Month 1: Pre-thoughts and First thoughts
It started with a re-post...
Let’s be honest: I spend way too much time scrolling on social media, endlessly swiping my finger up and down through my feeds, left and right through all the apps. So much time wasted that I have considered adding a time limit to my apps. I will admit that not all my scrolling is in vain, as it is how I got here in the first place.
In between the posts of all my friends, and the too many American football posts that litter my feed, is all the art, the videos, the visuals that spark my creativity. Notch being a big contributor to that. It’s because of Notch that Fray Studios’ mentorship program opportunity was reposted onto my feed. Call it luck, or just the good ol’ algorithm putting in work, but I was curious and clicked on their profile. Color me surprised when I realized this incredibly talented team was the one that created the visuals to a tour I had just seen.
Shows are one of my favorite places to be. Not just because I love the artists I go see, but because of the show as a whole – the lights, the visuals, the stage design. I love experiencing the moment, and when all of it comes together in beautiful harmony, I am star-struck. Ever since I graduated from college, being in that little booth at shows is where I’ve always wanted to be. So when the opportunity to learn from talented people in this industry practically fell into my lap, I just knew I had to apply. Ultimately, it’s what helped me land here as a Dev mentee.
Since college, I’ve delved into video editing and motion graphics, and have slowly been trying to make my way back into the entertainment world. It’s been a slow progress, but not something I’ve given up yet. Looking back at what I wrote in my submission, I may have gotten a bit of a sap at times, but I was nothing but truthful.
... and led to a first meeting.
I was so nervous and mildly terrified. I hadn’t spoken to any professional in this industry in years, and I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Likewise, I will admit that mild imposter syndrome was kicking in.
Kira, my mentor, is incredibly talented, amazing and very nice. I was left truly in awe of her (and not just because she is the one that created the visuals for the Pierce the Veil tour). Hearing about her journey, about how she started and how she has gotten to where she is now has further fueled my desire to re-enter this world. Also, having her be interested in my journey and where my path has led me was also a heartwarming experience. Our shared interests and beliefs as creative artists is something that made me feel connected, and makes me believe this mentorship will be a very rewarding experience.
My goals for this month that came from our talk were to start my blog, re-familiarize myself with Touchdesigner, and look over the “Dev Briefs” in order to choose a project to focus on.
So hello world, I am back to writing on here as I so happily did 5 years ago for different projects. I will be splitting it into two blogs, this one will be focused more on the mentorship side of things, and the other will be following along to my re-diving back in to live real time graphics.
5 years is a long time to be away from this very fast evolving technological world, but better late than never. I step into this challenge with an open creative mind, using the skills I have accumulated over the years, alongside very creative and impressive people.
