FST 302 Matt K

These were some solid general guidelines, but after reading this I honestly don't feel any more prepared or motivated than I was previously. To me it is all written like one of those corny motivational posters I saw in middle and high school with a picture of a guy climbing a mountain and a generic phrase about conquering your fears or something. Don't get me wrong, everything in the Student 7 is solid advice, but these are all things I've been trying to do regardless. There isn't really any specific advice, it's just basically saying "learn all the technical aspects of the equipment you are using!" and "form a solid crew with good group dynamics!", stuff that should really be obvious I would think. I hope this doesn't sound too cynical, I've just never been a huge fan of this kind of vague motivational stuff.

The debates over categorizing and naming things like avant-garde film to me seems like largely a waste of time. Personally I believe that everything in life is fluid and similarities between two different objects will or won't be seen depending on who is looking for them, so attempting to rigidly categorize things and decide proper names is pointless. For example, assuming humans live for at least another thousand years and manage to avoid reverting to Dark Age era technology, we will have another 900 years of film history that will unfold. To someone from the year 2756, the various sub categories of films within the 20th century will seem silly, as to them it will most likely all fall under the same broad brush of "ancient films." I'm not saying they will be unable to distinguish an experimental film from this century with a Hollywood blockbuster, but there are most likely similarities between every movie made up until now that we simply can't see. If film styl...

This really resonated with me. I'm definitely not one of the people entering the film industry for money or to solely work on big budget films, although I wouldn't be opposed to either of those things in the distant future. Ultimately though I would much rather create something that lasts long after I die, even if my name isn't attached to it and I get no zero recognition. I believe that creative work in any form is one of the purest aspects of being human, and I would gain far more satisfaction in creating something that stood the test of time and that was considered high quality (at least by some people, I don't necessarily care about mass appeal either) rather than create a series of vapid, soulless youtube videos on a channel that went viral and made me a ton of money. If I never progress beyond "amateur" film making but am able to create a number of unique, creative pieces I will be extremely satisfied. The freedom Maya Deren talks about is where true u...

I only recently rediscovered my passion and desire to work in the film industry, which had been my dream as a child. This is my second time going to college - the first ended abysmally since I didn't have the discipline or motivation to succeed and probably should have taken several years off from school after graduating high school. Instead I joined UNCG as a communications major after much prodding from my parents, where I was told (along with about 200 other students in a large auditorium) that no one from that school had ever gone on to any success in the film industry. The teacher saying this was a miserable human being who clearly didn't want to see the youth he was entrusted to teach go on to greener pastures. Needless to say, I was incredibly discouraged, although with my lack of discipline I was doomed to fail regardless. I went on to drop out of school after four incomplete semesters, then spent the next several years in a whirlwind of ups and downs, odd jobs, a lit...