En 404 Past Present Future

8/14/2019 En 404 Past Present Future

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Donald FordEN 404

3/21/08

Past Present and Future

I was born Donald Arthur Ford on November 28, 1984. I then spent three months

trapped in an incubator because I was premature. I cant remember what it felt like

trapped in that small plastic box, but I bet its a lot like how it feels sometimes trapped in

my apartment room now. I wanted to get out and see the world early then and I do now.

Filmmaking is the way I do that. I get to explore through the lens. It took a while to get

here.

I grew up on the North side suburbs of Chicago. When I was two years old my

parents moved from Palatine Illinois to Glenview because of the good schools there. I did

enjoy most of my schooling. I remember kindergarten being fun. We got to do finger-

painting, play with toy trains and learn about sharing. I also remember eating paste, yum.

Art and crafts where always around for me. My Uncle Steve was a musician and he liked

to draw. We used to draw doodles together, usually on napkins or placemats. My mom

also did some drawing and painting. She was quite good at it. I used to go with her to

drawing and painting classes. The more I did art the more I liked it. In school it was my

favorite class.

My Mom and Dad also liked to watch movies. They had quite a collection of

VHS tapes. My Dad had all the westerns, action movies and war films, while my mom

had romantic comedies dramas and some musicals. I grew my enjoyment of movies from

them. I gravitated towards my Dads interests more. I quickly became a fan of Clint

Eastwood, Harrison Ford, and Steve McQueen. At that time I mainly enjoyed the films


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for their entertainment value. I had no knowledge of filmmaking at that time, but I did

wonder about acting or what it would be like to make a movie.

I finally got my chance in 2003. My senior English class had a final assignment.

We could choose from several options and one of them was to write a story and make a

short film based on it. I quickly teamed up with my friends, some not even in the class, to

begin our first filmmaking experience. After some initial drama deciding on our idea we

finally agreed to do a spoof on the 1980s Arnold Schwarzenegger action film Predator.

I quickly wrote a script and away we went. The end result was Gnome. It like

Predator had a group of commandos searching for a sci-fi creature, only in ours it was a

lawn gnome. We were ecstatic about it and very proud of our movie. We where shocked

when we only got a B on it. Looking back it was really bad. None of use actually knew

any film techniques, we pretty much imitated what we thought was how to make a movie.

Funny enough it has become well known around various college campuses and high

schools. My friends and their friends have been showing it. Youtube also helps. That was

my first filmmaking experience in a collaborative sense. I still didnt have my own

camera yet. It wasnt till 2003 that I got my first video camera. That was the real start of

it all for me as an individual artist/filmmaker.

Family members got together and bought me a little Canon handy cam for my

birthday. It quickly became my view to the world. My first project was converting the

boring family vacation video into an actual adventure. I didnt want my home video to be

like a home video. I wanted it to be cinematic. My first attempt was our 2004 Iowa

camping trip with my Dad and his old college buddies. I didnt have to do any casting

because my Dad and his buddies are already characters. My brother also kept things


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moving with bad jokes and his general goofiness. I edited it together with music and

stupid transition effects and it came out quite well. It is a great and fun document of one

of our vacations. I didnt stop there. Quickly following was our Hayward fishing trip.

This one I wanted to be more epic. I had intro titles and I documented the road trip. It

gave the movie a road movie feel. Then I added montages and formatted the trip in

segment fashion. I introduced characters and all in all it was more epic. I really enjoyed

making these videos. The editing was where I really found my calling. I liked the entire

process but the editing was where I took this generic family video footage and tried to

make more out of it. I used these videos in my portfolio to get my scholarship to MIAD.

Those three experiences really got the ball rolling. I knew that I wanted to continue to

make movies.

I took a slight detour right out of High school. I had a passion for cars that

overshadowed movies. At the time I was really interested in car design, especially Ford.

At the time Ford had some of the coolest concept cars I had ever seen. They had the Ford

Thunderbird, the 49 and the Mustang Bullitt concepts. I loved the retro designs and felt

that I had a lot of cool retro design ideas. My favorite car was and still is the Ford

Mustang. Its ironic that one of the reasons I love the Mustang is because of the Steve

McQueen cop movie Bullitt. The movie had an amazing car chase in it with a 1968

Mustang. I should have paid attention to my direction early on. Many of those old movies

influenced my drawings. I used to draw cinematic scenes of action based on many of the

movies I watched. I drew tons and tons of cars.

Once I got out of High school I went to Oakton Community College to build up

my portfolio for MIAD. I planned to study Industrial design. Math quickly made me have


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a change of heart. I began studying graphic design and 3-D animation all the while still

making short films with friends outside of class. I really took to 3-D design. I loved

building models in the 3-D programs. It reminded me of building model cars when I was

younger. Now I thought I was going to be a 3-D animator. So when I came to MIAD I

was going to major in animation. Thanks to a strange registration process no body told

me about 2-D animation. I didnt even realize that MIAD didnt have 3-D animation at

the time I transferred. I quickly found that 2-D animation was not my thing either. I loved

to draw but not 200 images of the exact same frame. Naturally I fell back into

filmmaking. Ive been happily doing it ever since.

Coming to MIAD I was never quite sure If I would fit in. I didnt see myself as a

fine artist. I liked mainstream films, and I didnt have tattoos or piercings. I felt like an

outsider surrounded by people who all looked the same but called themselves outsiders. I

promised my Dad that Id give it a shot and Im glad I did. Through the lack of

development of the MIAD Time Based Media program I was able to blaze my own path.

Ive made movies that I wanted to make and Ive done it in an environment that is more

about fine art. In tern I have actually gained respect for choosing to do what I am truly

passionate about and not conform to some of the MIAD conventions. Some of MIAD has

certainly rubbed off on me. I feel like I fit in more. I see myself as a visual artist and can

speak with animators, painters, drawers as well as designers and fine artists. I understand

my craft as art as much as I understand a painter or graphic designers work as art. Ive

accepted art as the way of my life and it feels great.

Life after MIAD is still with its uncertainties. Several opportunities have

revealed themselves but now I have to choose my direction. I would like to continue to


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make movies because that is my passion. I know I cant do that without some way to fund

myself. Some of these opportunities are also uncertain about If they will take off. There

are two possibilities for launching media companies with partners. I also am working an

internship that could lead to a job. My internship is with a Video production company

that makes health care documentaries. I enjoy the work but the field is rather depressing.

Im more interested in telling stories. The two launches are uncertain as well. I dont

know when these things will happen. I also have to see what responses Ill get from my

thesis exhibition

I have occasionally looked at my work and wondered why. This hasnt been truer

than with my thesis film. It is a cop film about corruption, redemption and morality. It is

the darkest movie Ive ever made. Ive had times where Ive wondered If its going to be

too generic and weather its going to go beyond the common movie clichs. Ive also

wondered if its just going to add to the darkness of society or reveal something about it. I

was telling my roommate these things the other day and he told me its too early to be

worrying about those things. I need to finish editing it first and see what peoples

responses are. He told me that I shouldnt be so hard on myself yet. I suppose hes right. I

am extremely proud of how its all come together and how exciting and fun it was to

make. Working with professional actors was a huge leap forward and it shows in the film.

From my birth to my latest film a lot has happened that shaped my journey as a

person and a visual artist. There are still questions about the future but as everything else

seems to do those questions will be answered with time.

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