Meet Aaron Becker: Creative Director & Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aaron Becker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aaron, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
As a kid, I was always drawing. Partly influenced by the fact that my grandmother was a draftswoman and excellent painter, I was always drawn to art. What started as the quite literal goal of reproducing the world around me in the form of a “realistic” drawing blossomed into broader interests in college: art history and eventually visual communication. I studied illustration, before officially making graphic design my major. It wasn’t until right before graduating that my focus grew even narrower, as I began exploring projects at the intersection between graphic design and film: the title sequence.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Filmograph, the studio I co-founded, is located in Echo Park, Los Angeles. We operate at the intersection between graphic design and filmmaking. We are a full-service production studio specializing in main title design (introductory credit sequences for movies and television shows), entertainment branding, live action direction, animation and visual effects. What sets us apart in a somewhat crowded field is perhaps the fact that despite having fairly high profile projects that require a ton of coordination, time and effort, we operate in a highly collaborative manner where a small team is able to contribute in nearly any way they wish in order to solve a creative problem. The biggest lesson we’ve learned is how to “let go” and not allow oneself to be saturated with the overwhelming feeling of a need to control. I would say that being the opposite of micro-managerial has produced some interesting and exciting results that we continue to learn from today. The only thing we would want the world to know is that we hope, more than anything, the quality of good design is evident in our work.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
When things open back up post-Covid, of course: Arts • The Broad Museum – undeniably extensive and accessible • Hauser & Wirth – museum is great, bookstore might be better Nature • Descanso Gardens • Huntington Library & Botanical Gardens Food • Botanica (full disclosure, this is my girlfriend’s restaurant) in SilverLake – California cuisine with international flavors; food that is not only very healthy and fresh, but more importantly, extremely delicious • Raffi’s Place & Phoenicia – amazing Middle Eastern in Glendale (all of Glendale is special in this way) The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As with anyone who sees any amount of “success”, there are always so many influential forces at work. I’m grateful to so many. Starting from the beginning, I would never have been able to do what I do for a living, if I hadn’t gone to college and studied the craft; and in order to do that, I needed my parents’ love and support. To their credit, and despite the fact that they are both doctors, they never flinched about my desire to go to art school, nor my twin sister’s application and subsequent acceptance to film school. They fully supported our interest in the arts and knew that if we followed what we loved, it would all work out. Other key people who facilitated my learning include my loving partner Emily who supported my decision to go freelance years ago, my twin sister who never shied away from introducing me to prospective collaborators in Los Angeles, university professors, two internship mentors, my first boss and well-known title designer Kyle Cooper, creative director Raffi Simonian, filmmaking icon Marty Cohen, and finally, my current business partner at Filmograph, the studio we co-founded, Seth Kleinberg.

Website: https://www.filmograph.tv/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FilmographLA/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronmbecker/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FilmographLA

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FilmographLA/