“I saw the movie ‘The Tree of Life,’ directed by Terrence Malick, and I loved all the cinematography,” Richardson said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is something I would really love to do.’”
That is the moment Richardson said she first wanted to get involved with film.
Richardson will graduate in the spring with a major in telecommunications and minors in communication and culture, sociology and studio art.
She said she first got involved with photography in high school and began her career in film her sophomore year at IU.
“I didn’t start out as a filmmaker. I started out as into more drawing and fine arts,” Richardson said. “I just moved into filmmaking later”.
Richardson, who said she still considered herself a beginner filmmaker, said this year will be the year she starts exhibiting her works. She said she has made several short films for classes and for fun. Richardson also said she wanted to enter her favorite project in the Iris Film Festival this year at IU.
The project is titled “(im)paired” and features a dancer freestyling with the concept of illness and identity in mind. Richardson said this is her favorite because it involves some experimental filmmaking.
“I am more interested in (experiment filming) than traditional American Hollywood filmmaking,” Richardson said.
Richardson said she wanted to find a way to combine her photography passion with filmmaking, so she found a cross-section between printmaking and production. Richardson said she also liked to utilize nature, natural lighting and color in her projects.
“Going into nature has always been an escape for me,” Richardson said. “It’s relaxing and recharging, so that’s probably why it shows up a lot in what I do.”
When it comes to subject matter, Richardson said she finds it important to use female protagonists. She said she liked to film anything that makes her feel something, and she described her style of filming as emotional.
“I am a pretty emotional person, so I try to convey that through color, movement and light in my shots and everything,” Richardson said.
Richardson said she loved film because it’s a combination of technology and fine art and has a very collaborative nature. She said it’s cool to watch the credits at the end of a Hollywood movie and see how many different people came together to create the film.
When she graduates in May, Richardson said she plans on going into film production. She said she will have to start at the bottom of the chain as a production assistant, but she said she would love to do music videos. Richardson said she also wanted to be able to do experimental filming, which she would submit to film festivals and art galleries.
“I don’t really have an end goal,” Richardson said. “I don’t really know where it will take me, but I am just not going to say no to any opportunity and see where it takes me”.
