Max Levin: Director of Tomorrow

 

Student Profile:Max Levin

Max Levin is an aspiring director and content creator. Born and raised in Little Falls, N.J. Levin began to take interest in film when he was a freshman in high school. He says “My freshman year is when I really started noticing I want to do something with film." Levin says he remembers sitting in class and picturing movies he would want to make. Interestingly enough filmmaking wasn't the only career path he had in mind. “That led me down the line of game design” he said he took a game designing class but it was very confusing. Eventually he took a filmmaking class and that is where his goals and aspirations were solidified. After he graduated high school Levin says he applied to Montclair State and wanted to be a film major however he didn’t have enough time to make a short film required to apply as a film major. “I went for TVDM and plan to switch to film sometime next semester” he says. 

 Levin was an athlete in high school playing football and lacrosse for 3 years each but did not compete in any sports his senior year due to the pandemic. When asked if he had any hobbies Levin said “I like to play video games, I like to skateboard with my friends, I like to just hang out with my friends.” Some of Levin’s other hobbies include trying to learn how to play the guitar and create videos. “I’ll do practically anything as long as it involves fun” he said. Levin also likes to build Legos. He has a 4ft replica of the Avengers Tower made completely out of Legos.  

Levin was asked to share some interesting facts about himself. He said that he has a double jointed arm. Levin says his arm got that way from his elbow  being broken twice. Levin has only had one pet. It was a goldfish that according to him lived a very long time. "It was a goldfish that somehow lived for three and a half years. Beyond me I don’t know, he made it through even when we went on vacation. We’d give him to the neighbors and he still lived. He was the best pet I ever had.” Levin mentioned that he would love to have a dog. Levin has said that his favorite snack is the churro "Whoever just invented a stick fried with cinnamon, you're a genius.” His other favorite snacks are bagels” I like bagels, I get like two bagels every morning but I’m trying to slow that down because that's too much”. 

 When asked about his favorite class this semester Levin said it intro to field production and editing. “I like that I’m able to rent stuff from the cage, I’m able to like go film. It gives me stuff to put together. Like I said I’m a creator. I like to build, craft, and then eventually destroy." In terms of career paths Levin mentioned earlier that he wants to be a director. He shared that he is currently working on a short film that is going to be played at a film festival." I'm trying everything in my path, anything that I could to get me in that stance of being a director” he said. Levin continued talking about his dream of being a director “I want people to go out and be like let’s go see that new Max Levin movie.” 

  Levin said while he was shooting his short film that he did not write the script for it, "I more or less came up with camera angles scenes and how the actors should portray their role”. Levin was able to give a little insight about what his short film is about. The short film appears to be about war. “It’s about a general looking for a rebel commander and being ultimately tricked by the true commander in the end because he was blind to see past stereotypes.” Levin talked about his favorite movies and directors. He said pulp fiction was one of his favorites "because piecing that movie together for the first time was awesome.  He also listed Avengers Endgame and The Dark Knight. Levin’s favorite directors are Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. Levin was asked out of those two directors which one he would want to work with. "When it comes to working with them I would love to make a Batman show with Nolan”. He says that he wants to work with people who understand who see his vision.