Alumnus Alejandro Lalinde Pursues His Hollywood Dreams
Alejandro Lalinde came to Academy of Art University with dreams of
directing, but as he progressed through the School of Motion Pictures and Television, he realized
that he loved to shoot, compose, light. The graduate is now a successful director of photography
who has worked on music videos for some of the hottest musicians on the charts.
Alejandro credits the films of Stanley Kubrick for initially piquing his interest in
filmmaking. He strives to create films of that caliber, which he defines as “absolute perfection.”
After receiving a BA in English with a minor in Film Studies from University of North
Carolina Wilmington, Alejandro wanted to take his knowledge of theory and history and apply it to
filmmaking. He had a friend who was going to Academy of Art University for Graphic Design who
recommended the school to him. He decided to take a trip out to San Francisco.
“Upon seeing the vast amount of lighting equipment, cameras, editing equipment, small studio
set spaces and just having the beautiful of the city of San Francisco, my mind was made,” he
recalled. “I was overwhelmed with how much they had to offer.”
His favorite class at Academy of Art University was Edit 1 with Shaaron Murphy, who he also
counts as his favorite instructor. He also acknowledges the support of Eduardo Rufeison who taught
Cine 1.
Alejandro moved to LA after graduating, following the migration of other Academy of Art
University film graduates. He worked odd jobs camera assisting to earn money and develop a
professional reel. Recently, Alejandro has had some opportunities to shoot music videos as well as
commercials. His ultimate goal is to be the Director of Photography of a feature film that “will be
remembered as a classic and never forgotten.”
So far in his career, rapper LL Cool J has been Alejandro’s favorite artist to work with. He
describes LL Cool J as an “incredibly humble and talented artist.” He also recently shot a video
for R&B artist Eric Benet and another for rapper Nas. Alejandro collaborated with fellow
alumnus Terence Liff. He consistently stays in communication and works with other Academy alumni.
“Those are my most trusted people because we all went through the same form of training and
we kept in touch with one another,” he said. “Every alumni I know from Academy of Art University is
realizing their dreams in one form or another and I am very proud to have worked alongside them.”
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