Thankful for Word of Mouth & References

About 8 years ago I was referred to the Long Island International Film Expo organizer to help them out with graphic/website design. I have been working with them ever since. It’s a round about way of being involved with film which is something I thought I would be doing when I graduated high school. I had produced a multi-media slide show for my high school graduation – something that was NOT done in the 80s but is common place now – which was seen not only by everyone in our school but by dozens of other schools in the area who had heard what we were doing. It was a night I would never forget and I admit that the adulation from my classmates was intoxicating. That night someone yelled out, “hey, Kris! You should be a filmmaker!” And I thought YEAH! I SHOULD BE! Ah! To be 17 again and have absolutely NO CLUE what I was doing… Not long after that I saw Dances with Wolves and decided that if Kevin Costner could do it, so could I. HA HA! 😂

Life doesn’t ever work out like you plan. Although, I did get to intern in my Dad’s department at Longs Drug Stores making training films for the company and I even declared myself a film major at San Francisco State during my overwhelming 1 semester enrollment (a long story for another time). Anyway, that experience morphed into a job with a photo lab where I honed my photography skills, learned how to read negatives, color correct by sight, etc. That morphed into a career in graphic & website design which wasn’t even a thing when I graduated high school. Those dreams of being a filmmaker faded pretty quickly and by my mid-20s my focus was on being a wife and later a mom. My “career” was just a job. In many respects, it still is. I am certainly not doing what I am passionate about. I love looking through a lens and then later seeing a photo that can recreate real-life moments – not some picture that has been so overwhelmed with Instagram filters and HDR that it looks NOTHING like the real world. My passion doesn’t pay the bills though so for now that will remain a hobby.

What DOES pay the bills is my day job AND references. That affiliation with the Long Island International Film Expo (LIIFE) has lead to a long standing relationship with the Queens World Film Festival (both in New York) that I have been working with for the past 5 or so years doing mostly graphic design but also now includes exclusively, website design & maintenance. I find these jobs fulfilling in ways that my day job isn’t (I’m a marketing/art director for a local manufacturer). I feel like I have come full-circle and now play a small part in film albeit a behind the scenes contributor to independent filmmakers who are a whole lot better realizing their dreams than I am. And that is ok for me… FOR NOW. As I move into this new phase in my adulthood (almost empty nester), I may revisit what it means to work a job vs do what I am passionate about. I am so grateful for the references of these two film festivals who send these filmmakers my way to help them with their film marketing. Above are two examples of some movie posters I have recently made for two pretty great films. If you have a chance to check these movies out, please do. Support independent filmmakers!