san diego filmmakers

2022 Director | DP Reel

After 2 years of work, it was time to update the reel. I can confidently say I am proud of my growth from my last 2019 reel. It was fun to put this reel together over the past few days. Had a chance to reflect and look back at all the cool projects I was blessed to be a part of. Big thanks to the drone operators and cam ops that helped bring the visions to life. I would love to hear some feedback and thoughts on the new reel. And any leads to a DP agent would be great ;)

ENJOY!

You already know I had to include some BTS of some of the projects!

BTS of “Milky Way” music video
Photo credit:Jordan Alexander

on the set of Milky Way
Photo credit: Hannah Bernabe

BTS of Aaron Wolf “Create Positive”
Photo credit: Alyssa Mopia

BTS of Amanda Adams “Take A Shot” music video
Photo credit: Alyssa Mopa

2 years later...

As we all know and have experienced it in our own personal way, a pandemic has changed our lives the past 2 years. March of 2020 feels so long ago. I feel like I’ve lived many lives since. This month I decided to revive my website, do some updates and get back to blogging. I noticed over the weekend that my last blog was on March 14th, 2020… 2 years ago today. It felt like a sign to have to make a post today, so here I am showing up!

Photos by Xavier Beso

Egonomics Pop up March, 2020

In early February 2020 I signed a 3 year lease for our newest Future’s Past studio in National City. It was the beginning of a new era. After 2 locations we felt we finally had a solid studio space to create and take on the year by its horns, Until just a month later, Covid-19 decided to invite itself to the party and throw all our plans away. The next few months we’re devastating but I’m not here to bore you with that. I am here to talk about the positive impact and small wins that we received after months of mental hell.

Outside Suite N, The beginning of an era

Inside Suite N, So much space to create!


We went a few months without even visiting the studio but once we started going, the creativity started flourishing again. We produced Alyssa’s video series for Coffee & Convos “Unfiltered Friday'“ where we invited our friends and other artists from San Diego to perform 3 songs, think of it like a Tiny Desk or other similar intimate video performances. After that, more projects came about and we felt alive again to be creating. In late 2020 we purchased our grip van and we’ve put it to use in many of our projects.

The day we picked up our grip fan. Had to capture it on film.

FLXWZ on set

One of the first sets for “Unfiltered Friday”

My friend soundsbydj was our only producer to perform an Unfiltered Friday

The darkness of a 3 year lease still loomed over my head until one day we found our first salvation.
Moving units included the switch of a lease. Meaning we will move into a bigger studio which meant more rent but our lease would end October 2021 instead of February 2023 (at the time that felt like a century from now). We couldn’t say no to that. The new space had more office spaces so we filled it with a Podcast room, editing room, our conference room / theater room (where we would watch shows and movies and sometimes get artsy and even paint) and even rented an extra office space to my friend Jordan.

Podcast room at the second studio, Suite A!

After many projects shot in the new studio space, From Aaron Wolf’s music video to Roanne’s music video and many many more projects,

BTS of Aaron Wolf’s "Create Positive" at our suite A studio.

BTS of Roann's “Honey” (Directed by Vanessa Chap and Valeria Kohakura)

It was time to let the space go. As of October 2021 I haven’t had a studio space. Now working from home I have moments of reflection to see how much Future’s Past has changed and evolved over the last 3 years. From our first studio in Barrio Logan to a few good runs with different spaces to now, Our downtown Loft. (photos on the next post, I’m tired and want to sleep lol)

The past 2 years have been a lot for me. I’ve started projects I haven’t finished. I lost a bit of passion for editing and even creating for myself. But one thing I’ve learned is that time away from creating is okay. We are human being not creating machines.
I’ve had a camera with me since I can remember and documenting my life is second nature. But with social media ramping up and having to feel that we have to constantly create took away the inner passion of why I even do it.

I’ll leave it with a few BTS photos from some previous projects we produced the past 2 years. Giving room to go more in depth with specific projects.. Can’t wait to share more with you all, with consistency and more important, INTENTION.

until next post, I’m out!

First Feature Film...

Some days I feel as if life is stagnant and I am not progressing in my craft. It’s hard to see our progress when we see our life pass by a day at a time. I have learned that it is important to reflect on life every so often, I usually reflect every quarter and go over my goals to see my progress on paper.

The first 2 weeks of November I spent on set. 14 hour long days back to back with little time to myself.
With about 7 hours of sleep daily I had about 3 hours to myself a day and the gym was the only thing planned. I love working out 5 days a week no matter how busy I am and it’s become one of my top priorities and values in life.

I had a moment to reflect after the film production ended. I realized that this year I had been accomplishing goals way before I expected. I had set a goal to work on my first feature film in 2020 and this opportunity presented itself out of nowhere. It’s true when they say put in the work and trust the process. Set goals and keep setting higher goals every year.

During the production, I felt bliss. The kind of bliss you feel when you are right where you are suppose to be and nothing else matters. I know I have to give myself more credit for all the work I’ve put in to be here. I love being on set, thats it. There was a day I was on set for 14 hours on 3 hours of sleep and I barely felt tired, I was just doing what I love. This gig infected me with more passion and determination to keep working on my craft and work on more feature films in 2020, Also, After many short films I have worked on I think it’s time I write down my ideas and execute more next year.

The best part of production is always meeting amazing actors and crew members. You become a family, beautiful friendships blossom and your network growths with more people in the film industry that you end up connecting with and talk about future projects we can work on.

I brought my film camera on some days to capture some moments. I love behind the scenes of music videos, films, photoshoots etc. I love seeing how things are created so I made sure to capture some moments for myself so I can share with everyone out there that enjoy the BTS as I do.

I can’t find the best way to end this so I will get to the photos. But a little side note. I will be blogging more often and sharing more of my photo work, behind the scenes, and just anything to do with my craft and hobbies. Enjoy!