The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

The student media organization of California State University Northridge

Daily Sundial

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A modern ‘Jack of all trades’

Quintuple threat Brian Tran, 22,  screenwriting major, sings, acts, directs, plays the saxophone and does magic.

Tran fell in love with film in the 6th grade when he had to do a project and didn’t want to write an essay.

“I made a film instead, with my family; a documentary,” he said.

From then on, Tran continued to work on films and later, through working on films, started acting.

Tran has many films on his resume and is currently working on an ongoing project that’s a black and white film entitled “Cupid’s Hot Dogs.”

“It’s like one of the French filmmaker, Jean-Luc Godard’s films,” he said.  “It has that feel to it.”

A few films that Tran has finished include a Moses documentary, “The Clicker,” “Death Waltz,” and the short film, “Not my Cup of Tea.”

“That was my most expensive project,” he said about ‘Not My Cup of Tea.’ “It cost me $2,000.”

Tran put “The Clicker” on the CSUN channel when he transferred to CSUN from community college.

Last semester Tran and his roommate, entered their film “Kill Me If you Can” in the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film has received an Internet Movie Database (IMDb) credit, which means that the film is receiving credit online, much like a resume.

The roommates are now waiting to hear back to see if they will be featured on the big screen.

Tran has set a goal for himself this semester to complete four films; two more than the previous semester.

However, “[I] got to focus on acting right now,” he said. “It’s where the money is.”

Tran has been working hard acting in multiple roles in different films for his fellow peers since school started. It is tough work being different characters each day; however, Tran says that it is worth it.

“It’s good character development,” he said.

Tran, whose favorite actor is Johnny Depp, found his love for film “randomly,” he said.  He likes Johnny Depp because of his versatility in roles. “I want to be like him,” he said.

“I wanted to be a film maker from experience. I like the process of making movies and stories,” said Tran.

Tran is also good at doing up and close magic. He started doing magic in the 6th grade, stopped for a few years, and then picked up on it again his junior year of high school.

His tricks range from using coins and dollar bills, cards, tying his shoe by shaking it, and stopping time.

“I like to do magic with random objects,” he said.

The one thing he isn’t capable of doing is stage magic. “I’d have to learn to do that,” he said.

He also said when he was younger he wanted to be a pop singer.

“I wanted to be like Michael Jackson,” Tran said.

When it comes to his future Tran doesn’t exactly know what he wants to do with his career. “I want to do everything,” he said.

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