It was an extreme honor to lead a team of content creators in producing this video feature on a homegrown player who has taken so much pride in his LA roots. Efrain Álvarez is an LA Galaxy Academy product who went pro at 16 years old, and two years later has scored his first MLS goal and is turning heads on the national level. What was most beautiful to me about this piece was experiencing the comfort Efra had in his legacy. He not only knows where he came from, but respects it and his family so much that he carries that with him in his desire to be the best.
“Not a lot of kids have the opportunity and luckily, I got one and I made it happen.”
Telling his story has innately been a journey as well. We started this project more than a year ago – and with changes in staff, his El Tri call-up to the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup and the worldwide COVID-19 shutdown – we were finally able to produce this project in September 2020.
Every clip had a purpose, every soundbyte was carefully selected to offer greater depth to the overall edit. It was a priority to me to incorporate nat pops as well, allowing the piece to breathe and the words of Efra and his parents to have time to sink in a bit. I wanted to keep the pacing chilled, almost to reflect Efra’s diction and vibe.
Shot on Canon EOS R RF 24-105mm F4 L,
Canon EOS R5 RF 50mm F1.2L, Sennheiser ME 66/K6 Shotgun Microphone
Barbara Maningat 