Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Mcbride
Dan, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
From as early as I can remember, I’ve loved telling stories. I remember telling them to my little brothers as we should have been sleeping, writing silly “Super Dan” comics. I also enjoyed drawing and quickly learned to combine my love of story with creating images with those stories. And a third thing I very much loved was music and playing the piano.
I started college and was planning on getting a degree in Computer Animation, for one of the electives I took an intro to digital media class. The final for that class was to shoot a 3 minute short film, music video or spec commercial. I was the only one in my group that wanted to try and tell a narrative story and was really pushing to do that. I finally won the group over and they agreed to the narrative, with the stipulation I come up with the script. As I started thinking about the story we were going to tell my mind went crazy thinking of stories. I settled on one idea set in medieval times, about a magical girl who was being hosted by two assassins. The story.
I then started thinking about what the assassins would wear, and started sketching the designs out. Drawing.
And finally as the filming and editing began, I was on the search for music to finish off the final project. Music.
This project encompassed all of my passions into one thing, and as we watched the film in our class and everyone was reacting to the story I knew from that moment on I wanted to be a filmmaker. I haven’t stopped pursuing this goal since then, every single day I work towards it and I will until my last breath. To be a filmmaker is my life’s purpose.
Telling stories through visual images is soul quenching. Whether it’s film or photos this is why I exist
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think if the road is smooth, you’re doing something wrong. There are constant roadblocks and obstacles along the way, but those are the things that either make or break you. If they break you, you weren’t cut out for the thing you’re trying. But if you overcome them, that’s where the real growth is.
For photography, I think the challenges have mainly been in my mind. You’re your own worst critic, and so for the longest time, I’d see a photo and see how bad it was, or how the lighting looked weird, and eventually just give in to the imposter syndrome of it. That’s one I still struggle with, but I don’t let it keep me down.
The same can be said for filmmaking too, the struggle to keep the motivation after all the setbacks is the biggest one, but if you give up you’re garunteed not to succeed, if you keep pushing there is a chance you’ll reach your goals.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
“I’m a filmmaker first and foremost, and second, I’m a photographer. I think the two work hand in hand, as they are both a visual story; one is 1 frame, and the other is 24 frames every second.
I think what I am most proud of is the community I’ve been able to build and be a part of. I’m still meeting with filmmakers I met in film school 10 years ago to collaborte, write and create films together, we have finished two feature length films and are now in pre-production on the next two! I love the creative process because it’s such a collaborative experience.
It’s hard to say specifically what I specialize in because I don’t want to be stuck in just one specific thing. What I can say is that if it’s an interesting visual, that’s what I specialize in—lighting, composing, and figuring out my style of shooting the thing.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I would defince success as accomplishment, creative nourishment, and a million dollars would be nice, but the other 2 are pretty good.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://danmcbridefilms.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danmcbridefilms/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanMcBrideFilms
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/DanMcBrideFilms
