Meet Serena Florez | Filmmaker & Editor

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

Hi Serena, we’d love to hear what makes you happy.
What makes a person happy seems like such a simple question with a simple answer, but it’s such a complex enigma. It took me a long time to understand that there’s never one definite answer. One day it may be the butterfly that you saw flying around, or seeing the waves crash into the sand at the beach, and the next day it could be that new movie you watched.

Despite this, I discovered day by day that a wide variety of things make me happy, but there will still always be that consistent feeling when I am surrounded by my family. There were countless of times throughout my college career where the little things that would normally make me happy were unsuccessful in doing so, which resulted in me being stuck in my mind. That two-hour drive back to my hometown, though tiring, was all I needed to get me back into my happy, go-getter self. Daily family dinners, weekly movie nights, it was hard to leave that when I started college. My family is my backbone and is truly what I need in order to be happy. Finishing my last year at school, I’m a pretty busy person now, but I still make the effort to go visit my family whenever I can, because I know that they are the ones that will make me feel like myself.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My journey was far from simple, and an interesting one at that. My love for filmmaking started when I was 12 years old. I remember being on the family iPad and was mindlessly scrolling as a child does. I came across a random video from an unknown user and clicked on it because the thumbnail was from a show I had previously watched. The video was not anything crazy, it was just clips taken from an anime with a random song slapped on the background of it, creating their own music video out of it. I could feel myself enjoy this act of creativity that I was watching, thinking, “Hey, I could probably do this too!” I may not have known it at that moment, but that was the beginning of my career in filmmaking. From there on out, over the course of many years I created my own edits and posted them online which generated traction and a following. Those edits are still out there today, and I’m very fond of this part of my life, despite some saying it’s “pretty child-ish” now to look back on. I would not be in the position I am today if I did not create these edits.

My first introduction to the actual realm of the film industry was during my last year of high school, where my high school finally offered a Video Production class. Even after learning about pre-production, production, and more in depth into post-production, I still found myself passionate within the post-production world and wanted to keep pursuing it. I took on the Editor roles for our group projects and was finding myself getting extremely proficient with post-production. It was here that I really started to get serious with my work. Despite being told once or twice that my goal of being an Editor was “unrealistic” due to being hard of hearing, I continued to push by creating assignments and projects I was proud of and applying to colleges that I believed could get me started in the industry.

I ended up applying and committing to California State University of Monterey Bay. Even though their film program is incredibly small compared to other major film schools, everything felt right to me, and it was. I got to get hands-on equipment experience and met amazing people and mentors that have given me all the knowledge I have today. I am able to say that I was Editor, Assistant Editor, or the Digital Imagining Technician for close to ten amazing student thesis films. I entered the world of more technical, industry standard software and was still in love with the world of post-production. Even after learning all of the complicated material, I still want to sit in a comfortable chair in a dark, sound-proof editing suite and help my colleagues bring their visions to life.

I am extremely excited that after six semesters here at Monterey Bay, that I am currently in the pre-production for my own student thesis film that will be coming out December 2024. I am still messing around with the title, but for now, “the end of the bay” is a documentary about my family and I’s relationship to one another and how that developed over the course of my life. I am extremely excited to utilize all the skills I have learned from when I was a little girl editing anime on the family iPad to an upcoming senior in college who has contributed to countless of actual short film productions. I cannot wait to share this story to the world while simultaneously being able show my appreciation and love to my family who have guided me to this part of my life today.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Los Angeles is the home of everything! Every time I am in Los Angeles, I always have a itinerary to make sure that whoever I am taking this trip with will have the most fun they can have. If it is someone’s first time in LA, they definitely need to go more towards the “touristy” route.

Universal Studios Hollywood would be the #1 spot on my list to go visit. I’m a sucker for Nintendo World and the Harry Potter land. This would totally be a two-day thing. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is also a nice spot to hit to see all of the stars and the shops and food that are on the strip. The Hollywood Wax Museum is also super entertaining and fun! I have never been myself just yet, but I would plan to go to the Griffith Observatory, as I’ve heard lots of great things about it. LA has LOTS of different food choices and brings so many cultures together, so it would be pretty difficult to pick only a couple places to eat at.

At first glance, Los Angeles is super overwhelming and can be very intimidating, but I believe with all of the different kind of people that live there and the things to do, that it can be a very rewarding trip.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My family, partner, friends, and colleagues have played a huge part in my story. I definitely would not be where I am today if I did not have their support in my life and had them constantly push me to be the best version of myself that I can be.

My family recognized my love for the arts at a young art, and despite the typical “Art never pays well,” they still encouraged me to do what I love and to continue to pursue it if that was what I wanted to do. My partner helps me push me to my limits in my work and greatly encourages and supports me to ensure my work will be the best it can be, that I won’t look back at something I have created and wished I did something differently. My friends and my colleagues have provided me with amazing insight and information that have helped me expand my knowledge to take my career to its further limits. Without any of them, I would be at a totally different part of my life.

Website: https://serenaflorez.wixsite.com/serenaflorez

Instagram: serena.florez

Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/serena-florez

Image Credits
Juan Dominguez