Meet Mitch Silva of South Bay

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mitch Silva.

Hi Mitch, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My love for film and video was sparked as a child. When I was a kid I’d get pneumonia a lot and while my parents were at work I would watch and rewatch The Terminator, T2: Terminator 2, Die Hard, Total Recall, and Robocop with sequels over and over. I also really liked cartoons like Ed, Edd, n Eddy and anime like Blood+. Video games too. I loved Metal Gear and Counter-Strike and stuff like that.

Naturally I got into video editing and I would make YouTube poops and animations. My parents were never really around to supervise me on the internet, but being online all the time led to my rabbit-hole digging in niche internet communities and led to me learning more about the world and its people in a more raw format. It wasn’t just about the place I lived or the people around me but various peoples all over the world.

Anywho, yeah I’d make YouTube poops and when I hit high school I fully got into video production and did things for the school news. My content was seen as controversial and a lot of what I did was either censored or outright pulled, but it was cool and I kind of learned during that time that it was okay for not everyone to be onboard with what you did. Outright emotional reactions whether good or bad were more ‘cool’ than ‘mid’ things or things that were simply ‘okay’. At the time, I was really into Sam Hyde and Million Dollar Extreme (I still am), and I found what he did and does very inspirational.

Time went on and I found myself in college (I dropped out because I found it lame). I would end up meeting the people I would start my collective DreamSmileMagic with, at the time it was called Hate Squad. We made a lot of video art and short films and we continued for a while until rebranding as DSM.

I’m currently 28 and I’m working on a Cyberpunk short film set in this world build that my friend and I have been chipping away at for a couple years now. It’s been really cool!

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?
I think my greatest challenges growing up were misunderstandings with my peers regarding the intention or aesthetics of my work. I would stick to my guns though and who’d have thunk that what I do had support from others with like-minds?

There’s also dealing with my family, namely my parents, who have been completely unsupportive of me pursuing this. I’m Asian, so obviously they wanted me to be a doctor or something hahaha.

What makes you happy?
I think happiness is dangerous. It makes you complacent. If I’m not at least a little dissatisfied with my situation I’ll just end up lazy and drunk hahaha.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Dreamsmilemagic.com
• Instagram: Dreamsmilemagic
• Twitter: https://x.com/dreamsmilemagic?s=21&t=qpy92JLuRuSw3vrKJa3Wwg
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@dreamsmilemagic?si=5zGcBQoeJIuuZk0D