Artist Statement

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.