Alejandra Ronda is a 21 year old filmmaker from Spain who currently lives in Madrid.
@alerondasmile on Instagram
“Cameras have always fascinated me. When I was like 9 or 10, my best friend and I would take his father’s camera and we would go out and film ourselves. We would make short films or multi-episode sagas, and I just thought it was so cool how we could play with the shots and cut them to create a story. As I got older I discovered that this could actually become a real job, and that you can study this, so that’s exactly what I did. Now, I have already completed 1 year of film school and have a professional diploma in the basic uses of a camera—like understanding lighting and how cameras function. But we also learned cinematic language, so learning what different shots mean and how you can share a feeling with just an image. For example, if you film from down-up, it’s gonna appear bigger, and if you film from the top-down, it appears smaller. All that.
Overall, I just think [filmmaking] is a great way to tell stories that have to be told, whether it’s movies that are based on real facts or if it’s like a script that is really important to you. Personally, I [want to make something about] the fact that being alone is fine. There are a lot of bullied kids out there that give a lot of importance to being popular, being liked, and that was my case. [I want the message to be] that you don’t need to force anything, just being yourself is enough until you grow and move on. For now though, I’m [just] hoping to complete my bachelor’s in professional filmmaking within the next year. And after that, I would love to go to La Fémis, a film school in Paris. That would be amazing.”
What advice would you give to an aspiring filmmaker?
“Perfect your craft and make sure you know what you’re doing. And when I say this, I’m not saying that you have to be perfect. My teacher would say this in school: ‘Everytime you go and make a video or whatever, your main question is ‘What do you wanna show to the public?’’ [In this kind of work], every choice you make has to be justified to prove that thing you wanna show. Don’t ever forget what the message is. It’s really easy to get it messed up and then it just ends up being a bunch of images that don’t really mean anything. There’s videos that are like that and aren’t necessarily meaningful, like a holiday video or random drone footage from the beach (laughs). I guess that would be one thing. [But] if you wanna make a living out of this, get your contacts, and dive into the community and industry. You need contacts, you need other people to work with because making a short film is not something you can do by yourself. You need a lot of help so you’d better find that help (laughs).”
What helps you stay relaxed and focused?
“Accept the fact that you don’t need to be liked. First of all, that’s gonna protect you everywhere, It’s gonna keep you calm and it’s not gonna give you extra stress when you’re busy. But on the other hand, you can’t always be relaxed either. If you’re in the middle of shooting, there are no moments to relax, you’re shooting (laughs). You’re just hardcore mode for a week or for a month or for however long it takes. So then, you just accept the fact that you’re a 100%. But also, for me, I don’t try to push myself to do things that aren’t worth doing. I don’t want to put pressure on myself to do something purposeful all the time. It’s ok for me to play the Sims 4 for 3 hours on a weekend if I have nothing to do. Like it’s fiiiine. Sometimes I guess it just happens when you’re like ‘OMG I haven’t done anything and I need to do this, I have free time, I need to do the work, don’t waste your time!’ No, it’s fine. Just chill, take a moment, drink tea, watch a movie, relax, it’s fine. Relaxed brain, efficient brain, you know?”