About

[lightbox_gallery][lightbox_img_first width=”662px” src=”http://www.ryanaarstad.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Ryan-Aarstad-Photos-About-Ryan-Aarstad-2.jpg” title=”About Ryan Aarstad” rel=”lightbox1″][lightbox_img src=”img_url” title=”title” rel=”lightbox1″][lightbox_img src=”img_url” title=”title” rel=”lightbox1″][/lightbox_gallery] [h1]My Story[/h1] [dropcap_1]M[/dropcap_1]y love of storytelling began at a very young age. Around the age of four and previous to that my Grandmother used to keep stacks of books next to the wall by her couch. When she would finish a book, I would exclaim, “read it, read it”, and she would grab another book and begin reading. She would continue to read tirelessly until I had had enough. I am still very thankful for her reading me stories at such a young age, as I believe it contributed immensely to my intelligence, creativity, and curiousity.

Other times we would sit in front of the TV and watch Alfred Hitchcock presents, the Twilight Zone, and The Ray Bradbury Theater. It was with my grandmother that I made my first movie for a school project in the first grade. I cut a hole in a cardboard box that was to be the screen, for the movie I taped pages of  dinosaur drawings end-to-end and wrapped the paper up on sticks inside of the box that acted like film reels. It was this same grandmother who took me to the “movies” for the first time. I was a little boy and I had just gotten my MMR shot in my butt and it hurt to walk, I to this day remember her carrying me into the theatre to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

Many times when I would visit my other grandma’s house we would rent VHS movies and I would watch the same movie over and over for as long as we had it. I remember looking at the images, noticing there was a special quality about them and wondering why they looked so different from “real life”

[pull_quote_right]I remember one day walking and looking up at the sky and thinking, “I have to do this. I am going to dedicate my life to this, become successful, or die trying. I need to know if it’s true that it’s possible to achieve your dreams.” [/pull_quote_right]

Through my teenage years I grew up playing guitar, drawing, and painting. It was at about 14 years old I first realized I wanted to be a movie director. I remember one day walking and looking up at the sky and thinking, “I have to do this. I am going to dedicate my life to this, become successful, or die trying. I need to know if it’s true that it’s possible to achieve your dreams.” At 18 years old I acquired my first job “in the biz” and began working as a camera operator for a local television station.

When I started college, with a major in Digital Media and a Photography minor, I got a job assisting my Broadcast and Digital Media professor and was my college professor’s “right hand man”, helping to produce campus television shows and assisting students in the Communication Studies department with learning video production techniques and technologies including live television production, shooting, editing, and graphics. While still in University, I managed to land a job working for the department responsible for video and multimedia production for the University itself, where I found myself working under two great teachers and mentors.

 

Under Construction More to come…

[divider_line] [h1]What I Do[/h1]
[list_square] [li]Writing/Conceptualizing[/li] [li]Storyboarding[/li] [li]Pre-production[/li][li]Cinematography[/li][li]Editing[/li][li]Motion Graphics[/li][li]Color Correction[/li][li]Video Compression/Delivery[/li][/list_square]
[list_square] [li]Event Photography[/li] [li]Food Photography[/li] [li]Product Photography[/li][li]Photo Editing/Retouching[/li][li]Portrait Photography[/li][li]More[/li][/list_square]
I create motion graphics within the widely popular and industry standard Adobe After Effects. I have produced work for feature films, television programs, television commercials, digital signage networks, corporate videos, web content, and more.
[list_square] [li]Web Design[/li] [li]Search Engine Optimization[/li] [li]Graphic Design[/li][li]Other Multimedia[/li][/list_square]
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