Pablo Villegas - Alumni Spotlight

8Location recordist Pablo Villegas graduated from OIART’s audio production school in 2005, pictured here a couple years back shooting a documentary about an Ayahuasca retreat in Colombia. He said, “It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 11 years since I finished the course!” Pablo has travelled the world recording sound for film and television, achieving a Canadian Screen Award nomination “as a fluke,” he says modestly. Pablo says, “The more I work, the more I confirm that my favorite types of gigs are those where I’m surrounded by people who understand the importance of teamwork. Making a TV show, a fiction film, a documentary or even a corporate video requires the collaboration of multiple people with a wide variety of skill sets. Understanding this and learning to navigate such environment is crucial to being successful and enjoying going to work every day.”



Pablo has had the opportunity to work on a large variety of productions over the past few years and feels very lucky that they have allowed him to have experiences, meet people and see places that most other people have “never even heard of.” Pablo told us some of the highlights for him have included, “having a microphone hit four times by a very angry Michael Ironside while boom operating on the film Turbo Kid then getting a huge bear hug from the same man at wrap, camping with the Baka people in the middle of the Congolese jungle and returning home with a parasite infested foot after spending 6 weeks on the banks of a remote river in the Amazon, and listening to a man talk for hours about how he has invented a special hat that keeps aliens from being able to control us telepathically.”

He added, “I have to say that OIART was the right move for me at that moment in my life. The school never gave me false hopes about the industry (or industries) and its possibilities. Although I did learn a tonne and acquired a solid understanding of the basic principles of sound recording, the most valuable thing I got out of school was understanding the importance of having the right attitude and mindset. If you open your mind to be part of the solution in any situation, you have already done a huge amount of work to achieve your goals.”