Today we’d like to introduce you to Wisdom Morm.
Hi Wisdom, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I fell in love with cinema when my mom took me to see Jurassic Park in the theaters back in 1993 in downtown Long Beach. It was the first time I experienced magic in front of my eyes, seeing dinosaurs that looked so real interacting with the human characters with such a thrilling and captivating story. My dad gave me my first camcorder in 2006, where I made my first movie on a cruise ship with my high school friends and had so much fun filming, acting, and editing it. We showed it to our class, and that experience was when I knew I wanted to make movies for the rest of my life. Having people watch your creation and engaging with it was a very addicting feeling.
My family didn’t have enough money to put me through film school, so I learned what I could from community college and online. YouTube, at the time, was beginning to become really popular, and I found a lot of free film education from filmmakers who wanted to share their craft through the Internet. I started a videography business in my 20s and filmed weddings, corporate projects, small business ads, non-profit projects, and more. However, there was something missing. As much as those types of jobs made me money, I wanted to tell narratives. I wanted to make movies like the ones I grew up watching. The ones that inspired me to start this journey.
In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, all my work halted. I dissolved my business, and I did a lot of reflecting. I needed to go back to my roots and make narrative films. So, with the help of my family and friends, we started to join film festivals and made short films as a hobby. We participated in several 48 film project challenges in Los Angeles, where you have to write, shoot, and edit a short film within 48 hours. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun being on set and collaborating together with like-minded creatives. We got nominated for a lot of awards and even won a few, but the real joy is getting to watch the films we made together on the big screen, just like the time I watched Jurassic Park when I was little. It was really a full circle moment, and I made it a goal of mine to make as many films as I can to screen for myself and others.
Being older and having all this experience, I try my very best to encourage, support, and mentor new filmmakers and creatives. Resources were limited when I was younger, but now, resources are abundant, and technology has advanced so much that anybody can make quality movies, even with just their phones. All it takes is a community of artist who have passion and ambition to want to tell a story and create something impactful for others. I truly believe now more than ever, we need more artists to tell their stories so others may experience them and be inspired to want to change themselves and the world. I fully believe films have the ability to do just that, and I’m learning, creating, and collaborating every day to be part of the collective that makes that happen.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Like all journeys, there are moments where you’re cruising on the road and feeling invincible, and there are moments where you think the journey has come to an end or you ended up getting lost. Filmmaking isn’t a very lucrative job in the beginning, and it requires a team of people to make it happen. To try and gather a dozen or more adults to invest their time without pay to make a film for fun is really difficult to convince people to do. Not having money is also difficult because filmmaking is an expensive hobby/career to get into, and during that time, the arts weren’t really being funded in colleges, so there weren’t many film college classes. It’s easy to feel defeated, and it can get lonely when people in your life move away from art to pursue a more secure job because people need to eat, sleep, and start families.
However, I’ve been very hopeful lately because of how quickly technology has advanced and become more accessible for people to learn again. People consume more content more than ever before, which means there are more opportunities for people to make movies and have platforms to share them on. Back before the internet boom, you had to work in Hollywood to make movies. Now, there is YouTube, streaming services, social media, independent screenings, and more. Regardless of how people might feel about the amount of content being produced nowadays, whether if that’s good or bad, it doesn’t change the fact that there’s no better time to make films than today.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a filmmaker based in the Los Angeles area. I’m primarily more specialized in Cinematography and Coloring, but I’m proficient in pretty much all aspect of filmmaking. Mainly out of necessity because it was the only way for me to produce anything because I worked alone for much of my career. My team and I have entered many Los Angeles 48-Hour Film Project challenges for the past couple of years, and I’ve been proud of all my work because it takes a lot of skill and work to produce a film in 2 days. However, we did win “Best Picture” for one of our films called “Headspace,” which I’m so honored by to this day. I’m currently in pre-production for a short film called “Impact,” which will begin principal shooting this summer and be released by the fall and be entered into the film festival circuit.
I think what sets me apart from others is my relentless desire to educate young filmmakers coming into the industry. I didn’t have a lot of resources to make films growing up, but having collected gear, knowledge, and experience, I try my very best to get people hands-on with the equipment and learn how to use these tools to tell stories. On our set, I’m constantly handing people the camera, lights, microphones and encourage them to just do it. To try, to make mistakes, and to learn and get comfortable. It was something I wish I had when I started my journey because I learned through books and the screen, but the best education is from experience. It’s so cool to see these new filmmakers start writing and directing their own work because they feel more confident in the tools that are needed to bring them to life. I love seeing the “aha” moment where their vision is finally possible. I just want more people to participate and grow the community even larger, which will make it easier for new filmmakers to create things because it’s such a collaborative art form.
How do you define success?
Success to me is about living a life that is authentically you as close as possible. I believe our culture has given us an idea on what success should look like, but it looks so different for everybody. The chase for this type of success, I feel, can draw us farther away from our true self. I think it is important to reflect on oneself and really understand what truly brings us joy. For me, I truly enjoy community and working with other people with a common vision filmmaking scratches that itch quite well. I also enjoy teaching, so when I get a chance to give knowledge or wisdom on areas I have experience in, I take it. I enjoy serving other people, and working part-time in physical therapy accomplishes that. I like to see new things and gain new perspectives, so I make it a priority to save money to travel. Success doesn’t always have to mean fame, security, and money. It’s just icing on the cake.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wisdommorm.com
- Instagram: @wisdommorm
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@wisdommorm
Image Credits
Wisdom Morm
