We recently connected with Andres Obelmejias Lattanzio and have shared our conversation below.
Andres , so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
When working in a team environment (which is the case for the majority of entertainment work) one can easily succumb to the usual “jaded-ness” and skepticism that one frequently encounters from peers in this industry. When in high stress projects, I’ve noticed that if one gives in and contributes too much to that energy, it doesn’t help anyone and makes the working environment perpetually stressful for everybody involved.
However a genuine good attitude can be contagious, and I’ve been in high stress projects that were a great time for the people involved because of the optimism and positivity shown by my peers, and in turn it made the end product much more higher quality than the ladder projects.
This being said, I strive to maintain my optimism because I’ve seen first hand plenty of times the positive effect that it has towards the people around you, and the results of the project. and what better motivator than having good time while working, no matter how difficult the situation.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’m a bit of a journeyman in life, love trying out new and difficult things. I suppose it started with my love for difficult videogames, and then it evolved into becoming part of creating VFX Film & Videogames, which is quite the long and arduous process I expected it to be, and the reason I love doing it so much.
Whether it’s working together with directors to pitch exciting scenes, animating monsters ravaging everything around them, or putting together more slow, subtle, emotional moments combining my animation and cinematography skills, or heck even doing little background animations that no one will notice but add nice set dressing to scenes. Every part of the process of creation is something that excites me. No matter how big or small the task, I’m always excited to put in all my love into everything that I do.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Aptitude in a craft is something people confuse to be the most important skill one should have. I say neigh! There’s nothing worse than working with “incredibly talented people” that are difficult to work with.
If you’re early into your career the most important skills you should acquire are: The ability to be Open to learning from others, The ability to Work with others, and the ability to Teach others.
You put these three together, and by default your skill in your craft will skyrocket involuntarily. Because many people aren’t open to learning, a lot of people struggle working with others, and who likes teaching right?? Wrong! I personally believe these three skills are the most important thing to develop on a conceptual and spiritual level, and the rest will follow. And the most successful people I know are experts at these three.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
I say embrace the chaos and uncertainty.
Realize that it is part of the process and become comfortable in the uncomfortable. I personally learned this skill from competing in jiujitsu tournaments. You’re put in a high stress environment, one on one with an opponent that you just met and everyone is watching and yelling at the other guy to choke you out or break your limbs (or the other way around) and you have only yourself to rely on to perform. Could this be overwhelming? Perhaps!
However when you learn to control your emotions and remain calm in such intense moments is when you best perform. So how do you learn this control exactly?
Simply by Exposure.
The more often you put yourself into that high intensity situation, the more you get used to the nerves, and the more you can remain calm when it’s time to go. This doesn’t only apply to jiujitsu, you can apply this to anything. The only way you can do it sometimes is to go in, even if you are telling yourself “I don’t wanna do it” on the way there, until you reach the point where it’s already too late to back out. And way more often than not, you’ll feel happier and accomplished that you went for it after the fact.
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Image Credits
Credits are listed in the images: Images and art are property of Marauder Film, Netherrealm Studios, and Naughtydog
