Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to James Moutsos. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, James thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
I would say my college thesis stop motion film, Kid Nature! This project was extremely meaningful, as it felt like the culmination of everything I had learned in both my film and animation classes at Pratt Institute. The process of stop motion was meticulous and often required working deep into the night, but I ended up making so many friends during the process who would help me with set building and puppet creation. And overall, the film has so much of my personality, emotions, and ideas I have about life in it. It’s a story about trying to deal with the responsibility of growing up, while also attempting to keep your child like wonder, which is an internal battle that I feel like I’ve been wrestling with throughout my twenties.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m James Moutsos, and I am a stop motion animator, video editor, illustrator and videographer. I studied at Pratt Institute where I received my BFA in Film and Video Production.
I love creating short narrative animations that often deal with comical and outlandish scenarios. For client work, I specialize in creating animated logos, social media advertisements, graphic design, and filming and editing live events.
I take pride in helping out at every step of the way in a projects creation, from writing scripts and storyboards that meet your narrative demands, filming and animating projects with a signature visual flair and energy, and bringing the whole story together in the editing room. I can meet your needs for a video project at every level of production.
I’m a creative problem solver. I want to hear what goals you have: a product to sell, a business or organization that needs attention. Then, I want to brainstorm ideas in a fast in efficient way, that can both entertain and entice your intended audiences.
What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?
I love meeting new people! I’ve often thought about filmmaking, and my creative endeavors as ways to meet new friends. When I’m trying to grow my clientele, I often reach out to my present circle of connections to both check in on them and possibly start a new project, or see if they have any other possible connections who might need my services. I think always throwing your work and skill set out into the world with open arms is the best way to meet as many potential clients and collaborators as possible.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
One big habit and lesson I had to unlearn, was to never a stop until a project is perfect. I’m someone who loves to put my all into the current project. If there’s an extra special ingredient that I can add to a piece that makes it more dynamic, or stand out among the rest, I’m almost certainly pulling an all nighter to see it through.
BUT, with that being said, I’ve had to stop letting perfect be the enemy of good. In high school and college, I would spend so much time working on a paper or a project, but my inner critic would tell me there was still more I could re-tweak and push further. While I believe this critic keeps me from doing work that won’t come across as eye catching, I really needed to learn how to reel in this side of myself, so that I could make great work that still makes the deadline.
Nowadays, I find myself chasing the balance of working as hard as I can to make a project great, but still working in the parameters of the projects, the deadlines set, and the core goals that the client needs me to achieve above all else.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jamesmoutsos.squarespace.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studiojimmaki/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesmoutsos-9057a9261/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jamesmoutsos
Image Credits
Images 1-4: Hanalei Visiko- Knox
Image 8: Julia Messick