Ella’s work:
• Petals (2022)
• Bubble Gum (2018)
• Bloom (2020)
• Wonderland (2018)
• The Green Ribbon (2019)
• Stereo (2017)
• Boogie Night or Die! (2019)
• Stutter (2016)
• Where the Wild Things Are (2016)
Website / Social:
ellafields.com
Instagram
YouTube
Twitter
I believe that films are the strongest tool for empathy, and listening to the stories of people with completely different experiences than us is absolutely crucial.
Ella Fields, the JDogg Film Scholarship’s 2021 scholar, is a graduate of Champs Charter High School of the Arts and currently attending Emerson College.
“Since arriving at Emerson,” says Ella, “I could not be happier with the experiences I've had, opportunities that have been accessible to me, the things I've learned, and the people I've met.” Numerous small creative projects, through her Foundations in Film Production class, kept her busy last semester (her first at Emerson), including: Shooting a photo series about memories yet to be made; editing an audio project about the sounds of seasons and holidays within the cycle of a year; and experimenting with making sock puppets, making sets out of paper and cardboard, and animating them all digitally for a film called "Petals." “It was so valuable to be given this space to document the emotions and experiences of this transition to a new city,” states Ella, “alongside learning new techniques of the medium and collaborating with people with so many different strengths and interests.”
Also in her first semester Ella wrote a screenplay (as a submission to Frames Per Second, an Emerson organization) called "Merry Go Round," a queer romance about how love exists through distance, memory, and a non-linear perception of time. The screenplay was chosen to be made as the Freshman Narrative Film, and Ella says “Going through the process of creating this film has got to be one of the best experiences I have ever had.”
Pre-production for the film ran from December, 2021 through February, 2022 and consisted of late-night location scouting, working on shotlists, rehearsing with actors, hiring crew, and “all of the tedious yet exhilarating processes that come along with pre-production” as Ella puts it. The film was shot on the last weekend of February in 14 different locations. “We bundled up at the Charles River at 6am in weather where you could see the character's breaths, waited for trains to pass in the background of our shot…as snow fell from the sky, and rented two minivans to drive all the way from Boston to Rhode Island to film at the only carousel in all of New England that was open for the winter months. In between scenes, we sledded down a hill and collapsed into the snow laughing. We ate lots of delicious sandwiches that we stocked up on from the dining hall and shared lots of big hugs. For me, working with a crew who were all so eager to be there and who were so talented with their individual jobs led me to simply be able to direct, and the amount that I was able to get in the zone was unlike any other experience I've had. I felt so held by everybody, and could talk forever about how magical this process has been.”
Ella reports that, as of June 2022, the film is in pre-production, and added, “I just watched the locked cut last night and broke down in tears!” She continues, “I feel so lucky to have had all of these opportunities to create and do what I love, and am so incredibly grateful to JDogg for allowing me the means to attend Emerson and get everything out of these four years I can.”
Ella began winning accolades as early as 2014, earning the NFFTY Best New Talent Under 14 in 2016. The awards kept coming with, in 2018 the Best Drama / Romance at the L.A. Shorts Awards and Global Film Festival Awards Best LGBTQ Short, and in 2019 Honourable Mention at London X4 - Seasonal Short Film Festival and STARdance Youth Award at STARdance Film Festival. In 2020 she was Grand Prize Winner of the Archer Film Festival and won Best Short Film of LA Teens Film Festival.
Courageously, Ella has tackled gritty topics such as gun violence, sexual assault, sexuality and gender stereotypes in her films, which have garnered views in the millions, and she got her YouTube start — and attracted legions of fans — by speaking out about issues impacting teenagers.
Discussing her wildly successful short film Bubble Gum, she states “I wanted to represent the painful and confusing journey that every LGBTQ person goes through, to show the raw feelings of falling in love and heartbreak. I wanted people who are questioning to know their feelings are valid. They’re not alone.” [The Advocate, “The Queer Teen Filmmaker You Should Know”]
From day one it was clear [Ella] was going to be one of the most unique voices I have had the pleasure of teaching. She has lived up to that expectation. Her energy in class was infectious and her examples of work have quickly become foundational examples to my curriculum.
— Michael Ballestero, MFA
Digital Cinema Academy, Lead
Champs Charter High School of the Arts
“Ever since I was given a cheap camcorder at seven years old,” Ella explains, “I have been creating…I may not have seen it then, but my films have always been a direct reflection of both the difficulties and the wonders I have experienced in my life.” She’s learned that “Putting characters in my shoes and observing what steps they take in order to grow has allowed me to get in better touch with my intuition, and making movies has always been my absolute greatest superpower.”
Ella describes her passion for filmmaking thusly: “Movies are extremely influential on the collective ideology of society, so that is precisely why it is important to make a film. We can tell our stories better than anyone else on this Earth, and especially today, the ability to tell those stories is more accessible than ever. Life reflects art in a lot of ways, and this is why it is crucial for all stories to be told in the most authentic and powerful way possible.”