Unlike High School, in College nothing is handed to you. You get what you give. This concept can be very distressing at first. It can be hard to know exactly what to do if you want to get involved but don’t necessarily have lots of skills as a freshman, but I am here to tell you that whatever you get an urge to do, especially if it’s going to further your career, is something you should keep your mind on.
So many teachers, especially in the film program which I am a part of, stress the importance of starting off by doing anything you are capable of; pick up a camera and start filming random events if you want to be a filmmaker, free write scripts if you want to be a writer, etc… When I was a Freshman, I thought they were exaggerating, cause how could I, with no experience at all, get out and do something without learning it first. What I was missing, though, is how powerful the process of figuring it out alone, with zero money and no one forcing you to go one way or another, can really be.
For the first two semesters I held onto the assignments we were given like a bible. I didn’t think I was good enough to go out and try it myself. That was until a very dear and sweet friend of mine, who is a Senior and Film student, asked me to co-write a script with her and produce it all within the span of a few months.
Although I was grateful enough to have someone push me in that direction and make me comfortable enough to just DO something, I truly wish that I would have started getting together with friends earlier to work on personal projects. Not only does it teach you to work outside of the limitations of classes, but it also lets you foster amazing relationships with fellow artists like yourself.
You don’t need to make a masterpiece. You don’t need professional cameras or a 50 person crew. Just get together with an idea and a few friends and see how it goes! It will be as reward as it can get!
