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Issue #76
by L. Swift and Jeff McQ
RC apprentice Tanner Bjorklund (a.k.a. “T-Strix”)
Masters apprentice Rodolfo Lopez (a.k.a., “R-Łö”)
Studio B in ES Audio
“The album is gonna be very diverse,” Rodolfo adds. “You’ll hear one and you’ll hear the next, and you’ll be like, ‘Wow, this is really different!’ It just has a vast variety.”
Even with the variety, Tanner says he wants people to understand what’s going on in the songs. “What I love when people talk to me,” he says, “is a when someone asks me about my lyrics in a song and what the song means. I love to explain it because I put so much meaning into every song, and I love unfolding each line of the verse, and telling them what that means.”
T-Strix and R-Łö. Two talented individuals with a shared dream to revolutionize hip-hop. They didn’t know each other, but through the Recording Connection they wound up apprenticing at the same studio. Their mentor, Donny Baker, paired them together—and the rest, as they say, is history. And they are just getting started.
“We are gonna keep making as many songs as we can a week, and pick which ones we think are the best,” says Tanner. “We’ve been making music every day, living the dream.”
The music industry is all about connections, connections that enable creative interests to align and careers to get made.
T-Strix and R-Łö — Congrats on the building the future you want one track at a time!
FC apprentice Joe Paciotti filming @ “The Troc” in Philadelphia, PA
RC apprentice Kristin Staub
FC apprentice Victor Brian Smith
As the owner of Ad-Venture Video Productions in Fresno, CA for nearly two decades, Film Connection mentor Ted Ruiz knows a few things about providing quality film and video services in a wide range of applications. Over the years, he’s built a highly successful business doing work an array of notable clients. In fact, when we caught up with him for the conversation and quotes below, Ted was prepping to do a TriCaster multi-camera live switch for country music icons Big & Rich. Ted also takes a keen interest in preparing his students not only to “put pretty pixels on the screen,” as he often refers to it, but also to be successful within the business of film itself.
Not surprisingly, during our recent conversation, Ted dropped some great insights and nuggets of truth that many of our apprentices could learn from. We’re excited to share some of these with you below.
ON THE MANY TYPES OF OPPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN THE INDUSTRY (NOT JUST MAKING MOVIES): “We do more types of video production [at Ad-Venture] than anyone in Central California…I’ve owned the business for 17 years and we are in the perfect environment where video content is king. Every business up and down the world needs video to communicate with the audience. Where 15 years ago our focus was on 30-second TV commercials or broadcasts, now we handle video production from short 45-second video modules for websites, for social media, creative and dynamic video production, live streaming events.
ON HOW HE LEARNED THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTORING, AND WHY HE MENTORS OTHERS: “In high school, I really didn’t have any direction. I did not care for school. I did not know what I was going to be doing…I was taken under the wing of some people I highly respected. They liked my work ethic, my enthusiasm, and I was working with some very, very top notch professionals that took time to help me prove my skills. I’ve always kind of tried to pay that forward through my youth activities but nowadays I do that through grooming people…To be honest, in this market, there are hundreds of potentially talented people…[but] the majority of them don’t understand the professional ethics, the business practices, the pay it forward attitude…As business owners, we need to be mentors for the next generation.”
ON WHAT HE TRIES TO INSTILL IN HIS APPRENTICES: “We take young, aspiring talent that shows an interest. We not only help them learn how to shoot, how to edit, how to do color correction, how to compose shots and put pretty pixels on the screen…but we teach them the ethics and values of how to do the business side of video production or film production… When you first engage with a client, what is that experience for the client? What is the impression you left him with throughout the process? There’s a lot of moving parts to production; throughout that process, did you deliver more than you promised at every step? Were you punctual? Did you do the best you could? Were you a good team player with those around you, and were you ethical to your customers throughout?…More important than teaching them how to put pretty pixels on the screen, I think what we do is we instill a good work ethic and morals and values in these young talents because I think that is the hardest thing to teach someone.”
Ted Ruiz and Loan Nguyen at Ad-Venture Video Productions
“When I heard about CASA Schools’s approach to culinary education I was blown away. I just wished that this sort of thing was available before I spent $50,000 for culinary school! They promised me a management position as soon as I graduated. I found out that that was a lie. On-the-job experience is the only way to go. The use of the culinary techniques and cooking methods day in and day out, from one scenario to the next is the best way to learn. Doing one recipe a day and paying over $200 a day is bull…”
— Troy Artis , Owner/ Operator of Chef Troy Personal Chef and Catering Services, Los Angeles, CA
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