We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Matt Cinematic. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Matt below.
Alright, Matt thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s jump right into how you came up with the idea?
The idea for Matt Cinematic Productions came around in late 2022, as I was already a few months in collaborating with Alex and Mike Robles, brothers and owners of Pink Zeppelin Books & Records—a local vintage books and records shop/music venue on the Northwest side of San Antonio, Texas In October of 2019, I was creating and composing music for independent, student-led short film productions as well as making music for myself to release independently; I attended Austin City Limits for the third year in a row, and the name Matt Cinematic conjured in my head during the Kali Uchis’ performance. She was performing her song “After The Storm,” and as she sang “the sun will come out,” the sun pierced through the cold, gray clouds, shined down onto the stage while someone in the crowd blew bubbles from a bubble machine into a flock of butterflies floating above us. I thought in that exact moment, how cinematic life felt right then and there; I became Matt Cinematic on that exact day I watched her set. It was magic.
The COVID-19 Pandemic hit early in 2020; I continued to work on music independently while wrapping up the tail end of my classes for my undergrad after moving back to San Antonio. My music collaborators as well as the people I networked with while finishing my second bachelor’s degree in media arts, inspired me to document more local, independent artists. After I graduated, I made music independently under Matt Cinematic and started contributing to my friend’s music blog, Motivational Muses; shortly after, I started writing my own blog, Music.1–this continued until the end of 2020; After a while, I felt as someone who was always attending events and shows as well as studied film production that I wanted to do more to not only document my time, but to also capture what life was like in that very moment–the magic of the moment.
As the world opened back up in 2021, I forced myself to start shooting video on my iPhone to continue to practice the fundamentals of filmmaking I learned in school. I would walk around the neighborhood and shoot video of anything and everything around me–clouds, cars, planes. If I was in the car with someone, I’d shoot video of us traveling, in and outside the car, in the sky. Eventually, the year had flown by and I wanted to capture events. In the spring of 2022, Pink Zeppelin Books & Records opened up–I introduced myself to Alex and Mike, showed them my music and the video projects I was able to do. They opened the doors to me to not only use their place to practice my performance, but to shoot videos of other performers for local shows.
Ever since then, I continued with the name of Matt Cinematic Productions since Matt Cinematic started as my stage name. As I continued to provide video for people in the community, I made my mission to capture immersive video/audio cinematic content for a larger global audience to experience Texas-based storytelling with live music performances, visuals, culture, and art. The spot where Pink Zeppelin resides also holds a huge history, as before it was a different business that also operated within the same means for eleven years–Imagine Books & Records.
Growing up I would go and support my childhood friend’s band, formerly known as Invision Love, which was the first band to ever perform at that establishment. Having my first show experiences there throughout my childhood, leaving San Antonio to continue my academic career, and ultimately returning home to the world shutting down and not being able to provide video for the music community at that time–only for Imagine to go out of business–was one of the most devastating feelings of my life. I felt Pink Zeppelin moving in and opening their doors to me gave me that second chance to make a difference within the community; Because of them, I’ve made a name for myself, shoot video for over 100 bands, and continue my work as a filmmaker. My hard work, dedication, and perseverance to continue my journey as an artist and output of my work into the world has made more people believe in me, my vision, and the video works I publish online for everyone to see what’s happening in San Antonio and around Texas.
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?
Growing up in San Antonio, I would tend to re-watch a lot of the films my parents had for us here at our house, what we had access to at the time on VHS or DVD; attending the movies with family was a special treat, while watching movies with friends was always an unexpected adventure. I was always interested in learning different areas of arts and culture growing up, but wasn’t sure exactly where or what I was meant to do with my interests as a career. The seed of pursuing writing and film studies in college was planted when I was sixteen, my junior year of high school by my AP English teacher in the fall of 2013. Movies, music, books, writing–many mediums of art played an integral role that intersected in my life as a growing artist, which I knew deep down, even though I didn’t accept it at the time, I was put on this planet to create art.
After graduating high school in spring of 2015, I studied creative writing at University of Houston-Victoria my first two years of college in Victoria, Texas. I found myself more involved with poetry in the writing community while studying film more mildly, moreso independently outside my full-time class schedule. With my growing interests in film, support from my family and mentors, and ultimately by the tides of a natural disaster, I transferred to University of North Texas during my junior year of college on Friday, September 1st in 2017 after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. That shift allowed me to continue my academic career path without any disruption in my education, and claim a double major in media arts to officially study film in college. It took me the whole academic school year to truly catch my bearings as a student; however, once I readjusted my senior year in 2018, I started to not only become more involved with the media department, but in the arts community as well.
From creating and composing music for independent, student-led short film projects to taking on crucial leadership roles for our national cinematic society, Delta Kappa Alpha, I began to mold more into the artist I knew I was always meant to be. My involvement with DKA allowed me to rediscover the leader within myself, and made me reflect and consider what overall contributions I want to make for the entertainment industry as an individual.
Since forming Matt Cinematic Productions, I primarily provide video coverage for businesses who want me out to shoot video of events or performances. What I believe sets me apart from people is the structure and professionalism I have to get artistic projects done, as well as the connections I make with people on a personal and professional level. I shoot my videos wide, capturing all the high, chaotic energetic nature at local shows, while providing a more intimate connection and perspective into other people’s worlds at different events.
From working on short film productions to hybrid video podcast projects, the project I’m most proud of is my most recent video projects I shot of Bitter Critter, a three-piece jam, punk-rock band, and Casanova Flip, a ska, dance-punk band, at Cold Start Dab Company, a local glassware store and dispensary, here in San Antonio. My friend Juan Garza, also known as Tequilas Productions, did the sound and recorded/mixed the live audio of their performance–our first official collaboration together. The production quality escalated so much with his audio recordings, and opened my eyes to the what we could create, collaborate, and offer to the community moving forward.
I want people to know that with Matt Cinematic Productions, I care about capturing the essence and actuality of the event you want to bring to life. Any way I could contribute by providing my creative services to others, I will. I want more people to know how diverse Texas truly is, and what are music and art communities have to offer to the world and why they matter.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The mission driving my creative journey is Texas-based storytelling. Although I’ve shot quite a handful of other local bands traveling through Texas, my platform and ability to record videos of others shows the intersectionality and relatability to their journeys as artists and creatives. Outside of that, I’ve primarily worked, highlighted, and collaborated with other Texas creatives, primarily within the San Antonio region since I started my video work.
I believe through showcasing musicians and creating these video performances for them has given more light, perspective, and new energy to their works, as a lot of the time their performance goes unseen and undocumented–providing them the platform to express themselves. Even with other artists–fashion designers, painters, authors, poets–I want to capture as much as I can of local artists across Texas that actively contribute to the culture.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
A lot of what helped build my reputation was showing out to shows every weekend at Pink Zeppelin. Like I mentioned, Alex and Mike were the ones who truly took the chance with me, opening their doors for me to shoot videos for them, not necessarily sure how it was gonna turn out; however, once I found my groove and we had this active, open collaboration, plus me navigating crowds at in-person events in a post-pandemic world, everyone would see me recording video of bands while I wore my mask. Other fellow show goers, artists, bands would recognize me in the mask and knew it was Matt Cinematic–the mask became recognizable.
Ever since then, since I found my way through the crowds while still maintaining my cinematic recording style, more people would want me out at shows or events to record and collaborate. Most people recognize me with my mask, but some have yet to see my actual face; Some have even gone as far as giving me local legendary status, like a folkloric entity of some sort–I like to do what I can, when I can for anyone who is interested in collaborating.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattcinematic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mattcinemaprod
Image Credits
Brianna Fernandez Stefani Lackey Jamie Mullis Hector Mendoza