Stanislav Puzdriak
Cinematographer
Philadelphia, PA
“United States is a great country and I felt it during my first year here in Philly. If you do something really cool, people appreciate it and they are ready to pay you for your hard work. People here are more thankful.”
All the way from Ukraine, videographer Stanislav Puzdriak moved to the US at the end of 2019, and logged a monumental first-year in the States.
In hope of greater opportunities, Stan moved to the city of Brotherly Love just months before the outbreak of a global pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests and quite possibly one of the most memorable election periods in our nation’s history.
"It was the best and worst year of my life at the same time. The first part of the year was tough, nearly running out of money. I spent 6 months promoting my services and am finally getting good work.
BLM was very familiar for me. I went through two revolutions and one war in my country, most of which I took a pretty big part in."
Stan said he has always been curious about cinematography, but it wasn't until he transferred college twice that he learned it was his thing. While quick-cut ads are one of his signatures, Stan admits he prefers an atmospheric, long-form technique, similar to director David Fincher.
"I will not lie, my biggest inspiration is my competitors work. ‘Steal Like an Artist’ - it's a very cool book that explains how this concept works; I recommend it to everybody."
His journey from documenting life in the Ukraine to transplanting his entire life to Philadelphia begins with a girl named Anna.
“In Ukraine, I was a punk and a guitar player…not much has changed. We met in the “punk” period of my life 11 years ago. She was a singer in another rock band looking for a guitar player. When she was 19, her parents took her to the US, so it was the biggest reason for me to move to America. It took me 5 difficult years to open a visa, but now we are very happy to be together again in Philly.”
3 years before moving to the US, Stan started a media production company based out of the Ukraine called Rebel Monkey Productions.
“I was looking for an idea about what services we can provide for the US companies. I didn’t want to waste any time just waiting my visa and now I’m running my business from a distance."
Now that he’s beginning to settle into Philly, Stan says he’s excited to meet and work with more business owners and finally provide a service to people he can actually connect with.
We first met Stan back in June when we saw his City of Brotherly Love video, and immediately began drafting up ideas for how we could work together.
Now, 8 months later, Stan has produced our Next Day Delivery ad, documented our Art Show, promoted our Espresso Stout with Dock Street, and keep an eye out for a 3D-animation project we have in the works.