Author/Videographer/Educator:
L. A. Rivera
"If you can't finish it today, don't get started on it tomorrow."
- L. A. Rivera
"Peace in the City"
A 360 VR Photo Roman Experience
(February 2018)
As a senior in college, I took a VR Storytelling course in my Spring 2018 Semester. For this project we had to tell a story using only 360 photos and sound effects. The story I chose to tell involved a college student from a rural town coming to the city for the first time and what his reactions are to the new style of living. The photos were shot in and around Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. You can watch the video above even without a VR headset, although headphones are recommended due to ambient sound effects. Also, please increase the resolution to 4K since YouTube presets the image resolution at 720P. You can do this by clicking the settings tool and changing the quality to 2160. Enjoy!
Coastal Commentary:
A WCUA Radio Show
(February 2018 - Present)
All Videos
Coastal Commentary (CC) is a radio show I produce and co-created with a friend. The show is a pop culture, current events, talk show that also plays music. We try to take national issues and apply it to the Catholic University community, although people outside of the community also listen in as well. Above are the first two episodes I've edited together. There are other episodes that haven't been recorded but went out live via the WCUA radio station. I created Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube pages for CC and manage the content that is posted on the channels before and during the the show. We go live every Friday from 10:15 AM to 11:00 AM. Feel free to check us out by clicking any of the social media icons above.
New Zealand Labour Party: Social Media Videos
New Zealand Labour Party Fellowship (June 2017 -
August 2017)
In the summer of 2017, I participated in the Labour Party Fellowship in Auckland, New Zealand. It was the farthest I have been from home, and after studying abroad in London, it was a great opportunity to work abroad in New Zealand. While there, I utilized my creativity and film making skills to shoot short social media videos for Auckland Central’s Labour candidate Helen White. I was also given the opportunity to join in on the filming of a campaign ad for the former Labour Party leader Andrew Little and the current Labour Party leader and Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern.
Above is a rough cut of one of the videos I put together and sent off to her social media team to finalize and reshoot any necessary scenes. I suggested the concept of the video (which is one in a trilogy of three things voters should know about Helen, since she was a first time candidate), shot, and also edited the rough cut of the video.
Spanish Project: Descubrimiento Sobrenatural
Media Production at CUA Cross-Curriculum (Spring 2016)
During the Spring of my second year at CUA, I took a Media Production class called Media and Aesthetics. Here, I was taught many of the basics of film, from lighting techniques, to capturing sound, and even the old fashion "rule-of-thirds." After months of learning new ways to capture film, I was assigned a Spanish project with a group of my fellow classmates. Considering one of my partners from Media class was also in the group, we took the time to make this project excellent. It took me over seven hours to edit, but it was fun and I am very proud of the results.
Take a look at the finished product above. Note: The video is in Spanish, but subtitiles are provided.
Partners of the Americas Internship
Media Production Internship at Partners of the Americas (Summer 2015)
In the summer of 2015, I stayed in Washington, D.C. to pursue a summer internship at the non-profit organization Partners of the Americas. While there, I worked as an intern in the Office of the President and my task involved mainly editing and shooting videos which I would then go on to edit. This internship really laid down the foundations for my media production career by providing me with the tools to edit on Adobe Premiere, the opportunity to film and edit the President and CEO's Message to the Board, and the chance to lay down a rough edit of an interview in Spanish. That goes to say, I am proud to have made the one hour journey, by car and three trains, everyday in order to learn to better my skills in media production at Partners.
Above you will find one of the videos I am very proud to share, which I had worked on while at Partners. It covers the journey of a young college student from Rwanda who had the opportunity to study abroad in Latin America and the life changing experiences she gathered from her studies in Latin America.
Valedictorian Speech
Valedictorian Speech: Ranked #1
Not only am I a writer, but I graduated at the top of my high school class. Here you will find my Valedictorian Speech which was shot by my father under heavy scaffolding at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City; the same cathedral Pope Francis came to visit in Sepetmber of 2015. It was an honor to speak in front of my fellow classmates, their families, and hundreds of tourists (who wandered into the Cathedral). In total over 2,000 people were present.
Bullying Documentary
Devolution: A View into Bullying
Devolution: A View into Bullying
(Winter 2014)
I directed a documentary for my high school's media class on a social justice issue. It was my group's midterm project and we decided to select bullying. Although our project was not selected as the best in the class to be sent to the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights video competition, I still sent the video anyway without my teacher's backing and we made it to the gold division, the best placement in our entire school. Although we did not make it to the platinum division, we felt accomplished that we proved to our classmates that our documentary was sufficent enough to be considered a contender in the competition.
Video Description:
In this documentary we evaluate, through interviews with various locals, what bullying is, who the victims are, how bullying is prosecuted under the law, and offer some advice on how to tell if a child is being bullied or not. (Credits to Jeremy Cruz as out narrator.)
Government/Media Project
Death and Taxes
(Spring 2014)
Side Note:
I also created a website for information on hurricanes. I created it for a math group project that was assigned for my Calculus class. Check it out by clicking the button below.
For our final exam in both Media and AP US Government and Politics we were instructed to produce a film about a topic of our choice from our studies in the subject area. We chose taxes as most of the members in our group were taking AP Microeconomics and taxes was one of the few subject areas that could be explained in both an economic viewpoint and an U.S. Government viewpoint. The result was a film that was done within a two week time frame and with other finals on our brains. Thus the video wasn't given as much care and detail as we would hope to have given. In this film I took a break from directing and decided to be the graphics guy instead. I'd have to say I made a smart move considering over 80% of this doc is graphics, pictures, and videos from other sources. But we got a 98% on the project because it was informative and had a nice blend of humor to connect to the audience. Take a look at the video when you get the chance.
Video Description:
In this film we evaluate what are taxes, how the United States Government collects its taxes, the three different types of taxes, and how the government spends its tax revenues.
Credits to:
Epic Rap Battles
Bill Maher
Archives.org
Warning: Some curses from a video game can be heard in the beginning of the video. If you are sensitive to curse words, please refrain from watching the film.