Who Am I?
(Pictures may be coming soon...)
I am Riley Oaks.
Ever since I was young I had a love and fascination of stories. I used to read all the time and I often watched a lot of movies and T.V. both with my parents and on my own. I often would fantasize that I was in those fictional worlds and had a very vivid imagination. Those stories from my childhood have stuck with me and shaped me into the person I've become today.
Early Years: Formation of Passion
In elementary school, I was often part of the "gifted and talented" program for kids that were above average in intelligence and talented in skills and artistry. As a result, I was often encouraged at school not only to learn everything I could, but also to love stories and creativity. I took that to heart and often tried to find creative activities to do at home and learn anything and everything.
Later in my childhood and adolescence I began to read more for school than for fun, but I still enjoyed a good story when I could find one. My friends also introduced me to the realm of video games and the stories told in that realm. I became so fascinated with the storytelling technique in video games that I began to explore story more deeply in visual media. I began to study T.V. shows and movies as I watched them, and thought deeper about the books that I did read, whether in school or for pleasure. I had found a passion for story.
Later Years: Personal Renaissance
Towards the end of high school, amid general teenage issues, I found elective classes that allowed me to further explore my creative side and the stories I had to tell. I took woodworking and drawing classes that showed me what I could do with my hands, but I took a few others that showed me what I could do with my mind and imagination. I took three classes based on film and stories: Film Studies, Video Production, and Fantasy Sci-fi. These classes taught me how stories worked and the technical process in which those stories are created, both in literature and in visual mediums.
During this time, I was experimenting with my natural writing abilities by writing a few short fictional novels of my own creation. One was about a multi-dimensional challenge hosted by the all-powerful Insanity, whose objective was to cause his two victims, a love-struck boy and his oblivious, but independent crush, to dive deep into the depths of their own insanity. The other was a hypothetical origin story for the perfect city of Utopia in which two lovers at odds with their own demons of the past must conquer said demons, leaving their home in ruins, then rebuilding on a hidden island they encountered previously, which island becomes known as Utopia and is protected and hidden by intergalactic guardians. Neither of these novels have been published as they still have much work before they can be considered good enough, but these were my first attempts at making my own stories outside of my infantile first grade micro-stories.
Where I am Today: The Climb
After a three-year hiatus of soul-searching and religious service in the form of a year of work in the real world and a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it was time to return to the world of story to claim my destiny as a storyteller. I knew since junior high and high school that I wanted to attend college and had a pretty good Idea that I wanted to attend Utah Valley University (UVU). I soon discovered that they offered a film program and immediately knew that was what I wanted to do. With my natural ability for writing, I decided I wanted to write for film and T.V. and whatever else I could write for. I have since been attending UVU in the film program learning all there is to know about making a career out of telling visual stories.
I may not know everything there is to know about filmmaking or storytelling yet, nor am I anywhere near being a master storyteller, but I am eager to find my way there.