Today we’d like to introduce you to Kris Allen Rodriguez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kris. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I got into creating a video about eight years ago, shooting and editing these little visual vlogs about trips and happenings. I look back at it now and think the content was pretty cringeworthy but saw the beginning of my eclectic editing style in these short edits.
It wasn’t really until 2017 when I started taking video production in a more serious tone. I come from the hip hop dance community based here in SoCal, so there was always an opportunity to find talent willing to be on camera and experiment with their art on a visual medium. It’s absolutely dope and I feel so grateful to be one of the few video creatives that claim their foundation in that community of talented performers.
Late in that year, I started up a media brand with my friend and director, Louie Simpauco. We named it URSLA (pronounced ursoolah), in reference to an old crew name we shared with one other friend, Jerico Culata. To me, he was an older brother figure who sadly passed in 2012. I attribute my love for art, dance, and music to him. I like to believe everything we create and achieve has his hand in it and we always have him in mind in the art we make.
Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been smooth, but I’ve learned optimism is the best mindset to face otherwise daunting situations. The biggest struggle has been transitioning from this ‘run and gun’ duo to forming a full-fledged production team. No doubt, there have been growing pains and we’ve more than once fallen on our asses, but we’ve come out on top as better professionals. This line of work has shaped the way I perceive passion and failure immensely.
Furthermore, video production was never the main career path for me until after college! I think the ideal route most people want to follow would be graduating, building experience, and settling in their 9 to 5. I tried that for a couple of years, juggling work with URSLA on my off time and working full time at a start-up. It was exhausting every way you put it. You can only give so much of yourself to a multitude of things before your quality of work starts to suffer. The silver lining in all of this was the affirmation that what I was doing at that job wasn’t what I wanted. So I quit.
I now run URSLA full-time, working and collaborating with individuals, organizations, and brands that I want to work with. I’ve branched out and upped my production value by collaborating with my friends over at Meraki Circle, offering full-service production packages with styling, photography, and concept development to go along with our film projects.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
We are URSLA — A video production team that specializes in short-form media for digital platforms. We take on projects from a whole gambit of industries including:
– Companies and brands are looking to create visually stimulating content for use in online ads/media buying and social media.
– Artists were needing production for their next music video or music visual.
– Dancers are wanting to film more than just the standard, straight-forward dance video.
– Creatives and storytellers that want to take their work and adapt it to a visual medium.
We are known for our unique way of capturing movement with music in a pseudo-psychedelic editing style. We’ve since branched out to collaborate with other artists and their visions, but our film and editing style is still very much present albeit seamlessly adapted to what our clients like.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, so there’s bias in my answer, but our city is probably one of the best places in the U.S. to be pursuing what I do and making a liveable wage out of it.
The demand for photo and video professionals is there. Artists, performers, and entertainers all congregate to our city and always need content. Some people say it’s a bit saturated, but I think you have to make yourself available to opportunity as it comes.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 8184386963
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ursla.tv
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ursla.tv/
Image Credit:
Joyce Ng
Louie Simpauco
Kris Allen Rodriguez
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