Update: Finalizing Interviews

by Ray Roman in , , , , , , ,


It's been a month since I've posted a new video here but the work hasn't stopped. As I've stated previously I'm working on a documentary involving CTE. We plan to wrap shooting next month and begin the editing process soon after. Here's a couple photos with some recent interviewees, stay tuned!


12-day filmmaking trip

by Ray Roman in , , , , , , , ,


I've returned from a 12-day business trip just a few days ago. I'm finally getting around to writing a blog post about the journey. Where do I start? Well, within 12-days I traveled to 17 states which include California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and Utah.

I'm working on a documentary with my business partner David Kano about C.T.E. (chronic traumatic encephalopathy). First we stopped at the Cleveland Clinic where we documented the testing done at the clinic, and sat down for some interviews.

Over these 12 days we interviewed MMA fighters, a former NFL player, doctors, and more. One of my favorite days was spending 10 hours with former WBA lightweight champion Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini. Checkout the full MMA Now TV interview below.

Throughout this trip we talked with at least 8 people on camera, and met many more off camera. There’s a lot more I’d like to share about the journey but I’ve got to get back to work! Hopefully, some of the photos below will give you a glimpse of my experience.

The works not over.. still more people to meet, interviews to capture, and of course editing is going to be a huge part of this process. More to come, stay tuned!


1st Time Shooter at McQueeney Gun Club

by Ray Roman in , , , ,


This video is about my 1st experience shooting at the McQueeney Gun Club in New Braunfels, TX.


Underwear Man (2003 Student Film)

by Ray Roman in , ,


This is a short film from sometime around 2002-2004. I recently found the only copy of this I own, I had completely forgot about it! There was no audio on the DVD I found, the assignment might have been to make a silent movie with sound effects, or that may be have been the intention because since there was no dialogue, I'm assuming that was the plan. So here's the edited version with sound effects, the original copy is 4 minutes 8 seconds long; here I cut it down, did minor color correction, and got rid of some jittery frames. Enjoy!


Good artists copy, great artists steal.

by Ray Roman in , ,


Good artists copy, great artists steal.
— Pablo Picasso

Below is an animated .gif of a scene from My Imaginary Friend, a short film I worked on with my friend Brandon Mackey.

Now here’s a frame from the film Citizen Kane directed by Orson Welles. (screen capture is fromCreativeCOW.net)

As I mentioned before, the screen capture above is directly from a CreativeCow.net article titled “The Camera Is An Eye – Not A Vacuum Or A Gun”. The article refreshed my memory of a scene I worked on from the short film ‘My Imaginary Friend’. This image stuck out to me the moment I saw it because I can remember lifting this same technique from Citizen Kane. In 2006 when I was in college and made ‘My Imaginary Friend’, is around the time when I watched Citizen Kane for the first time. I may have watched it a couple years before, but just around this time of my life I was obsessed with Orson Welles. Now I don’t believe I was technically ‘stealing’ like I have titled this post, but I was for sure influenced by the cinematography in Citizen Kane.

Nowadays these choices of where to place the camera is ingrained in the way we make movies today. In fact every movie is technically stealing from the past in one way or another.

As a filmmaker I believe it’s important to try and understand the history of filmmaking as much as possible in order to stay creative, and fully understand how stories can be told.