College Admissions Essay: How Movies Influenced My Life

To put it simply, there is nothing more I would rather do than influence how people see good and the bad in our world, and to me there is only one medium for that, film.

As you probably could have assumed, I love to watch any film I can get my hands on, and my once strong friendships are hanging on by a thread due to hours spent helping on short films of mine. Unlike some applicants, I come from a farming community with no film connection, none of my classmates are interested in pursuing a career like film, my school offers no film courses, and I have no film connection currently. Surely I sound like a poor fit for the Hollywood Reporter’s top film school, you may even wonder why I, without a single connection, would choose this field. Hopeful it may be understood me more through my background.

At the time I had been in boy scouts for almost two years. It was the coming of the digital age and our troop was already swept into the rip curl. Naturally I was surprised when the scoutmaster brought a point and shoot digital camera to a meeting one Sunday night. He thought it would be a good idea for one of us to start taking pictures, sharing our stories with prospective scouts and family members. Around the room no one raised their hand to volunteer for the duty until I felt my hand nervously rising. The camera was something at the time, a waterproof, shockproof, freezeproof, dustproof, 14 megapixel Fujifilm with 8x optical zoom. My dad is a determined, hard worker, and from him I learned that I shouldn’t shirk my duties. Therefore, I carried that camera to each monthly outing, service activity, and court of honor for the next four