Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Reyna.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I’m a videographer. I’ve had a love of film and visual arts ever since I was a young child and made my earliest videos using the family camcorder when I was eight years old. I didn’t really become serious about film-making until I was about 12-13 years old when I received a promotional DVD for David Lynch titled “Room to Dream”, in which lynch talked about his creative process and how he began working in film from a young age as well. This sort of awakened something in me, and pretty soon I began making my own video experiments.
In addition to this, my brother and I were learning about film theory and screenwriting in school (we were both homeschooled), and when we entered our teen years we become involved with making promo videos at our local church for the Youth Ministry we were attending.
From that point on we’ve never stopped working in video/film and continue to pursue it as a career to this day. We’ve worked with some great videographers at the church we were attending who really helped us up our game as film-makers. We continue to educate ourselves in cinematic language through books, video tutorials and essays, and of course just watching movies both old and new.
Please tell us about your art.
My work tends to be pretty eclectic, and I deliberately try not to stick to one specific style when it comes to film-making. Some of my videos will be very high-def and modern while others can be very lo-fi and vintage styled. I’m also a big music lover so the marriage of sound/music with images is another major driving force in much of my work (I was shown Disney’s “Fantasia” as a kid so that might be where I subconsciously developed those notions). Inspiration for my work can definitely come from anywhere, be it old commercials, classic cinema, experimental film, etc.
I think my overall goal with my work is both to express ideas or feelings in a visual way that, hopefully, finds some resonance with viewers, especially when it comes to making videos for the Church. I watched a lot of Christian media growing up and, sadly, a lot of said media was actually pretty amateurish and cheesy. Thankfully, there has been a recent surge of Christian film-makers who understand that our talents are God-given, therefore we should be producing the most artistic, professional looking media this world has seen. As both a film-maker and a Christian, this is a principle I will always do my best to live by.
We often hear from artists that being an artist can be lonely. Any advice for those looking to connect with other artists?
I am very fortunate to have a brother who is an amazing videographer/photographer himself. However, we’ve also had the pleasure of working with some of the most talented videographers, musicians, and photographers via our involvement with Church.
Social media is another great way of getting in contact with people in your field of work. YouTube, Vimeo, and Instagram are all good places to meet people in the film-making community.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My brother and I just started up our own video production business, our website being www.reynabros.com. For personal work I have a YouTube channel called “Matty Reyna Productions” where you can see all of my recent videos. I also sell my own stock footage and video assets for churches at CreationSwap.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.reynabros.com/
- Email: themattyreyna@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/el_rey_mateo/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC59Ny31DNCk-dACqRZvlXcg
Image Credit:
Headshot: Andrew Reyna
Video stills: Matthew Reyna
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