GET SOME™ ARTIST OF THE WEEK(4)

Describe how you feel about filming in two words.

Absolute love.

When did you recognize your passion for film making?

When I was a sophomore in highschool. I was taking a pot making class and it was boring. A side from that, the teacher was a real jerk. I found out that I could take a different elective class the next semester. When it came time to switch, I chose the multimedia elective.

Takes us back to your earlier years and tell us about what it was like doing your first projects.

My first projects were in the class; and they were very frustrating because at the time, I knew nothing about the process of film making or how to edit. Even though it was a pain in the ass I stuck with it because it was still a lot of fun.

 What is your favorite genre to make?

On the set of "The Break-In"

Hmmm, I’m not sure. I guess my favorite genre to make would probably be horror/thrillers films. I enjoy these for the challenge, because it seems like every horror movie is the same and has become too predictable.

Do you have any influences that you draw from when it comes to script writing and filming?

I draw inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. A video game I play, something I see, or even from my own experiences. Every film I’ve done or am working on has at least seven different inspirations from different places.

So far what is one of your favorite completed projects? Tell us about it.

I’ve done a lot of different projects from comedy skits to music vieos and everything in between but, my favorite project would have to be “Twinkle, Twinkle”. This film was an interesting idea that I used for a film class I took at UNM. One night I was playing a game called “Dead Space” and as I was going through one of the levels, a really creepy remix of  Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star started playing. It made me more nervous to continue but I also really liked the way it sounded. After that, I kept listening to the song trying to figure out how I could use it. I had a couple ideas but I finally settled on a group of statues outside the Student Union Building of UNM. These statues are all situated around a giant piece of art and they all look like they are trying to figure out what it means. A lot of people are creeped out by them, especially at night. So I took shots of them all, added the music, and found voices on youtube of different character types from a game called “Bioshock”. The way I edited I cut between the different statues, but kept the voices of previous statues running under so all of them were talking at the same time. I don’t want to give away the ending message, but you can check it out for yourself and try and figure out what I was trying to say.

Has there ever been any time in which you had to GET SOME and overcome issues that could potentially hold you back?

Well, there has been a few times when I had to work with stuck up actors/actresses who weren’t even famous but as soon as I realized how stuck up they were, I didn’t work with them. I guess the biggest thing to hold me back was UNM. Not saying that college is bad, but when I was at UNM I was taking a bunch of classes that had nothing to do with film making and I didn’t see why I was taking them. Since I was taking these classes, I couldn’t dedicate as much time to my film making as I wanted to. Now I’m going to CNM and my film classes start on September 19.

What would you tell people in a similar situation?

Just keep doing what you love and if you enjoy making movies, take every opportunity to learn something new. Most of the skills I know were self taught because of curiosity. I would see something in a movie and figure out how to do it without a budget.

What does GET SOME mean to you?

GET SOME means to stay focused, don’t let stupid people or dumbasses slow you down. Just keep working on what you love because in the end that’s what really matters. My family and friends support my film making because they see it makes me happy.

What future projects are you working on right now?

I’m working on quite a few projects. I’m working on a skit called “Worst. Date. Ever” that I will be submitting to the Wet Your Pants Film festival. There is another one called “Weep” that is a modern day retelling of the classic “La Llorona” urban legend that I will be submitting to the 2012 Las Vegas film festival. I also have two other projects called “Blood Ties” and “Drive” that I want to finish. I might change the name of the second one to something else since a movie starring Ryan Gosling is coming out called “Drive”.

And there you have it, our GET SOME™ artist of the week!!! One of  my own passions is in acting and I know that  trying to gather a group of people together to work on a film project or even stage project, and be on the “same page”, can be an arduous task. Maurice, though, is fully dedicated and extremely driven in his passion. With as often as he produces work, it seems as though obstacles are but a glass of spilled milk that no one needs to cry over. And that is why he deserves to be stamped with the ever official, GET SOME™ !!!!

If would like to view more work produced by Maurice you can check out his YouTube account,