Media Makers Profiles: Oliver Quintanilla

Meet the Media Makers already reshaping the Great American Narrative.

Oliver Quintanilla

I live in: Santa Monica

I was born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 22 with the purpose of making a movie.

Latest Project: Three episode dog adoption drive for Honda.

Working on: Digital projects specifically related to decentralized apps on the etherum platform, and learning to code c++ on my own.

More of my work HERE

"It is all about the story, you may not have access to the best equipment, but if you have a great story to tell, then there are endless possibilities."

What go you interested in digital content?

When I started at the university, advised by my father I enrolled on Electronics Engineering, I did not like it and went to counseling. After several tests, they told me that my strength was the capacity to visualize a product in my head with extreme detail, before it existed. They recommended me to enroll in Architecture, as they said, I would have to visualize houses in detail, prior to construction. I asked the psychologist, what about filmmaking? Don’t you have to see the movie in your head before it is made? The counselor agreed with me. I switched to a communications major, and 6 months later I became the (paid) stage manager, at the university film studio.

Back then I would go to every single movie shown in town, I specially loved the European films the most, and also, while growing up with MTV, I also loved music videos, one of my favorites was More Human than Human by White Zombie. This particular video inspired me to work on the film industry, and made me move to California right after college. During my second year in LA, I got to work in the camera department on 9 music videos for Rob Zombie, the lead singer of White Zombie, now performing as a solo artist. For that job I was the camera assistant to the DP who shot More Human that Human.

What does a typical work day look like?

Wake up in the morning, meditate for 30 minutes, have my coffee, I use Basecamp to manage multiple projects. I have not been directing that much lately, as I have focused mostly in Production. If I have a job, well there is a lot of equipment checking and testing, check the weather in advance if the shoot is outdoors. Go out meet with the team, shoot and get it in the can as we used to say when we actually shot on film. Working on videos and movies it is not as glamorous as some may think, hours are usually long, but it is rewarding to create something that really lasts forever. For me, making documentary films, is a way of transcending my own mortality.

Why has digital content become so important in the information marketplace?

Digital content has become important simply because it can be easily transmitted and shared, somehow giving access to more voices than before. However, there is still a long way to go, as information it is still centralized among the hosting servers of a few mega companies, (Google, Facebook, Amazon). Starting this year and through 2020 there will be a revolution. This will be the adoption period for blockchain technology and decentralized applications, this new technology has a very real potential of democratizing the distribution of content. We can expect the decade of 2020 to become the decentralization content era.

What advice would you give aspiring content producers/multi-media journalists?

It is all about the story, you may not have access to the best equipment, but if you have a great story to tell, then there are endless possibilities. Having great equipment but no story serves absolutely no purpose.

Why is it important to ensure that the people who define and create content reflect the audience?

We cannot fail to acknowledge the fact that there are tons of Latino millennials that have been raised in the USA, that went to school, that know about American pop culture, and do not relate to their parents experience, they are more American than Latino. They have to tell their stories from their point of view, for others to relate and gain interest in their programs.

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