Carla Dauden
This Wednesday we’ll be meeting up in the classroom, FA4-311 for a talk by our Visiting Artist Carla Dauden. Carla is exciting for lots of reasons! Here’s 3:
- She’s a graduate of the CSULB Film & Electronic Arts department
- She’s been living in California and developing her filmmaking career
- She’s also used video media to be an activist for her home country Brazil, most notably regarding the 2014 World Cup
I love that Carla’s been able to use her film & video talents both to advance a career in narrative cinema and music videos, and also to be an activist for things she believes in.
This week in Art110 we’ll be making vlogs. Vlogs, blogs, Instagram, and the many other tools you have represent a power and voice that your parents never had. Like Carla, you can use these tools both to advance your career and to help build the better world you’d like to live in.
Here’s the bio from Carla Dauden’s website:
Carla Dauden was born in Brazil, but at age 18 she followed her passion for film and decided to study cinema in California. She soon wrote, produced and directed her first short film, Make Your Weather, which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival of 2010. In her third year in the country, Carla transferred to the Film and Electronic Arts program at Cal State Long Beach, where she double tracked in directing and cinematography, and received a B.A. degree. In 2012, Carla wrote and directed the short film The Wash, which was praised for its daring approach to water conservation and received the audience’s choice award at the international Intelligent Use of Water competition. In June of 2013, she gained recognition all over the world for her video No I’m Not Going to the World Cup. She was featured in major news channels and papers, and her video now has more than 4 million views on YouTube. Carla’s latest short, Mr Polman Wants to Fit In, was accepted in world renowned festivals and was nominated for best live action short at the Oscar qualifying Santa Barbara International Film Festival of 2014. Carla is currently working as a director both in Brazil and in Los Angeles, having directed several music videos, commercials, web series, and documentaries.
Carla Dauden Films & Videos
Activist
No, I’m not going to the World Cup
World Cup 2014: 7-1 was the least embarrassing number for Brazil
#stoptheball
The Discarded:
A tale of two Rios
Narrative
Carla Dauden directing reel
Mr. Polman Wants to Fit In
The Wash
2012 Intelligent Use of Water Competition
Music Video
Anna Renee – Addicted to Heartbreak
MAGIC! No Regrets
Lizzie Weber – Falling Like Fools
Anna Renee – Sharks
Discussion
PLEASE INCLUDE “1P” OR “2:30” WITH YOUR NAME WHEN YOU COMMENT
I thought some of Carla Dauden’s videos were really interesting. I think I really resonated with her ‘World Cup’ videos, because there was a time period where Rio 2016 and the Men’s World Cup 2014 was being criticized all over the internet. I think my favorite video of hers is #StopTheBall. I found #StopTheBall to be interesting because it gives you the perspective of what the lifestyle in Brazil is actually like. You can see how poor the children are, and how the living conditions isn’t ideal. I think the committee behind RIO2016 and the Men’s World Cup 2014 only showed the ‘beautiful’ side of Brazil which isn’t necessarily true which is why I think Dauden’s videos portraying what Brazil really looked like is important to people around the world who do not live in Brazil. To a casual fan of RIO2016 and the World Cup, one will think that Brazil is great and glamorous, however, they don’t know the true story behind it all. I loved how Dauden was able to use her art to portray the other side of Brazil that we would not have been able to see through FIFA and the Olympics committee. I hope that more people will be like Dauden and use their voice to ‘fill the silence’ and to show the other side of a one-sided story.
Hi Tina,
I remember when Brazil was all over the news because of the World Cup controversy. My family (my dad especially) loves soccer, so the World Cup is an event we keep up with. During that time, however, I would see a lot of cartoons or drawings based the fact that Brazil was very poor and that the natives’ living conditions were unimaginable. Carla brought up many points in her videos that people fail to realize when we are caught up on focusing on the luxurious and glamorous Brazil we all want to see. It was so sad to see how easily people lost their homes because the stadium was going to be built. It’s so amazing to me that Carla was able to vocalize her thoughts and ideas and have that video she made go viral. Her message traveled around the world thanks to the internet and it’s so cool how it could literally happen to anyone overnight.
Adriana Maciel, 2:30PM
Hi Adriana,
I too remember seeing cartoons and drawings of Brazil showing its living conditions and poverty. One cartoon that comes to my mind is one in which there is a little boy with a soccer ball next to him standing in what looks like homes turned into rubble. The little boy is looking towards the stadiums lit up with big fireworks. I remember seeing that picture posted multiple times all over social media. As well as in Newspapers. I too was very sad to see people kicked out of there homes for these stadiums to be built. It hurts to know that a government would prefer to build all these extravagant stadiums but fail to help the people of the country. Carla was indeed a voice to many of who were not able to raise their voices.
Roxana Chavez 1pm
What’s up Adriana!
I was really blown away as well when I found out how much FIFA changed the whole Brazilian community. I could not believe that the citizen’s homes were taken from them and the natives where pushed away from their origin. I have always admired what soccer, specifically FIFA, has done to the community when bringing a fan’s dream to life by organizing a competition for professional players. However I did not think this is their way of making fanatics happy by destroying the dreams of other soccer fans.
Lukas Fuentes – 1pm
Hi Tina!
I agree with a lot of what you’re saying. #Stoptheball was a really good video and I admire Carla for making it with good intentions to try and put an end to the terrible things the Brazilian government did. Sadly, you’re right. I don’t think the world had any idea what was really going on in Brazil during the world cup or they at least didn’t understand the full gravity of the situation. That is probably largely due to the over-glorification of the whole thing. FIFA wants the world cup to look like an amazing event that brings entertainment, fun, and prosperity with it when really it is destroying the lives of thousands of people. I too hope that Carla continues to use her voice and that other people are inspired to do the same.
Yesenia Hernandez 2:30pm
I agree with you Lukas, I think world games such as the FIFA and the Olympic Games are over-glorified and blinds the population from the atrocities such games bring to the hosting country. Popular media does not help to bring any problems to light, they only focus on the “good”, the competition, the athlete’s lives and who wins. However, what is more important is the hosting population. The games only last weeks for the tourists but the people of the host country they have to deal with the change from the beginning of construction until after it is long been over. Those stadiums are not just torn down, they stay put and most of the time with no purpose. It is important to bring to light these problems and Carla did a great job at doing that. The fact that her video went viral is important because she was able to opens a good portion of people’s eyes to the atrocities occurring in Brazil.
Abigail Manuel — 1PM
Yesenia,
I also agree with you guys that the World Cup and Olympics are definitely over-glorified. I remember during the Olympics this year, there was Olympic coverage on almost every news station that you turned to, and every kind of story about every event and athlete was analyzed in such great detail. It seems as if it’s all just a huge production at this point, and I think Carla’s video explains aspects of that very well. The Olympics made Brazil seem like this wonderful paradise to vacation, and while that may be true, it did not recognize any of the issues that are currently going on in the country, for the purpose of helping the beautiful country and its people. I love the fact that Carla was able to bring attention to these issues in a very light-hearted way that also allowed information about the issues to be clear, and even with the comedic twists she had in the video she was able to get her point across very well.
^^Tina Nguyen 1PM
Maritess Inieto, 1pm
Hey Tina! I also thought that Carla’s videos were really interesting. The #StopTheBall video was also one of my favorites because it really exposed the truth. People have this happy-go-lucky image of Brazil, but little do they know, there’s so much more going on. It’s a sad reality to see how poor the children are and how the living conditions over at Brazil are so rural and not ideal at all. The committee behind RIO2016 and the Men’s World Cup 2014 really did commercialize Brazil, so the fact the Carla exposed the truth about Brazil really resonated with me. I love what she stands for. I also appreciate that she never lost touch with her home country. After living in California so for so long, she still has so much love for Brazil. A lot of people lose touch with their roots. This love she has for Brazil has helped send a message across the world.
hi maritsa!
Yes! i also thought that carlas videos were really interesting and inspiring. the stop the ball video was also too one of my favorites, it did indeed i think as well really expose the truth. People dont know whats going on, all everybody is told is, the world cup is bieng hosted in Brazil! and that’s it! everyone’s all excited and happy that this country that’s so passionate about soccer, but little do they know that homes are being destroyed and people are bieng enslaved to build the world cup. The video that she made clearly explains what the situation is an what her point of view is on the situation. I found it very interesting that many other people took the video and interrupted in there own way, that was verry opposing to the true message carla tried to explain.
Megan Salinas: 2:30pm
Personally, I really enjoyed Carla’s presentation in class yesterday. She was someone who was able to inspire, not only art majors, but majors of all sorts, including kinesiology majors like myself. She expressed how she decided when she was 18 years old that she was going to move from Brazil to California, which in my opinion, is crazy. I find it amazing that someone could just uproot their whole life to move to a different country to focus on what they want to do in their life. She came to CSULB with knowledge that she wanted to do film and directing and when she started her work wasn’t that great, but then as she started doing more work, it all improved exponentially. I find that very commendable because, first she moved to a different country, then she improved on her work due to perseverance and finally she started really creating and directing her own material that she is trying to compile and make a reel to send to agencies. If that doesn’t spell out hard work and perseverance, I really don’t know what will. I enjoyed her reel that she showed in class and that was probably my favorite piece of hers, but all of her is amazing and although I don’t know her personally I’m extremely happy and proud to have met someone and listened to her story.
Araceli Lozano 1:00 pm
Hey Megan,
Yeah its crazy that she was brave enough to just uplift her life and leave her friends and family behind in Brazil. Especially at the young age of 18. It was definitely inspiring to see how she worked so hard to get to where she is now. Its kind of a reminder how following your dreams really does work out if you want it bad enough and if your willing to put in the work. I’m glad that she took the time off and come talk to us.
Hi Lozana, yest it is indeed crazy, she was really brave to just leave everything in her life, and her friends and family in brazil, just so that she can improve her life, she truly inspires me <3. its crazy that at 18 years old she just dropped everything to get into an industry that’s also very risky, the amount of passion and heart she has in truly inspiring. she followed her dream, and made a success out of herself, wow! so much congrats to her, and respect for her. she really does inspire me to become more individualistic and passionate about my life.
Hannah Adams, 1:00
Hello Megan,
I liked that you mentioned how important Carla’s speech was to all majors, not just art. I remember her asking what majors everyone was in and being a bit surprised that there was so much diversity. But what was amazing was that what she shared was a message that resonated with everyone. I particularly liked her method for success, just setting a goal and working every day. I think that is a concept is so important, but that not everyone follows. You don’t gain talent overnight. It is gained by little improvement every day. With this idea, Carla also shared another important bit of knowledge, that you are most likely going to hate what you do for many years. This was really eye opening for me. I don’t think I remembered until she said that that I really hated my art work for many years. It was with much encouragement from my family and years of practice that I finally started feeling pride in my work. I think this can apply to other fields as well. No one starts out a master, whether that be with engineering, design, or any other field requiring practice. It’s true that practice makes perfect, and it was nice getting to hear it said so powerfully by Carla this week.
Araceli Lozano 1:00 pm
I totally loved Carla’s presentation and I thought it was very cool and nice of her to take the time off of her day to come talk to us. It was inspiring to see how following your dreams really does work out in the end. Though it is a long road before reaching the dream, it is definitely one worth taking. (yeah it sounds very cliche but it’s true 🙂 ). Her job seems really fun and interesting especially working with celebrities and seeing them as they really are in person. That’s pretty cool. I though that all of her work is amazing, and i enjoyed watching her videos, but the one that i loved the most was the one about not going to the Brazil world cup. Its awesome because she was the voice of many people who felt the same way she did and may have not known how to express their outrage. It let the world know of the injustices that went on in Brazil and even though many people know of what is happening many of them just dismissed it because it does not directly affect them, which is pretty messed up.But the video was a reminder like,’hey the world cups isn’t that great, its not worth the caos that they are bringing to many families, and you guys should really think about others’. I cant wait to see Carla’s new projects 🙂
Mark Nguyen 2:30
Hello Araceli,
I also enjoyed Carla’s presentation a lot. I found that she had a lot of interesting things to say about her life and her work. It definitely was very nice to see that she was able to fulfill her dreams. In saying that, I feel that that is a good reminder to us that dreams can be achieved if you set your mind to it and don’t give up. Her job sounds pretty awesome and I honestly wish I could have a job like that, although I probably will not pursue it. Her World Cup video was my favorite as well. It was nice to hear someone talk about important issues that go on in the world, even if it was the negatives about something as big as the World Cup.
Mark Nguyen 2:30
Carla Dauden’s video production and directing is very unique and entertaining to watch. Her videos are put together very well and the quality is very high. Not only is she skilled in making professional quality videos, she is also an activist. In this area, she is probably most well known for her stand against the Soccer World Cup a couple of years back. This video was very interesting to listen to and it was very surprising to hear about, especially from a native Brazilian person. In my opinion, this was a great video to get out to the public and a very important issue that everyone should hear about. It is awesome that Carla got a lot of exposure from this video, but what is more important is the intent behind the video. Although the World Cup is a big event, everything that goes into it is not always a good thing. I feel that this story is very analogous to diamonds. Like diamonds, the World Cup for soccer is very prestigious and a big deal for many people. At the same time though, many people will lose homes and resources because of preparations for the World Cup. I feel that Carla definitely deserved to get exposure for the videos she made and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for her.
Tiffany Phan, 2:30PM
Hi Mark,
I agree that she doesn’t get enough exposure for her videos! As I was watching them all, they all play an important role in our world and how it really sends a powerful message. Like the video about water and how it’s being wasted and we need to learn how to conserve it better. A lot of people want fun and excitement, but they’re forgetting who and what has to pay the consequences in order to have all of that. Like for the World Cup, Carla says when she asked people what they think of when they hear Brazil and they say parties or the World Cup. yes, they may be “known” for that towards some people, but behind it all, many people are losing homes like you said and they money that is being taken from them goes to that when it should really go to education, jobs, food, etc. So I definitely agree tat she deserves to get exposure for her videos because not only does it send a powerful message, but it’s really interesting and beautiful to watch.
Emily Tomasello – 2:30 PM
Hi Mark!
Carla’s work is definitely unique, and I totally agree that Carla deserves a lot more exposure for her videos. I watched a lot of her videos on her YouTube channel, and not one of them was like the other before. I think it’s awesome that she can put out such versatile work, and I think that shows that she is a true artist. In my post, I talked about how her videos literally gave me chills when I watched them, and I think that really says something about the director. The stories, messages and moods that she has produced through her work so far are just amazing, and personally, it makes me really happy to know that someone who went to CSULB is out there making these amazing films, music videos, vlogs, etc.
Hannah Adams, 1:00
This was decidedly one of my favorite art classes. I wish there was more time at the end just to talk about Carla Dauden’s thoughts and insights because she had so much to say with such confidence. There were many interesting stories shared and some important advise given, so I will just go through some of the most notable thoughts I heard from Dauden this Wednesday. First I must say this was a unique experience for me because I hadn’t thought before of Vlogs as art. Dauden’s music videos and short films I could see more as being art, but not so much a Vlog. Though I suppose it still falls under our original definition of art as anything worked by human hands. I was still impressed with Dauden’s ability to turn such a simple means of sharing a cause on the internet into such a huge movement with people all around the world getting involved. This was with her first big video “No, I’m Not Going to the World Cup”. Though I found it most interesting that Dauden never went about trying to create a video that was going to become globally recognized and shared, She was just making a video about a cause she cared deeply about. This was a theme of her’s from the beginning of her career. One of her first videos was about water conservation called “The Wash”. This humorous and creative video had the theme of saving water, an important message to a new Californian like Dauden. It was a message she believed in, but also not one she thought was going to gain her much popularity. Despite her less than positive view, her video ended up being amazingly popular with the competition “International Use of Water”. This has been a theme in much of Dauden’s works, and she see it now. That real success is gained for her by the simple act of doing what she believes in. I really liked this theme. It isn’t a terribly new idea, but it is one that I don’t believe has enough stress. Going into college I thought I was going to be an Occupational Therapist. After much shadowing and research, I was told by many that I would make an excellent OT, and that I seemed perfect for the job. But the problem was I just didn’t love it. OT wasn’t my passion. So with much research and planning I finally decided on studying for Biology Education. It’s something I am deeply passionate about, and now I know I will succeed because I know I love what I am planning to do. It was a nice experience getting to hear a story of success from Dauden by following this type of thinking, and I wish her well for the rest of her vlogging adventures.
Tiffany Phan, 2:30PM
After watching Carla Dauden’s videos, her video on not going to the world cup really stood out to me. She explains that when everybody thinks of Brazil, they think of the world cup and parties, but they don’t realize that the public money is going towards building a stadium and the Olympics and that’s not what Brazil needs. It needs education, food, health, jobs and that’s really eye opening because not a lot of people see what behind Brazil because it’s always “known” for the parties, dancing, etc. Also with her other video “#stoptheball” there were some key points that were very important and not a lot of people know about it. Stop force evictions are important because people are getting forced out off their homes everyday and not no one is doing anything about it. Other than her videos about Brazil I also found the video “2012 Intelligent Use of Water Competition” really interesting and it really sends a message about the use of water! A lot of people use too much water in the world and we forget that water I important and we shouldn’t take it for granted. People would save money, if they learned to conserve and found ways to reuse their water like using the extra water they have and don’t need to plant or something! It sent a powerful message and many people need to realize that! Her video are really interesting and it tries to inform people about the “little” things we forget sometimes that should be consider big issues in our world.
Adriana Maciel, 2:30PM
I really enjoyed Carla Dauden’s class presentation. She definitely inspired the entire class regardless of our majors. Her insight and advice on the manner in which we should approach our career goals were great. What resonated with me the most were when Carla talked about branding yourself, exuding yourself, and getting all the experience you can. Carla started with a clean slate, she left of home country Brazil and came to California in the hopes to focus on her passion towards the film industry. Although she didn’t begin with much experience, she produced and did a number or projects in order to improve her own skills and she took each project as a learning experience. She also encouraged all of us to apply to anything we can–whether it is a job, internship, or volunteer experience. And that is something that I find to be very true. I sign up for every single opportunity that is related to my field and I had various opportunities that allowed me to gain extensive experience. Carla is very talented and you can tell she is passionate about her career because it can be seen in her work. Carla is very inspirational because she never gave up on her dreams and she still works extremely hard to improve on herself every single day. I am really glad that Carla found the time to speak in our class because I feel like she had a great impact on us.
Giancarlo Vento 2:30
Hi Adriana, I agree that Carla’s class presentation was inspiring. I liked how she encouraged our class to just get out and do something that is working toward what you want to do, as she made new videos. I liked how she talked about she entered the Intelligent Use of Water competition and just put herself out there. She forced herself to make new content because she knew that’s what she needed to do; and she didn’t allow herself to make excuses to not make new content. Her advice to take every opportunity you can was good, and I agree that this is important to be successful in any field you go into.
Alex Miramontes – 1PM
In response to Adriana Maciel’s comment, I found Carla’s presentation to be motivational despite the fact that her advice was focused on art. I was still able to take in her advice and apply it to my daily life. What I found inspiring about her presentation was how motivated she was to gain recognition and success within her industry. She did not just sit back and wait until someone discovered her work, she was dedicated and consistent in creating content. She created opportunities for herself, and that lead to her gaining success in the art industry. Her dedication and motivation inspired me to push myself out of my comfort zone. It is important that we create opportunities for ourselves and not wait on others to give us opportunities.
Tina Nguyen 1PM
Hi Alex,
Like you, I also admired that Carla did not sit back and let her art sell itself, but she went through the work to get her art there and created tones of content. I think that trait is impressive to have as an artist because you are already putting in so much of the time and hard work to create quality content, but now you also have to spend more time selling that content and not just wait for someone to discover the art you created. I think Carla has what all artists could learn from, in that she believes in her work and she tries to go out and sell it. Furthermore, she also spends time looking at other art works to see how she could improve her own work so that she is not stagnant.
Brandon Hong – 2:30
Hey Adriana! I totally agree with you that Carla, although being an art major, really tried to cater her presentation not only to the art majors in class, but also the rest of us in there. I know how hard it can be to relate her art experience to something like engineering, biology, business, etc., but she somehow made it work and really inspired me to just do everything to the best of my abilities because no one is good at what they do right from the start. She has inspired me to be passionate in what I do and continue to try new things as I progress in my school career. It takes a lot of talent to inspire others into being passionate about what they want to do in the future, and I believe Carla will be a great film maker in the future.
Amanda Martinez 1pm
Hi Adriana! I also think it is amazing that she left her home country to come to California and pursue her dreams. She did give really good advice about applying and trying every opportunity that comes your way. I also try to do every opportunity I can to get more experience I can in my field. I am so glad that I do because not only has it given me experience it has also helped me discover the things I do not what to pursue. I think it was great that she came to talk to us and we could see and talk to someone who is passionate about what they believe in and pursuing their dream and a very tough industry.
Roxana Chavez 1PM
Like my fellow classmates, I to really enjoyed Carla Dauden’s presentation in class this past Wednesday. Learning about Carla and her journey to where she is today was truly inspiring. From telling us her struggles to her greatest accomplishments and how she kept moving forward was inspirational to me. Carla also provided our class with advice applicable to all majors in which she let us know to jump into every possible opportunity there is out there for us. Carla also showed us some of the videos she has created, one of which was ”The Wash” which is about a young girl washing her car in front of a guy, and she is trying to catch the guys attention by wash her car all seductive. When the guy finally walks over to where she is turns off the nob to the water and shakes his head as he heads back to his house. It was a humorous video with a very powerful message. I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed a short film of Carla which is ”MR.Polman Wants to Fit In” really heartwarming with a message as well. Another video in which I also enjoyed was ”No I am not going to the World Cup” in which she tells the audience of all the bad things that are occurring in Brazil in preparation for the World Cup. In the beginning of the video Carla asks the public what comes to there mind when they think of Brazil. Many said the Soccer player Ronaldo, beautiful girls and many other things , many of which came to my mind of when I think of Brazil. Knowing that people in Brazil where losing homes so that stadiums could be built totally came to me as big news because I was never aware of that. Not many people actual know in reality what is actually having in Countries where big events are happening. For example when the olympics happened this past summer I only saw beautiful parts of Brazil not the rural places of Brazil. And if you notice during the olympics when commercials would happen they only showed the beaches, the statue of Christ the Redeemer and only the beautiful parts of Brazil. And when this is only shown to the people, people believe Wow Brazil must be beautiful! And never question Brazil’s political, and poverty issues.
“No, I’m not going to the world cup” was the first video I watched that was made by Carla Dauden. Reaching over four million views on youtube and seen all over the world, this video created a significant amount of ripple in Brazil’s society regarding soccer, specifically speaking, FIFA. There was a great amount of influence in the video despite the fact it was so simple. And when she visited our class, she could not believe that it would spread like a wildfire. Her point of making the video was to open the eyes of the people regarding FIFA in Brazil, and she got her point across obviously. But what blew my mind is that she created quality videos before, which is noticeably better than this one and it did not get much attention. However, in class she mentioned, that the reason why she made an impact with that video was because she was very passionate about it. She noticed that the more passionate you are about what you are doing and what you are going to make it will create a perspective to other people and impact your life.
Jasmine Figueroa- 1pm
Hi Rei! I agree with you on the impact that a single video can have on people throughout the world. Carla’s passion definitely spoke volumes to the millions of people who watched her FIFA video, and as she said during her presentation, the key to having a successful social commentary video is timing, and being truly passionate about what you are speaking about. When you make something and put yourself into it, it is more likely to get a response from the public as opposed to speaking about something simply because you were told to or feel like you have to without really having any type of interest in it. Although this video wasn’t made with any big-time special effects, or major graphics, the message itself was powerful enough to resonate to people across the world.
Tommy Duong – 1:00 PM
Hello Rei, I also remember that she mention in class that the reason her video became big was about how passionate she was about it. I’ve seen the pattern multiple times too. Many youtubers are really passionate about their work that they sometimes quit what they’re doing to make videos fulltime. I want to say that Carla’s video and famous youtubers follow that example of passion means popular or amazing work. Not only this applies to filmmakers but it also, people like engineers or doctors follow the example too. Passion gives a large drive to people and they continue doing work because that’s what they want to do and like to do.
Giancarlo Vento 2:30
My favorite video produced by Carla Dauden is “No, I’m not going to the World Cup.” I thought this was her best video because it had a profound impact. She was able to accumulate four million views on this video. Also, the message behind the video is meaningful, as Dauden brings awareness to the negative effects the World Cup has on Brazil. The World Cup is generally seen as an overall positive event, so it is good that Dauden took it upon herself to make this video to inform people on what is really going on in Brazil. I also like her video submission for the intelligent use of water competition. The video was really catchy and funny at the end; and again her video was made to raise awareness for a positive cause. I also liked how Carla used her experience with the Intelligent Use of Water competition to teach us a lesson. She said that she decided to go for it and submit a video, while her other classmates didn’t submit anything so they never even gave themselves the opportunity to win. Carla then added that if you want to get started in film you must be willing to constantly make new content and not make excuses for yourself. It was awesome that she showed us a sneak peak of her new film reel, it was super intense and I appreciate that she shared that with our class.
Hello Giancarlo!
The “No I’m not going to the World Cup” video was definitely the most impactful and perhaps made nations across the world roar because it was so meaningful and outspoken. I think that for people that come from different nations like Carla from Brazil make it a lot easier to speak of controversial topics because you have the ability to have the outsider perspective. Aside from being an outspoken video I think it was very good at addressing the need for people to pay closer attention things other than “oh soccer how cool”. Instead of spending thousands to travel out to Brazil and go go to the world cup people should consider donating it to the building of clinics rather than stadiums. I think that not only was her Intelligent Use of Water video good to raise awareness, I think her “No I’m not going to the World Cup” video was pretty good at that to. I too think she is so awesome for basically teaches us not to be afraid.
-SELENA LARA 1PM
Linney Sar 2:30pm
Hello Giancarlo,
I like the video, “No, I’m not going to the World Cup” I did not know what was happening in Brazil and the consequences of the World Cup. Watching the video made by Carla made me more aware of the situation in Brazil. The people that benefited from the World Cup were the already well-off people and the lower income communities were force to continue to suffer even more. Carla video is very inspirational and doing what she love by getting the message across to address awareness about Brazil and global issue. I agree that the World Cup was meaningful and it was really nice of Carla to shared a sneak peak of her new work.
Being a huge fan of Magic, the video No Regrets stood out the most to me. Obviously, meeting the director Carla was something pretty huge and regret not realizing it in the moment she was presenting it in the class. Although No Regrets isn’t like her “No, I’m not going to the world cup” video which made a huge impact across nations, with no regrets, you can really see the talent and professionalism that Carla holds. In class she mentioned how it was video where she felt she kind of just had to give the artist what they wanted because they were so stubborn and wanted a specific idea out there. Perhaps it sounds pretty cliché and it would be unfair to say that she made a video for a pretty successful band so that makes her successful but I feel that there is so much more to the video. Its hard to say what it is exactly and I’m at lost with my words but what I enjoyed of the video was that the as the audience I find my self sinking into the video almost as if I’m a part of it. There is simplicity but there is breathtaking imagery. I feel that as a viewer of music video’s I often lack the consideration for the craft behind the direction and production of these videos. It makes me want to pay a little more attention to the video’s themselves rather than just the music behind them because they do not have all of the talent.
Hey Selena,
Reading your comment made me realize we’re on the same boat. Like you, I’m a huge fan of Magic! And in class when she showed her reel video, I thought my eyes were fooling me because I couldn’t believe that Carla Dauden was the director of their No Regrets video. I wasn’t expecting for me to meet the director of that video and that was definitely the highlight of my day on Wednesday. I found it fascinating that the creator behind “No, I’m not going to the World Cup” was also behind No Regrets. The two videos are completely different from each other and yet she still managed to create something amazing. I noticed that her videos are very versatile and are always breathtaking. They just want to keep watching more and I know now that she has come a long way of self-doubt and feeling lost to be where she is now. It makes me appreciate more the work of directors and film makers out there.
-Jazmin Mejia 2:30
Alex Miramontes – 1PM
This week I was excited that we were given the opportunity to interact with an artist that is part of the art industry. During her presentation on Wednesday she provided useful insight about being in the art industry. One thing that I found interesting about her presentation on Wednesday was when she mentioned how artist need to promote and brand themselves as artist. Personally, I would find that difficult to do, because I hate using social media outlets.Today a lot of artist receive recognition through social media such as Instagram, Tumblr, and YouTube. With so many content creators it is important to brand yourself in a unique manner, individuality is important to success. She mentioned how after the success of her first YouTube video she needed to create a “brand” for herself; therefore, she added professional pictures and deleted a lot of old content. Although, I am not interested in becoming an artist or YouTube sensation, I believe her advice could be taken at a personal level. Living in today’s society we are always posting things online and it may be important to delete things from the past that no long reflect who we are as an individual, its important to keep things fresh and relevant since people use social media to get to know people. Reflecting over the presentation from last Wednesday, I would ask her if networking within the art community is difficult, considering how competitive it is. I imagine that in the art community, people would not be as supportive because they are focused on their own success and achievements.
Hi Alex! I also find it important to promote yourself to the world. I think social media does play a big part in today’s society because almost everyone has Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and so on. I find it crazy how you don’t like using social media outlets because they’re really addicting! I also agree that our online postings reflect very well on who we are and what we have to offer. Last, networking is very important but asking if it’s difficult in the art community is a very good question to ask her. I think Carla is going to be very successful considering her passion for making videos and always wanting to better herself, somehow, someway.
Aleah Lomeli- 1 PM
Hey Aleah & Alex! I can agree with what you both are saying. We use social media so much now for pretty much everything and i think it’s very important to watch the content that you put out there because it is representing you. I would find it very difficult to promote myself on social media now a days because everything we see on the internet is so similar. Most of it is usually content that i feel anyone can find on anyone’s page. But i would find it difficult too just because of the entire process of first even getting your name out into the world then he processes of gaining an audience that enjoys your content.
^^^ Marlene Rodriguez 1pm
1:00 PM
Aleah,
Social media does play a huge role in our lives due to its widespread use by almost every company, social group, and person in the United States. But it really can get addicting because it’s always available. Carla Dauden is very skilled in online media use, and would probably also understand the pitfalls of absorbing too much of it in one sitting. I try to avoid the use of Snapchat more than three times a day, otherwise it feels like I am constantly looking down at my phone. Networking is great and fairly easy with online personas, even though most people just use it for entertainment. I believe anyone looking to make a name for themselves in the public eye would have a convenient opportunity through social media, where no outside source is required.
Maritess Inieto, 1pm
I loved Carla’s presentation in class on Wednesday. I thought it was very inspiring! To know that someone from the college that I currently attend has made it big, really motivates me to try harder in school. The video she posted from Ira about just constantly doing work and creating made me realize that I’m not doing as much as I could be doing. There’s always more to do, more to practice, more creativity within oneself that needs to be expressed. I also like how she said that she thought her earlier pieces of work were good at that time, but looking back at it, she realizes that it was horrible. I totally understand where she is coming from because I too have things that I have previously been proud of that I now look back at and realize that I could’ve improved what I had done. At the same time though, looking back at your work in the beginning also shows how far along one has come. I would like to congratulate Carla on moving her career forward as the years pass! It was really kind of her to take time out of her busy schedule to come back to her alma mater and inspire current students.
I love the angles that are filmed in Carla’s work. The speed of the videos make such an impact to the mood of the video. Slowing scenes down as well as speeding them up creates drama in her films. She has a wide variety of genres in the films that she has created. Some funny, some serious, some sad, some intense, and so on. I feel like her ability to be so versatile has really helped her career move up and up. She is very talented in what she does! What I love more than Carla’s work is her passion. In her “No, I’m not going to the World Cup” video, you can tell how passionate she is about the cause. I was never even aware of what was going on in Brazil during the World Cup and Olympic times. Carla was able to make a difference with this one video, which today, has reached 4,000,000+ views. What I loved the most was how show piled the president’s speech about how great of state Brazil was in on top of videos proving otherwise.
Brian Sath; 1:00PM
Hey Maritess!
I totally agree that it is crazy to meet someone who made it out there from The Beach! Very inspirational, especially Ira’s video. That was personally a favorite of mine. It makes me want to keep pushing and do more. I feel like it’s so bad to stay stagnant and I just want to keep doing more. Same idea that Carla looked back at her old videos, I look back at the memories of myself. They are just so embarrassing but it shows how much I’ve grown as an individual.
Back to Carla! Her videos are amazing. She started off with a political stance and moved onto a little comedy. You could definitely see her personality more and more. Her music videos are definitely interesting! The tone and images and speed all come together to form something that is visually pleasing. My favorite part is actually when she transitions from one scene to the next, but they match!
Aleah Lomeli- 1 PM
Carla Dauden was a very inspirational speaker. I found her information useful to the industry in which she is in as well as life in general. My favorite part about her speaking was when she told the class to go after our dreams and make something out of ourselves step by step rather than just basically settling. Additionally, Carla mentioned that her work is clearly a representation of who she is. My favorite video was The Wash because it was a good video that got the message across which was to conserve water. But I feel like Carla did a great job targeting teens and young adults by this video. It was also a funny video because what I thought was going to happen, didn’t happen at all. I also loved her input that anyone and everyone should have a website to show who they really are. It is important to have and I will definitely think about making one. I find it important to update our profiles here and there for others to see what has changed and so on. Overall, Carla Dauden was an awesome speaker and her background was very motivating to know that she accomplished so much and is not even close to being done. I can see her going far in making many more videos. I really enjoyed hearing her speak and hope more artists come soon.
Jonathan Girgis- 1:00pm
I have to agree with you. Not only does Carla have a voice through her work, but she also has the ability to inspire people to seek out the best of themselves. Films, for her, are an extension of her beliefs and her character. Those two entities are not separate; in fact, without Carla’s voice, her work would probably be much less effective. And like you said, she tends to have a target audience in mind, which can be useful because it allows you to really focus on a group and reach out to that group. Also, as you mentioned, Carla has inspired me to create my own website as well (I just need to actually create stuff to put on there!) I think it was awesome having her, and I think she’ll go far. As a film student myself, she has inspired me to go out there and make and say what I believe needs to be said. This kind of approach, I think, could help raise awareness for issues that are being ignored and can really make a difference, even though Carla, in this case, isn’t a ‘doctor’ or ‘engineer’ which happen to be highly sought careers right now. Anyways, Carla for me is an example of a role model who I hope to imitate in my own film career.
Gabriel Gonzalez 2:30 pm
I agree with Aleah, Carla was really inspiring to me in a lot of ways. Mostly with her story about how she won an award and prize for taking an opportunity that was given to many, but a lot of people disregarded. I was the type of person that would ignore opportunities or any help given to me, and at the end would regret not taking advantage of it after seeing someone else do so. The way I would see it was that there are a bunch of other people attempting the same thing, and it would be a really low possibility for me to stand out between a bunch of competitors, yet there will always be a lot of people that think like that and are willing to miss and opportunity for that exact same reason. Therefore, it is always good to take advantage of anything positive handed to you.
Hi Aleah!
The wash was one of my favorite videos as well! I liked the fact that she used an interesting and entertaining way to send out a message which was to conserve water. When one starts watching the video we have no idea that there is a message to it, she engages the audience to keep watching by making it suspenseful. The audience obviously predicts that the guy will go talk to the girl but plot twist he turns off the water hose and we see finally see the message to conserve water. It was a great video because I think she did awesome at targeting youth and teens for this video.
Daniel Velazquez 1PM
Hi Aleah,
I agree with you that Carla’s work is unique and was brave for going out there on her own. She did not have anyone to help her guide her through the right steps instead she went out there on her own and was able to do more for herself by taking action. I also agree that most of her work manages to get the message across to the audience and people get a better understanding for the meaning. I will continue to look at her work and learn from the information she gave us all.
Lukas Fuentes – 1pm
Carla Dauden’s videos are incredible! Her abilities to make both impactful political statements and highly entertaining music videos is astounding. I think it is great that she uses her talent as a filmmaker to try to get important messages out to the world. I heard about all the terrible things going on in Brazil around the time of the world cup and how the government was spending a ton of money on the games rather than things it should be funding, but I couldn’t really get a good sense of how serious it was until I watched a few of these videos by Carla. Hopefully, if enough people use their voices, like Carla has, the Brazilian government will realize its faults and mistakes and try to start making things better for the lives of its citizens. On another note, her music videos are amazing! I watched MAGIC! No Regrets and such a great song, but I was paying special attention to the video directing and editing and Carla did a great job. My brother is in a band, maybe I’ll tell him to get in contact with Carla!
Justin Pham – 230pm
Hi Lukas,
I like how you were able to mention the impact Carla had on the issues in Brazil. I feel the same way, in the sense that she really used her voice to help raise awareness. I also remember hearing about the amount of money they spent on the World Cup while most lived in poverty. It goes to show where their priorities were at, and I’m glad enough people were able to find out. The beauty of film making allows for others to be interested enough to watch a video and get involved.
Stephanie Arciva 1pm
HI Lukas!
I completely agree with your appreciation for Carla”s videos! Her incorporation of impactful political statements while being entertaining is incredible. These types of videos can be particularly attractive you a younger audience who can take action towards issues they believe in. I felt that Carla was paving the way for these types of movements, she really does a great job of opening people’s eye to these issues while promoting action! I felt inspired not only from her videos but from her personal experiences and stories as well. Great Job Carla!
Lukas,
I agree with you that Carla had amazing political statements and entertaining music videos as well. I have also heard what went on in Brazil during the World Cup as well as any other time and I think Brazil as a country should focus more on improving Brazil instead of hosting different events while using plenty of money to host them. I agree with you that Carla did a good job on trying to get her points across and demonstrating on where she stands with the issues she talked about and I liked how she used videos to do it. I believe videos like the ones she has done captures an audience to focus on the message she is trying to portray and I think she did a pretty good job.
Justin Pham – 230pm
I was really understand Carla’s viewpoints upon looking at more of her videos. She posts interesting content for the viewers to keep up with. For the world cup video, I think she had a really good point on Brazil’s stance during the time. I believe the video helped raise awareness of the corruption going on, and I”m glad that it went viral. It’s amazing how strong a single video can reach out to so many people who feel the same way. I remember in class, one thing that stuck from her was that she said someone cares about what you have to say otherwise social media wouldn’t exist, and I believe that’s very true.
Hi Justin,
I agree with you that her content is interesting. This is great for younger viewers that are not as aware regarding the other parts of the world. I didn’t know too much about Brazil until the Olympics came up and started to make it to the news. It’s great how her simply talking about what she believes in and posting videos can get messages out to inform so many people.
Andy Bui – 1pm
Jonathan Girgis- 1:00pm
I loved having Carla come to our class and have her presentation. I honestly had much lower expectations, thinking she/her work would not be as great as it ended up being. In other words, i was surprised. Carla is like a role model to me, given the fact that she majored in the same field I’m in and is succeeding, despite how difficult it is to do that! I also like how she shares a message that she is passionate about through her work. She is trying to tell her audience (us) something we feel we should pay attention to. As an aspiring filmmaker myself, this is often a struggle. Although Carla might make it look easy, it is very hard to make something that people can both sit through and watch while also maybe taking something away from what they’ve seen. Right now I can barely make something that people want to watch; doing that and actually having a voice through my work feels like running a marathon. I applaud her enthusiasm in addition to her persistence. I think these traits can take anybody through any kind of difficulty or challenge, I hope to be the same way myself. Lastly, I’d like to note that Carla is probably one of the more accomplished alumni coming from the Film department at CSULB, and it was really nice to talk to her after the presentation. I think she’s going to do very well.
Hey Jonathan. I’m a Film major myself, and I agree that she was very inspirational, especially in terms of making films, videos, etc. While I haven’t made any videos yet for school, I have made some for fun but I know that they were never exactly what I wanted them to be and always felt unfinished and unpolished. But hearing from her gave me some hope. I hope to be half as good (and famous) as her with my work someday. I hope I can express my ideas just like she did, and have fun doing so just like she does. I know it’ll be long, hard work, but I think it will be worth it.
—Nick Lemmerman, 1:00pm
Jasmine Figueroa- 1pm
I Found Clara’s presentation to be very inspirational, not only did it speak volumes for art majors, but was highly inspirational for just about anyone at any point in life. Putting yourself out there and experimenting with what you love, even if you aren’t the best at it initially is some of the best advice that one could receive. Everyone starts off somewhere and only gets better with experience, even the very best at something all started off as a newcomer. I found her social activist work to be very interesting, particularly since we live in a society where modern technology has allowed us to communicate our ideas throughout the world with just the click of a button, and allow that message to spread on its own. The passion you make something with is very important because this radiates through the work and onto the audience, just as Clara’s passion for the topics she so passionately spoke about, and her love for directing.
I’m sorry, I meant Carla.
Brandon Hong – 2:30 pm
I really enjoyed watching Carla’s videos especially her “Mr. Polman Wants to Fit In” film. Growing up I wasn’t always the tech savy kid among my friends, and I didn’t get my first smart phone until my senior year in highschool, so I could really relate to Mr. Polman and how lost he got in the modern age. Also his troubles with that girl he liked was probably all of us, when we see that cute boy or girl in class and think of ways to start a conversation with them. Anyone who reads this and disagrees is lying to themselves if they say they’ve never ran into that kind of situation. I guess the best thing about “Mr. Polman Wants to Fit In” is that it can connect to a wide range of people on a personal level, whether its being the odd one out in the group or having girl/boy troubles, we’ve all been there. I hope to see more of Carla’s films in the future and can not wait to see them.
Gabriel Gonzalez – 2:30 pm
Carla’s videos are all really good quality, but personally since i am a big soccer fan, i mainly found interest in her FIFA video. She makes really good points in her video, and FIFA can truly be unfair in a lot of cases. Her video over the world cup went pretty viral at the time, and I myself had seen something on the news about such video, and never did i watch it until now that I had the opportunity to meet her in person. She gives out an important message such that not all of the money being funded in Brazil should go to soccer; theres a lot of important things like schools, hospitals, and even homes that can use some attention as well, rather than dedicating everything to the FIFA. Other than her videos, Carla’s presentation was really inspiring to me, especially when hearing about the way she took an opportunity nobody else was willing to take, and it gave her a push towards her career choice. It is rare to have an opportunity handed to one, but when it is, we should take full advantage of it.
Nathan Davalos 2:30
Gabriel, I am with you on this one, I am also a big soccer fan so her video about FIFA was the most interesting to me. It is crazy to me that FIFA said that bringing the World Cup to Brazil would bring so much money back to the country and begin to bring the country more wealth. It did the complete opposite, it left more families without homes and was a case for some deaths. I also agree with you when you say that the money should have gone to funding hospitals, schools and homes. This is what the city needed but instead they got some huge stadiums that brought nothing back in return. Yes, it would have been great if Brazil had won the World Cup being the host country but they did not. And even if they did win it would boost the morals of the people living in Brazil, but not for long. Their minds will come back to reality and focus more on the fact that they do not have a place to live and need to work hard to put some food on their plates. The World Cup did nothing but make things worse for an already struggling country. Then came the Olympics in 2016 which made things even more worse in the aftermath of the big games.
Stephanie Arciva 1pm
I found Carla Dauden to be an influential role model. I, along with many of my peers, felt influenced by her experience of getting to where she is now. I felt that it was great for her to focus so much on the difficulties of achieving what she wants to be. Hearing about her personal journey and how she overcame her obstacles was really inspiring considering I find myself in a similar situation a lot of the times. It was relieving to hear that someone from a completely different discipline experiences difficult situations as well. Overall, I felt it as a great experience to meet Carla Dauden because she provided such an inspiring story that I am sure everyone in the room can relate too! Now focusing on Carla’s work, even though she wasn’t too keen on her earlier work, I fell in love with her 2012 The Wash video. It was funny and really brought up an issue of water conservation, an issue that resonates with deeply with me. I felt that she has made her work even more personal to her and possibly more important to the world by tying issues that are important to her. I feel that it is an efficient way to address issues because she appeals to a different audience through the internet and YouTube. She is broadcasting herself to a younger generation, a generation that spends much of their time on social media, and she is entertaining as well as informing those who watch. After watching her videos regarding the World Cup, it really put a different perspective to the event that I never realized. I bet she brought this perspective to a lot of viewers, which in a world like ours’ today, I feel we need people like this who are active towards issues they believe need attention. We grow numb to what is going on around us and we forget the problems around the world and I feel that Carla is the person that serves as a reminder we need to address these issues. I felt her work was inspiring to many people to become aware of these problems and I felt that she is doing a great job at it! Keep up the great work Carla!
Hi Stephanie! I also think Carla Dauden is a great role model, especially to younger people struggling to achieve their dreams. I think her journey is so inspiring! I also liked her The Wash video because it spoke about an important issue but kept it relatable as well. I really enjoyed her more creative works, such as her music videos. Her music videos had the most impact on me because it was such a sensory experience. It is really cool how directors can make a video that leaves such deep impressions on others.
Amy Song 1pm
Marcelo Ceballos – 1pm
Hey Stephanie, I also thought it was great that Carla did not ignore the difficult parts of getting to where she is today. I think many times people forget about the work that people put in to get to where they are now. It is this work, that is not seen that is often the most important part of success. Persistent as well is very important in my point of view to achieving your dreams and goals. I also liked Carla’s encouragement to take as many opportunities as you can and hope to do this in my own life.
Emily Tomasello – 2:30 PM
After checking out Carla’s Directing Reel, all I have to say is WOW. I have a deep appreciation for directors who can really capture moods and feelings through a camera, and I think Carla has the power to do that. I seriously had chills after watching her reel, so of course I had to go and watch more of the other videos that she created and directed on her YouTube channel. One that I really enjoyed was the short film she wrote and directed called “Mr. Polman Wants to Fit In.” I thought it was an extremely accurate representation of the world we live in today with the generation gap and technology. The character Mr. Polman was looking around and seeing all these people glued to their phones and their technology, and he was just trying to find a way to talk to this woman that he was interested in. It was so cute how he ended up getting a phone so that he could communicate with this woman in a way that was unfamiliar to him. In the end, all he really needed to do was go up and talk to her in person. But the whole premise was just so darn cute. I really enjoyed Carla’s work, and I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next.
Yesenia Hernandez 2:30pm
This week’s guest speaker Carla Dauden was very interesting and insightful. She has accomplished so much in such a little time. Her words of wisdom to do more volumes of work and get better were motivating. I liked her video on the FIFA in Brazil. I remember during that time the media was celebrating soccer and the beautiful country that was hosting the FIFA, but they never spoke about the people living there. The poor were being displaced and made to live in worse conditions, yet no one spoke about these things. I appreciate Carla shining light on these problems that are always pushed back and forgotten by mainstream media. I also enjoyed her short film, Mr. Polman Wants to Fit In. This film explored the use of technology and love. I think the film was touching and it showed how young people are too in tune with technology. Not all older adults fit into that mode of communication, they have grown up without the use of cellphones and are more comfortable just speaking to each other. What I got from the film was that you should not try to subscribe to what you are not comfortable with, you should just do you, whatever that may be.
Samuel De La Cruz- 1pm
Hi Yesenia, I also agree with you that Carla is very interesting and insightful and she can be a very motivating person to be around. I feel that Carla has done an amazing job in what she has accomplished by putting out the injustices the Brazilian people face so that large greedy corporations can make millions off the poor people and just be forgotten by the world. I also feel the same way that sometimes we forget to just have normal daily interactions and communicate with each other because we are to busy burying our faces in our cell phones and rejecting the world around us. I am guilty of doing this also but when I realize that I am doing it I put my phone away and try to enjoy my surroundings how it is meant to be. When I go out with my friends and if everyone is on their phones I try to get everyone off of them because we can sit at home and do the same thing instead of enjoying the moment when everyone is together to hang out.
Fatima Negrete
I really enjoyed the film of Carla Dauden about THE WASH-2012 Intelligent Use of Water Competition. When she said that she was the first one to submit this assignment, I was shocked. To be the only to submit this assignment and for it to be incredibly amazing deserves a round of applause. I loved this video especially because it was funny, but most of all is because it has a true significance. Water is one aspect that everyone uses on a daily basis. When people abuse using water, it frowned upon because there is a limited amount of it. People should restrict themselves from using water.
Melissa Passarelli, 2:30
Carla Dauden is an inspiring person in which I connected to due to the video called #stoptheball. The video shows the actually life of Brazil, where she was born, rather than the life that she showed in the World Cup and Olympics in Rio and she explained what the people had to go through for these events. The reason for the connection was due to the sport because soccer runs in my family and my dad was born in Argentina which is close to Brazil so they are really similar economically and I have visited the countries where I have seen what Carla was referring to and I agree with her on how more focus should go to the Brazilian’s lifestyle rather than a World Cup that led to destroying many of their houses and suffrage. In entertainment, they demonstrated Brazil as a perfect beautiful country while not showing what the people actually live like due to the FIFA organization.
Samuel De La Cruz- 1pm
I watched nearly all of Carla’s video’s and I liked them all but the Brazil World Cup video’s were the most interesting to me. I always heard about the injustices that were being committed in order to build the stadium’s so that FIFA can profit from Brazil. I feel that Carla did a great job in capturing all of what the Brazilian people are going through in their hard times and it makes me feel that everyone should be more supportive of the Brazilian people in order to help them bring a better change for Brazil. It is sad to see that politicians always overlook the heart of a country in order to fatten their pockets and make their people more poor and make them suffer in the process. I also really liked “Mr. Polman wants to fit in” video because it had an older gentleman going through his daily routines that he had been accustomed to. Mr. Polman saw a lady that he was interested in at the cafe for a few days in a row and assumed that she liked using cell phones because she was keeping up with the trends. Little did Mr. Polman know that she felt the same way about new tech and didn’t like it much until he found the courage to talk to her. The video ended with them talking and getting to know each other and Mr. Polman found that he had a lot in common with Gloria. I really like Carla’s work and I feel that she should keep up the good work and would like to see what else she has to offer in the future and what will come of her career.
Felix Huynh 2:30PM
Yeah, I agree. I really liked her Brazil videos as well. It’s nice to see that she is showing the story of the people through another perspective, because I personally didn’t know about anything that was going on over there and only watched the games. I found it interesting to see how she incorporated her ideals and what was going on in her videos to show that this is an issue that needs to be looked at. Her videos really do show a sense of community and to gather people so they can stop the same things from happening again in other countries, Carla’s work is really good and the best thing about them is that they educate everyone about what has been and is still going on in today’s world.
David Lai
What’s up Felix! I too am intrigued by Carla’s merging into the film industry. I feel that with her skills, she is capable of directing anything she’d like. Her ability to spread awareness with viral videos and even simply direct videos proves that she has what it takes to be a director. Also, her curiosity and desire to learn and adapt to the changes going on in the media have also shown that she has the ability to keep pushing for that medal. It seems that she has definitely embraced the American Dream in her own way, and she continues to inspire people like us to achieve it as well.
Amy Song 1 PM
After watching some more of Carla Dauden’s videos, I really enjoyed her music videos. I liked them because they were very creative and expressive. I also enjoyed her videos that spread awareness of issues she believes in. I liked how they were short and simple and how she kept it funny. I think by doing so it keeps the video interesting. I was surprised learn that she moved to California from Brazil when she was 18. I think that is very admirable because that is a big commitment and shows how passionate she is about film. It was also really inspiring when she spoke about how after she got her degree, she was working but did not enjoy her job. She tried to direct projects outside of her work and she mentioned that she was not proud of those works because she was not able to focus on them due to her job. So she decided to quit her job and gave up a stable career to do what she loved.
John Savage – 1 pm
Hi Amy – 1 pm
I too found Carla’s story about how she came to California to follow her dreams in the film industry to be admirable. For her to just put herself out there and to risk not making it out here was truly inspiring. I also liked how passionate Carla was about her work because it takes confidence in you’re self to be able to leave a stable job to pursue her own projects that would make her happier. I admire her ability to spread awareness about an issue but make it funny and no to serious so that people don’t get to strongly assaulted by a message. I also liked her music videos because of how she worked the music with the video visuals.
Yonathan Sahle 1pm
In response to Amy Song’s comment:
Yea I too really like that she is very passionate about film, so passionate that she moved out to California across the world by herself. I agree that it is very admirable that she did that and finished her work. I also think that what she said about creating work continuously was something I really remembered and could relate too. Me being an Engineer major one thing that sets you apart from other Engineer Majors is the projects that you have done because you are taking the same exact courses as your classmates. I could relate to what she was saying about how she wasn’t too proud of her work as she was not able to put too much focus. I too could relate to that considering that the projects that I have done could of been a lot better if I had just them to do instead of having a job that kept me busy and 15 units of course work to take care of. Overall I really like her work and enjoyed hearing her perspective of work and getting things done and defining ones future.
Hey Amy!
I have to agree and say that Carla’s music videos were really cool! I loved how different they were from music videos I’ve seen. Like the song itself, I feel that her videos also express so much and help create more emotion. They’re easy to watch because they catch your attention. I really loved her music video that she showed us at the end of class on Wednesday. It was so unique and creative. It’s easy to see how much hard work, time and patience it must’ve taken because the end result was great! I think it’s interesting how directors each have different visions and perspectives on things, therefore making their work so unique. I have no doubt that video is going to get people to hire her. I would!
~ Briana Garcia (1pm)
John Savage – 1 pm
I really enjoyed Carla’s presentation in class last Wednesday because it was inspiring and very informative. As an aspiring film student myself I found Carla’s experiences with the industry to be informative as to giving me an insight of what the industry is like. I also like the advice she gave about building a portfolio; to just create create create. i also like the video she showed where it talked about not liking your work because your taste is good but your art just isn’t there yet. This was really good for me to hear because I have felt that my work wasn’t good and that maybe I should just do something else with my life. However, after seeing this video it has given me faith that I can get through the rough patch and do what I love.
Yonathan Sahle – 1:00pm
I really like Carla’s work and her attitude towards her work, her career, and the film industry. I really enjoyed her coming to our class and discussing with us what she has done and showcasing her videos to us. After seeing her video about her reasoning on why she chose not to go to Brazil for the FIFA World Cup. I completely agreed with her position on being against the Brazil government deciding to host the FIFA World Cup. Such a decision should been heavily discussed considering the fact that a lot of work must be done to get order in regards to health and balance of the economy. A deeper look at the nation and its peoples conditions should of been reviewed before taking on the task of hosting the World Cup. I also thought that it was interesting to bring up and expose the mindset and perspective of people from the West. The portion of the video that showed what peoples initial thoughts were when they heard “Brazil” showed one part that the people in the West need to work on. People tend to not really look deeply into different countries and lazily believe and think of other countries the way they are told to think of them, never really look deeper to learn that Brazil suffers from severe poverty. I think that video is an important video because it is a foundation that stirred controversy in her home country, but I think that a video like this could stir conversation amongst other countries that have a bad list of priorities.
Hey Yonathan,
I really enjoyed reading your post and I believe you did a great job in analyzing her world cup video. I also completely agreed with the reasoning that she had behind not going. I really enjoyed watching her video because although it did include political views and a serious topic, the video was casual and it made it interesting to watch and it did not bore me. I liked how she brought up and exposed the mindset and perspective of people from the West like you said. I feel l like the people who aren’t from there and didn’t experience it themselves, have no idea what is going on there. So by her sharing the video it gave people an idea of the truth that not many people have the guts to talk about. I think that is one of the reasons why the video got so famous and went viral in a matter of a few days.
Natalie Santana 1pm
Marysol Jimenez 1pm
Before Carla came to speak to us I decided to take a look at her work. The first video I had the chance to look at was her world cup video, which is her most famous video which went viral. That was a very good video because not only did she express her opinion it was also informative, I learned many new things about Brazil from that video. I found it astonishing how she explained to us in class that she did not expect that. It only took one facebook post for her video to be seen and shared all over the world. From that one video came so many opportunities and I just think that was amazing. Another video of hers I enjoyed was ” Mr. Polman Wants to Fit In”, I thought that video was the cutest! I cant imagine how much work she put in to direct it. Overall, I believe Carla’s work is very good and the more videos she does the better she will get.
Hi Marisol,
I also found her world cup video to be very interesting and informative. I think part of the reason why her video went viral is because people could hear the passion in her voice. I think it’s wonderful that a video on a topic she truly cared about brought her attention. I only skimmed through “Mr. Polman Wants To Fit In”, but I watched it more thoroughly and I like it a lot too! It’s a short film, but I bet it took a lot of time to complete. I will definitely pay more attention to the production of music videos and short films from now on.
Everything Carla had to say interested me so class time went my extremely fast. I loved that she encouraged everybody to get out there and try any opportunity that may help us in the future. Carla has come so far in her career because she stayed true to her values and self. Her world cup video would not have blown up as much as it did if she hadn’t been passionate about the topic. I really admired that she did not promote herself after her video blew up. One of my favorite thing about her works are her music videos. They are all very aesthetically pleasing and have an interesting plot that retains my attention. I did notice that water seemed to be a recurring element in her music videos. For my major, I know that I have to gain experience through volunteering, jobs and inter ships to stand out. I really appreciated her effort to get out us to do stuff.
Hi Valerie,
I completely agree with you, i thought that the class time was going to go by slow but i was actually interested in her work. Carla is a very creative and passionate person. I loved how she was full of energy and very motivating. I am sure that she motivated some of us to pursue our dream and never give up. Although i did not watch the videos before class i was excited to watch them after. I think it is so cool that even though she is not a full expert her work is pretty good. I really enjoyed her coming over and explaining to us her journey.
Leslie Meza
Felix Huynh – 2:30PM
Watching all the videos, I found the Tale of Two Rios and the #stoptheball videos the most interesting and educational. I watched the World Cup matches and a lot of the Rio Olympics without a single thought of what the people had to go through there. I had a general idea that the places the events were set in countries without the best technology or economy, but I didn’t really think too deeply into any of it. I found it interesting how her work talked about the side of the story that many tend to neglect and ignore. It’s nice to see that there are people that care about those who are hurt from these events, though many others only care about the event itself. Also, I think that she does really good work with her videos, and the Directing Reel was a really cool short video as well. These videos are good, and the best thing about them is that they are informative to all of us who have never looked too much into these other areas.
Jamie Van (2:30)
Hi Felix,
I totally agree. I mentioned that I also thought that Carla’s presentation was really cool and interesting to watch. I really enjoyed watching her video: “No, I’m not going to the World Cup” because she brought up a lot of great points about the reality of the games and how the country does not need the World Cup. She talked about the reality of the games and how it does not make sense how the people of the country have to struggle and end up living in poverty and having trouble with medical care while the rich just end up richer from the games since the money from the games does not even get distributed well into the country’s economic system but instead outside of it to higher ups. The games are over-glorified and it just was a great video to bring awareness to these problems. It was important to do so and she was able to open more people’s eyes to the atrocities in Brazil’s structure. And of course, with her connection to Brazil as her home country, it only makes sense that she would be an appropriate video activist for these important issues.
Felix,
I also knew that Brazil was a third world country, but never really bothered to look into why that is. Carla’s two videos on the World Cup provided good footage of the slums/poverty areas to give viewers an idea of how bad the situations are. Her statement that the controversial side of the story is neglected and ignored is sad, but understandable at the same time. It is depressing to look into the issues, and it is understandable that not many people outside of Brazil know of the issues because we tend to see only the good stuff that they want us to see. I agree that her other videos are great. It is cool that she does not focus on one particular theme and has versatility.
Amanda Martinez 1pm
I really enjoyed Carla’s presentation to the class. I like how she started off explaining that her stuff in the beginning was not very good. I think it is great that she mentioned that because regardless of your major when you first start working on whatever it is you plan on doing it is going to be tough. I’m not an art major so I thought that it would not really apply to me. However, after thinking about it later in the week I thought of my first abstract I wrote for my own research and the recent abstract I wrote. The one I just wrote is infinitely better that the first one. I still have some ways to go, but I am glad I have made improvements. I enjoyed The Wash and Mr. Polman wants to fit in. They both are relevant to the public today. The drought is a major issue and people should know that it is important to conserve water. In Mr. Polman wants to fit in I thought it was funny how he does not have a cell phone, but it makes complete sense. I feel like it highlights how quickly technology is advancing and that it is confusing.
I also liked that she started off by talking about her work that she didn’t consider among her best. I think that’s refreshing in a very honest and vulnerable way. It also shows us that there is no shame in starting out and not being great. Becoming great requires learning, which one gets from making mistakes and having victories, for which one needs experience.
1:00PM
Linney Sar 2:30pm
Having the opportunity to meet someone who was a graduate from CSULB that is out there in the field creating and directing her own film motivate me that working hard and moving forward can get you somewhere. Carla Dauden films and videos are creative and interesting. The videos made by Carla address many issues that she strongly believe in. Watching most of her video the filming techniques and video style shows a personal signature touch of Carla. The video, “No, I’m not going to the World Cup” address issues in Brazil especially the consequences of hosting the World Cup. I don’t usually watch the World Cup, but watching this video by Carla made me more aware of the issues in Brazil that I was not aware of. The other video that addresses water conversation was very interesting especially “The Wash”. The two actors in the video at first seem like they were interested in each other, but toward the end of the video there is a twist. The girl tries to impress the guy by spraying and playing with the watering hose. The guy keeps looking over from his yard and seem like he interested in the girl, but in reality his thought was the girl is wasting water. The guy walks over and turns off the water. The message of the video is don’t waste water help conserve water. Both of the videos are very interesting I look forward to seeing more of Carla work in the future.
Natalie Santana 1pm
I really enjoyed having Carla as a guest. I think she was great and very informative about what she does and how she got there. Its amazing how one video can go viral in such a short time, without the person ever expecting it. Carla had no idea that her world cup video would get so popular because of the political things that she talked about. Its so cool to me how she got to travel all over and do interviews with many different news just because of one video. I actually really liked the video and I thought it was casual and funny but she ended up bringing up some very great points which is why it got so famous. I remember Carla mentioning that she really enjoyed directed music videos so I focused on those. I really like the video that she made for MAGIC, it’s so cool how that was all done last minute since they decided to change the plan very last minute. You can definitely not tell. Its also crazy how its not just about the quality of the video but about how the artist promotes themselves. She was talking about two artists that she got to work with in making a music video and how the video that she thought was much better done actually got less likes then the other video. The reason she believes is because the artist did not make an attempt to promote themselves at all and that goes to show to me at least, that its about who’s more hungry for it.
Hello Natalie,
I like your post. I also enjoyed having Carla as a guest. I feel excited having Carla here. I also think that she was great and very informative about what she does and how the Brazilian World Cup video go viral in such a short time. I also think that it is cool that she got to travel all over and do interviews with many different news. I am amazed how she got so famous overnight after posting her video. I also liked the video and I also agree with you it is crazy how its not just about the quality of the video but how the artist promotes themselves.
Hi Natalie!
Thank you for your insightful reflection about Carla. I thought it was amazing and crazy as well that one unexpected video that is about a topic someone truly cares about can get so much attention. That shows the power of our modern technologies and social media outlets. Also I enjoyed her video as well because I could definitely see the quality and uniqueness. Overall, love what she is doing!
Bunny Horn 2:30pm
I want to say thank you to Carla for sharing her background. She shared with us that she wants to move to America because she want to pursue art because in Brazil, there are no available art major. She explained that she was able to get where is she now was because she persevere. Also she took the opportunity to entered the contest and unexpected she won. It was great opportunity to see a graduate student came back and present their work. I am very happy to hear what her career is about. I liked all the videos that Carla did. Each of the videos has their own meaning. I love all the videos; magic- No regrets, Lizzie Webbie- Falling like a fool, and Anna Renne-Sharks. Each of the videos has a unique way of presenting the theme. Also the video has a great picture. The World Cup video is amazing.
I thought it was really cool to meet Carla, especially since I am a Film major. It’s very inspiring (and reassuring) to meet a Film Graduate who actually went somewhere with their work and has done a lot with what they’ve learned. What she said about constantly making more and more work is very good advice; the only way you can get better at something is to keep practicing. Even if the final product is not exactly what you want it to be, your dream’s seeds and ideas are there, they just need more time to grow. It’s good to know that everyone has period where for a long time they don’t feel like their work is any good, because one of my biggest fears is making something and not immediately loving it and wanting to destroy it and everything else in existence. But I have more hope for myself (and my fellow Film majors). We don’t simply just like movies a lot and wanted to keep watching movies—we want to create out own movies and express our own ideas. And eventually, we will get there.
—Nick Lemmerman, 1:00pm
It’s wonderful that we were able to get Carla in our class. I think the advice she gave us was really helpful, especially because we are just starting out. I agree, that with some more hard work and dedication eventually we will get to a point that we are content with. I also have more hope for myself as a computer science major. Hopeful and inspiring are the words that sum up Carla’s visit very well!
Jessica Obrique, 2:30 p.m.
Hi Nick!
I also thought it was super cool to meet and watch Carla Dauden’s content. I was actually amazed that she was able to produce and direct such amazing short films and music videos. It sure gave me more perspective about video art! Thanks for sharing.
-Andrew Nguyen 1pm
Jazmin Mejia 2:30
As mentioned in class, Carla Dauden was born in Brazil and moved to California at the age of 18 to further her education in cinema at CSULB. I felt like her courageousness really paid off for her. She should be really proud of herself for everything that she has accomplished due to her bravery of making such a drastic lifestyle change at such a young age. Personally, I think that her unique videos deserve more recognition because her videos are very different from each other but still done to perfection. I think that shows how much of a great artist/director she is because she’s able to convey a diverse amount of stories, messages, and moods through her work, whether her work is for a competition or for a video she is directing for another artist. It takes great skill and dedication for that and it makes me happy that I had the pleasure of meeting someone that is accomplishing amazing things post-graduation, especially a CSULB alumni.
Jazmin,
I agree with you on your comments on Carla! I believe she was so brave. For one, she left her law school in Brazil and moved to California to become an artist. That in all, is very courageous and risky. Secondly, once she had a stable job in the industry, she decided to leave it to pursue her true passion in directing. It’s so amazing how knew what she wanted, and she was able to get it. Her success was because she had the passion, the determination, and the attitude. In a way, I feel like Carla followed the Nike logo and “just did it”. She wasn’t afraid of putting herself out there to the world, and in a way, that helped her. People admired her for her style and opinions and she soon became known. From there, she was able to achieve her success. Hearing her story was really inspiring.
-Nhi Truong 1pm
Leslie Meza 2:30pm
This weeks guest speaker, Carla Dauden was so enthusiastic. Carla explained her journey as a filmmaker. She explained that the first video she ever made became so popular that she was given the opportunity to be on talk shows. Her video ” No, I’m not going to the World Cup” explains how Brazil didn’t not need to be worrying about the stadium for the world cup but for other social issues such as people being evacuated from there homes and others who have died in laborer jobs. In addition, she explained her water video and how she was the only one who entered the contest and ended up winning an award for it. Throughout her presentation she explained that if one wants to become successful in the film industry is to advertise and sometimes sell yourself. However, the way that she started her videos was not by selling herself. I really enjoyed her presentation. Her videos are so creative but simple. I liked how she pursued her dream and did not let anything stop her. As a result, that helped her get her visa.
Marcelo Ceballos Jr. – 1PM
Seeing all of Carla’s work really shows the diversity of projects she works on and the ideas and mentality she has. Not only does she have a great diversity of projects, but they are all really well made and they are all made with a specific purpose or idea to express. Her vlog style videos are also really well made and display the problem as well as her connection to the issue as well. I had seen other videos about the World Cup and Olympics like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, but seeing Carla’s video made the issue more serious and real. Watching Last Week Tonight Style videos about issues makes things more comedic and light hearted which is good for getting people to tune in and watch but it does make the issue less urgent. I also like that Carla has so many ways for people to support or help at the end of the video because it gives different types of people ways to help and contribute to big issues. Seeing all Carla has done so far makes me excited to see what else she will be doing in the future. I hope she can continue to contribute to helping with issues and make an impact to create change in the world.
Daniel Schmitz 1:00
Hey Marcelo,
Yea, seeing all of her project and completed work really seemed to explain who Carla is as a person. You can tell she’s a hard working individual that has a knack for making videos. I also thought it was interesting to watch her “find her voice” as she made videos throughout the years. Looking at the videos from a few years ago compared to the ones she has made recently really shows hows she’s changed over the years.
Henry Pham 2:30
Hi Marcelo, I completely agree with you that her voice really made a difference compared to what was mainstream at the time. I believe the issue that we face as a society is how to keep people engaged while maintaining our message. In the case of the shows that you listed, they needed to keep people engaged, but lost parts and pieces of the message all the while. In Carla’s case, her video was not overly comedic meanwhile informing us on what was wrong with FIFA. Of course John Oliver’s show may be more entertaining to watch, but we do miss out of much of the message. Carla manages to find an effective balance, showcasing her activism meanwhile keeping us engaged with her humor.
Carla’s visit to our Art 110 was inspiring! One of the parts of the presentation I liked the most was the advice on our early work. The work we produce will get better with time and practice. I connected with that message because sometimes I feel like the work I do isn’t good enough. It gives me hope that if I keep working hard I’ll eventually produce something I’m proud of. I think that Carla is a good example of how hard work and dedication can pay off. It was great to see her present a timeline of her life until now. She took every opportunity to show her work and I admire that a lot. I hope that one day I can be as successful as her!
Jessica Obrique, 2:30PM
Nhi Truong 1pm
Carla Dauden, to me, represents a successful, young artist that started literally from the bottom. It’s so amazing that she used her unfortunate circumstances to better herself. Because she needed work to stay here in America, she had to make a lot of content, whether it be good or bad. In Carla’s perspective, this is what helped her become the artist she is today. Because she had to create so much content in a time span, she was able to grow as an artist and learn more about what really interested her. Carla’s success is directly due to her perseverance, dedication, and risk. She believed in herself and her skill enough to leave a stable job and pursue her dream. Now, she is directing for many artists as well as creating her own content to voice her opinions. Overall, I believe she is such an inspiration and I wish her all the best! I hope I am able to have my passion as my career in the future, just like Carla.
Hi Nhi,
I also agree that Carla is such a great example of a young artist that built her brand from scratch. I also find it amazing that she is able to do all of these videos and work with such great artists. It was really cool meeting her too! Thanks for sharing!
Andrew Nguyen, 1pm
Amy Becerra; 2:30pm
Hi!
I really agree with you. I admire Carla for the reasons you listed. Instead of complaining about the hardships she faced, she turned it all around for herself and achieved success while also doing well for her own country. I really admire all her achievements. Like Carla, I know you’ll be able to have a bright future too! 🙂
Andrew Nguyen, 1:00pm
I really enjoyed the content Carla Dauden was producing. I personally enjoyed the World Cup video because she definitely addressed an issue in a very modern way. I also think because this topic was such a hot topic during this time she was able to gain a lot of viewers. I never really considered what other countries do to prepare for such a big event like forcing people to move out of their homes to build a stadium. It was really eye-opening to hear that poor children and how their living conditions were very bad. Overall, I think its really admirable that she was able to express her opinions about an issue in art form.
Hi Andrew Nguyen
I also agree that I never considered what countries do to the people, when preparing for a big event like the Wold Cup. It is unacceptable that the people had to move out from their homes, for an event that they probably wont be able to go to or even care about.
Reyna Real 2:30pm
In response to Jessica Obrique I agree with you Carla’s presentation was very interesting and inspiring. she was very motivating and so enthusiastic. I enjoyed all of the advice she was giving us and I loved that she shared about her journey she had about deciding what she wanted to do. Carla encouraged everybody to take any opportunity’s we can to put ourselves out their. Carla’s work is very unique and amazing I really enjoyed watching her videos.
Marissa Sar 2:30pm
It was my first time hearing and seeing Carla Dauden. It was definetly a new insight on the power of modern day technologies and social media. I thought it was inspiring that she used her skills in making videos and art styles to make a change and get her voice out there on what’s going on in Brazil at that time. So, because of that video, she unexpectedly received recognition, and more opportunities available in directing. She was more motivated in releasing more content in quality. For me, I can see the quality and uniqueness for all her videos. Another amazing fact in class was that she showed her in-the-process film, Reel, for the first time to us. Overall, I thought it was amazing to what she was and will do in her career.
Linda-Linh Nguyen 1PM
I really enjoyed the presentation we had in class with Carla Dauden. I think a lot of people think that art is a talent that someone is just born with and that they are born being good at it, but Carla Dauden’s presentation showed that while people are born loving art, it takes work and progress for them to grow and become who they want to be—it showed that artists aren’t born super good, they work and practice until they are satisfied of their work. One of my favorite videos that she showed in class was the water conservation one because California is currently in a very severe drought. While funny and entertaining, the video still was able to express its message on conserving water clearly to the audience. I also enjoyed her World Cup video, because it brought light to issues that were kept in the dark from most of the mainstream public.
Hi Linda,
I enjoyed that about Carla as well. It showed me how if you just practice and work and work you will get better at what you do. She told us how she admits her early work was bad but she never gave up and continued on and she got better at it. She really did motivate me to try different things and work hard on what I do. Her work was fun to look at and you could see the passion she has in doing films while she was speaking to us in class.
Demi Kong 1:00
Hi Linda! I really respect Carla Dauden because of her work ethic and perseverance. She continued to create her work even though she thinks it was bad just so she would not stop practicing to get better. I think that is really admirable because for myself, I get discouraged after one bad thing so for her to just keep going to improve is so motivating. My favorite video was also the one about water conservation. It was a bit awkward at first, but when the twist happened to promote water conservation, I was very pleased with how the message was delivered. I think this video should be shown throughout California because of our own drought crisis to advocate awareness.
Daniel Schmitz 1:00 (a.k.a the better section)
Ever since I was young (probably around the age of 10 or 11) I’ve really liked going on YouTube. At that age, YouTube was only a couple years old and all the content was brand new to me. The days when it was filled with videos involving nigahiga, sneezing pandas, and chocolate rain. I remember the first time I posted a video to YouTube. It was a short movie I made with a couple friends for a history class back in 8th grade (sometime around 2007). Obviously I never got many views, but boy was it fun to watch that view count go up.
Anyway, I really enjoyed Carla’s talk. I felt as though it had tons of information, almost all the information was first had experience. If not, it was experience of some of the people she knows. Although I’m a Biology major and career-wise this stuff is a bit hard to relate to biological research, I thoroughly enjoyed her content. It brought back the memories of watching hilarious, informational, and awe-inspiring videos when I was younger. Carla’s videos were also really cool. The car washing/water conservation one was really funny and hit close to home as it was related to the environment.
Her advice was also very helpful and informative, and even made we want to get back into making YouTube videos again!
Jamie Van (2:30)
I thought that Carla’s presentation was really cool and interesting to watch. I really admired that her avid passions and dreams came true in the end as it really does inspire someone to follow their dreams just as she did. I really enjoyed watching her video: “No, I’m not going to the World Cup” because she brought up a lot of great points about the reality of the games and how the country does not need the World Cup. She talked about the reality of the games and how it does not make sense how the people of the country have to struggle and end up living in poverty and having trouble with medical care while the rich just end up richer from the games since the money from the games does not even get distributed well into the country’s economic system but instead outside of it to higher ups. The games are over-glorified and it just was a great video to bring awareness to these problems. It was important to do so and she was able to open more people’s eyes to the atrocities in Brazil’s structure.
Christian Gallo 1pm
Carla’s presentation was amazing and very inspirational. She gave great advice and I like how she came back to Cal state Long Beach and give back to the community through her presentation. The videos that she made are well and my favorite was “The Wash”. “The Wash” is comedy video that still gets its message across the viewer, about conserving water. Her Brasil videos are very informative and shows the struggle that they face.
I enjoyed the presentation Carla Dauden did in class. She told us about her journey of traveling from Brazil to California to pursue her studies in Film. It was motivation to hear her speak about how making a video for a contest her professor had mentioned changed her life. There have been many things professors have always sent out that they ask us to participate for the experience. I have ignored many of them and hearing her story how she was the only one to submit a film in the contest and won was inspiring. Also her wide spread of different videos she has made was cool to see, she is not just focused on one type of film. She also made me realize I should always pay attention to what I post online because in the long run, employers could search my name up and there are chances I won’t be hired by the things I post online. I learned a lot from her presentation, and It was good to hear it from a former student how it is in the work field.
Amy Becerra, 2:30pm
I really enjoyed hearing Carla Dauden speak. At first, I didn’t know if I would enjoy hearing ana ctivist talk, however, after I watched one of her videos, I got hooked. I really like how confidently she speaks. She speaks very clearly and you can see that she is passionate and knowledgeable about what she is talking about. I really enjoyed that her activism videos were easy to understand, informative, and interesting to watch. The activism videos were my favorite ones out of all the videos on her YouTube account. I obviously suscribed because I really want to
After doing the vlog art activity, I appreciated her videos even more. It took me so long to film the video and edit it, just for it to be a few minutes long. I also felt kind of uncomfortable on camera and kept messing up. Carla looked so natural in front of the camera and her editing skills were so clean. I appreciate the quality of the videos even more along with the content of them.
Reyna Real 2;30 pm
I really enjoyed Carla Dauden’s presentation in class her talk was very interesting and motivating. I really enjoyed her videos. My favorite video was her world cup video. I was really blown away by this video because I learned what FIFA was doing to the people in Brazil and what the people of Brazil were going through. I could not believe that people were getting kicked out their homes just so that they could build more stadiums. I’m really glad Carla shared her video for the world to see.
Hey Reyna,
I too had no idea what was actually going on behind the world cup that year. Made me feel bad for looking forward to it. I think these vlogs people make on youtube are really important because we as a society have been getting our attention spans slowly shrunken. Nowadays we need a very basic summed up explanation of something that is going on to actually understand it. No body would go out of their way to look information surrounding it up, that’s why these vlogs are so useful. But on the same hand now, it so sad that as a society, we are almost evolving backwards where we can not absorb much information as we used to.
Carla’s videos on Brazil are really eye opening and informative. I never would have thought that there was a horribly dark side to the 2014 World Cup. I was not expecting the video to be about what it was at all. My initial thought was that it would be about the World Cup being overhyped or something of that nature. It’s cruel that the Brazilians in the slums lost their homes to make space for the World Cup Stadium. The saddest part is that the revenue made from the event goes directly to FIFA instead of to the country so that they can fix the issues. The whole situation makes me wonder how those people who were negatively affected by the event are doing right now. Looking at controversial issues and the dark side to things is not very interesting and depressing as well, so it is great that people like Carla take the initiative to not only research the issues, but also make people aware of the issues. Her other videos/films are pretty interesting as well and are high quality. It is a shame that her other videos do not get that many views. Her message to students on how we should always take every opportunity available is great. I was initially in an engineering major, and the COE would always send emails to us about internship opportunities or workshops with employers, but I always brushed them off. Hopefully, students who are in engineering take advantage of those.
Hi Zack, I also thought that the reason why she didn’t want to go to the World Cup was because she thought it was overhyped. I was really glad that I watched the video because I had no idea all of that was happening. Maybe since she received millions of views on her video that many people took the initiative to help out in the country. Carla Dauden is such a persuasive filmmaker and I think that is why she has so many views. I do agree that she should definitely have more views. I like how she continues to strive to bring awareness to the world in such a way that isn’t all long, strenuous videos ranting, but rather in an entertaining video.
^1:00
Monica Lock, 1:00
Brazilian filmmaker, producer, and director, Carla Dauden had the chance to come and and share her work as well as personal experience. Her inspiring story of leaving her hometown in Brazil at the age of 18 to pursue her passion for film and to study in California. I give her a lot of credit for being able to venture out on her own. I am not that much older than her when she decided to move out and I can tell that she accomplished so much more than I have ever had. I was also really amazed at how well her English was. Her accent wasn’t thick at all. Dauden was really inspiring and I really like her personality. The way she managed to create so many different videos in such a small amount of time shows how dedicated and passionate she is about film. The video called “No, I’m Not Going To The World Cup” was really insightful. I didn’t realize the struggles and the dark side of Brazil was like such as forcing innocent people out of their homes in order to house attendees of the Olympics. Another video that I would like to point out is “Mr. Polman Wants To Fit In.” Although it was much longer than what I anticipated, I enjoyed that I watched it throughout. I found it really funny and relatable because I didn’t receive my first phone until high school so I dealt with the same struggles as Mr. Polman, except the part about trying to find a date. I found the video to be very cute and well executed. It was so creative, and I can tell why it became a hit in the Santa Barbara international film festival.
*World Cup
Ruiwen Lin (2:30)
Hi Monica, I have the same situation that I only notice and start to think about the back stories and the negative impacts the World Cup brought to Brazil after watching the video “No, I’m not going to the World Cup”. Thank her for being a filmmaker, producer, and director. I also thank for Carla Dauden’s presentation and she inspired me by her decision and hard working too.
Bryan Aparicio 1pm
In response to Monica,
I agree with your analysis of Carla’s work as well. I think it’s something special how her video that went viral was a focal point in her success. Some could say that–that video, good or bad, was a platform for her to really expand and show the talent that she has. I think it makes it more special that she attended LB State because it shows us how our opportunities our limitless, and we should always take regardless of consequences.
Nathan Davalos 2:30
I really thought that Carla’s videos were interesting. Her video on why she is not going to the 2014 World Cup was the most interesting to me. I agree with her views on why the World Cup and Olympics were not a good idea to be hosted in her home country of Brazil. Brazil is a country with a huge poverty rate and did not have the money nor the space to build new stadiums and host such big events. I like that she was not afraid to post a video that would bring up such things that she talked about. Her video blew up and got millions of views and was being seen all over the world. Many people strive and try very hard to get millions of views and all she did was speak from her heart and post it on Facebook, where she got many likes and shares. I have always wanted to be a famous Youtuber so hearing her speak in front of our class was very interesting to me. Even though her goal is not to become a huge Youtube hit, she made it big on Youtube and is moving onto big and better things in life.
Yuliana Torres (PM)
Hey Nathan,
I totally agree with you about Rio being probably the worst place to build a World Cup Stadium, and I support Carla’s message to prevent it from happening and helping Rio. Its tragic that people had to move out of there homes because of the stadium being built. I believe that helping other in need is far more important than building a stadium for entertainment, and money grubbing millionaires.
Yuliana Torres (1PM)
Carla Dauden’s view about Rio’s economic system is a great wakening alert to others who have fortunately not experienced the poverty like Rio has. I noticed that Carla spends a great time on detail. I noticed in “#stop the ball” video, she did a splendid job in representing the struggle Rio still is dealing with. You can actually see the living conditions, children sitting on the streets. Sanitary issues are screaming. I believe that the committee who works behind Mens World Cup in Rio of 2016 only glorified the beauty in rio and practically lied to everyone about the damage they are doing to their population and city. I am grateful that Carla used her artwork to do good for Rio and spread awareness.
Hi Yuli! I think Carla is a great activist, apart from being a great director. I think when people think about Brazil they only think about how they have great soccer players (both within the Men’s and Women’s national team) how beautiful the country is, especially their beaches, and how great their coffee taste. But they fail to see how economically Brazil is struggling. The living conditions are also not great and children are forced to be in the streets where they are at risk. Not to mention they recently impeached their president. It’s great to see Carla raising awareness towards her country’s struggles. I hope her videos reach a higher audience and spread awareness for change to happen.
This week, our class was visited by Carla Dauden, a filmmaker and activist who has used her abilities and available platforms to address the issues faced by people faced in Brazil, among other things. Among her videos were three that I really liked watching talk about: “No, I’m Not Going to the World Cup,” “The Discarded: A Tale of Two Rios,” and “The Wash.”
“No, I’m Not Going to the World Cup”
In this video, Carla discusses why she will not be going to the World Cup, and her reasons for not going can be summed up as a government caring more about a sport than its own people. She explains that many are being pushed out of their homes and are not given education or health resources, and that most of the profits the Brazilian government claims it will gain and use to help will actually be going to FIFA. Carla said that whenever she told people she’s from Brazil, people would say they were or ask if she was going to the World Cup, instead of asking her about the country, as one usually would do. This instinct, as well as how people in the Western world view Brazil as “girls,” “parties,” and “soccer,” is honestly disappointing. It is a country that has a history, a culture, and people, like all other countries. It’s disappointing to me that one doesn’t seem to care to recognize it as such. Though one could make the effort to get to know the country, I don’t think it’s likely many will, so I am glad that someone like Carla has chosen to make these videos so that people elsewhere, like myself, can learn more about the country and choose to try to help however we can.
“The Discarded: A Tale of Two Rios”
This video is about the pollution in Rio de Janeiro’s bay and government official’s failure to fix it. City officials committed to reducing pollution of the bay by 80%, but they have failed to fulfill this commitment. The favelas make up 2% of the city of Rio, but house 22% of the city’s population. Meanwhile 2 tons of trash are taken from the bays every day, but even that does not match the amount of trash that goes in. This video highlights the problems faced by people in all parts of the city: a lack of education, economic opportunity, and a healthy environment. Brazil was so concerned with looking pretty for the World Cup that it forgot about its “ocean of sewage.” The fact that a kid said “we did it to ourselves, now we beed to fix our mistake” says a lot about the disconnect between the people living in the city and the people in charge of it. The video reaffirmed to me the idea that people won’t see or understand certain problems until they have to live with them.
“The Wash”
This brief video is an ad promoting conservational water use. To do so, it plays on the trope of an attractive man and woman trying to impress each other. A man is working on his car when he sees the woman seductively washing her car, attempting to lure him by washing the car, and herself, in a variety of ways. The video ends with the man walking over, but in a twist, he walks past her, turns off her water hose, and walks away disapproving of all of the wasted water. The video then says that you look more attractive when you care. I liked the twist as it turns a trope on its head and was genuinely funny because of the shock that it delivers. I also thought that the twist in the video made a good case for why we need a more diverse pool of artists behind the cameras of our media. Many aruge that it is needed in front of the camera, to be a better representation of our population, and this is true. But we also need it behind the camera, as different experiences craft different ways of thinking. Many, including myself, may have thought that the video would end with some type of embrace between the two people that managed to promote the filmmaker’s message, but she did so a different way that many may not have seen coming. To her, what happens in the video is the desired (and possibly more attractive) outcome. This is an idea that some of us may not have even considered until seeing it brought to life by another person.
Carlos Villicana, 1:00PM
Briana Garcia (1pm)
One thing that Carla said during her talk on Wednesday that really stood out to me was how much pressure she was under after her “No, I’m Not Going to the World Cup” video went viral. So many people were expecting so much from her. It’s crazy what she had to live up to. I think the hardest thing for her was having to deal with all these different people asking her to make videos about things she had no interest in. I used to want to become YouTube famous but after hearing what it’s like, no thanks! The fame would’ve been nice for a while but I don’t think you can ever escape it if you wanted to. I wouldn’t be content living that lifestyle. I would’ve done it just for fun. I think it’s awesome having a voice and using a media that you enjoy, like Carla. I think she’s really talented at what she does. The music video she showed us at the end of class was amazing. I loved it. I love how unique and creative it was. I could tell so much effort and hard work was put into it.
Hey Briana,
It was interesting to me that you brought up Carla’s “I’m Not Going to the World Cup” video because even though that video made a huge success and opened whole new doors to her career, it also brought in a lot of unwanted attention to Carla that she didn’t expect. Reeling in such viewers, she mentioned that she did have the platform to continue being on Youtube and continue posting videos and could possibly make more money, but she chose not to do so. It really struck me when she said when she was presented that open door to totally change her life, she actually took a step back and remember what she actually wanted to do in life and being on Youtube wasn’t it. It reminds me that we all sometimes need to take a step back from what is in front of us right now and figure out what we really want instead of just grabbing at whatever is in front of us, or how much pressure the world might have on us at that moment. Carla decided to let her voice be heard another way, by creating meaningful videos that share her views and perspectives, instead of pushing out videos after videos on Youtube to make money.
Tina Tran 1P
Marlene Rodriguez 1pm
This week Carla spoke a lot about the type of work she does and how she got to be where she’s at. As i discussed earlier in previous comments to my peers, i mentioned how difficult it would seem to begin to even branch yourself out into the world with content that can possiby be judged by so many people. I guess i regret not asking Carla how she personally felt about being judged by such big audience. I definitely feel like the content you put out into your social media is extremely important because people seem to only draw attention to things that seem appealing. Not only is the content important but also just keeping a good name for yourself is importsant, obviously you want people to see the good about you. I definitely commend Carla for being brave enough to take that risk of putting herself out into the world, it truly is inspiring.
Marlene,
I definitely agree with your whole post. Nowadays people are so quick to judge as you stated due to the fact that people seem to be only drawn to what’s appealing. We can truly see the impact the Internet can have, her video spread everywhere a day after it was uploaded so we can see how one video can make a viral difference across the globe.And with her audience, she is definitely doing a fantastic job
Arvan Arguelles 2:30 PM
Hi, Marlene.
I totally agree with you when you say that Carla was pretty brave when she decided to publicly put out her opinion via social media to address important issues mostly dealing with Brazil. The thought of having the entire internet community exposed to my work gives me anxiety because I’m not one for public speaking even though it is all through a camera at first. So I really admire her bravery and passion to suddenly want to speak up about something she obviously cares about–her home Brazil. She gave a lot of really good advice to those looking to pursue careers in the art and film industry, and I totally agree when she had said that we go through a lot of our “bad” work to finally get to the good and maximize our own talents and potential. I believe that is true to things even outside of art and film. I admire her willingness to help aspiring artists such as herself.
Kayla Tafoya Sablan
Demi Kong 1:00
I found Carla Dauden’s presentation in class really interesting and engaging. During the presentation, there were two things that she said that really stuck with me. One was that basically, no matter how much art block or writer’s block you have, you just have to keep creating. As long as you keep creating, you will eventually get to the piece of work that you will be proud of. Also, if you keep creating work, you will not lose inspiration. I think that if you stopped creating because you were not feeling inspired, it will take even longer for you to come back to create than it would if you just keep creating mediocre things to lead up to your great work. The second thing that Carla emphasized was that even if she was struggling to find jobs before, she still said “no” to projects that she did not believe in or if they went against her character or morals. I think that this should be true for many creators out there so they will not be considered a sell-out. Being able to say “no” to work even if you need it or the money takes a lot of courage and I respect Carla so much after hearing that she does this. Lastly, I was so appreciative that Carla revealed her new video reel to us and that we were the first ones to ever see it. I was very impressed and can not wait to see more of her inspiring work in the future.
Henry Pham 2:30
It really was a joy to hear Carla Dauden speak to us in class. She was well spoken and knowledgeable when it came to speaking about 21st century, video-based art. Art is no longer just about how skilled you are, since popularity and publicity do play factors. One anecdote that she used that really left an impression on me were the two ladies who varied in skill and in publicity. Publicity goes a long way in today’s world, especially when it comes to art. Your ability to be composed and act professionally is crucial. It also depends on the timing and the events that are occurring. In Carla’s case, her FIFA video received a lot of publicity due to the events and atmosphere surrounding FIFA. Those are some of the tips that she left with us on getting our careers in video making going.
The interesting about Carla is that she channels her activism and skill into her videos. Her FIFA video was both entertaining and insightful on letting us what was wrong and who caused it. It was informative meanwhile being entertaining. Instead of just chanting outside to let others know what she thinks, she created a video utilizing her humor and skill which leaves a better impact on us all.
Tina Tran 1P
This week’s visiting artist was Carla Dauden. I though her art talk was really interesting because not only was she very open about the development of her career but she was also quite affable. The thing that struck me the most about Carla’s talk was that she emphasized that your artwork, or whatever you are currently developing, the more passion you put into it and care that you have for it, the more it’ll come through to the audience, which I thought it was very true because without passion, it would just be another project that was assigned and have to be done by a due date. The passion of the artist, even if that artist is working behind the camera and not in front of it, would still show the artist vision through the work itself. Also it was very true that it would apply to any possible career, not just in the art industry. Every industry have its own passion and idea that the creator wants to push through to the audience, and the creator behind the project could either make it become a success or failure.
Being a film major, I really enjoyed looking at all of Carla’s works. To me it is hard to picture the stepping stone from college to getting a career associated to film. Her talk in class last week really helped me to better understand what I need to do. All of her videos are incredible in their own ways. The water conservation video was hilarious as it takes an unexpected turn towards the end but also manages to relate to a big world issue. In her world cup video she was able to express a major problem that nobody really knew anything about and blew it up. That is an incredible accomplishment. It is extremely difficult to capture a viewers attention, especially when the video is something “boring” like a serious topic. As a society we want something quick that we can be entertained by and Carla has quiet the gift in doing that. It is truly inspiring going through her works and it makes me want to create new projects that focus on more than just entertaining the viewer but rather educating them and possibly sparking a movement.
Hey Lizzy, wow you’re a film major thats great. I feel like you have such a talnet and are very brave for becoming one because you arent afraid to share your ideas. Amd i think you have a way in presenting them to others by making them say “wow i wish i could do that” or your videos inspire them to say “i feel like getting involved now” …. u shouldnt worry too much about that stepping stone. Just as Carla said; you have to keep creating in order to build a reputation. You will evernually find what your very very very good at and build from it. Im sure you will be asked back and you will give your input and life lessons toom best of luck to you. But yea i also likes Carlas videoa and i think its always bery important when media videos like these make you feel something and push you to stand up for a cause. I think that showing true emotions in video are a good way to make your mark in history because they live forever somehow. There is 2 sides to every story and media like these help expose both sides.
By claudia sanchez 230 class
Ruiwen Lin (2:30pm)
I really enjoyed Carla Dauden’s presentation in class on Wednesday, and thank her for taking her time to give us the presentation. The presentation inspired me a lot because I’m facing the same problem as she had at the time of graduated from CSULB. She told us how she decided to come to California to learn film making at the age of 18, and how hard she tried and worked in order to get a job here and pursue her dream. The story of how hard she worked and tried to catch every opportunity to get into a better position inspired me, and I am also so amazed by Carla Dauden’s videos, and all the videos from her are very interesting, creative, and high quality. The video “No, I’m not going to the World Cup” she made, which is very meaningful and in details, and really makes me to think the negative impacts the World Cup brought to Brazil, I will never know the back story of the World Cup in Brazil until I watch this video. This video was viewed by over 4 million people on YouTube so that it tells me it’s a really meaningful and popular one, I also make some videos on website too, so I know 4 million is a huge number.
Daniel Velazquez 1PM
Carla’s presentation to us was very helpful, not only did it teach us how to become more independent of our studies but she also explained to us ways that she was able to become none and expose herself. “The Wash” was my favorite video because it managed to send the message across, although it was not intended for any audience in particular it managed to send the message across to young adults and teens because the audience expected a completely different ending from the ending she gave us. I will continue to follow her work and put to use the information she gave us in her presentation.
Andy Bui – 1pm
I like how Carla’s videos tell a narrative and have a powerful message behind them. One of the my favorites is The Wash because I myself try to use water more efficiently and carefully. It is a nice video that can help the younger audience realize that water is precious especially in California and should not be wasted. I try not to wash my car too often and only when it looks really dirty. One thing I try to do, which doesn’t happen often because we are in Southern California, is wash my car when it rains. Today I was able to do that and it helped save water because I didn’t have to use a bucket haha.
A couple other eye opening videos are A tale of two Rios and #stoptheball. It’s interesting how Rio would aim their funds towards building stadiums to host events when much of the community around them needs help. Videos like these two help the rest of the world see the truth about Rio. Overall, it was really cool to have Carla come and speak to our class about her career. It helps keep the class interesting by allowing us to see that it takes hard work to become more skilled at something.
Tommy Duong – 1:00 PM
I was surprised not much people spoke about Carla’s video A tale of two Rios. In my opinion Carla was present to viewers an informative and story at the same time in her video. The message was also very clear and amazing. The video shares stories about the poor in Rio and the water environment in Rio. I know trash and litter in our oceans has been a big deal and as someone who has been to Huntington Beach so many times, I think we take advantages of our oceans and beaches because we see not that much trash that end up on our beaches. I would usually find bottle caps or cigarette butts that get washed up. Reason for that is because we have laws that our government placed down to prevent that much trash in our beaches; and after seeing Carla’s video, I can see that Rio is worst off. Their governments seem to neglect the environmental issues and poverty. By end of the video, I felt the message was that the government caused the mess, so they should clean up the mess.
During Wednesday’s class, we had a guest speaker, Carla Dauden, who went through her own struggles and eventually become a successful woman in the film industry. She talked about a period in her career in which she felt like what she was doing was not good enough, or she felt like she could have done better. She then explained that is was something that everyone goes through, and they deal with it in a different way. However, she believes that if your just keep working and giving it your absolute best, you will find your voice and you will be content with what you are able to achieve. Upon watching her videos, I really liked the one titled, “No, I’m not going to the world cup.” I remember before the World Cup, there were posts going online about the protests in Brazil, where people were upset that Brazil would be spending so much money on “preparing” themselves for the tournament. They built new stadiums, which was not necessary, since there is a high chance they won’t be able to fill them up, or even use them for another event. I loved how in the video she backed up her opinions on the World Cup with statistics and actual facts that can rightfully oppose the idea of a World Cup being held in Brazil. Then she went onto making “World Cup 2014: 7-1 was the least embarrassing number for Brazil.” Everyone knows how embarrassing and heartbreaking it must have been for the Brazilian national team to be defeated by the German national team in their own home. However, Carla went onto talk about the aftermath that FIFA left behind and how Brazil still struggles as a nation. Overall, I think Carla Dauden’s videos about activism are amazing and well produced, along with her other work.
Abigail Manuel — 1PM
I really liked Carla Dauden’s presentation in class last Wednesday. Not only does Dauden produce beautiful artwork that is both informative and aesthetically pleasing, but the thing that stood out to me the most about her was the fact that it was so clear that she is such a driven person. I appreciated her story of deciding what she wanted to do with her life and working hard to achieve what she wanted. She set a goal and allowed herself to mobilize herself to achieve it. I enjoyed a lot of the work that we were able to see in class as well as the videos posted on this page, but I think like many other students, my favorite video had to be the one where she discusses her views on the World Cup. While I’m not the biggest soccer/football fan in the world, I am a pretty big fan of the Olympic Games, which I feel is a pretty similar event. I liked the perspective that she as able to give and the fact that she was very informative about the things that she as saying. I had read a little bit here and there about the issues with displacement in Brazil due to the construction of facilities for the Olympic Games, but I had no idea that there were so many more issues to the story. I think Carla Dauden is a very talented woman, and while she had said that she wasn’t too interested in creating content such as the World Cup video often, I appreciate the fact that she did this one time.
Hi Abigail.
I was really inspired by Dauden as well. Dauden simply created with passion and improves one or many aspects of how she edits or creates after every video. She emphasized how she just continued to create videos and that she acknowledges that the innovative videos we see today are actually products of something skill, and only skill that could only be developed over time. I am not a big fan of the Olympics because I haven’t spent anytime watching any until this year. I had known only very little as to what conditions Brazil had face, but never really the full impact on how the construction could affect its own citizens. Her informative video brings to light as to why and how certain issues will arise and affect its own economy.
Cindy Le 1pm
Juan Vasquez 1PM
It was interesting to see some of the work done by Carla and it was definitely helpful for her to come and speak to the class. Her explanation of the necessity to keep doing work so that you can build a portfolio makes a lot of sense. A lot of people don’t expose themselves and their work so they will never know the extent it can take them for trying. This also relates to putting yourself out in public once you do create something just as her colleagues do. Without advertising or exposing your work to the public there is little no chance of being found by someone who can help you.
David Lai 2:30 PM
Carla was an amazing guest. I was pretty happy to hear that she was inspired by music videos like “Turn Down for What” and that she embraced change within her own field. The scope of art is a broad one as seen by the new type of hit music videos. The lessons that Carla taught the class were in fact priceless. I didn’t know what it felt like to be in the presence of a director with over five million views on her videos! I thought that was utterly insane. I know that in order to be a big shot, I must take risks, and I can’t imagine myself doing anything like Carla. She made a viral video overnight and continues to blow our minds with life-changing stories about her accomplishments and her pieces. I hope I will be able to see her on the big screen one day as she was pretty inspiring in just a classroom. Her water conservation video was so simple, yet got a clear point across. I thought it was a major comic relief as well! Anyways, I am truly happy to have been able to meet Carla as she pointed out risks in my life I should try and go on with despite the setbacks.
Arvan Arguelles 2:30pm
Carla Dauden’s videos are amazing. The Mr. Polman video was amazing, what really got me about this video was the camera angles. These angles just made me say wow, the emotion that you can get from the angles is amazing itself. More importantly, the Brazil video was an eye opener seeing that I didn’t even realize how many people are getting kicked out of their homes for entertainment. Other than the video emphasizing the bad side of Brazil, we can truly see the impact the Internet can have, this video spread everywhere a day it was uploaded so we can see how one video can make a viral difference across the globe.
Jacqueline Sanchez 1pm
I really enjoyed watching Carla’s videos. I am personally a fan of documentary style videos. I like the images she created in her videos and the way every topic and image transition nicely. Although I am by no means an expert in film, I would say her videos are definitely of good quality and I can see that she puts time and effort in to her work. Her videos show creativity and integrate important information very well. I enjoyed hearing her speak to the class and learning about her journey into film production. I completely agree with Carla’s work ethics. She mentioned that one must take every opportunity that allows you to make a name for yourself and provides you with practice that can improve your skills. She was inspirational.
Cindy Le (1pm)
The audio and visuals in Dauden’s videos that were shown in class had quite the impression on me. The way Dauden mashed the videos together in her “sneak peek” preview amazed me. They were videos of different topics, different beats, and yet with snippets of each and a new audio, she created a whole other story. Her videos send out clear messages about the tone and mood being used. Dauden’s video, Wash, had been known to me as a meme all this time. It was something that I hadn’t seen before, but the scenarios in the video had been spread across social media for some time. Dauden’s presentation in class about her life, where she did everything she could and just by making stuff, found out on what she could improve, was really inspiring to me. I got several goosebumps from just listening and looking at the videos that she had created.
Bryan Aparicio 1pm
Carla Dauden’s videos were great. I really enjoyed how a lot of the videos evoked different emotions whether they were funny, happy, empathetic, etc. it always made you feel some way. One video that was really interesting to me was the video she made about Brazil. It basically was a life changing moment that required quick thinking and quick action. She did both of them and managed to make the best of her situation. I admire what she did and what she’s currently doing because the sky is the limit for her. She’s only going to get better with her craft and with her technique. We’ll look back one day and see the impact that she made and how many people it touched. My hats off to you, Carla.
Hey Bryan,
I would have to agree, I really do love how the videos show many different emotions to the viewers. The fact that I was not only able to empathize with her, but I was also able to laugh and some the jokes she made, made the video more interesting and alive. Videos that have more than one theme seem to always catch my attention more than those that don’t.
1:00 PM
I enjoyed Carla Dauden’s video “No, I’m not going to the world cup.” because it highlighted her ability to both be entertaining and be informative. There was a serious problem with the country of Brazil hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics without first addressing its profound poverty crisis. It was almost as if the Brazilian President just wanted to host as many world events as possible while she was still in office. Because Carla Dauden is originally from Brazil, she felt the effects of the World Cup to a far greater extent than viewers from the rest of the world felt. The government of Brazil does very little to help counteract the slums within Rio, but has the audacity to spend over a billion dollars on new stadiums for a temporary attraction. I know that being a citizen of the United States right now involves a lot of distrust towards the federal government, but the disregard was never as obvious as the atmosphere in Brazil. Carla, using her media and film experience, voiced her opinions about her home country irresponsibly spending money on something that more closely resembled the hunger games than the World Cup.
Justin Pena 2:30 pm
I agree and can relate on the last part you mentioned regarding the “distrust towards the federal government”. It is amazing how our own citizens can trust or distrust the government, rely or not rely on the government, and be scared or not on the government. Granted the actions our own government have been quite questionable the past few years but I believe they are doing what they can for the people to benefit the country no matter whether a republican or democrat is running the country. And here I thought the terrible and frightening government at the Philippines was horrible what with its lies and questionable executive actions, Brazil’s actions truly shows that they do not care much for its own citizens and would rather put a “band aid solution” or deny and lie any information the media is showing. Truly amazing for Carla Dauden to speak her voice and fight for what is truly right. Hopefully changes will happen.
Kayla Tafoya Sablan
Although I am not a film or art major, I found Carla’s presentation and visit pretty inspirational. It really surprised me how just one video that wasn’t meant to go viral did and how much feedback and attention she says it initially got only within one day of her posting it. I admire her love for Brazil, I mean, it’s her home and I really respect the passion she has to address important and often overlooked issues that resonate within it. I totally agree with how she took the recognition of her video and how she used it to her advantage to not only continue to speak passionately about issues and politics going on in Brazil but also making an entire career out of her online presence. I admire her humility and passion to always make her work better than it was before. Her videos were pretty interesting and creative as well. “The Wash” was a really cool way to get the attention of a younger audience towards water conservation and I think she did a really great job with that ad. Her music videos were very visually appealing. I noticed a lot of transitioning from one scene to another, the lighting, angles, camera movement, and it all came together really cool. I really enjoy her style of directing and hope to see more of her work in the future.
Alfredo Reyes 2:30PM
In our Wednesday class I was very interested in Carla Dauden’s presentation. Her presentation not only showed us her amazing work, but how much she’s passionate and self driven independent person. As she talks more about her experience with her huge successful video “No,I’m not going to the World Cup” that is very meaningful and details about Brazil during the World Cup.She first thought this video not becoming a huge hit until that video has brought her career into the next level. Even though I enjoyed looking at her presentation of her work, she gave us an inspiration and motivation. She emphasizing based on the experience she went through and talking about putting ourselves out in public to achieve something great in life.
Justin Pena 2:30 pm
Although I am not quite fond of the style she used on the music videos, I enjoyed Carla Dauden’s documentaries and her vlog videos. The vlogs are straight to the point with facts supported by a few anecdotes that reinforces her credibility. The documentary shows images or clips that speaks more than a few words could ever be described. She has done an amazing job trying to point out the problem, it is quite a shame that not everyone agrees with her as she mentioned in one of her vlogs because you can tell she has dedicated a huge amount of time with the information, the causes and effects, and list of solutions – all of which exposes the horror and despicable acts of the government and their hypocrisy and lies. Very well done on her part. It is good to see a fervent spirit like her similar to the fervent spirits of several artists during “Je suis Charlie”.
Brian Sath; 1:00PM
Carla was a very interesting guest speaker. Although her major was Film and mine was Biology, I felt like we could relate. Her ideas and tips were very interesting to me and helped me this weekend with my resume workshops. The first video of “The Wash” was very creative in terms of tackling the water issue that we have today. It’s something that is creative and very memorable. Her video that she showed by IRA GLASS was very motivational. It is something that I personally struggle with. Being a pre-med major, I feel like I won’t make it and become stagnant some days. Watching the video keeps me pushing forward and working harder. Besides that, her video for “Magic! No regrets” was phenomenal. The videos were intense and the transitions were on point. I definitely enjoyed her work. Kudos to Carla for working so hard and getting herself out there!
When i first saw Carla’s work i was cheering her on because i felt like she was using her voice and her talent in a good way. I think that she was doing her work so beautiful. I enjoyed watching the cinematography that Carla portrayed. I think all the elements in her videos (tje simple white backrounf, the black and white, the music, the visuals and the landscapes) all captivated me and made me pay attention. And then when i heard her cause and how upset she was and was raising awaremess for her culture and people i really thought it was impressive. Nowadays people dont really stand up for a cause but its nice to see a graduate from CSULB be angry and voice her opinion. I think she has shed light on something that was being covered up. The fact that she got so much publicity for her words against the world cup was awesome because that must have given her such a grat feeling. It feels great to know when people are with you and i think these videos have helped people find their voice. Knowing now that she works for a company and has plans to move forward in her career and seeing all that she has done is great. Jer work is awesome and can defiently touch many people and expand ideas of others. I hope that many more people get to k ow her name in the years to come.
By; claudia Sanchez 230pm class.
Nkechi Okoroma-2:30
I would definitely agree with Carla Dauden’s film on the World Cup. The fact that 13 million people are underfed everyday in Brazil is one of the many reasons why the country shouldn’t be investing more money in the world cup. All the money that is made during the event goes straight to FIFA and big business owners while the average Brazilian is left dry. For example, a huge amount of taxes is used on the games instead of medicine, food, and shelter for its people. The government definitely needs to step up and get their priorities straight in order to make a better and more sustainable country for all.