Interview with Vinnie Urdea from United States

I've always been a creator, it has always been that way since I can remember. I have always enjoyed seeking out musicals or film editing classes or whatever opportunities I could find as a kid. So, it was always in my nature; I never knew another way.

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The nationwide Halteres video production team of trusted professionals makes up an in-house boutique video marketing agency that offers a full menu of production services to help you with every step of the production process, from pre-production, storyboarding, scriptwriting, filming, animation, directing, editing, post-production, and distribution.

I think creativity comes in many different forms but it comes down to the root word of "create" - as long as you are making things, whether that's sculpture or screenplays, or spreadsheets or car parts, there are different ways to create and feel "creative". A baker is just as much of an artist as a poet is.

I think any idea that does not assume but seeks to think differently about its subject is in itself "creative". With storytelling, it's not a great idea to tell as story differently just for the sake of being different, but finding a different way that suits the STORY - where the method then supports the function - that can be truly creative.

Personally, I describe my process as "making things more of what they already are" - it's not my job to project MY view, necessarily, onto a project or a story, but instead, I think of myself as a conductor who manages the full orchestra, with everyone doing their own jobs in order to bring the whole symphony together.

So long as the music sounds good, I've done my job and I don't mind who gets the credit. And having been on the performing or the crew end of the process so many times, I know that the team can always see the ways that the "director" pulls the project over the finish line, so everyone knows who's at the helm and allows them to stay in their lane. As Bill Belichick says, "Do Your Job."

I don't know fully how to answer that question but I will describe one part I see differently than many others. When I was in plays or musicals in high school, many of my peers would throw off their costumes in a heap and run out to see their friends and family, whereas me and a few others would stay behind, put our costumes back on their hangers, get out of makeup, have a few laughs with the stage manager and the crew, and then leisurely make my way out - and I have noticed that many of the professionals I work with now are built the same way.

The denouement is just as important as the crescendo, so I love sticking the landing and giving care and respect to the process itself, and I think that's something that separates professionals from people who don't take it nearly as seriously.

I often think of the apocryphal Michelangelo quote, take a large piece of stone and carve away everything that doesn't look like an elephant - carve away everything that doesn't serve your story, then tell that.

While not particularly so, I have proudly called myself a New Yorker for the past 15 years, and my time in the city undeniably shapes my creative approach. I strive to be direct, fearless, swift yet in control, and perpetually mindful of my place within the vibrant tapestry of my surroundings.

We are so honored to receive 9 wins in the 2023 MUSE Creative Awards. We are more focused than ever on whether or not our work for our clients suits their needs, and results in their desired business outcomes for that project, but to have outside recognition of the high quality of our work certainly feels very good.

As creative director, being able to congratulate our whole team on their contributions to those honored works makes me feel great in my role as a manager. They all deserve the recognition!

We were fortunate enough to win awards for three different projects across nine categories - “THE POWER OF KNOWING” for our client ACLA (The American Clinical Laboratory Association), “UNLOCKING THE PROTEOME/NULISA” for our client Alamar Biosciences, and “ANSWERING LIFE’S MOST IMPORTANT QUESTIONS” for our own It's Not Magic, It's Diagnostics awareness campaign.

I think all of these projects, whether for a client or ourselves, continue to help us in our mission to educate the public (including policymakers, funders, governments, industry participants, developers, and manufacturers) while also supporting and elevating the companies and processes that enable us all to continue to innovate in the diagnostics sector.

Each project always carries its own challenges, but I think the main obstacle tends to be that everyone - the creative team, the client, perhaps another outside agency - has their own ideas for how to accomplish the team's goals.

However, in my opinion, that's a job as the creative director, to ensure that everyone is focused on the same end goal in mind, and then things tend to fall into place - I think it was Seneca who said, if you don't know what harbor you're sailing for, no wind is the right wind.

Well, awards recognize work that has already been completed, so I just think of it as it will allow me to continue to trust my team to do award-worthy work on all of our current and future projects.

- Collaboration.

-Rising tides raise all boats.

-Watching a vague idea become a final product / how the sausage gets made.

Collaboration has became much more remote during the pandemic, but as someone who highly values in-person connections, I hope that the next 5-10 years bring us back to being present and in-person with our teams and clients.

In my opinion, I would advise those who are aspiring creatives to study something else in school - business, law, culinary school, coding, etc. - while also working on your art in your personal time, and then APPLY that knowledge to your art, rather than putting all of your eggs in one basket. Not to have a "backup career", as we used to think of it, but instead to be a more well-rounded artist. My two cents.

Learn skills that you might not think directly correlate to your industry but that you're passionate about - language, coding, web design, etc. - and then figure out how to fold them into your existing skills.

I think genre films and bad movies are a much better way to learn about filmmaking than a "great" movie - if you watch something truly "great", it's unlikely that you'll be able to see the strings and mechanics of how it works because it's just "good". Not much to learn. But if you watch a genre film (it's October as I write this, and I'm rewatching the Friday The 13th series, currently on #7), you can latch onto the conventions and expectations of that genre (re: horror) and watch how the filmmakers did or did not subvert those expectations, what cameras they used film-to-film, how creative teams make different decisions (from, say, Part 4 to Part 5), how actors do or do not understand the genre, etc., can be a great introduction to the HOW of moviemaking.

It is the same with "bad" movies - I'm a huge Mystery Science Theater 3000/Rifftrax fan, and I love watching "bad" films because they show you all of those strings that a great movie cannot.

The somewhat sappy answer is my wife, Alex - she's a multi-hyphenate actress, model, and podcast host, and at the time of writing this she is also 7 months pregnant with our son. She manages to always push her comfort zone and find new ways to solve her challenges, and she's the most effervescent and magnetic personality I've ever known. She inspires me every day!

The somewhat silly answer is Stephen Curry - he focuses singularly on his goal and his skills, and maintains his joy and his humor while doing it. I aspire to carry myself "Stephortlessly" through my work.

The key to success is to redefine what YOU mean by success. If your goal is to make a living in a creative sector, to pay the bills and provide for your family, to work in a creative industry while maintaining your sense of curiosity without getting burnt out, to make work that makes your clients/audience happy/affected/informed/whatever, then absolutely you can achieve success. If you're out to just become the same someone you admire, then you will fail.

Steven Spielberg makes movies because he loves to make movies, not because he wanted to become Steven Spielberg. If you can get paid for what you'd do for free, working in something that you're passionate about, then we can talk about success.

Don't compete with someone else; compete with yourself and make yourself better!