Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to ITHIELL YISRAEL. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
ITHIELL, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Around age 13, I found one of my father’s old photography cameras in his garage and looked through the lens. There was something about the way the world looked through that lens that immediately created a desire to see everything through that lens. As my cousins and relatives would stand around talking, I would put the camera up to my eye, with no film in it, and just float around them. Looking at them from various angles through the lens. I fell in love with the camera.
I had always been fascinated by stories as a child and subsequently movies. In NYC on channel 5 they would play the BIG APPLE Movie on the weekends. I watched martial arts films on Saturdays. I literally started to see real life as scenes in a film. I think it was during high school that I began to take the idea of working in film and television more seriously. What better way to combine story and picture than in film.
In high school, I was the school news camera operator and editor and took up video production in my first college and film production much later at another college. At age 19, I was working as a security guard at a local mall in Jacksonville, Fl. when the Hudlin brothers (Boomerang, House Party) came to town to shoot a film called “Ride”. All the entry level positions were filled except one in the art department. I threw myself at the department head and said I’d work for free. She said don’t ever tell anyone that, and hired me.
I met an A.D. on that film and got hired to work in NYC on the movie “He Got Game” starring Denzel Washington and directed by Spike Lee. From there I was hired to work on many projects starred, directed or produced by famous names like Christopher Walken, Willam Dafoe, Method Man, DMX, Colin Farrel, Gregory Hines, Abel Ferrara, John Sayles, Angela Bassett, John Legend and many others. I have worked with Vice Media as a Field Producer among others.
ITHIELL, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My company is IRON ROCK FILMS, and I produce films, commercials, short films, documentaries and music videos here in Jacksonville, Fl. I am also a photographer and maintain my love for the camera in both motion pictures and stills.
Most of my clients are looking for high quality production to promote their businesses, products, art and brand or for guidance and management to produce a film or documentary. I provide creativity, experience and a knowledge base that my clients can grow from.
For first time business owners and entrepreneurs, I provide next level production quality at a price their businesses can manage. Small business and Not-for-Profit Organizations are a growing space for creative marketing and so the need for creativity and quality is in high demand. I walk them through the processes for producing content or commercials while providing realistic expectations from all aspects of production.
My experience in this industry is something I am most proud of. I have a true passion for cinematography, photography and production in general. I love creating and producing for a client and hearing that what they got was above and beyond what they expected. I bring my Hollywood experience to hometown businesses and individuals.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Society can best support its artists by viewing their talent as a viable and necessary profession. Art in my opinion is often the base and foundation of appeal, attraction and design when it comes to products, marketing, advertising, packaging, and presentation.
It is the talent of artists that help to establish our mood through music and images, our ideas and imagination through film and documentaries, our love and appreciation through painting and sculptures, our intellect and emotions through writing and poetry. Our peace and safety through home and interior design. Every discipline actually affects every aspect of our humanity.
It is not a luxury item or an afterthought. It is a vital factor of our character, the soul of our individuality and our collective, it is the spirit of communication. It is worth everything and more.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
The struggle I think non-creatives have in understanding the journey of a creative is how we manifest an idea into reality. I don’t think they realize how many layers have to come together in order to produce something creative. I think creating is very similar to the creation of a new born. At a microscopic level cells are formed to produce organs, bones, muscle and skin. A process of construction and deconstruction occurs until the shape, the function and the purpose of the creation is complete.
In the case of a newborn it takes 9 months to complete the first stage in the womb and another 20 years to complete the 2nd and 3rd stages in this world. Everything artistic doesn’t have to take that long but some might. Some things can happen in the blink of an eye and others in several thousand blinks. Creativity is not just about producing a thing but understanding all the reasons and layers it requires to produce it. The sourcing of materials and time and space to manifest that thing.
So in short the more non-creatives understand that there is a process to creation, the less frustration creatives have in producing said creation. Creativity is often a deeply spiritual, mental or emotional activity that requires the creative in essence to bond with your needs or your ideas in order to manifest your desired outcome. Although money is a factor in all things in business, understanding is a vital currency in all things artistic. Understanding for both the creative and the client.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ironrockfilms.com
- Instagram: @ithiell_aka_telli
- Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/IRONROCKFILMS - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/ithiell/ - Twitter: @ironrockfilms
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/channel/ UCN2q1gLJce7sWvyn8gpDEnQ
Image Credits
Johnny Ayala /Johanna Oramas