My name is Dennis James Ragone, and I hope to be a future writer, and director. I have no shame in saying that the reason I am so interested in film is because of a man named Quentin Tarantino. I first fell in love with him when he released Kill Bill Volume 1. I was aware of his previous works but Kill Bill was the first film of his I was exposed to. I was even more enthralled when Volume 2 was released. The funny part is, my parents would not let me see these movies so I had to obtain a pirated version. This allowed me to actually edit the footage, and audio found on the disc. I spent the next year making faux commercials for Kill Bill. It's then I realized that I loved film and would love to be any part of the filmmaking process.
I also find music to be a tremendous inspiration when it comes to creating characters. Some characters i've created are entirely based on a song i've heard. I think this also stems from Tarantino. The soundtracks he incorporates into his films are absurdly iconic, and cool.
I would like to be a part of films that deal with LGBT characters as I feel we are vastly underrepresented in media. I think there is a lot of potential for LGBT story lines to really become very popular in film, because a big part of it is representing the human condition. In my opinion, there are no better representations of the human experience than groups of people who have been discriminated against for a very long time. I feel like I want to be a part of this new wave of films focused on the hardships of the LGBT community.
I also have a large interest in science fiction type films. A dream of mine would be to have a large sci-fi project that includes LGBT characters. I think there is a lot of narrative potential to have characters not seen as "normative" to mainstream society being thrust into situations outside of reality itself. Random note: my favorite plot device in sci-fi is the concept of time travel (but only when it's done right!)
I am also very influenced by video games. I have been ever since I was a child. I think they are a very underrated art form. Especially with the current generation of video games, some of them have become very good narratives told in a very interactive form. A current narrative gem, in my opinion, right now is a game called The Last of Us. In my opinion it is one the best post apocalyptic narratives ever told. The medium keeps evolving to include more narrative focused games, and I feel like it gives me another unique perspective in regards to my film making.
I hope to combine all my inspirations to truly create a name for myself that I can be proud of. All I really want from life is to create things that invoke thought within people.
