Keepin' it Reel: My Journey of Discovering my passion for Film and the Film Production career

 Growing up in the early 2000s, with the era of VHS tapes and Disney Channel, my fascination with movies started young. As an active and outgoing child, it was hard to keep my occupied on one thing. My mom would find her head being talked off by a four year old, constantly. In order to get a (well deserved) break, she would turn on a movie for me to watch. This was one of the only things that would keep my attention for longer than 15 minutes.  It also fueled my already ginormous imagination. Movies allowed for anything to be possible. I saw things like aliens becoming pets in Lilo and Stitch or a purple dinosaur finding a magical egg in Barney's Great Adventure. 

My imagination grew as time went on. Eventually, I grew out of the child like stories that I was obsessed with and tried my hand at more adult like movies. I remember I watched the Oscars for the very first time in the 7th grade. Watching people like Lupita Nyong'o and Sandra Bullock on my screen drew me into the world of real film. It was then that I knew I was gonna watch as many movies I could get my hand on, especially the ones that were featured at the Academy Awards. 

The moment I knew that my fascination might have been more than a fascination was in my senior year English class. We read Shakespearean plays like Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet, along with books like Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights. I noticed that when we would read these books, I would struggle to find themes within the writing or bigger picture messages that the authors were trying to convey. However, when my teacher would show the movie versions of these stories, suddenly, everything would click for me. I realized that it was much easier for me to understand themes through visuals, verbal dialogue, or even set dressings or costumes. This made me realize that film can be just as influential on an individual as a book can, and knowing that made me want to know more about what film can do. 

When I attended High Point University's Presidential Scholarship Weekend in 2019, I met with Dr. Gabriel Cruz, who was a current Pop Culture and Media Production professor at HPU. Upon speaking to him, it became a reality in my mind that film was a possible career path. I had never considered it before because it seemed so distant from me. I idolized these directors and producers and actors that I saw at the Academy awards every year. It didn't seem realistic for me to visualize myself in their shoes. However, Dr. Cruz ensured me that this wasn't unrealistic. Those people were normal people just like me and all it took was hard work and a passion for film. Now, I am a film major and my goal is to become a film production manager for films that make a difference. 

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