free phone app version), an available non-actor, and the actor's own home, AI was used to write a treatment, create a script, develop a shot list (ChatGPT 3.5) , and sweeten the audio (Adobe Podcast).
While attending UNLV during my undergraduate studies, I taught acting at a local talent agency in Las Vegas. Upon hearing complaints from several students that they were passed for roles because they didn't have an acceptable acting reel, I started a company with a mission to these help up-and-coming actors obtain material for their acting reels. We called the company Filmmata Films (2010-2020). Later I would change this branding, and mission, to Fermata Films (2023-Current). Below are some examples of these films, along with IMDB links to actors that we helped launch their career:
Community Projects
Paige Billiot (IMDB)
Christmas Letter
That's MY Bagel
Farewell
Secrets
ZaZa Maree (Anastasia Malaguti) (YouTube)
Corinna Jones was born on February 20, 1972 in Bremerhaven, Germany. She is an actress and producer, known for Hit on Me (2021), Vegas Vacation (1997) and Rat Race (2001).
Paige Lauren Billiot was born on August 10, 1992. She is an actress and producer, known for One of Us (2017), Earthtastrophe (2016) and Dam Sharks (2016).
Robert Santana Jr. was born in Chicago, IL. After graduating from Lane Technical High School he joined the United States Marine Corps and later earned a BA in Theater Arts.
Anastasia Malaguti, better known by her stage name, ZaZa Maree, is an American singer, songwriter and music producer.
Filmmata Films
Fermata Films
This is my current professional business fashioned after an Applied-Learning initiative I started at MWSU (Griffon Production House). I loved what I did there so much that I decided to make it a career in my hometown. Fermata Films' mission is to support local music and theater productions through the production of a multi camera live production setup. Our aim is to serve artistic performance communities that might not otherwise have the funding or access to high end production. Our goal is to minimize costs to those we serve while producing high quality productions so the members of these communities have these wonderful performances to remember and share with their family. We're a music and theater family and we understand the importance of remembering and reliving the wonderful performances we were a part of in our youth, and we strive to make that available to everyone. The use of a Fermata is to help sustain these memories for years to come.
Clients include:
Central High School Theatre Program
Missouri Western State University Music Department
Bishop LeBlonde High School Choir Program
Saint Joseph Youth Chorale
The Dance Art's Center
The Lubbock Chorale
West Texas Childrens Chorus
Other Community Partners
Visual Effects Productions
Shark Skin (2015)
Directed by the iconic title designer Dan Perri (Star Wars, Taxi Driver, 100s of histories timeless movies), this 1920's gangster drama included over 10 scenes with VFX work.
I was the lead VFX Artist on this film.
Road to Hell (2008)
Directed by Albert Pyun (Bloodsport 3, Cyborgs), I was brought on to this project to repair several VFX shots that were incorrectly composited. This was a great challenge because the production lost most of the original VFX work and I had to work off renders, which was more difficult than starting over - hindsight!
The Haunting at Death Valley (2020)
Originally titled, "Do Not Disturb," this 2020 horror directed by James Horton featured several paranormal VFX shots that I was either the lead artist or a supporting artist for.
