Grad's guide to graduate admissions essays - Colleen Reding 2015
University of Southern California - School of cinematic arts
General graduate studies
Growing up, I always had a curious mind and a thirst for information. Much to the frustration of my parents, I was always asking abstract questions, presenting my ambitious theories and ideas, and looking to engage in long discussions about almost any topic. Despite this intellectual curiosity, reading was particularly difficult for me. I often refused to read and, most likely as a form of self-defense, would go on long rants about the pointlessness of reading. I found a refuge in film and television.
Movies and TV, particularly movies, have always made sense to me. While I could hardly read for more than a minute at a time without losing focus, I found I could watch challenging films that my friends considered boring for hours with total involvement. My intellectual connection with film became so strong that I could not imagine what purpose books could possibly serve.
Ironically, after such a tumultuous start to my relationship with the written word, I have grown up to be an avid reader. Still, my affinity for film remains. As I encounter new themes and concepts in other art forms and in my own life, I find that film anchors my intellectual and emotional progress. For me, film has become more than a mere source of entertainment and intellectual stimulation. I have developed relationships with the great films and the great filmmakers that have shaped the way I see the world. I have internalized Hitchcock’s fear of imprisonment, Fellini’s obsession with the spectacular, and Scorsese’s guilt. I have connected with Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen, and Charlie Chaplin in ways that, although entirely different, in some ways surpass my relationships with some of my closest friends.
While I understand and have been impacted by the language of film, it is not yet a language I can speak. Up to this point, my line of communication through film has been one way—I have been affected by the films of others, but I have not been able to express myself through the medium, at least not beyond my amateur attempts at filmmaking. I aspire to enter into that privileged group of people who can not only experience the films of others but also express themselves through films of their own.
Growing up, my outlet for expression was not an artistic one but rather, a physical one. Tennis was my consuming passion and my commitment to the sport was so complete that I hardly had the opportunity to consider other pursuits in any meaningful way. During my sophomore year of college, a serious injury forced me to take a year and a half away from the sport. Although this was a devastating period for me, I now see my injury as something of a blessing. The absence of tennis in my life left a void that needed to be filled.
It was during this period that my love for film intensified, and I discovered screenwriting as my new outlet for expression. Though the timing of this shift of focus seemed like a mere coincidence at the time, I now realize that my interest in artistic expression could only evolve when my outlet for physical expression receded. My experience with screenwriting has been overwhelmingly positive. I now have the good fortune of seeing life’s challenges not just as obstacles that must be overcome, but also inspiration for my work as a writer. I have written constantly, studied screenwriting in class, and read as many books and screenplays as I could in order to improve my craft. Screenwriting has allowed me to channel my creative energies in a way that I had not previously imagined.
Despite its incredibly fulfilling aspects, I have learned that screenwriting is an incomplete medium. The words on the page exist only to be transformed into images on the screen. As fulfilling as screenwriting may be, a screenplay can never really be a vehicle for communication unless it is translated into film. As I result, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of film production in order to fully communicate my stories or the stories of others by using the full power of cinematic expression.
My need to communicate and express myself guides my outlook as an aspiring filmmaker. The two key elements of communication are first having something to say and second having an audience who wants to listen. It seems most contemporary films fall into either the category of films that have something to say that no one wants to watch or films that appeal to a large audience but have nothing to say. The responsibility for modern filmmakers is to walk the tightrope between the two extremes.
If there is one quality of mine that I trust will guide me as an aspiring filmmaker and possibly separate me from my peers, it is a powerful appreciation of the need for films to entertain as well as move their audiences, both emotionally and intellectually. A film that addresses life’s most profound issues but does not entertain is no better than a mindless blockbuster that leaves the consciousness of the audience at the moment the credits roll. My dream is to find that rare balance and take part in making films that are entertaining enough to captivate an audience and powerful enough to move them.
