Olivia Lutz: Aspiring Fashion Filmmaker and Gorilla Creative Scholarship Recipient

Olivia Lutz is one of the latest recipients of the Gorilla Creative Film Scholarships. She is pursuing a BA in Media Arts Production with a minor in Commercial Photography and a minor in Music, as well as a Social Media Certificate from Ohio University. I was able to spend some time with her on Zoom and learn more about the origins of her love for storytelling, as well as the future she envisions for her career.

Her appetite for production started as a child, when she would create elaborate, dramatic stories while playing with her Barbies and Littlest Pet Shop toys. In the 5th grade, she was given an iPad mini for Christmas, and when she would come across videos of her favorite toys on Instagram, she began to explore the possibilities of what she could create on her own. “I started making stop-motion videos, Littlest Pet Shop music videos, and even my own mini-series and movies,” says Olivia.

This was just the beginning. Through YouTube tutorials, she taught herself how to shoot and edit, learning about proper framing, different camera angles, editing styles, and effects. She mastered VideoStar, an editing application on her iPad mini, and continued to experiment making her own music videos with custom props and environments.

In middle school, she even started multiple fan accounts on Instagram of video edits she made of her favorite musicians and celebrities. She loved the challenge of searching for the right music track, gathering her favorite clips, and then editing and crafting her video with the fitting transitions and motion graphics. Some of her fan accounts eventually gained a large following on social media!

A pivotal moment came in high school, when she directed and edited a music video for her a capella group. She loved planning shots, designing lighting, and experimenting with different visual moods. This was also the first time she used Final Cut Pro, giving her even more confidence in her editing skills. She went on to win “Best Videography” at the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) which she says “truly solidified my desire to pursue filmmaking professionally.”

Olivia is also very much into fashion. In fact, while looking at colleges, she learned about Variant Fashion Magazine - a student-run fashion publication that compelled her to apply at Ohio University. She’s been involved ever since she started attending. For the first two years, she served as Head of Videography, responsible for all behind-the-scenes footage while overseeing a team of 25 videographers! For the Variant Magazine YouTube channel, they created hype videos for new issue releases, behind-the-scenes videos for each spread, and developed a mini-documentary series about Variant to showcase its mission and attract new members. She sharpened her skills in the editing suite - spending countless hours fine tuning her craft while continuing to learn from YouTube tutorials creating content that focused on posting to social media channels.

Now in her final year, she serves as the art director at Variant magazine. She’s also beginning to explore freelancing as a videographer and photographer, striving to ensure her work encompasses her retro and whimsical style. Additionally, Olivia worked as a video intern for the Ohio University School of Communication, where she filmed panels and created promotional videos. She was also an intern for the Ohio University Music Industry Summit, where she filmed speaker sessions and created more hype videos for the largest music industry summit in the midwest. The experience would only boost her momentum into the field: “I found it incredibly rewarding seeing the videos I edited being shared on LinkedIn and social media, using them as a way to showcase their accomplishments!”

Because the work Olivia has done with Variant Magazine has brought her so much joy, she seeks to continue working in the industry as a fashion filmmaker for a high-profile fashion magazine, such as Vogue. She aspires to film Fashion Week in New York City, Paris, and other major fashion capitals. Wherever she works, she yearns to be in a creative industry where she can collaborate with other talented minds, continue learning from industry pros, and improve skills as a video editor every day.

The team at Gorilla Creative is glad to be a small part of her lifelong journey. Aside from the scholarship funds she has received, we will be conducting a personal AMA where she can spend time talking with the team at Gorilla Creative to learn more about filmmaking from working professionals. We love seeing the next generation becoming inspired to work in the same field we do. Congratulations, Olivia! You can find more of her work here.