Lights, camera, action!
At the age of 18, Carlos Alan "Richie" Bermudez is ready to be next to the big names on YouTube. Bermudez is a freshman at Arizona Western College and is two years into the film gig. Bermudez, along with Alexis Garcia, is co-founders of MADBEAST Productions, and he's ready to step it up to the next level in quality. The duo is getting serious producing cutting edge video shorts with outstanding special effects and editing.
Bermudez was raised in San Luis, Ariz., by a single mother. Since he was young he has watched and studied movies. Leaning from them, he one day picked up an old black and white camcorder that was given to his mother, and he began using it to film whatever he saw. The practice led him to become a well-balanced camera operator.
Later, when Bermudez moved to the Yuma Foothills, he began attending Gila Ridge High School, where he would meet another amateur filmmaker with whom he has produced many DIY short films. He is now more creative and intellectual with his films and continues to grow in skill and creativity.
Bermudez was inspired by Freddy Wong and Brandon Laatsch, USC Cinematic Arts graduates who made their living through YouTube. After high school, he enrolled in the AWC Television Production program, and his knowledge rapidly grew. Something he wasn't taught but kept working towards was Adobe After Effects and 3D cinema.
Bermudez says that anything can be learned with hard work and dedication. His dream is to own his company, and that seems to be becoming a reality. The team's experience has led them to not just make short films but also to play with the different genres in the entertainment business.
"I could be a big fish in a pond, but I would be rather a small fish in a sea," says Bermudez, referring to Los Angles, home of the movie giants.
He doesn't plan to move to LA, however, because he knows the competition there is far more advanced. Instead, he plans to relocate to the Phoenix area to expand MADBEAST Productions.
"This gift of being so talented with the camera has made me who I am," he says.
Photo by Pam Black
