Fourth Year Bachelor in Multimedia Arts (BMMA) student, Christian Oliver Espinueva, spends every free moment with a camera in hand, filming the stories around him. Thankfully, he gets lots of chances to flex his filmmaking skills at CIIT!
Even better, each new film enables Christian to stretch his filmmaking skills beyond his limits and keep his creativity burning. In our interview with him below, check out how CIIT has encouraged Christian to explore his passion, how his constant practice has opened doors for him in the industry, and why he encourages budding filmmakers to nurture their creative drive:
How did your interest in filmmaking begin?
I started by borrowing my mother’s phone to take photos and videos. Together with my friends and family, we produced films just for fun, without any purpose or plan. As time went by, my interest in video and filmmaking grew and a turning point happened during senior high school. Here, I was able to write and direct my first ever short film entitled “Opyo.”
We found out about CIIT when my mother saw an advertisement online for Multimedia Arts Course. At CIIT, I’ve been able to produce more films. During my 2nd year in college, my groupmates, blockmates, and friends would even shoot films and music videos together. But when the pandemic and lockdowns hit, we had to stop shooting videos as a group for a while. I didn’t stop making films, though. I kept producing short videos and skits at home.
How do you think CIIT has helped you hone your skills?
CIIT gives us many opportunities to test out our skills, even the homework enable us to work on improving our craft.
For instance, my best film so far is a short film entitled “Conjunct” that my classmate, Camille Velasco, and I made for an assignment. We were the only people in the production and since it was a horror film, there was even a time we were filming at night in the middle of a forest. While this was my most challenging film so far, it is the one I am the most proud of because I was very happy with the cinematography, lighting, sound design, and of course, the overall storyline tying together the film. Even my professor, Mr. Josh Lomahan, really appreciated our final output.
Do you think you’re on the way to a career in filmmaking?
Yes. I really want to become a Director and Cinematographer in the next five to ten years and I’m working towards that goal.
I have extensive knowledge in cinematography, lighting and directing. Before, I would even share my knowledge on filmmaking and techs on YouTube. Currently, I am also a freelancer for video editing and other multimedia works as well as a project-based employee in M&P Creatives.
Why do you think filmmaking is a viable career path?
Multimedia has so many applications in today’s digital world, particularly in the advertisement, entertainment and publication industries. With CIIT’s Multimedia Arts program, we’re not only armed with the skills to flourish in these fields, we also become artists who can make the online platform a better place.
What advice would you give to your aspiring filmmakers?
Just keep your creativity burning. We’re artists and art is subjective, so no one can ever question what we want to create.
Like Christian, do you have an unstoppable passion for the arts that you’d love to turn into a career? If so, CIIT is the place to be!
Learn more about our Bachelor in Multimedia Arts program here or enroll here.
