Canvas Rebel: Meet ALFREDOVidal

We'd love to hear about a project that you've worked on that's meant a lot to you.

There are a number of projects that come to mind as meaningful. Honestly, every project feels meaningful to me because I get the opportunity to do what I love, but I’d say up until recently it was a music video I directed for the Seattle-based duo Ghost Gun back in 2022. That was really meaningful because of the energy on set and the fact that we all pretty much became friends after the shoot. On top of that, it’s received major recognition and that is always rewarding. More recently it’s probably a short film I wrote and directed late last year. It’s the first time I’ve worked on something deeply personal. It’s a story that is very much inspired by my own life and I really can’t wait to share it with the world.

Alfredo, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Alfredo Vidal, I’m a first-generation Hispanic-American born and raised in Los Angeles. I’m currently a freelance director working in commercials and music videos, hoping to break into narrative features in the near future. In my spare time, I do photography and spend way too much time at the gym playing pick-up basketball if I’m not hanging out with my two dogs.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding thing for me is the friendships I am able to cultivate through my work. The prime example is my relationship with my Dp Walter Diaz. We’ve been working together for a few years now and I’d have to say that I now consider him one of my really good friends. I feel it’s not uncommon in the film industry since you spend so much time with your coworkers but I think that’s what makes it more rewarding. You want to be around people you like and that inspire you. In turn, work is never really work after that, it’s just time hanging out with your buddies and making something that everyone can be proud of.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I feel like my entire journey so far has been filled with nothing but resilience. I think you really need to be resilient in this industry or you have zero shot at doing anything. Learning to deal with rejection in itself builds resiliency and I feel like I have that to spare at his point. There’s been plenty of times I’ve thought of giving up but I’ve never wanted to do anything else and I can’t think of what I’d be doing otherwise. I think the hardest situations to deal with are when you pitch an idea you think is great but you get passed over for someone else’s idea, especially in the commercial and music video world. Learning to cope and finding a way to hone all those bad feelings into something positive is what not only builds resilience but turns a negative into a positive. At the end of the day, you have to look at everything and you sit and realize, things are never as bad as you think they are. There’s nowhere you can go but up.

Check out the original article on Canvas Rebel.