The Eternal Sunshine of Johann Ramirez
By: Wynter Muro
A reader, writer, studier and lover of films, 18-year-old Johann Ramirez loses himself in the translation of film media. Aspiring to be a filmmaker in the years to come, Ramirez has felt a connection to the realm of film since he was a little boy.
Accrediting his adoration of film to his first visit to the Universal Studios theme park, Ramirez enlightens on, “I was like 6 years old…hearing the music, seeing Doc brown, the Scooby Doo cast and all of that. Just seeing the whole environment of how movies are made and going on the tour, seeing the backlot and everything, that’s what hit the heart. I owe it all to Universal.”
Reflecting further down on Ramirez’s timeline of his life, he adds on to the notion that his first moments of actual film making occurred in his 6th grade; “I started making action films with my neighbor, and all throughout middle school every single weekend, we’d put out videos on YouTube. And people were actually watching them”. With the aid of his friends’ laptop and camera, and Ramirez’s toys, it was the start of what would be his greatest passion and most widely known attribute.
When asked about any potential roadblocks Ramirez may have experienced in the process and development of his filmmaking, he iterates, “I {don’t} really think of it like that. Just making films is a part of art. And like how Bob Ross says, there’s no mistakes. You just learn”.
Be it the absence of a camera to use to film, or needing a stunt double, nothing has stopped Ramirez’s determination to filming. Adding to this, he informs on the fact that in the time of there not being a camera present, he and his team-mates will simply utilize their phones.
Similarly, they’ll do their own stunts, funnily narrating, “We’ve never broken a bone…”. Finishing this forethought, Ramirez emphasizes, “The drive to want to create is {something that cannot contain} an obstacle.”
Given the idea that there are numerous amounts of genres, throughout his years, Ramirez has found himself immersed in the area of crime. He elaborates, “I like to show the darkness in humans. And the truth is, I take a lot of experience from Shakespeare, story structure wise. Because a lot of his writings don’t have happy endings, like Romeo and Juliet, and to me, that’s more real.” Furthermore, he shed a light on the figures who contributed to his vie to create.
“Someone I really look at is Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick.” he said, given that these directors films consist of the exact genre of crime. Ramirez watches their films as a source of inspiration in the midst of his character creating. He appreciates being the spotlight to “…The dark side of humanity” through his films.
However, Ramirez does believe there will be a turning point in which he films the latter, giving light to the kindness and innocence the world may possess. Coinciding with the idea of innocence, Ramirez reflects on a particular idea, “[Film’s main characters being children] I find kids really interesting, just how they interact with the world around them. Everything is so animated to them.”
Defeating the assumed notion of school being a necessity to be successful, Ramirez finds that schooling for filmmaking can be confining to the artistic mind. Despite being a student himself, Ramirez touches on, “You can’t teach art through theory and lecture. Art is taught through expression.”
Delving into the connections Ramirez builds and possesses with his actors, he laminates, “A lot of the relationships between the actors and [I], it’s just so, it’s really nice. They are these goofy people and once I yell action, they just change into this completely different person; To me it’s funny, I laugh a lot [seeing that quick change], because I know they are not like that in person. But it’s also like I love that feeling of seeing [that].”
Reflecting more on the idea of connections and close relationships, growing up, art and all of its fundamentals was a huge component within Ramirez’s household. He and alongside his two sisters possess artistic capabilities.
Illustrating just that, Ramirez enlightens on, “I think of my family as the Incredibles. Not [in the sense] of super powers, but my little sister does singing, older sister does guitar, my mom does decorating, and my dad is an architect. And I feel like I’m ‘Jack Jack’, [he] has all these powers and then everyone else has just one, so I feel like I’m [him] because I play the drums, I play the guitar, I play the bass, and I know music. I like to create stuff (like my dad), and on sets I have to obviously design just like my mom does. So I feel like I’ve gotten piece from all of them.“ Art has hugely altered Ramirez’s eye on the world, as he sees life through the lens of a filmmaker.
Acting as a stepping stone towards his career, Ramirez found himself part-taking in a film internship. Giving his time to a film company within Los Angeles, Ramirez remarks, “[It] started in the first weekend of February.” The company had connections through one of his sisters’ singing teachers who had hired a director, in which case that same director referred to Ramirez asking of his aid for a short film that was in the works. Taking a liking into Ramirez’s work ethic and determination, the director offered him an internship. Through this internship he encountered a teacher who had work experience on the set of Black Widow to which he credits her extreme help into succoring his blossoming as the filmmaker he is. Reflecting on all of this, Ramirez exclaims, “It’s all through him [the director], it’s all through knowing people, that’s how it just all is.”
Stepping into the waters of the film-making industry can be a bit rough. Giving advice to young and aspiring film-makers such as himself, Ramirez imprints, “The greatest education in film, is to make them. You don’t need school. School is good to connect, to meet other filmmakers, but you just gotta make [films]. I learned more in this one-month internship than a whole semester in a film class.”
Experience is a best friend to those who desire to pursue a career within the film industry, despite there being a possibility of trials and tribulations, trial and error is what makes it. Closing light onto this, Ramirez adds, “Even if it’s horrible, at least you made something. At least you can call yourself, a filmmaker. There are people out there that don’t make [anything] at all, but they study film, and call themselves filmmakers and it [sets] me off. I get it, they want to be filmmakers, but you want to be one? Then just do it. Nobody is telling you not to do it.” Insinuating the fact that defeat should not discourage an aspiring maker, Ramirez concludes, “I think it’s just the fact that people want to make something big (their first [creation] to blow up, [but odds are it’s not going to be big]. You just gotta keep making stuff, that’s for sure. That’s what I’m going to keep doing.”