Pat Monahan

As far back as I can remember, my brother and I have loved going to the movies.

There’s something about the big screen that makes life seem so much bigger, brighter and better. Some people get chills from reading a thriller. For me, it’s all about seeing it on the screen. I love a great story, but it’s the set, the lights, the direction and the sound that bring it together for me. There’s nothing like the anticipation I feel waiting for the shock that’s coming… and you always know it’s coming by the music.

I remember sitting in the theater watching “Jaws.” I was very young, too young to have gotten into the show on my own, but they let us in. As a young boy, the opening scene grabbed me right away. What boy’s interest isn’t peaked with a girl running to the ocean to skinny-dip? Then it happened. The music started, dum dum… dum dum… dum dum dum dum dum dum… and there was that girl, swimming under the moon light. You knew something was coming. You knew something bad was about to happen. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. I couldn’t even blink. To this day that music makes me pause when going into the ocean.

I was recently in Florida on vacation. Standing on the beach, all these years later, looking out over the surf, I still heard that music in my mind – with my heart starting to beat a little faster. That’s how a good movie can impact you. I knew then as I know now that I wanted nothing more in life than to be a filmmaker. I want to tell those epic stories, to grab people by their spine or heart strings, and make them feel whatever I desire.

At night I go to sleep thinking of shots I’d like to take, of equipment I would use, and what visual effects would make the shot better. In the morning, I often wake with a story or commercial idea on my mind.

It’s just in my blood.

I have been involved in film making and digital video story telling pretty much my whole life. My camera and editing suite have been as close to me as my own brother. I feel as if this equipment is a part of me. I love great production hardware and software, and I love making it work in ways it was never intended to. I look at something and my mind automatically starts breaking it down into the elements I need to tell a story in the only way I know how, epic.

My brother Joe and I went to school together from grade school through college. We both studied production. We both also loved watching big movies, like Last of the Mohicans and Apocalypto. Both of these films were epic, with stunning visuals and powerful sound. These were movies that kept you from breathing from start to finish. You could watch the whole movie and never once remember to eat your popcorn or drink your 32 ounces of sugar water. We also loved WWF. I know there’s a sharp contrast between the two, but not entirely. Sure, WWF was over the top and outlandish, but it was also epic. That is all I’ve ever wanted to be, the creator of epic footage.

Early on in my career I had the good fortune of landing a gig called the Mock Prison Riot. While most videographers were cutting their teeth shooting weddings, I was standing in an old prison with prisoners on one side throwing bricks and bottles and corrections officers on the other side with riot gear, shields, flashbangs and teargas. No matter how cool you think you are this is something you can’t prepare for. Once the scenario starts you are in the middle of it, and you can’t leave, and most of all you can’t get a re-do if you screw up. In the heat of this kind of battle, good vs evil, I learned that I had to stay focused, no pun intended, and I had to produce. There was no one to tell me where to aim my camera or what to shoot. I didn’t even have the time to make sure I was out of the way. I was knocked down and trampled more than once, but it all was worth it.

Movies, studio wrestling and the Mock Riot helped make me what I am today. I am a visual story teller. Though much of what I am involved in on a daily basis isn’t very epic, some of it is, and I live for those moments. I also like to make you cry, or laugh or my favorite, I love to make you say “WOW!”. Check out our DeNoon spot, the one with Noah’s Ark. I built that ark digitally on my desktop, and when most people see it for the first time they actually say “wow.”