Matt Notaro
“I remember going to the Missoula public library and checking out books about multi-track recording and being completely blown away by the thought of recording multiple audio tracks. I had been recording stereo on cassette up until then, so the thought of having 4 separate tracks on the same tape changed my way of thinking. I got myself a used 'Tascam' 4 track and started recording stuff for our band, which was a huge challenge for me but I was hooked.”
“I chose a university in Northern Colorado because of their great music program, but when I got there I found out the whole town smelled! It turns out the school is near one of the largest meat packing plants in the country, producing a cross between a slaughter house, a cow farm with manure and other unidentified odors. The smell never went away so I promptly moved to Seattle and went to the Art Institute to explore audio engineering.”
“After taking a few audio classes and immersing myself into the recording studio, I saw some students creating some interesting work in a program called Multimedia. The program was perfect for me, because it incorporated audio with graphic design, typography, animation, and video. With my audio experience to that point, adding layers of video and graphics made what I was creating more interesting.”
"While I was still at school, I found a job retouching photos at an agency in Seattle called POP. It wasn’t the most glamorous job, but my photoshop skills were improving daily. We were running large scale photoshop actions on thousands of images, pushing the limits of what those old computers could do. I was a little obsessed by how to make the action more efficient and getting the most out of the poor old blue and white g3’s. This is around the time when I started to become seriously interested in computers, and how they work.”
“There was a video editing position opening up at POP which I was lucky enough to get. We did a lot of work for Nintendo, so I was doing things like capturing gameplay, editing pieces, and then working out how to compress the footage for the web, which was a big deal at the time.”
“At POP I was exposed to some great interactive work and designers using mostly CSS and Macromedia Flash. I was excited by the idea of creating an interactive experience, rather than creating video with a specific start and end. I dove into interactive design full force, teaching myself Action Script and Flash. I found a book by Brendan Dawes called Drag, Slide, Fade that changed my life. I became passionate about exploring how a user can interact with an experience incorporating graphic design, video, audio, and animation. I liked creating experiences the user could immerse themselves in, that could go in any direction.”
"I moved to San Francisco for a web broadcasting job, compressing news and web video for live streaming. Not six months after moving, the company was suddenly bought by their largest competitor, who then closed operations here. This gave me some time to dive even further into improving my programming and design skillset, and I met some people who had openings at a couple of ad agencies in the city, and those roles blossomed into a freelance business doing interactive design."
"I was working as an interactive designer for ad agencies in San Francisco like McCann Erickson, Venebles Bell, MRM, and others. I got to work with talented designers, developers, art directors, and creative directors, who all had a vision for storytelling and presenting art in an interesting way. These people hugely influenced how I think about design and story, and I find myself thinking back to those lessons as an editor today."
"I was contracting at an ad agency, Euro RSCG, when I met Mark Decena, owner of Kontent Films, that happened to be in the same building. I was really impressed with the work they were doing. I ended up becoming their lead editor, and worked there for four years. Working directly with Mark was a true blessing because he is so wise. He brought so much knowledge to the process and has such a good sense of story, I could not help but learn every single day."
"A few years ago I opened a freelance business as an editor and motion designer. I have a studio in the Mission Film District of San Francisco, which I share with my creative partner and colorist, Ayumi Ashley. I’ve recently started directing commercial artists, and am thoroughly enjoying those opportunities. My experience as an editor helps me immensely when directing, and I can’t help but approach each project with my design aesthetic."
"Working in film has been the perfect way for me to continue exploring the different disciplines that I’m passionate about. Motion design and VFX have been a great way to keep my design and programming muscles alive. I’ve scored some music for commercials, and music and audio is what drives my edit for most artists. I’m trying to take that even farther, and am currently working on composing music for a short film I’ll be directing."
"At the end of the day, these different disciplines that I’ve been involved with are just different ways to engage with a user or a viewer. An ideal project for me is one that changes the mind of the viewer about a particular subject, and I feel very lucky to have found a job that gives me an opportunity to do that."