By: Heather Waldo
While only just beginning her journey at Longwood, Monea Allen (’24) is already making a name for herself in filmmaking.
Monea Allen (’24)
Monea is from Richmond and has four older siblings. While no one in her family created films, she still gives them credit for inspiring her to do. “When I was younger, I did watch a lot of movies. I have four older siblings, each with four different tastes in movies, so from there I would just watch whatever they were watching. That’s when I became hooked to the idea of storytelling.” This idea of being hooked on storytelling turned into a creative hobby for Monea. She began to be more serious in her filmmaking during her junior year of high school. During this time, she was also interested in poetry and began to make films about the poems she would create: “I began to make poetry visuals on YouTube, and that’s what sparked my interest. I knew I was meant to do something in that field.”
Click here to see one of Monea’s poetry visuals.
For Monea, her interest in filmmaking clicked from the very beginning. Her passion for film is natural and genuine, both of which show in her creations. You would think Monea would have a system for planning and creating her films. Instead, she chooses to use looser guidelines and alters them depending on what she is creating.
“When I create a film, there is no structure at all. I know there should be but what I do is put the visual together first and then I think about what message I want to spread to others. From that message, I create a theme from all the videos combined.”
Click here to see Monea’s favorite video she has created.
As for Monea’s work, she is no stranger to being a part of big projects. She was a contributor on the “American Portrait” project by PBS. Monea mentioned she felt a little intimidated to work on this project due to being surrounded by professionals in her field. Allen’s job for the project was to interview five people in Richmond and a create a video to be included in the project. “I learned so much in the few months that I worked on it, and from that, I just tell everybody to reach for the stars and if you want something, just go for it.”
Since Monea just started attending Longwood, she hasn’t started taking any digital production or editing courses yet. She said she is interested in learning more about camera work and “I’m looking forward to taking classes where we go out and make films. I’m very excited to perfect my craft even more and learn things that I’ve never thought about.”
Allen also mentioned that she would be interested in creating films as a career but also wants to experiment with acting. As she progresses through her degree, she will soon learn many tools and techniques for filmmaking that will make her dreams a reality. She also said out of all of the film genres, documentaries were her favorite to create.
Click here to see more of Monea’s videos.
Monea Allen is definitely someone to watch during her time in Communication Studies at Longwood. Her natural talent at filmmaking is quite impressive and the knowledge she gains from her Communication classes will help in her professionalism and techniques. The department is already looking forward to seeing everything she will accomplish. Welcome to the #COMMunity Monea!