Four years.
Only really feels like three.
But no matter how much time I’ve spent here, I am incredibly grateful for each and every moment.
I even got to make a whole movie about that. Appreciating what you have with the time you’re given.
Now, seven days away from the end, I stand for the first time not regretful of what I didn’t do, but grateful for everything I did.
And the people I spent this time with, the ones I hope to call my friends, know that you made it all worth it.
I’m proud of you. I’m proud of me.
And that’s it. Next chapter.
In The Light Of The Darkroom BTS dump
This semester, this year, has been incredibly joyous for me. Despite the stress and roadblocks, with the help of a truly amazing team, we created my first fully independent short film. With over a year of development and pre-production, this is the longest and hardest I’ve ever worked on a film before and I truly couldn’t have done it without my team.
When my initial fourth year thesis pitches didn’t go through, it was the most distraught I’d been in a while. I knew this school offered a community and resources that would only come up once in a lifetime. One of my biggest goals since freshman year was to make something here that I loved. Not just an assignment that satisfied a syllabus, but a film that I knew was great and would feel truly proud to call my own. For a moment, for several moments, it looked like that might not happen.
Now, I’m overjoyed to say that it did.
I’m so proud of my team. I’m so proud of my cast. I’m so proud of myself. It’s the most accomplished I’ve ever felt since starting film school. And now at the end, it truly feels like I made younger me proud.
I owe everything to these guys. Thank you for the cast for rolling with us, thank you for the support and donations shown by our friends and families, and thank you to the crew of this film who stuck with me from March 2023 to March 2024. I cannot thank you enough.
Excited to show y’all what we made.
Cheers.
Director: Aidan Kinser
DP/Producer: @kenzerin0
Editor: @zo.mi.di
Writers: @nathanlathroum and yours truly
1st AD: @inayahjackson
UPM: @howard.af
Gaffer: @cannoli_jpk
Key Grip: @1milestiller
1st AC: @rugeille
Hair and Makeup: @ambermwrightt
Production Design: @noellehilll
Stunt Coordination: @daniel.acts.now
Cast: @thechristysanaa@ryleigh_1320@rengallon
BTS: @chrisjamesmedia
Third year. A lot of excitement, a ton of potential, and yet I stand leaving here feeling it left a bit untapped.
As I look back on these past two semesters it feels like two steps forward and one step back. I learned some new things, I broke new ground, but it wasn’t always good. In fact, it often felt the opposite.
It felt a bit like a year of broken promises, that I made both to myself, and my friends. The best of this year happened in the presence of my peers. For better or for worse.
And yet, if I may borrow a quote, “if somehow the lord gave me a second chance at that moment… I would do it all over again.”
This was a year of pitfalls, failures, but just as much growth, and life. Like I said, not everything I learned this year was bad.
Thank you to my directing class as well as the people who watched me rise and fall this year. Your presence made this easier than you could imagine.
Be seeing you
-Aidan
At long last, my music video from the Mind, Heart, and Soul festival. Song: Red by Mirel Wagner
Starring: @tannermcintyree@poisonclover
Director of Photography: @stewart.jeffers
1st AC: @skylapsedsoul
WAM: @abbey.maruyama
Thank you all so much for helping make this thing. Youtube link to the HD version: /watch?v=-EhuoEmBg_Q
Pretenders BTS day 3 dump
Writer: @chandlertoast
Producer: @nidhi.mundra6
Cinematographer: @kenzerin0
Editor: @em.the.editor
1st AD: @frieda_prosono
Production Design: @mattie.reeves
WAM: @kendall_g_b and @abbymg17_44
Photos by: @thelaurenkight
The last day. The day Kendall and Abby got to strut their stuff, Mattie performed an act of god with production design, and Logan turned out a phenomenal performance that felt lifted straight out of the page.
I should have cherished it a bit more.
Thank y’all so much ❤️
Pretenders BTS dump day 1
Writer: @chandlertoast
Producer: @nidhi.mundra6
Cinematographer: @kenzerin0
Editor: @em.the.editor
1st AD: @frieda_prosono
Production Design: @mattie.reeves
WAM: @kendall_g_b and @abbymg17_44
Photos by: @thelaurenkight
I’m feeling sentimental as of late and wanted to take some time to express my gratitude to my team on this project. This was my first real go at directing since freshman year, and as fourth years are unfolding now, it’ll probably be my last.
But in these next few posts I wanted to take some time to look back on me fulfilling the childhood dream of making those silly little director poses in my baseball cap and puffer jacket. And to my wonderful team, to those on the crew who I may have never even met, I wanted to thank you all for taking a chance on my last go around and making this project into something truly special.
I couldn’t have asked for a better team by my side. Y’all are gonna be fantastic ❤️
2022 in photos (by a guy who doesn’t take a lot of photos)
As overwhelming as a lot of this was in the moment, 2022 was one of the most transformative years of my life. My confidence in myself as a person, testing myself in ways I hadn’t before, all while often crashing and burning, and I wouldn’t do any of it differently.
Much love to the icons I go to school with as well as my family that inspire me to be better every day.
In honor of Halloween’s end, here’s an updated cut of my short story adaptation assignment. Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates
Starring
@conorlawler@sincerity.sb@quinlynkinser
Higher quality YouTube link here
/watch?v=7pPYTT9fJ-o
A couple weeks late, but here’s my dance project for directing. “Feel Good Inc.”
Starring: @declan_duggan
Director of photography: @kenzerin0
Grip/PA: @alexia.t.forsythe
Year 2 from the perspective of a man who doesn’t take a ton of pictures.
I’ve had a lot of experiences this year. Both rewarding and destroying, but I’m grateful for it all the same, and I can hope for an incredible future with the truly amazing people that made these months worth living.
Thank you all.
