ChomPics Guest Post - Matthew Szlasa, "Pressed" Episode 2 Art Director

Hello good folks of the interwebs! I am Matthew Szlasa, and I was Art Director for Episode 2 and Co-Art Director for Episode 3 of "Pressed." If you don’t know what "Pressed" is, then I’m not entirely sure how you got to this site, but be sure to watch it now or your brain will explode. Or your computer will crash. Bad things. So…Right, "Pressed." Being a part of ChomPics Productions has been one of the most rewarding processes of my life. I was lucky enough to be heavily involved last year as a member of five different teams, and I learned more than I ever could have dreamed. When you want to make movies growing up, you dream of being on sets and having fun, but ChomPics gave me the opportunity to make that dream a reality, and boy what a reality it was. However, they don’t tell you how much work it is in those dreams folks.

Being an Art Director for episodes two and three was an absolute blast, but it didn’t come without its share of stress, responsibility, and plain old hard work. The best part of the process is being on-set. You get to do your job, have fun with friends, and enjoy the magic that is being able to do what you love. The not–so-fun part is all of the prep work beforehand. You may be asking yourself at this point…”So, you were art director…what’s that?” The Art Director is the person in charge of organizing all props, costumes/wardrobe, and set dressing for the episode. Once you see episode 2, you will probably think to yourself “wow, that looks cool. Interesting shabby restaurant set-up.” Well, that should give you an idea of what my job entails.

This brings me back to the point I was making earlier: they don’t tell you how much goes into this stuff folks. If you are anything like I used to be, you watch movies all the time and love how immersed in the world you are, but you don’t pay any mind to how all of that becomes that way. Until being a part of art direction last year for Off University, I had never thought about props being something that were really important or required work to provide for the movie. Like most people, I just thought, “They just appear. They are just there.” But boy was I wrong. Being an art director gave me an appreciation for all that the unsung heroes of film and TV do. All of the costume and set designers and managers out there who put in hours to make things perfect, as well as the art directors and props managers who do what I did. Overall, doing this project taught me a lot about what the “movie magic” really is and what it takes to create it.

I could talk about the work behind ChomPics projects forever, but I would be leaving out my favorite part about being a part of ChomPics: our family. By joining ChomPics, I didn’t just join a production group; I joined a family. The friendships I’ve made here are more valuable to me than I ever could express, and I am extremely grateful. I will never be able to thank Beth Benge and Connor Hachey enough for giving me the opportunity to do this. Family comes first, and I am so glad to have you all in mine.

#chompics #gatornbs #pressed #matthewszlasa