Dylan's life as a filmmaker began well before he made his first film, but no one really knew it.  The five-year old seemed to be an artist who drew stories, some up to hundreds of pages long and usually featuring one picture per page.  He didn't know how to write yet, but he could tell a compelling story through pictures and if you sat down with him, he could take you page by page through the story explaining each picture along the way.  What he realized later on, was that he was already story-boarding the movies that he saw in his mind.

 

 

 

 

Dylan made his first film when he was 8 years old.  It was for a third-grade book report and entitled "Harry Potter and the Unwanted Nurse."  Dylan directed his Dad as the cameraman and his Mom in the role of the "unwanted nurse."  Of course, Dylan played Harry Potter. He got the "A" grade he was looking for, impressing his third grade teacher and classmates, but not so much himself.  He knew he could do better.

 

 

 

 

He continued making films as school projects, including "The Monitor and the Merrimack" based on the civil war naval confrontation, "Muslims & Math" recognizing the contribution of muslims to math, "Red Rain," a story set at the height of the Mayan civilization and featuring human sacrifice, and "Space," a humorous parody of 1950's science films made for the classroom using the Space program as the subject.  Along the way, Dylan taught himself a variety of editing programs based on what was available on his parents' computers.  These films were better, improving as he gained experience.  They generally starred family members and were shot using his home and backyard as sets.  "Red Rain" branched out when Dylan used a local park for filming scenes of Mayan life and used more special effects to create scenes and effects the film needed.

 

 

 

 

These years of experience culminated in 7th grade, when Dylan wrote a short story for his English class and decided to make it into a film.  This was not a class project, it was his own film, made in his spare time for no reason but to make a film.  It starred adults in adult roles and was shot in three different locations in San Diego. Dylan's parents bought him a more professional camera, Final Cut Pro editing software, a heavy-duty tripod, a 12' jib and all kinds of other assorted equipment required for the more serious undertaking.  The entire process took several months between writing the story, re-writing it as a script, story-boarding, location searching, assembling the cast and crew and finally, shooting and post-production.  The seven-minute film that resulted, was "Problem Solved" which Dylan entered into a county-wide student film festival, iVIE (Innovative Video in Education), hosted by the San Diego County Office of Education.  The film was nominated in its category (Grade 6-8 Language Arts/Humanities) and ended up taking home the top prize for all middle school films -- the Grand Recognition Award.  The film also earned a Special Achievement Award for Cinematography.

 

 

 

 

Subsequent to winning the Grand Recognition, the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper published an article about Dylan and the making of the film. 

 

 

 

 

The film making continued from there, sometimes for school and other times on his own.  Dylan began taking classes at the Media Arts Center San Diego, which promotes access to film and video as tools for community self-expression and social change and supports the professional development of media artists.   He was able to hone his editing skills in Final Cut Pro and Adobe evening classes for adults, and also took classes on cinematography and writing for film.  He started spending his Saturdays with the Teen Producers Project making projects of different types and for different purposes. Projects included Behind the Screen:  Cybercrimes Against Children.  Some of his work has been used by the local PBS News Hour as part of their news broadcast.  

 

 

 

 

8th grade saw more films, most notably a 16+ minute film entitled, "Intolerance," as part of a combined history and english class project and another school group project, "The History of the Light Bulb," a fun piece aimed at marketing the light bulb as if it were a "new" type of technology.  The History of the Light Bulb was entered into the 2012 iVIE competition, earning a nomination in its category, Grades 6-8 Language Arts.

 

 

 

 

In Fall 2012, Dylan entered The Bishop's School in La Jolla as a 9th grader.  He brought with him his passion for film making and continued his projects outside of school on his own and as a member of the Teen Producers Project.  Photography classes at school gave Dylan a chance to work in a related but different film medium and resulted in a school wide visual arts acknowledgement of his imagery and the display of a photo of his at the school's Student Art Exhibition curated by and displayed at the Atheneaum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla.  Dylan was still makings films as well and entered his next film, "Queer Parking" in the 2013 iVIE competition, earning another nomination in its category, Grades 9-12 Fiction.   At the awards night, the film won its category and earned a Special Achievement Award for Writing. Queer Parking marked the first time that Dylan used actors in a film through his contacts at the Media Arts Center and the San Diego Film Consortium, as opposed to adult family members and friends.

 

 

 

 

Dylan continued with classes at the Media Arts Center San Diego and attended San Diego Film Consortium networking events while working hard on his academics and participating in community service projects as well.  In 2014, Dylan entered his latest film, "Islam" in the iVIE competition, where it earned a nomination in its category, Grades 9-12 Non-Fiction.  Leading up to the awards night, Dylan was invited by the iVIE administration to join the iVIE Program Coordinator, Emil Ahangarzadeh, in an on-air spot with local San Diego KUSI TV during their Good Morning San Diego broadcast.  Dylan and Emil spoke about the awards night and the iVIE program, and about Dylan's films and his previous awards.  Parts of Dylan's film, Islam, were shown during the broadcast.  As the interview wound down, the on-air reporter, Brandi Williams, asked Dylan in whose footsteps he wanted to follow as a director, and he answered, "Hopefully, create my own."  This is truly Dylan's path as a filmmaker, to follow his own vision.

 

 

 

 

Also in 2014, the Teen Producers Project participated in the One Day in San Diego one-day filmmaking project.  The group filmed at the Before I Die Wall in San Diego, highlighting that community project and its origins.  The film was submitted to the California Preservation Foundation's 2015 San Diego Youth Art Contest where it won first place in the High School category.

 

 

 

 

Dylan spent much of his junior year working with a group of students at his school to raise funds to benefit a home for street children in India.  He and 24 other students lived in the home in Delhi in March, 2015, for four days, getting to know both the staff and the children who live there.  The student group was able to raise over $50,000, enough to keep the home open for another six months.

 

 

 

 

Dylan is currently at work on his latest film, the most ambitious so far. In his previous films, Dylan worked either alone or with very little help behind the camera and primarily with friends and family members in front of the camera.  For this film, Dylan co-wrote the script with a high school friend.  They conducted auditions at the Media Arts Center and are using the actors chosen from those auditions. There are make-up artists and production assistants involved plus a talented cameraman, also a high school senior in San Diego.  The film is being shot on a Sony A7 utilizing a DJI Ronin Stabilizer for certain shots.  Look for this film to be completed in late Fall, 2015.