Interview with Covert 2.0 Video Director

 Manny Ayala is pictured on left

Manuel “Manny” Ayala is the video director for faculty, Roxanne Gage’s piece titled, Covert 2.0.  Manny has a dream of pursuing his degree in Photography and Videography.  He graduated from Fredericksburg High School and moved to Austin in 2018.  He is hoping to further his career while working with the Austin area color guard circuit and the ACC dance department. His future goal is to own a photography company and create content full time, especially for the arts and color guard.  He looks forward to networking with artists who would like to collaborate and create art.  He enjoys horror films and his favorite series is the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.  His favorite book is The God Box by Alex Sanchez and he likes listening to music by Sam Smith. YouTubers like the Moment squad, Brandon Wolfel, Peter Mckinnon, 7th Era, and Mango Street have inspired him most.
     Covert 2.0 was inspired by Roxanne Gage. Manny said,  “She shared some of her background on choosing this particular piece, which I thought was really interesting- she molded a great vision for both of us! It wasn’t until I heard the song though which sent lightbulbs everywhere!”. This project challenged Manny as his vision was a bit shaky for the project due to the fact that the originally planned song needed to be changed because of copyright issues.  He was also not allowed to work one on one with the cast for a clear plan because of COVID19.  He was completely shocked and excited to see that the dancers had really pulled most, if not, all the weight of this film. Each dancer had an assignment to film themselves for this creation to come together.  He can’t thank the dancers enough for taking on this challenge and just having fun!  After working on this film, Manny is now inspired to move, create, and enjoy all kinds of art!