m o t i o n p i c t u r e s
About
Dirigo Motion Pictures
"The name comes from the latin motto for the state of Maine. I've lived in Maine since the age of 10 and when I was thinking of different potential production house names, I kept going back to the word Dirigo. If you ever have a chance to visit this magnificent state, you'll likely see many local and small businesses with the word Dirigo in their names. I finally looked up what it translates to and behold! Dirigo in latin means 'to direct' or 'to lead'.
That settled it."
- K.G.
Dirigo Motion Pictures is owned and operated by Kyle Grogan. The mission of Dirigo Motion Pictures is simple: to show and tell captivating stories. Stories told by Dirigo Motion Pictures may be fiction, non-fiction, or sometimes a combination of both.
Dirigo Motion Pictures would not exist without the influence of Elijah Hargrave, the commitment of Colin Vidas, or the support of the Grogan family.
Kyle Grogan
"When I was eight years old, my brother Elijah was 22. That was a pretty awkward point for our outstanding age gap. However, Eli somehow knew how to connect with all living things. One day, while visiting home, he asked me what I wanted to do. I showed him my action figures. He wasn't interested. That was, until he picked one up and commented on how posable they were. He quickly located my parent's VHS over-the-shoulder camcorder and placed it on the floor. Eli was an exceptionally talented artist of many mediums and, on that day, he explained the very basic fundamentals of stop motion to me. With quick starts and stops of the camcorder, he showed me that my action figures could move across a plain on their own. The rest was history. I became obsessed and my parents never saw their camcorder again, unless it was in my hands.
When I was 10 years old, I met Colin Vidas. Colin was my first live action actor, he being age nine. It was fifth grade and I wrote a story, on printer paper, with a pen, about a man traveling through an episodic adventure and ending up back where he started. The title was 'Yippa Pantoon's Expedition to Nowhere'. I invited Colin, and another friend of ours named Matt Stacey, over to my house . I then explained to them the concept of the movie and how we would make it. The three of us spent the entire day shooting on the camcorder and then enjoyed watching it together that night on my parent's living room TV. It turned out to be a 20 minute action/comedy with a coherent beginning, middle, and ending. I still have that VHS tape on a shelf in my home.
Shortly after making 'Yippa', I asked our teacher in shcool if we could show our class. My friends were a bit more reluctant than I was to share our onscreen performances with our peers, but we did it. The whole class laughed along and cheered at the end. It was my first premiere and it was successful. Colin and I kept up with our student filmmaking throughout highschool and even attended technical school together for video production. That is where I recruited the 3D animation talent of James Cowin along with the audio engineering and music talent of Jared Cardello, both of whom are childhood friends and long time contributors to the cause.
In senior year of high school, we created the student project 'All That Remains', a western short in which I poured my heart and soul. In the beginning stages, I had no one to play the antagonist, due to my being dead set on having an actual adult play the character. I asked my english teacher, who was head of the theatre department, and he said no repeadtedly. That was, until we were able to show him just how serious we were with some test footage. Upon seeing it, he agreed to act in it, and even gave up his personal weekend time to do so. My brother Elijah, visiting us in Maine, also played a character onscreen. That project was shown at night in our highschool's auditorium on a big screen to a packed house of nearly 300 people and recieved a standing ovation. The event even attracted a local news crew who did a story on myself and the project. My second premiere was successful.
After I was out of school, I had to return all of the gear that I was so well acqauinted with. It took me a few years to gather my own personal equipment, but I did so, slowly, piece by piece in small purchases, until I eventually came to own the filmmaking arsenal that I do today. As I acquired a new piece, be it a lens or a microphone or a light, I made new videos and began calling the projects, 'test footage'. It was not until the year 2021, at age 27, that I finally created what I consider to be my first official work that is no longer a student project or piece of test footage. There is much more on the horizon."
-K.G.
Kyle Grogan graduated from United Technologies Center's Commercial Video Communications program in Bangor, ME in 2013. Kyle is a two-time 1st place state winner and top five national finalist for the SkillsUSA Digital Cinema Creation skills contest (2012+2013). During that time Kyle created many student projects, shaping his writing, shooting, directing, and editing styles.
In the years since, Kyle has practiced perfecting his filmmaking craft with countless test shoots and experimental works. In 2021, he founded Dirigo Motion Pictures as the official name brand for all of his productions. He shoots with DSLR cameras and edits on his PC at home.