Chad Saecho started making films six years ago as a sophomore in high school when his dad bought him his first camera.

“Inception,” the 2010 movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was an inspiration.

“I was completely in awe as to how a story like that could be visually executed, and I knew then that I wanted to pursue cinema as an art form,” said the 21-year-old from Visalia.

Saecho now wants to pursue filmmaking as his lifelong vocation. The Media Communications and Journalism major with an emphasis in multimedia, plans to head to Los Angeles a few months after he graduates.

“I’d like to tell any story, really, that has a lot of heart and emotion,” he said. “I don’t really care about genre. I care about story.”

Saecho, as a filmmaker, feels it’s important to spread love and expand the world of art. Similar to other art forms, cinema is a form of escapism, which provides people a world to venture to when they want to escape real life, and for Saecho, “That’s incredible to me.”

He also feels it’s a unique privilege to be able to create a world in which to immerse people for a short period.

“It’s crucial to tell stories that are equally entertaining but also have elements of the human condition,” Saecho said. “If audiences walk away from the cinema not feeling something, then what was the point?”

Saecho has several major goals for his filmmaking career.

For starters, Saecho said he wants to share his ideas and stories to the world through the use of narrative fictional films.

A job well done for Saecho is generating some type of emotion, even if it’s only for a split second. Saecho said his main goal is “to be a source of inspiration for kids who have dreams of pursuing film.”

While at Fresno State, Saecho has worked on several on-campus projects. However, he said his best work is done outside of school. Academics plus the arts doesn’t work well for him, and the guidelines and rules in order to receive a high grade can get murky.

“Creativity and art shouldn’t be hindered by rules, so I tend to focus most of my time towards films outside of campus with my own cast and crew,” Saecho said.

Hearing about the process of making a film definitely shows the dedication it takes to create one. For him, it’s magical and the most rewarding thing he has experienced.

Creating an idea and watching it come to life for other people to see is a thing of beauty, he said.

Saecho also said he has learned by studying the work of the best filmmakers.

“I have a handful of directors I look up to,” Saecho said. “[Christopher] Nolan is one of my favorites. and his movie ‘Inception’ is what inspired me to do film. I love his cerebral non-linear storytelling. Quentin Tarantino is awesome. I love his dark humor and outlandish use of music and dialogue.”

Saecho explained the three essential stages: preproduction, production and postproduction. Preproduction, he said, is where the artist conceives an idea or a story to tell.

“Ideas are a dime a dozen, so crafting a narrative that’s different and has unique elements is quite difficult,” he said.

Production is the phase where the filmmaker executes the idea and makes it a reality. He said this is where “both the filmmaker and cast and crew are spending many hours on set crafting the story visually.”

Postproduction is the phase where all of the footage is edited into a cohesive story.

“It’s a lot like putting a huge puzzle together and you have all of these small pieces and you’re trying to paint them together to form the bigger picture,” Saecho said.

Saecho is passionate about filmmaking. Although, he said, it is tough and requires a lot of time and mental work, teamwork is the biggest thing. He emphasized the importance of this, and that if you don’t have a good team,then you don’t have a good film.

It’s all about collaboration and telling the story.

“Dedicating your life after college to the arts can be a scary thing,” Saecho said, “but I hope one day when I’m 65 years hold, my work as a filmmaker can inspire some kid with a camera to follow their dream.”