Rifka: Who or what has influenced you the most as a creative producer and video director?

Oliver: I would have to say water has influenced me a tremendous amount in my life and my work. Just studying its properties, the beauty of its grace, and its gentle, fluid nature. I want myself to emulate those qualities, so I can be adaptable to a situation and its circumstance. Be powerful when I need to be, be soft and calm, and always be looking for the quickest routes, the most efficient method to accomplish something. The way water sticks with other water - it has a way of finding itself again. So, I love looking at water, photographing water, and observing it.

Rifka: That's really beautiful! When did you find that water first inspired you?

Oliver: One book kind of flipped my world around and made me very curious. It proposed the idea that water is the most intelligent life form on the planet. It does whatever it needs to do to form itself into a tree or into a human and form itself into all these other physical objects to carry on the stories that we're living out. It definitely changed the way I looked at any body of water, whether it’s a lake or the water coming out of my faucet.

Rifka: What’s something you did as a student that you feel prepared you for your career?

Oliver: I loved UNCW and the variety of classes that were offered. There's two things that really helped me transition from being in school to actually working and that was having two internships during the school. One was with Cine Partners and the other was up in Arlington, Virginia where I spent summers at a cable access channel.

Both of those internships closed the gap on what it would be like to work professionally. I was able to go in and see people working professionally, learn what they're talking about, how they're talking about things, and some of their processes. It showed me that, “Oh, I'm not too far off here.” So, I started getting editing jobs during the summer and began working while I was still in school. It was so close and tangible by having these great internships.

The other thing that was a game changer was buying my own camera. Back in 2009, they were a bit tight about who could check out cameras or what classes they had to be in. So I saved up and bought a camera. Then, I started shooting and experimenting.

Rifka: What's one of your favorite projects that you've worked on or created?

Oliver: After I went to UNCW, I lived in a few houses downtown, and when I was moving, I decided I wanted something different. I reached out to Dan Brawley from Cucalorus, and he had an old studio in part of a building downtown that he was getting rid of. He rented me this raw warehouse for $300 a month, and I turned it into a makeshift living space. It was a very fun place. I was able to shoot some films there and have free reign since I had space to set up lights, build props and set pieces, and invite friends over for the shoots and screening parties.

I spent about a year there and that space is so sweet in my memory. Some of my favorite things came from that time because of the creativity that was harnessed. There was no one overseeing what I did. It was just truly my expression and my passion mixed with my friends and their input. 

Rifka: What advice would you give to future creative producers and video directors?

Oliver: This is something that I'm still learning to do well, but it's really important to set goals and just put things in writing. Write them down, journal, speak to them, and tell people about your goals. Telling people your goals is like casting the spell of what will be; it's putting your subconscious to work to arrange people and places in your life to accomplish these things. And there's a lot of power in that coupled with hard work.

Something else that I'm finding to be an advantage in high stakes, fast energy productions is being able to think one step ahead. Think and act on things so you can make the lives of other people easier. People will appreciate it. 

If I could tell myself anything earlier in my career, I would say work on yourself a bit more. See a therapist and just have yourself really lovely and healed and at ease with yourself. That way, when you do try to find jobs and interact with people, there's nothing that's trying to be settled by external factors.

Rifka: How can someone entering this career stand out from the rest of the crowd? 

Oliver: Rather than focus on how you’re going to stand out in the crowd, I would network the crowd so that everyone in the crowd is your friend. I think when you get familiar with all of these people in the “crowd” - what they do and their traits - you’ll see that people stand out by just being themselves because there's no one else like that person. There’s no one like you and the things that you can offer to a setting. Being able to relax in that mindset, is a good place to create work from because if you're trying to “stand out”, there can be a lot of striving which brings in competitiveness and ego. Team qualities are essential in big productions.

So, I would say relax into just being yourself and appreciate all the amazing qualities of those people around you and hype those people up. That's the way to stand out. Be a cheerleader for everyone, and you’ll get called back. They'll say, “Oh, I want her on set because she always brings the good vibes and that's how she stands out to me.”

I like to think of my job like that, like: “how many people here have smiles on their faces?”

To learn more about Oliver, check out his website, www.olivermellan.com or follow him on Instagram @olivermellan