We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Diego Ramirez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Diego, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
I spent a lot of time growing up alone, and this was my own decision. I didn’t really like to socialize a lot. The only thing that kept me in solace at the time was movies. Indie, big budget, pick a genre and I’ve watched it. There were so many movies I watched at the time that just inspired me. Around then I would daydream shots and entire movies of my own that played out in my head. I can remember what was the spark of how I learned to start doing what I do, and that was simply to just write down ideas on a notebook. Whether it was a story idea or a shot in my head; good or bad ideas, I just wrote it down.
I can remember the first notebook I bought which was a typewriting style notebook, filled with inspirational quotes from writers. To put it simply, I started learning about filmmaking just simply by writing down ideas. In my opinion, writing down your ideas and saving them to paper is a lifesaver. I cannot tell you how many ideas I wrote down and long forgotten about them. It’s not until I look in my notebook and remind myself of the idea that you thought was long gone from your mind. I honestly feel so guilty and ashamed if I don’t save that idea. But this is my own process. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to stop something important, just to write down an idea.
There are two things I think I could’ve speed up my learning process. One, if I had just got out there and start shooting something or writing down a story. And two, definitely just to get out of my own head. Because this way I could have failed, and succeeded a lot quicker in life.
At the time, I was so scared to face criticism as a filmmaker. I wanted to be a perfectionist, I wanted to get it right, and assure in good confidence that what I had was a sure fire hit. However It was all talk and no show. I didn’t have a film or a script to present this desire of mine at the time. The truth was I was scared to open up my screenwriting software and actually write something. Just simply because of past experiences where people didn’t like what I worked on. When I was in college, we studied film THEORY, not school. So I spent a lot of my time studying and analyzing movies instead of making them. The equivalent of film school was a single class that I took where we were just shooting mainly on super 35 digital cameras, and just throwing ideas at the wall and see what sticks. However, at least I was actually getting out there and shooting something. Because to be perfectly honest with you, I definitely built up a lot more confidence after the fact. I think just shooting with a camera in my hand, and learning about the basics of lenses, composition, and just overall film literacy, truly gave me the confidence I needed to create. Because I finally realized that all you can do is your absolute best. There is no concrete way to make a good film, if there was, everyone would be using it by now. Film is just simply a subjective format. And when I realized that from this single class of mine, my paranoia that I had for a long time just simply faded out. As long as I loved and had faith in the project I had in my hand, that’s all that matter to me. Because in the end, one doesn’t know how people will respond to what you create.
Out of what I learned I think the most essential skill that I took away was just simply relying on my intuition. In my own opinion, a filmmaker’s most essential skill is his intuition. Any filmmaker can shoot something and call it day, but I truly believe a great one can rise if you use your own inner voice for creative decision making and problem solving; especially on a set that can get very chaotic when everyone is asking questions every step of the way. That inner voice, your intuition that echoes through your mind, it speaks the truth, it speaks righteousness, and it speaks when you think through a creative decision. This is what gave me strength and the confidence to stand my ground. Because even if you make a painting, a movie, a show, whatever that it maybe, regardless of how it is received, I truly think audiences will see your sincerity and hard work if you truly rely on your sincerity and intuition. But again this it my own basic opinion, everyone’s process if different and I truly respect that.
I also think that plays what got into my own way of learning more as a filmmaker and that was just my own stubbornness at the start of career. Not having a sense of humility, self-awareness, empathy, and learning to collaborate. At the time when I was starting out, I truly didn’t want to be told how to make a movie, I just wanted to do it. Which is good in terms of doing your part and actually making it, but when you don’t form a sense of how to work with others, it can honestly lead to a project that is hard to work on set for and just feels ingenuine as a whole when it’s done. I honestly had this problem when I first started, and the only way I was going to get out of the jam was just simply working on myself as a person. Once I did that, I truly was able to come back a director, and as an overall artist with a lot more wiseness on my hands.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a filmmaker specializing in writing, cinematography, and editing. I’m also a photographer that specializes in narrative photography. The most recent project that I’m most grateful and proud of is a documentary feature called “Still Strumming” that had a five-minute standing ovation from a 100-plus crowd at its premiere.
I personally think one should stay true to themselves as a filmmaker, find their own styles through their own intuitive nature, approach their career with as much focus, purpose, and knowledge, seeking out to tell stories that they are burning to tell, and just plan, plan, plan as much as you can on that single project that you’re doing. Because the more you plan out a film project or any artistic endeavor that you’re passionate about, the more conceivably it will materialize. This is what I believe in, in terms of setting myself apart from others.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
When you see something that is finally finished, that is the more rewarding for me. Sure, I can say when you get positive feedback, or when someone picks up your product for distribution…But for me, it’s always when I see something that you perfected with your own hands, did your absolute best, got close to the ideas in your head, all complied on screen together, for me that is just more rewarding to me than anything else. You finished something of what felt like a lifetime to complete.
The best way to express this is in a metaphorical way is like watching a child of yours grow up. That you nurtured, kept faith with, and encouraged, and finally see it come into it’s own form, is just a wonderful feeling to me.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I had to unlearn how to not wear so many hats when making a film. Obviously my time choosing to be an outsider didn’t help me find connections for people to help me make a film. I can remember going out of my way and asking this particular college class of mine to help me on a student project, and no one wanted to help me. And at the time, this was very disheartening but it was something that I had put on myself as an outcast. I remembered reading a book an old mentor of my mine gave me and it was called “Rebel without a Crew.” If you are into filmmaking, you have probably heard about this book at one point. I remembering reading that and saying to myself “Ok, if no one is going to help, then I’m just going to have to help myself.” I did this for the real start of my career and I was completely fine with it. And to be honest, i would do it again if I’m in a tight spot on a project or want something done in a specific way.
But as I got further into doing more projects, with more resources and people involved, I had finally loosened up and realized that “you need a team to learn, and evolve as a filmmaker. Because making something with a team, with one coherent vision and idea, it can lead to something truly amazing.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/fotodiego_?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=ff499c6f-5983-40f8-b5c4-84ca6fc313db
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fotodiego_/
Image Credits
Lotti, Leonardo Romero, Sidney Rubino, Olivia Cane, John W. Klenk, Edgar Aldana