Meet Leo Hall, a filmmaker based in Tennessee, United States and a member of the StudentFilmmakers Filmmakers Network. See Leo’s Network profile to connect.
Before Lepoleon Hall, Jr. (Leo Hall) began his filmmaking career, he graduated from Memphis State University with an Engineering degree, and worked as a Software Quality Analyst/Technical Writer. Leo says he got bitten by the video/film bug back in 1993. “My sister was studying at Columbia College in Chicago, and invited me to one of her film production classes. From then on, I’ve been hooked.”
Leo has been doing video and film work for 13 years, mostly with small companies and non-profits. Three years ago he decided to get more involved with making movies. He recently finished shooting his second film, Angel Unaware, based on a true story about a young woman who suffers from mental illness.
On his recent project’s theme:
“Basically, be careful of the people you meet, and don’t be so quick to judge a person by what you only see. We drive around and see people that we label as “homeless,” but we need to think about what put them in this situation. In [the main character] Tara’s case, her mental illness caused her to make irrational decisions that ultimately led to her demise. But prior to that, she was basically trying to live a dream and get into the music business.
“In the film, we made sure not to depict Tara as homeless, but to show that she came from a normal middle-class family; and though they were not perfect, their lives centered around each other. I made sure to show Tara as a fun girl and then slowly reveal things that caused her to end up like she was. I also showed the struggle and pain that her family went through as she went through this change.”
His advice to aspiring film and video makers:
“Stay the course, and do not let people or things or situations make you do something that will make you question yourself later. If you are in it only for the money, then choose something else to do. But if you like to share stories, enlighten someone, encourage someone … then become a filmmaker.”
Go to the Filmmakers Networking Community online at http://networking.studentfilmmakers.com/ to check out this month’s featured networkers. See what other site members are up to, and sign up for your own free networking webpage today!
Taryn Bensky is a writer currently residing in New Jersey. She is studying Journalism & Media Studies and Art History at Rutgers University. She has previously written about film in the Inside Beat, Rutgers’ weekly entertainment newspaper in The Daily Targum.
Michele Wein is a writer from New York and currently studying English and American Literature at New York University.
Tennessee, United States URL: http://networking.studentfilmmakers.com/leevid
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