Meet Mario Durán Araujo

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mario Durán Araujo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Mario, thanks for taking the time to share your lessons with our community today. So, let’s jump right in – one of the most essential skills for unlocking our potential is self-discipline. Where does your self-discipline come from?

Self-discipline is crucial to me on a daily basis. As a freelance artist, if I want to reach my goals I have to give all of my energy to reach them, as I usually have very ambitious ones.

Three months ago this skill was put into test, as my girlfriend was shot at her school and after many talks with her family and school I realized I was one of the few people that was actually willing to help her money-wise, so I actually had to work full time and I broke my own records for the amount of jobs I had in a month. It was a very stressful month, but she is recovering now and I’m just so glad I was able to pull off my plan, so I’m glad I have self-discipline to move forward in my career and break any obstacles.

And to be even more clear on my answer, I think my self-discipline comes from the need to show who I am and what I’m capable of, because I really think that without it, I would just not survive in the business and definitely wouldn´t be ready for eventual emergencies.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m a director, writer and actor. I mostly work in an independent environment, meaning I can have the last word on the final cut of my films.

I’ve worked on several live action and stop motion animation shortfilms and feature films, including some non-profit fan films about Marvel characters, and to be honest with you, those are my favorite projects to work on, as I manage to explore my creativity and I’ve managed to take home some awards such as best animation and best ensemble cast at the GeekFest Toronto 2023 and 2024.

Overall, I have 11 awards and 19 nominations from around the World. Also I was recently invited to the Thriborough Film Festival as well as the San Diego Comic Con as a professional guest.

As a fun fact, I’m beginning a producer journey as a co-founder member of the independent production company ¨M1ctlan¨, in which I already co-produced with Jaime Sainz and directed 5 shortfilms.

And finally, I’ve been working for the last 4 years on a 3 hour fan film called ¨Avengers Declassified: Secret Invasion¨, in which I assemble 60+ cast and crew members to make one of the most ambitious fan films ever made. The movie stars Richard Croxford as Doctor Strange, Amelia Conway as Black Widow, Terrell Sharkey as Black Panther, Phoebe Ruffels as Jessica Jones with Tuesday Knight as Dazzler. I co-write with Kat Leroy as well as direct, animate and edit. Coming late 2025 on the Medaframe YouTube channel.

My main focus going forward is my fan made movie, M1ctlan and a Fiverr page that I just launched for people interested in having a custom animation.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The first and in my opinion best quality you can have as an artist is patience. In this day and age, if you don’t have any contacts in the industry you have to climb your way into success, and in most cases that’s a slow path, but if you are patient enough and you have a decent amount of talent you have a real opportunity to get into it.

The second would be to be yourself. At first it doesn’t sound like a really important quality, but you always deliver your best work only if you don’t try to be who you aren’t. Don’t worry about what other people could say, and it’s important to know that you can’t appeal to everybody always.

And the last skill I want to highlight is communication. As a director you are going to find yourself communicating your vision to all cast and crew, and a little misunderstanding could mean not reaching the full potencial of the crew because of a lack of a proper talk.

Who is your ideal client or what sort of characteristics would make someone an ideal client for you?

The best type of client is the one that understands your vision and pushes it forward, as well as having great communication skills so we can be on the same page. I’m fortunate enough to have clients that fit into that mold, but it’s rare when that happens.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @medaframe
• Facebook: Stop Motion Marvels
• Youtube: Medaframe
• Other: IMDb: Mario Durán Araujo

Image Credits

Mario Durán Araujo & Sharon Herrera