GGL’s resident video producer Chachi Ramirez is sounding off about his year. Find out what makes this quirky, hairy, crazy video producer tick, and see his contributions to Epileptic Gaming daily on epilepticgaming.ggl.com.
It had been three years in making…my dreams of making movies had finally come true. Although everything in this statement is true nothing about the last three years had been dreamlike. When you are from a small town in Texas, Hollywood seems like a distant and unimaginable cosmos of money, women and fame. I would sit through all my years of High School hoping to someday visit that West Coast Wonderland.
Little did I know that my future trajectory would land me right in the middle of this place we all know as Hollywood. Fast forward five years after high school…I am sitting in an apartment on Beachwood drive editing a feature film, 500 feet away from me perched on the mountain side is the Hollywood sign. I was sure I had made it!
Fast forward another three years, I had just finished producing my third HD feature film in Los Angeles. I was sitting in a bar with my roommate/BFF with thirteen dollars in my pocket and a mind full of thoughts about when my next job will come. I turn to my friend Shane (BFF) and tell him if I don’t get a full time job soon I might give up and go home. He looked at me and said he had an idea…
I had been freelancing for a company in Santa Monica for the past two years as a producer for the Hip Hop Gaming League. Shane was in charge of the project and mentioned the maybe the GGL could use someone full time to work on it, “Would you be into that?” He knew that I would be so two months later I was a full time producer…the future was bright or so I thought.
Considering I am a person who openly does not play many videogames, the transition into working at the GGL full time was certainly eye opening. It all started when the abbreviations and l33t speak began pouring out of the mouths of my colleagues. When I asked what these words meant I was given looks of sour disappointment and dismay.
“You don’t know what WASD is…you are such a NOOB!” My skin would turn to pins and needles every time I heard the word!
I had entered the dark abyss that is the upper 99th percentile of rabid gaming. The offices of the Global Gaming League are saturated with pro-gamers who’s life and culture are married to this gaming space…I was feeling like the odd man out. Fast forward another three months, I was sitting at my desk when Hogan “Kamra” Carter walked in and said they were going to need another cameraman to shoot the CGS event at EA. I offered my services and soon would be injected into the world of Epileptic video production.
Standing in front of the Counter Strike team competing for the first time was when things began to click for me. Watching the intensity of the teams as they screamed tactical strategy back in forth was amazing…this was a real sport! The emotions run high in a room full of nerds battling for the ultimate bragging rights, and all my doubts about the validity of the sport went out the window.
So I began my six month crash course session into competitive gaming. We covered events in Florida, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and finished with the mother of all events…the World Cyber Games Grand Finals. If there is ever a doubt about the future of competitive gaming, point your eyes towards Korea and marvel at what gaming can do.
It’s been a year for me within the offices of the GGL.com. I have made some really good friends and have gained insight into what makes the gamers cogs spin. We have made some really great content like Up All Night and 2008 will have some really great shows coming out…
From Chachi to you out there in Cyberspace…have a great Christmas!
