Today we’d like to introduce you to Ellin Aldana.
Hi Ellin, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My story begins in rural Guatemala where I spent my formative years playing in the forest with my siblings. We didn’t have much, so we made up stories and spent the days letting our imaginations run wild.
My parents eventually moved us to the States, and I found refuge in photography and spent hours in the school’s darkroom. Unfortunately, after graduating from high school, my family’s immigrant sensibilities pushed me down a more ‘practical’ path. I settled for something I thought was a good middle ground and pursued a career as an archivist.
Years later, I was working as a toy archivist for Mattel. I found myself adjacent to so many creatives that had pursued their dream jobs as toy designers and I knew I had to give myself the opportunity to become an artist. At that point, I decided to take film classes at PCC while working full-time. I just couldn’t imagine doing anything else other than making movies.
I naturally fell into the role of cinematographer because of my photography background and started to shoot narrative short films basically using any and all free time to shoot. I knew I was going to have to make a big career change and needed to commit fully to my craft so I worked really hard and that year applied to grad school. I was accepted to every program I applied to which was a huge validation at the time, but ultimately decided to attend The American Film Institute as a cinematography fellow. At AFI, I became a strong storyteller and technician, and am so grateful to have taken that time to learn from such amazing professors.
These days I am working as a cinematographer on all kinds of projects both narrative and commercial. I am super excited to say I am slated to shoot my first feature this year. My passion is definitely narrative, but I also love commercial work that has a strong sense of aesthetic. The strike made this last year very difficult, but I still had some big wins. I won the Emerging Filmmaker Altitude Award for my cinematography. I had films selected and shown in various festivals like Austin Film Festival, LAShorts, NYLFF, and AFI Fest.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I think about the big picture, I am so proud of the work I have done in the timeframe that I’ve been a cinematographer. I’m really astonished at the progress I make every year. I am a pretty driven person, I love challenges, and setting personal goals for myself.
That being said, being a filmmaker is so hard. Mostly emotionally. Coming from the corporate world, it became so apparent that the ups and downs are unique to this world. You have these super high points in your career, often followed by the lowest of lows. Learning to stay passionate and motivated is a real skill that I think has become a must and something I am still learning. Having a community or strong friendships that understand the struggle and that you can lean on during the low times has been vital for me. Also, just having friendships that go beyond just talking about film and can just have fun with you so you can recharge.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As a cinematographer, my work is collaborative which means it is a culmination of a lot of different people’s ideas. My role specifically in a film is to establish tone through lighting and camera. That said, I work with my director to figure out basically everything through their vision of the film.
I think of myself as being both a creative artist that is also technical. Making intentional technical decisions that then impact the look of the film, it becomes a balance.
I specialize in narrative or story. I always start at the story level and then use emotionally driven camera movement, color, and lighting to try and emphasize the character’s story.
I think what sets me apart from others is that I love experimenting. I do a lot of testing as part of my prepro to establish the look before we get on set. I love to try new things and push imagery so that it feels unique to the character and story.
What were you like growing up?
Oh man, this is a fun question! I grew up in a secluded small town in Guatemala. I was somewhat of a quiet girl because I just didn’t have the opportunity to interact with many other kids outside my family. We lived in a rugged sort of place so I just naturally loved adventuring and was very rough around the edges. When we moved to the States it was a total culture shock to be constrained to suburban neighborhoods. We moved to AZ in the 90s and I felt like a total outsider for much of my early childhood. I was quickly labeled a tomboy although I didn’t see myself that way. Personally, I just mostly loved the sense of adventure and discovery. I was an avid observer and listened instead of talking. I think that is why I took to photography really early on at the age of 13. I found myself sort of consumed by taking photographs of people and moments after that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ellinaldana.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/tort_
ellin_i
