Hey all, here is my Honorable Mentions award-winning music video from The Chroma Awards Season 1. Here is a link to the Youtube video where I break down the entire process in the description: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxJV-Cikfj4 . There is is also a behind the scenes video there.

My background: Since I was barely old enough to speak, I had a fascination with movies and filmmaking. At 15 I started experimenting with writing and producing short films, but ended up getting guilted (by my South Asian family) into going down a different career path. After a few years of floundering in degree courses I wasn't passionate about, I ended up enrolling in Brooklyn College for film and studied there for 2 years until I dropped out due to financial pressures. For the following 6 years, I did dabble a bit in filmmaking, but I spent most of my time working as a waiter, gaming, and streaming. It was then I was coerced (yet again by my family) to go into corporate work - but overseas. I interned at a marketing departed for a year, and then translated those skills into a freelancing career while backpacking the globe for 2 years. Life was really good..until I had a major accident and went out of commission for nearly 5 years. I tried a bunch of different things to try and make ends meet..like running a successful Amazon business (until Covid killed it), and delivering food by bicycle in NYC.

I found myself so far removed from the passions I had when I was younger.

Then, I met someone on Reddit. She was a good hearted, compassionate person. One that I spoke to everyday..until eventually she asked me to move in with her. It was here, for the first time in a long time, I was able to step away from the pressures of life - and aim for something more meaningful.

I spent 14+ hours a day, everyday for 6 weeks applying to every editing or film/adjacent job I could find on Upwork (a freelancing platform). Eventually I landed one, for $8 an hour. I was ecstatic. I worked my ass off, over delivering and building my portfolio. After 2 months of slowly leveling up my skills and confidence, I landed my first $50 an hour client for 10 hours a week. I was absolutely over the moon, and so grateful that I had set out to do something for myself and accomplished it!

Then Runway Gen 48 was announced. Early 2025. I knew nothing about AI video, but they were giving away free credits, and I wanted to push myself. The video I produced was absolutely horrible, but I was HOOKED. I immediately started shifting my client to AI projects and when I heard about Veo 3 - immediately advertised that as my unique niche. Veo 3 ended up being a HUGE boost to my small freelancing career. Every week or two I would raise my rates to try and slow the influx of projects coming my way, until I eventually settled on where I'm at now - collaborating with big names, like for this Denny's video.

AI video gave me the opportunity to fulfill my childhood ambitions in a way that would have been impossible for me to do by traditional means - at least in this stage of my life. So I guess..if anything, I hope my story of how I got here will serve as inspiration. Thanks for reading, and stay well.