BY GWEN HAYES
Sentinel Editor
A young woman with Tampa area ties served as the Visual Effects Senior Production Coordinator for the popular movie, Fruitvale Station, which is currently showing in area theatres.
Fruitvale Station, which opened in July, is based on a true story of Oscar Grant, 22, who was killed at the Fruitvale Area Rapid Transit Station (BART) in Oakland, CA. on January 1, 2009. The film tells the story of his life leading to this date.
Lauren F. Ellis, was born and raised in Maryland. Her connection to Tampa is through her parents – Ricky D. Ellis, a 1974 Plant City High graduate and Rhonda D. Smith Ellis, a 1978 Hillsborough High graduate. And, she has a sister still in the area, Farin A. Ellis, and several other relatives in Plant City and Tampa.
Ricky Ellis is a retired Marine who currently works for an electric supply company, and Mrs. Ellis (FAMU grad) is employed in Washington, DC as a legal assistant.
Lauren, 28, earned a Bachelor’s degree in Print Journalism from Hampton University. After working briefly in advertising in Atlanta, Lauren headed to the West coast in 2010.
“I didn’t feel that I was meeting my potential; I wanted to be more creative,” she explained. She went to San Francisco to study Animation and Visual Effects and received the MFA degree in December, 2012.
It was her final semester at the Academy of Arts University that she had an opportunity to work on Fruitvale Station, (“working through New Year’s celebrations”).
The film, considered a low budget film, was written and directed by Ryan Coogler. This was the second of Coogler’s films that Lauren had worked on with other students. Her job was to manage, in conjunction with the VFX producer, a team of artists and artists leads to complete visual effects shots for the film. Forrest Whitaker is one of the producers.
“I knew it was something special after reading the script,” Ms. Ellis stated.
Lauren recently landed a job with VFX Studio and she’s very excited. “My goal is to shed light on this field for young African American kids who love art. Art is a very practical, exciting and fulfilling career.”
The encouragement from her mother and the challenges from her father keep her going. “She never seems taken aback or sad about my long distance life…He preaches the gospel of entrepreneurship and pushes me to not conform to any bar set before me,” she said.
Lauren has 2 brothers, Craig A. Ellis (Miami area) and Cedric A. Ellis (Orlando), who also has film and creative aspirations. A member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., she enjoys running, drawing, writing, international traveling, cooking and eating!
