When did you realise you wanted to be a Film Maker? What was the clinching moment that did it for you?
It’s not too interesting of a story, but I always enjoy telling it!
You see, I’ve always loved storytelling. Ever since I was little, I apparently wanted to be a storyteller! Of course, I forgot about this during elementary school, got into manga and anime, and regretfully decided I wanted to be a manga-ka (before realizing I didn’t even care for manga).
Even in my first year of high school, I wanted to be some sort of comic book artist, and comics are a medium I have a lot of trouble with. It’s hard for me to follow them, so I gave up on that idea, and for a while, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.
When I moved from my first high school to my second, I felt lost and scared and without friends to really help me along. My mom told me to get involved with clubs and stuff, so I did that, and it didn’t work at first, but eventually it did. I am digressing from the point, though, so I must apologize and get back on track.
Anyway, I had a free elective the second semester of my sophomore year. I was given the choice to either do Media Technologies, a prerequisite class for the film class on campus, or Theatre. I hadn’t broken out of my shell at that point, so I opted for Media.
My Media teacher was this really strange short guy who has a giant gap in his teeth he whistles out of (very skillfully, at that). In short, he’s a pretty interesting character. Very fussy. And he knew a lot about filmmaking. A LOT. I mean, he wasn’t as knowledgeable as my college film professors, but he taught us how to be pretty damn well-rounded. We learned the basics to pre-production, production, post-production, motion graphics and graphic design—all kinds of stuff.
It was then when I realized the power of the film medium. I’ve seen many great films that moved my heart more than I could have ever imagined they would, but it never occurred to me before that making films would be something I’d dream about doing. This class made me realize that I wanted to be a storyteller in one of the most universal mediums in the world so I could touch the hearts of people everywhere.
It was very gradual, but I have a feeling that it was always there, but not exactly ever fully-realized until that year in high school. I’m pretty confident in myself when it comes to certain things, but now I’ve gotta work out the kinks in my confidence and learn more in-depth things about making films.
Sorry for the long story! I don’t get many asks, so I try to make the best of them by giving you a wall of text!