We're Alive!

Aloha!! I'm super excited to finally have this up and running!

Here's a little rundown of the kinds of work I do and a little about what led me here:
I grew up in a video store. Seriously. My dad fixed VCRs. It was an amazing time to be alive! Ever since I was a little kid, I LOVED taping my favorite shows off TV or taking family movies, hooking two VCRs up and editing them. I was especially fond of removing commercials from my Scooby-Doo recorded marathons.
Once I got to middle school, I joined AV class and started creating the daily announcements with my classmates, wrote and filmed fun little skits and whatever else we wanted! In high school, I was the kid with the Hi-8 recorder and I filmed all the class projects and edited them for presentation for the class. I had also graduated from editing overnight recorded tapes of Scooby to MTV music videos trying to get my favorite songs on tape. Yes, I knew how to program my VCR and it was the best.

Editing was my FAVORITE thing to do when I wasn't acting. Oh yes. I am an actor!

In college I found myself focused mostly on my studies and learning the International Phonetic Alphabet for theatre. There wasn't much time for editing, and I only had a TV/VCR combo and wimpy Toshiba laptop. I wasn't really cooking with gas. I still hadn't gotten my first digital camera yet.
I got another whiff of editing in my 3rd year at college when I took a sound design class. It was my first time working with Pro-Tools. I was intimidated by all the hardware in the sound room but also fascinated. I wasn't very good to start, but I loved doing my projects staying in the room late into the night and early into the morning bleary eyed and my ears tired from listening.
Towards the end of college was when I got my first Canon Powershot that could do small 3 minute videos. I started to see possibilities, but wasn't sure how to edit them together yet.
Flash forward to my first iMac computer in the 2010 - I discovered iMovie, Audacity, BandCamp, Garageband, and a host of other softwares out there that meant I could edit movies ON MY COMPUTER. It was a brand new morning, folks.
I made lots of little self indulgent pieces and edited for hours, trying different techniques, finding different ways to piece things together and time it out. I did this for years, never really sharing any of my work, but always editing movies in my mind. I had no idea how to use editing software, but I wanted to!
In 2014 I got a job working in social media. I didn't care too much for the social part of the gig but I DID enjoy the media and filming my co-workers and streaming with them for work. I started small, working with Windows Media Maker - the bane of my existence. Eventually I bought my own subscription to Adobe Creative Suite so I could edit at home, and started using it covertly at work to make commercials and videos for my job. Eventually they got me a work license and a nice big Mac computer to work on and I edited videos ALL day sometimes. It was the best.

I found myself doing it at home for friends, family and co-workers that wanted little videos done quick and dirty. I loved it. I did it for free.

Now, I'm not saying I'm the best editor, but I do pretty well for someone with no formal training. I am ALWAYS learning. If I don't know how to do something I will research it, test it, try it again and try to do it as many times as I can in a test project to get good at it. It's long been a dream of mine to get a graduate degree from USC School of Cinematic Art for Directing, Cinematography and Editing. Sigh.

SO. What can I do for YOU?
I edit small videos almost daily and I get such a high from it! While I'm usually editing small minute long videos that feed my acting pursuits, I also find time to help out friends, colleagues and small business owners with projects. I love finding ways to collaborate whether that is them making something awesome in After Effects and adding it to project or just making something for personal use. 

Some of my favorite kinds of work to do are commercials, reels, film shorts, and narrative pieces. I've started to make small movies and finding immense joy in building the mood of a piece through editing!

Need a website? I do that too! Using whatever web editor you prefer, I can also get your website up and running for you! I'm familiar with SquareSpace, Weebly, Wix and can connect 1and1, Constant Contact, MailChimp, G Suite, and Google Analytics for your site. If you have something else, let's chat! I should be able to figure it out.

In addition, I edit and clean up audio for voice over and narration as well. 

If you already have an animated graphic/title or have a template for titles you want in Photoshop, I can also do all the filling out busy work as long as you let me know what I'm putting in there! I want you to look good.

ANYWAY Long first post OUT OF THE WAY! WHew! Hope you got through that marathon okay!

Keep an eye out for when I get new thoughts or ideas about editing or if I'm working on something I can share :)

Kick ass!
- Z