Today we’d like to introduce you to Freddie Aponte.
Hi Freddie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
So I started by going to film school, graduated class of 2016 out of Valencia’s Film Program. Which funny enough I actually was not supposed to do… I was convinced by a man named Ralph Clemente. He found my friend Szabi and I roaming the halls one day in the film building while we were going through our stage tech program. We were browsing an interesting building covered in film posters during one of our free periods. He invited us into his office because he recognized us from the theatre’s black box where we were setting up lights for a local show we were putting together. He pretty much sat us down for about three hours of good conversation about how we can make better money on this side of the industry. And so we did haha, I personally started as a Production Assistant back in 2015 and did that for about 4 years which really helped not only learn about what it is to work on a film set but it also gave me the oppotunity to meet and work alongside some of the local professionals that ended up guiding me along my way. I cherish these people, all of the locals are pretty much extended family in my eyes. I appreciate every opportunity to work alongside them to create cool content. After those four years I swapped to the camera department and never looked back.
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?
Everyday is different, but it’s always a grind. It’s really just about knowing what to do through practice and having the confidence to troubleshoot the task at hand should an issue come up with your equipment on a day of filming. For example, I recall a hot summer about three years ago and it was around 105F outside and we were filming a golf commercial on a course down in South Florida and a lot of our equipment kept failing since it was all overheating. There’s not much we can do in these situations but try to cool things down with fans and keep them in the shade. On a job where time is of the essence this caused us to fall behind on the rest of the schedule.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I love the opportunities we get. Sometimes we film some pretty historic stuff that not everyone gets to experience. It’s truly a blessing. It’s like sitting VIP for every event. We get to see and do a lot of stuff not the average person gets to do and we get to document special moments here and there for the big screen. Super cool if you ask me. As far as what I want to do? I really love my job as a 1st AC, setting up cameras, pulling focus & collaborating with amazing people and being able to show the world what we’re filming. What am I known for? Probably my curly hair and height hah. I also like to think it’s my positive attitude. What am I most proud of? Well work wise? That’s a hard question, I work on a decent amount of projects and I personally feel like every project I finish if the Dp/client is happy then it’s a huge victory in my eyes and that’s something to be proud of. What sets me apart from others? Honestly I’m not sure, everyone has thier own set of pros and cons. I personally am not worried about others, I like to just keep my head down and focus on the project at hand. As I said before, I really appreciate my community and have learned a lot from most of the other AC’s in town. I actually like to take tricks and tips from others that make me more efficient on set and make them part of my craft.
What matters most to you?
Family always has been and always will be. Thankfully I have a good amount of them locally since this is my hometown. Born and raised as a Floridian, I’m lucky enough to spend time with most of them on the regular.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freddamachini/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/freddie.aponte.304280
