{"id":472,"date":"2023-02-13T19:55:35","date_gmt":"2023-02-13T19:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/?p=472"},"modified":"2024-03-05T15:49:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T15:49:00","slug":"confidence-communication-and-computer-skills-gained-at-wcsu-enable-gizmo-rivera-to-build-award-winning-visual-effects-career-in-la","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/2023\/02\/13\/confidence-communication-and-computer-skills-gained-at-wcsu-enable-gizmo-rivera-to-build-award-winning-visual-effects-career-in-la\/","title":{"rendered":"Confidence, communication and computer skills gained at WCSU enabled Gizmo Rivera to build an award-winning Visual Effects career"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Guillermo

Alumnus Guillermo Alexis ‘Gizmo’ Rivera<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. As a first-generation student growing up in New Britain, Guillermo \u201cGizmo\u201d Rivera was interested in a career in media or entertainment, but he had several things working against him. His family could not afford a computer and his high school guidance counselor, based on her experiences with his older brother, had suggested that \u201ccollege isn\u2019t for everybody\u201d and did nothing to assist him with his search.<\/p>\n

So, Rivera did the research himself, applied to several universities and \u201cleft the doors open and let it be.\u201d He ended up being accepted to universities in Maine, Rhode Island and several in Connecticut. Rivera made his decision based upon the first acceptance packet he received \u2014 from Western Connecticut State University<\/a> \u2014 and took the first steps toward fulfilling his California dream.<\/p>\n

Initially a Theatre Arts major, Rivera switched to Communication-Media Arts. As a sophomore, he finally got his own PC and \u201cit opened up the floodgates of what was possible,\u201d he said. He quickly ended up as a student technician in the university\u2019s Information Technology office \u2014 a job he juggled with his off-campus jobs as a waiter and bartender to pay for tuition. He wanted to learn more about computer architecture and got the necessary approvals to skip the prerequisites and go directly into higher-level classes because it came so easily to him.<\/p>\n

In his Communication<\/a> classes, he was equally enthralled, thanks to his professors<\/a>. \u201cKhalda Logan was amazing. She introduced me to tech, lighting, environments and positioning. Hugh McCarney showed me the theory of film; we\u2019d watch movies and break them down like I\u2019ve never done before. My adviser was Katie Wiss, and she taught me how to listen and write, how to be a student and ingest the information properly. She suggested classes and expanded my horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Rivera didn\u2019t learn in his classes, he learned from his fraternity brothers at TKE<\/a>, where he was Rush chair and vice president. \u201cGreek life is not all about partying like people think,\u201d he said. \u201cWe always had the best GPA. In TKE I learned about budgeting, how businesses are run, and it helped me work with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Media, Rivera worked briefly for IBM in Southbury before moving to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of working in the entertainment industry. Along the way, he leveraged his computer skills to get his foot in the door at various production companies doing dubs and tapes and fixing anything and everything until one day \u201cthe visual effects guy went AWOL and I got to fill in,\u201d Rivera recalled.<\/p>\n

Twenty years after graduating, Rivera still has strong feelings about his time at WCSU. \u201cWhenever I would leave Berkshire Hall, when those doors opened, I felt a sense of I could practically do anything,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt like the world was my oyster. At WCSU, the environment, the culture, the professors \u2014 I never felt that way as a kid in New Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly love WCSU,\u201d Rivera continued. \u201cI think the school has given me the confidence that I needed and still have to this day. In college, I visited friends at other schools, and I believe WCSU\u2019s professors are just as good and care just as much as at any well-known school. Here, it\u2019s a true community and you\u2019ll actually be noticed for your hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of hard work, in his career, Rivera<\/a> has contributed to 27 major feature films including \u201cAvatar,\u201d \u201cThe Incredible Hulk,\u201d \u201cX2: X-Men United,\u201d \u201cAliens vs Predator: Requiem\u201d and \u201cThe Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons\u201d as a Visual Effects Artist\/Supervisor. He\u2019s done commercials and music videos, and won a\u00a02013 Emmy Award<\/a>\u00a0for \u201cSunday Night Football Open.\u201d Rivera continues to work on films, commercials and music videos, and anything that needs to be altered digitally.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy job sounds cool, but it\u2019s a grind,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cNo one sees the time and effort I put in at 4 a.m. That\u2019s the real part of this industry: it\u2019s a business first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having said that, there\u2019s nowhere else Rivera would rather be.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttending WCSU gave me the foundation to be successful in a very competitive industry, Visual Effects,\u201d Rivera said. \u201cThe professors and staff prepared me to think critically and expand my understanding in the building and creation of a film. I was exposed to the latest cameras and editing tools of the day and given a great deal of knowledge in film studies and theory. After graduating, I had the confidence and the tools to compete, and build a career in the entertainment and film industry. WCSU and its culture instilled in me a teamwork mentality that allowed me to achieve my dreams and make a living out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Western Connecticut State University changes lives by providing all students with a high-quality education that fosters their growth as individuals, scholars, professionals and leaders in a global society. Our vision: To be widely recognized as a premier public university with outstanding teachers and scholars who prepare students to contribute to the world in a meaningful way. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. As a first-generation student growing up in New Britain, Guillermo \u201cGizmo\u201d Rivera was interested in a career in media or entertainment, but he had several things working against him. His …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-stories","tag-success-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/success-stories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}