"HARDWORKING CLEVELAND" is WKYC's digital web series looking for Clevelanders working hard at their careers. Are you a hardworking Clevelander? Email hardworking@wkyc.com "
CLEVELAND -- There are many filmmakers trying to live their dreams making movies for the big screen. Others are trying to be YouTube stars. Then there are some filmmakers, grinding to make video content as their 9-5 career.
Meet Keith Delarosa, a freelance filmmaker living his dream with his own film company SceneAmatiX. Delarosa does everything alone from being a cinematographer/DP, editor, colorist, sound mixer and producer. He gets his income by helping clients see their vision in music videos, wedding videos and corporate videos. When Delarosa isn't making videos to pay his rent, he helps other filmmakers with their narrative short or feature films.
Delarosa has been nominated for the Cleveland Legends Awards multiple times for Videographer of the Year. He won in 2017. He also won an award in 2015 for videographer of the year from the Ohio Hip Hop Awards.
Notably Delarosa has worked with MGK & Doe Boy as their cinematographer and editor on this music video called "Gang" that has been viewed over 3.5 million times on YouTube. He continues to do BTS videos with MGK when he goes on tours across the country.
Delarosa also has worked on a short film as a cinematographer winning the 2018 Cleveland 48-hour film horror project called "My Skin is Grey" that moved on to Filmapalooza representing Cleveland in Orlando, Florida.
Delarosa's work also got him featured on Chipotle's website and Facebook making a Valentine's Day promotional video with his musician friend Aaron James, who wrote a poem about Chipotle. Delarosa made the video for fun with James and tagged Chipotle in it on social media. The next day they messaged him asking if they could feature the video. Ever since then, Delarosa now has a working relationship with Chipotle for future video projects. Hence why you may see Delarosa being referenced online as the Chipotle God.
Delarosa's also filmed this viral BTS moment with Jarvis Landry talking to Odell Beckham before it was announced he was coming to the Browns. At the time, he was helping film a BTS videos with his photographer friend Benjamin Meyer (Instagram).
However, Delarosa's didn't begin his journey in filmmaking nor did he go to film school. He started out as a musician and DJ. His passion grew as he started learning from another filmmaker that shot his music videos for his own music. He continued to learn film terminology on YouTube from teachers like DevinSuperTramp, Potato Jet, Film Riot, IndyMogul, Peter Mckinnon, The Buff Nerds, and RocketJump. He likes to say he graduated from YouTube's film university.
The day Delarosa officially became a filmmaker was when another friend needed a music video. Delarosa borrowed a mini camcorder and Go-pro. He said he never got paid in money for the first few video shoots he did with all artists he had met. He just asked for gas to get him there and back. He kept growing his craft and saved up money for his first professional DSLR camera, a Nikon D5300. From then on, his career blew up and now, eight years later, he shoots videos on his $12,000 camera, the RED Scarlet-W.
Delarosa lives by the filmmaker mantra, "It's not about the gear, it's about the person using it and how they use it. Focus on the creativity, not on shiny new toys. You'll know when you need something new, when your knowledge and skill calls for it."
Delarosa doesn't have any plans on leaving Cleveland. He plans on continuing to build the Cleveland scene with his filmmaking. He wants to help the vision of as many local artists as he can.