Pacific Index

Senior film and video major, Angelina Dominguez, embarks on the concluding semesters of her final year at Pacific University

“Going into senior year is scary, but it’s also really fun to be able to reflect on… all the memories,” says senior, Angelina Dominguez, a blue backpack full of notebooks tucked beside her chair. Noting how much has changed, not just for her, but for the school over the past four years, Dominguez shares enthusiasm for her burgeoning work on her senior capstone project.

“As of right now, my capstone is going to be a 60 page script as though I was pitching a pilot episode,” Dominguez explains, going into depth about the years of story-writing she has undergone to be so prepared for this final project. 

Since she was 16 years old, Dominguez has been working on a story, not too dissimilar from Percy Jackson, in which shapeshifters, who shift into werewolf-esc forms, navigate a world in which they must fight a big-bad villain. Dominguez describes the whims of her main character, explaining that, “Long story short, it’s about a young wolf shifter going to this camp… and it’s like a four-year program type thing.” While she started work on this story when she was still in high school, throughout her four years at Pacific, she has only further developed the finer details of her story. 

Though it would be wonderful if Dominguez could produce a full-fledged film with this incredible fantasy story, her capstone project will only cover a 60 page script and trailer, in a mock-pitching interview. While she unveils that she had originally intended on doing a documentary, Dominguez’s plans fell through. “I originally wanted to do a documentary, and then it got thrown out the window,” explains Dominguez, though clarifying that the concept of creating a more narrative piece excites her equally as much. She notes that the current step of her process is, “…Story building, like originally, it was just like, here’s my silly little guys. My fun little characters that I just like to draw.”

“It’ll probably be a presentation that’s going into depth about the process. So the pre-production and the production, post-production, all that stuff being like, this is where I started, this is the timeline, this is, et cetera, et cetera. and then like a short trailer,” remarks Dominguez, when asked about how she envisions her final presentation of her capstone. She hopes that by the end of this semester she can have a short mock trailer. While she shares her preliminary ideas for her capstone, she is still up in the air about some minute details regarding its final presentation.

While Dominguez is a talented film student and enjoys the craft not just as work, but also as a hobby; behind the scenes, she is just as creative in her personal endeavors. “Currently, I’ve gotten really into embroidery and yarn work as well as slowly getting back into reading, but it’s kind of hard when I have to do reading for school,” Dominguez admits, also saying that she loves to cook and has taken up drying herbs which she gets from the Boxer Gardens on-campus. Not only does she have a creative side, Dominguez is also a part of the Pacific rowing team, co-president of the Indigenous Student Alliance, and vice president of one of the one campus sororities.

When asked about where she sees herself post-college, Dominguez expresses that, “If I get the chance, I might continue to pursue this path working on this possible show, seeing if I could pitch it somewhere. Or in the meantime, just kind of looking around for jobs, maybe working in rigging for a bit…” While there is often plenty of work in the film industry for behind the scenes jobs, she wishes to pursue the more creative side in the future. “Film’s not a direct, like, I can go apply and be in this one path.. It’s all over the place,” explains Dominguez, though making sure to emphasise her drive for more than the typical set positions.

In her final remarks, Dominguez reflects that, “So much has changed over… the past four years… I’m a completely different person from when I came [to] college, and I think that’s pretty cool.”