This is Me
My name is Mackenzie Bria and I was born in Freehold, NJ however I consider myself born and raised in South Jersey, since I moved there when I was one. I live in a small town called West Deptford, it’s about twenty mintues from Philly, and although I love my town, there isn’t a lot to do. Being the very creative child I am, I always found something to do. Whether it was writing my own songs, to confessing my feelings in my journal, to talking to my imaginary friend, I have always been interested in anything that involves creativity. My biggest intrest, which ultimately became my passion, started in fifth grade. Mrs. Cardillo, my fifth -grade teacher, assigned us the task of creating an original snowman, writing a five-paragraph essay about the snowman, and developing an advertising campaign, using persuasive techniques that showcased the originality of the snowman. I decided the best way to advertise my project was with a commercial. At the time, I thought nothing of what went into making advertisements; videos on the TV were just inconveniently placed during my favorite show’s cliffhanger. I found a program on my school laptop, and that’s when I discovered Movie Maker, instantly falling in love.
I rushed home from school to begin filming videos, sorting through the footage, finding a song, arranging the clips, being creative, and -the best part- watching the final product on my screen. In middle school, after my Singing Snowman Slinger commercial debut, almost every assignment was a video — the Jamestown re-enactment, the 7th grade language arts passion project, the War of 1812 rap, the GMO debate (filmed with my brand new green screen). As I moved on to high school, I continued the movie projects with an evolution parody, an assortment of French role-playing, and a Driver’s Education PSA. Movie Maker was my best friend…..that is, until I met Adobe.
My junior year video productions were focused on school events such as homecoming, prom, and every single pep rally, reflecting the pride for my school. During editing the school events, one period a day was not enough for me. If it was allowed, I could have spent all day in that room, so I joined the Video Tech homeroom, in order to spend the morning. I began broadcasting the daily announcements and read off of the same teleprompter we had learned about in class.
Everything I loved doing in middle school transitioned perfectly into highschool, and my passion never wavered. Every day, I rushed to the computer, pulled out my chair, and grabbed a headset, with the biggest grin and a sparkle of excitement in my eyes. By the end of my junior year, I had made about fifteen videos for the school. Editing came so naturally to me. I was able to start a project and finish quickly, but still maintain a high quality production.
Starting my freshman year at Montclair State University I was so excited because of their amazing film program and their vast internships available, being so close to New York. I was looking forward to making tons of videos like I did in highschool, meeting up with the Video Production Club, but covid of course had other plans. I am not going to list every single thing covid has done to me and my family because it effected everybody in their own way with a different severity. I ended up joining a couple of the Video Production Club’s zooms, but it didn’t fill me with that same love and passion as it did in highschool. Hearing somebody talk about how to film on your phone is nothing compared to getting out there with a camera and being involved. I hope that a lot more changes next semester because I miss that feeling and that sense of purpose.
I was lucky enough that my work in highschool helped me to land a job at the age of sixteen as a professional videoagrapher for a company, called the Green Mission Inc. My dream is to become a video editor for a tv show, movie, or an adveretising company. I am extremley excited for next semester because I believe things will get better. I know that restrictions will get smaller and our numbers of cases will go down. I cannot wait to start back up classes, learn even more, and help me further my love of video production and my future career.
