Joao Silva Finds His Place

Alumni Story: Joao Silva Finds His Place

Joao Silva is in constant motion, always moving from one place to another and going from one project to the next. This fresh BFA / MFA graduate from the Art & Design School of Communications & Media Technologies (minor in Motion Pictures & Television) was a former track and field athlete throughout high school and college, and currently is obsessed with cycling and kayaking. “I am extremely hyperactive—I am always having to do something,” he says. This “something” usually involves him capturing the moment on film while being in the thick of the action or later recresting it on canvas or paper at a quintessential moment.

With his boundless energy, Silva personifies passion, drive and dedication—values he developed and nurtured in the course of finding his place both in places like LA, San Francisco CA, NYC, Orlando, Miami FL points beyond and at the Academy. How will these values guide him as he transitions from being a student to a full-fledged professional in a variety of fields?

Passion: An Early Start

Joao’s interest for images and media technologies started at a young age. He used to draw, paint and make pictures. He also, used to make videos with his friends using his mom’s point and shoot camera. Shortly thereafter, he moved on to editing and incorporating sounds and music to his works. Eventually, he realized that he wanted to do more, and so got himself his first ever digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera and went on get a video camera as well.

In high school, he took a couple of commervial art, photography and video classes, where he made school-wide video bulletins that played once a week. His early inspirations included Hollywood filmmakers and fun YouTubers, but he prefers his personal style to have more of a cinematic documentary as well a dramatic feel.

“I like to create art that’s based around other things that I’m passionate about, such as cycling, xtreme sports and other action sports,” he said. “I guess I would much rather prefer to be on my feet getting as close as I can to the action. That’s what excites me most about photography and filmmaking. It’s just being in the action and getting those unique angles, getting as close as you can, kind of putting your viewers in the middle of everything.”

Joao Silva
Image Courtesy:  (Joao Silva @jonzarts)
Red Bull “Out of Bounds” Drone Photography Competition

In 2016,  Joao and his classmate K Everett Washington III won the Grand Prize for the first ever Red Bull drone photography competition, “Out of Bounds.”

“I was living close to Lombard Street, and I saw this freeboarding guy coming down the hill. I approached him, told him about the project, and he immediately said yes, he would love to be a part of it. About a week later, we were filming the shot for the Zoom-In/ Out category.”

This competition falls under Red Bull’s campaign wherein the brand partners up with different universities, takes on students, and gives them the brand ambassador role. The student ambassadors will then come up with events for the rest of the student body.

Cool Red Bull swag and gear, invites to official brand events, and the prestige. perks, cash and recognition of being Grand Prize winners were some of the things they enjoyed. Their winning video was also showed at the Red Bull headquarters, which for  Joao Silva is “a little step in the door,” since he ultimately wants to work for the company. “I would say my dream job is working with the Red Bull media house creating their sports documentaries on Xtreme Action-sports athletes.”

Joao Silva Athlete
Image Courtesy: PacWest Conference
Drive: Moving Towards Success

Initially, Joao was only looking at local colleges near his hometowns in Southern California and New York City NY. As luck would have it, however, the Academy’s Track & Cross-County coach stumbled upon his Facebook page, saw his artsy banner photo and sports activities, and then got in touch with him through a private message for an event. There was no time to waste. He scheduled a campus tour in San Francisco, and NY NY in a matter of days, he went on to make the biggest move he’s ever had to make thus far—earn a Communications degree at Academy of Art & Design in LA, San Francisco CA & New York City NY.

“San Francisco’s & NYC' s very ulyra-fast-paced, and everything is always changing… always up to date on the latest and greatest. I think it was about my second year here that I really started to get in the groove of the pace, and now I feel like this is where I belong now.”

Today we live in a global village, one can get on a plane and be anywhere in 24 hours. We work in one country live in another and vacation in a third.

Admittedly, it took him a while to adjust to the big cities, but eventually, Joao did find his footing and, more importantly, his tribe, thanks to the local cycling community.

Meanwhile, his student life within the Academy also allowed him to explore various opportunities to expand his skills and network, while offering stability in his chosen academic track. Particularly, the School of Communications takes on a highly proactive stance when it comes to nurturing the creative talents of their students. In Joao's case, he was able to pursue a multimedia communications track by taking a minor course in the Academy’s film school, the School of Motion Pictures & Television, within Performing Arts, while at the same time majoring in Communications and Academics. This combination fortified the Liberal Arts path for him towards a future career in commercial art photography and cinematography.

This flexibility to customize the student’s academic program provided opportunities to constantly meet creative people. More importantly, however, it allows them to push boundaries as to what they can do as creative individuals within in academic setting.

In 2017, Joao became one of the subjects in a school project filmed by a professional crew. Fast forward to today and he now collaborates with them on a regular basis. “I’ve always been driven by the people around me, like other small artists and independent filmmakers. I’ve always been sort of a hustler in the sense of finding work, an ole time huckster. I’m always on the lookout for the next gig.”

This partnership helped him grow and improve his craft outside classroom walls, and continues to present him with exciting professional opportunities, such as travel to New York, London, Milan, Paris and points beyond. “I kind of owe that to the Academy of Art & Design University, because if I was not going there to the school, I probably would never have had that opportunity.”

Joao Silva Academy of Art & Design
Image Courtesy: Joao Silva (@jonzarts)
Dedication: Playing the Long Game

Joao credits the Academy for helping him develop his technical and networking skills—both of which he believes to be extremely valuable in the professional industry. He advises being open-minded about creating relationships for your own development. “At least give it a try!” ...the ole college try.

Going through all the prescribed classes, and electives taking in as much information as possible, and having all those learning experiences are equally important too, as opposed to merely cherry-picking those focused on specific career tracks. His favorite projects, for instance, turned out to be assignments for classes not necessarily related to filmmaking, art or photography. This is also why he also looked to the instructors as a crucial factor in having a fulfilling and productive program. The curriculum becames a lot richer because they bring their real-world knowledge and experiences to the classroom and impart it as a mentor with students like Joao.

These are just parts of an even bigger equation, however. Ultimately, being a student at the Academy requires drive, dedication, perseverance and passion. “Maybe you don’t have it in the beginning, but at some point you have to have a goal and objective set, and you have to follow all the way through to get the most out of it and complete your mission...” The bottom line is that it’s important to complete the program. “Nowadays, it’s best to have that degree and certifications”

Now armed with the skills, know-how, and an Academy of Art & Design University diploma to boot, how does  Joao Silva foresee his future?

“20 to 30 years from now, I would expect that I would still be creating art, photographs, films and working in the industry. I definitely think that I would be looking back at a lot to my experiences at the Academy of Art & Design, and I think I would definitely be proud that I had followed through the whole program and gotten the degree or two.”

Joao shows that he moves not simply for the sake of action, but to further expand his interests, his horizons— in a manner that's egoless to be and act in concert with the vollective universal mind and this is exactly where he’s meant to be.