Chris and Alanna around the time they started working together.

How did it all begin?

First Class Studios is a video production company ran by Christopher Rodriguez and Alanna Quiton. The dynamic duo are currently college freshmen but have been working together on videos since they met in their music class freshman year of high school. The partnership began when Chris, who does most of the videography, directing, and editing was working on a series called Grace Period about a group of dancers called and asked Alanna if she would join his production team at the time, Gold City Productions.

Alanna worked as a costume designer and composer for this series, and at the end of the project when Chris decided to branch off from the group and start a new production team called First Class Studios, he asked Alanna if she would help executive produce the films with him.

What exactly do they do?

From storyboarding to casting actors to filming and editing their videos, Chris and Alanna have full creative control over the varied genres of short films that they produce. First, the two have to think of ideas which they then work together to turn into flushed out scripts.

Although the two often have specific people in mind when putting together a short film, they sometimes hold casting calls to find a perfect fit to act in their films. When it comes time for the more hands-on work, the duo does all of the videography, audio engineering, and music composition on their own, bouncing ideas back and forth off of just the two of them.

First Class Studios produced was a series called One Word Films where the two would create a short video every week based off of a single word submitted by viewers. Chris thought of the idea in early 2017 when he noticed most of his films were already titled with only a single word (i.e. Misjudged, Dead) and when the summer came along he decided that he wanted to get more experience and challenge himself so he finally made it happen.

Typically the two worked on all the films together over the summer, but once they moved away to different states for college, they would talk about the concepts and ideas over the phone, Chris would film most of the content in Boston (with the exceptions of Threat, Alone, and Triskaidekaphobia), and then he would send them to Alanna to compose the music to. Alanna would then send Chris the music and he would edit it together.

Although One Word Films just released its finale, First Class Studios' work is not coming to a halt. Their upcoming project is a 50-minute short film called They’ll Find Him in the River. It’s a murder mystery about a group of college students in suburban New Hampshire during the fall of 1977.

After a local student goes missing, a series of secrets and incriminating circumstances begin to unwind. they are going for a super stylish neo-noir feeling, keeping it really mysterious and dark, but at the same time badass, intelligent, and fun.

Alanna and Chris at the premiere of their feature-length film, R.E.M.

How they are successful

1. They are passionate about what they do.

The most important part of being successful is loving what you do. In order to build success takes a lot of commitment and hard work, but if you love what you are doing then it will just feel like fun.

2. They surround themselves with people who care about their interests.

Although Chris and Alanna have many friends that have no interests in short films whatsoever, they make sure that they have a variety of friends that are. Having people that share similar aspirations as you is important because of the creative collaboration, motivation, and support that you can provide each other with. If you watch all of the One Word Films you will notice many reoccurring faces, as Chris and Alanna were able to utilize the flexibility and willingness of friends that were interested in their projects enough to help make them happen.

Even if you do not have access to such a network now, if you are willing to put in the effort that it takes on your own then it will attract people to you that are interested in what you do. Chris moved to Boston not knowing anyone, but "met many people who acted and worked in film, and experienced collaboration" with people who were attracted to his dedication to his making films. After all, First Studio Productions was founded from a project that Chris, who wanted to make films, started with his friends, who wanted to be in films.

3. They tell people about it.

Sharing your work with people as you make it is a major key to building success. As a fan of their short films I was always excited to see what they were releasing each Friday, but as my schedule would get busier I would find myself relying on their social media posts or links that they sent out to remember to go watch them.

No matter how interested people seem in what you are doing, you cannot expect them to constantly update themselves on your work without you saying anything. On top of serving as a good reminder to your followers, social media is a great way to get publicity for your work and possibly expose it to a new audience.

Not only is an audience a good support system to motivate you to keep up your work, but they can also give you good feedback on what you are doing. In First Class Studios' case, they actually relied on their audience to contribute their opinions and words in order for them to make content, which at the same time kept the audience engaged and wanting to come back for more.

Finding an audience was a big part of Chris's motivation as he created this project to evoke emotions in people and make them think, and remarked that in return "even if there was just a single person watching these films, [him and Alanna] owed it to them to put in all [their] effort and keep up with [their] weekly promise."

4. They set goals and do them.

While it's really easy to use a busy schedule as an excuse to push off working towards a goal, if you are really passionate about something, you will find the time for it. One way to motivate yourself is by creating realistic goals. In Chris and Alanna's case, their goal was producing one short film every week. If you have a specific idea in mind, it is easier to see the value of free time and use it more productively to push you closer to success.

5. They just do it.

Oftentimes, people discourage themselves from pursuing what they love because they feel a lack of experience or ability, and the only way to get past that is simply just by doing it. Everyone has to start somewhere, but you can only move forward if you push yourself there. As much as people can advise you, your personal success can only be achieved through your experiences with trial and error.

By giving yourself the space to gain experience and develop your skills you can learn what things work for you, and even more importantly what doesn't. You have to remind yourself that you cannot be successful without making some mistakes, which should be treated as learning experiences rather than barriers.

Although Chris and Alanna both had some experience making short films, their One Word Films project allowed them to explore areas of filmmaking that they never had before and expand their skillsets.

Chris remarked that they "gained A LOT of experience [and he is] really glad [they] did it because [he] felt like the films really improved as they went along. Also [he] loved that [he] was able to try out different genres. [He] had always wanted to do a horror film and was able to do a bunch- same with music-driven ones and action one."