In 2008, as a Junior attending Boonsboro High School in Boonsboro, MD, I became part of their Theatre Department. Upon joining their department I began having a renewed interest in film. It was their I made my decision that I would pursue a career in that field. In May 2009, after a long search I made my decision to attend Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV. It is where I am currently and where I hope to graduate as a Communications student and have great success in my film concentration later in my career.
The reasoning I chose to be a Communication student with a film concentration was multiple. One such reason was my love of film making dating back to when I was a Middle School student. I feel that film is the best art form on the planet in the sense that unlike pictures or paintings the images are moving and can tell multiple stories by what you see and interpret. Another reason is the amount of jobs there are in the world when it comes to film making. Its an art form that will never go away and has different fields within it such as animation, camera work, directing, producing, editing, narrative writing, storyboard work, and countless others.
The required courses to take for all communication students include: Communications and New Media, Voice and Diction, Narrative Scriptwriting, History of Film or History of Television, and Computer-Mediated Communication. Once those core courses are completed my concentration focuses on Sound Design, Single-Camera Production, Music Video or Experimental Video, Studio Production, Advanced Production, and one course from the New Media Concentration which could either be: Graphic Novel, Game Design, Animation and Communication, Motion Graphics, or Advanced Internet Media. It is my opinion that each individual class serves more of an importance on terms of the major as it teaches every major element of the film major. For example, Voice and Diction serves as a great communication class for teaching proper speaking, a major importance for a film career and for pretty much every career in general. Narrative Scriptwriting comes in handy when you're attempting to tell a story within the film you're making.
One of the key things to any profession is knowing the history of the said-profession in order to learn from history and to understand it. For this reason, the history of film and history of television are necessities as they both tie into the major and gives you insight. In this modern world we live in, computers is the most important tool of communication and technology in the film world as all editing, and animation are done with computers. It is because of this that Computer-Mediated Communication is an essential class that can go a long ways. Once you get into the film concentration itself you will discover that each class is significant in that it teaches you a different branch within that field.
For example, Sound Design falls under of editing as it mixes the dialogue, effects, and music within the film. Single-camera Production revolves around the use of filming with one camera and adjusting the angles and light pending on the shot. Music Video and Experimental Video revolve around two different premises as music video is a fast-paced short video done to music whereas experimental video is something experimental like filming a man sleeping for several hours or shots of the lights in the empire state building. Studio Production is about the use of studio equipment, the production system, and the functions of production personnel. Finally, Advanced Production is the principles and practices of short film production including digital cinematography, sound, lighting, and editing.
The communications major is one of many fields based on the concentration. In my concentration I hope that I am able to get far in the film world. While I do have some exact things in mind I also feel that they will change as I learn more and more about each film branch. My ultimate goal is to achieve a steady career in film, make great financial gain by moving up the career ladder, and to get attention to Shepherd’s University ever-growing Comm department. It is my belief after attending their film fest earlier in the semester that this school has great young talents and does a great job with teaching their students.
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