Thinking back to a time when I was a delivery truck driver with no knowledge of video production, photography, tech, and computer skills. Just a hard working guy delivering soft drinks in my city and surrounding areas. My only experience in tech was watching movies on my VHS player and playing music as a mobile disc jockey using vinyl records. Pretty old school huh?
However, during this time, things started to change in my life. I didn't finished high school so I went to get a GED. I was a single parent raising three children, and I got heavily involved attending and serving at a local church. In the evenings I would often watch movies and TV programs with my mother that had many christian references and biblical stories. I thought to myself, this medium of story telling was pretty cool to visually see history, parables, and events written that are foretold. I was also interested in big blockbuster movies such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc. I grew up watching fantasy and sci-fi movies and TV programs. But as I continued working as a delivery driver and being on the road I would randomly get visions of creating inspirational movies in blockbuster quality. I didn't know why I would visualize or had these feelings at the time but they would often happen. I had no knowledge of filmmaking but I knew I had to do something. I then attended a community college and enrolled in the Radio Television Film program learning all I can about filmmaking. I purchased a brand new HP Pavilion computer with the old CRT monitor running Window ME. Yes, I've dated myself! LOL. I didn't know anything about computers but I just kept learning and learning. My mind went into overdrive consuming all knowledge of the craft of filmmaking. I then got myself a small RCA Mini DV camcorder and made some simple homemade videos of things like nature and funny home videos using the Pinnacle Home Studio program.
Soon afterward, my church asked me to come on board as a staff overseeing the technical department. This is where the majority of my skills were learned and I developed most of my experience. I did all the video editing using the Hollywood standard app Avid Media Composer, created content for radio and television programs, managed a live production team, learn the craft of sound engineering, and got familiar with some IT stuff and website creation. I soon got married with three more children and things were pretty settled as a technical director and family man. I knew at this point in my life, priorities had to come first raising and providing for a large family of my own. However, that dream of creating inspirational content was still within me. In 2011, I began making documentary movies. The first was about my parent's life. A good history walk-through and a keepsake for the generations to come. Then I made a documentary about local refugees telling their stories which had made its way to a film festival and now a worldwide streaming platform. From there I kept making documentary-style movies and even got a chance to film in the foreign country of Haiti. Time had passed and it had been 15 years of working as a technical director at my local church. I learned a lot in my time there and became a leader and teacher of other aspiring people in the field of audio and video creation. A new season was happening and all my kids had already grown, graduated, and moved on to start their own journey. In 2017 I retired as the church technical director to pursue my dream as an inspirational content creator. I spent some time learning again another level of quality filmmaking and I took the risk of starting my own freelance business called Xceed Media. It's been three years now and I am happy with some of the accomplishments so far. I've worked on some great projects like an award-winning documentary feature, a docuseries about mental health, and captured some creative wedding moments that will be cherished for a long time. Along the way as a service helped many with video, photography, and media presentation needs. It's been a journey but I feel like it's only the beginning. I now see that the reason for my dream is to visually inspire, educated, and with the skills I now have, help tell stories in motion pictures.
I encourage you, if you randomly have visions of doing something with your life, know that it's a seed planted and needs to bloom. Do all you can to achieve your dream without hesitation, and eventually, your dream will come to fruition.
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