Just like almost every kid in my generation, I have been exposed
to movies for as long as I can remember. However, there is one type of movie
that has distinctly fueled my desire to create my own films, and that is
Japanese tokusatsu movies. Since the age of 3, I have been fascinated by the
works of the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema and all the techniques that made
it stand out: suitmation, miniature sets, matte background paintings, and
pyrotechnics. Eiji Tsuburaya, Ishiro Honda, and Tomoyuki Tanaka, the
masterminds behind these methods of moviemaking, have all taught me through
these films that there are so many different things you can do behind a camera with
little reliance on computer-generated images.
However, there are many current
artists who have all inspired me in their own way to continue this visual form
of storytelling that started over a century ago. Robert Rodriguez, Milla
Jovovich, Gareth Edwards, and Ron Perlman are my biggest role models in this
industry for their unconventional approaches to filmmaking and for
excelling in more than one area of it. They are constant reminders that you need not be put in a single category
or "box" when expressing your creative talents and can reach as
high as your potential will carry you. I hope to be able to direct my own
work one day, because above all, the people in this industry I look up to have
continued the tradition of storytelling in their own unique way and
succeeded through discipline, diligence, and devotion to what I think is
the greatest art form in the world.
