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Issue #70 – Student Successes
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
Anyone who’s been around a film production realizes that the filmmaking process is a unique blend of creativity and collaboration. Films don’t magically appear from the figments of someone’s imagination: it takes a whole team of talented people working together to turn an imagined story into something that others can watch and relate to. One might say that the real magic of filmmaking, then, is in the teamwork.
For Film Connection apprentice Ron Reid, these two things—creative expression and collaboration—are perhaps the two things that have drawn him the most toward pursing a career as a filmmaker.
Regarding creative expression: “I think for the most part, I just want to have an outlet to take what’s internal to your own imagination and share that with others,” Ron says. “Film, particularly, is that instrument or that tool you can use for that…I think filmmaking can be like a painter illustrating themselves on to a canvas. For me, it’s part of inviting others into my own world.”
As for the collaboration part, Ron developed his appreciation for teamwork from an interesting place. “I served as a U.S. Army officer for eight years specializing in training and resource management,” he says. “One of my greatest treasured skills from service is that I maintained a strong desire to contribute as part of a team…It’s more than about oneself.”
When Ron decided to go to school to become a filmmaker and discovered he could learn on-the-job at the Film Connection, it was soon clear that this was a great fit for him. His first clue that he was in the right place was during his initial interview with Film Connection mentor Steve Carmichael, who teaches at RiTE Media in Atlanta, Georgia. “He’s very cordial, and he’s able to capture you into his own world,” he says. “Very intelligent, very inspiring.”
As Ron started his apprenticeship and began gaining experience through the various projects at RiTE Media, he saw firsthand the power of collaboration at work during the filmmaking process—most notably during a prolonged video shoot on New Year’s Eve for “Pride,” a song by up-and-coming artist TOTEM. (Check out the video here.)
“It was very long, it was very cold, it was outdoors,” Ron recalls. “It was like 50 people, just crew, and 50 extras, I don’t know, it was a massive amount of people. Everybody was just out there, had their own departments, grip and gaff and art department, extras and so forth, and everybody was just in tune to get their most creative process that they could…I was with them doing that one for 22 hours, which through all the different projects I’ve worked on, that’s been the longest. But people stuck around because they had vested interest, not just on making money, but they were involved in that collaborative process.”
Perhaps even more poignant for Ron was seeing the finished product, the results of their efforts. “Just to see that entire piece come together when they had the release party and the actual viewing and showing of the video itself,” he says, “—You know, we’re out there 22 hours doing it, just on the grind, getting it done, and [to] see what it came into—It was almost like the power of human spirit, I guess. We’re not existing alone, we’re of one mind type of thing.”
As Ron continues to work through his Film Connection apprenticeship, he continues to marvel at the experience he’s gained, and the power of collaboration on projects. “Over the past few months, I’ve been able to receive work on various commercial, music, and television productions,” says Ron. “The best [thing] is the experience of working with highly dedicated professionals that have fun at what they do. I’ve also had the pleasure of assisting in a few independent projects…A few I’ve participated in, I’ve had a prominent role, and seen firsthand how passionate a collective group can work even when there seems to be no real compensation other than fulfilling the expectations to imprint oneself into a collective creative project.”
Talking with Ron about his experiences, it’s also apparent that the relationship he maintains with his mentor, Steve, is a key to his success.
“We talk in depth about a lot of things,” he says. “I went to college and got a degree in business management, which is fine—a lot of Americans do that. But I wish that everything was designed after an apprenticeship kind of approach. You get that one-on-one, you’re not just out there learning things as you go alone. You have somebody kind of guide and walk you through it.
“I think in a classroom setting, if you can equate it,” Ron continues, “it’s almost like…’Well, I’m here because I’m making somebody else’s paycheck’—whether it’s the professor in front of me, or it’s the school in general, or it’s something that will go back into the industry. With a mentor, while a mentor has to be paid, obviously, you feel more that it’s a direct relationship between the two, like the mentor actually has a vested interest in you learning and growing versus somebody’s getting paid at the ending of the day…Steve’s kind of a family member in some aspects, like an uncle that I would know. ‘Oh yeah, I’ll teach you that,’ that type of thing. He’s passing on his years into you, he’s feeding it into you.”
It was a desire for creative expression that first convinced Ron Reid to study filmmaking, but it’s apparently the magic of collaboration, which he discovered in learning on-the-job, that’s keeping him in it for the long haul.
“I’m very much interested in the shared vision of a director,” he says. “You look at a child that has an imaginary world. He’s playing with his toys or something like that, and everything in his world is in vibrant colors, but they can only exist within [that world]…For me, [film] is kind of the same experience, though you can share that imaginative process with others. It’s not just your vision alone; it’s shared between all the persons involved, and the audience as well.”
And does Ron Reid feel he has a story to tell through film?
“Thousands,” he replies.
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