Assignment 7- David Butler

The past year has been far more complex and confusing than anyone could have expected. I believe the word jumbled sums it up rather well, because that's exactly what it's been, a jumbled mess. But through that mess we've grown and some of us now appreciate parts of our lives that we otherwise took for granted, like our social lives which no matter how small or large, kept us from going insane. More importantly we've grown to appreciate the things we loved, whether it be people, places, or even hobbies. This forced us to grow as a society and advance skills or hobbies that we enjoy. Some already had passions that drove us but others rediscovered them. One of my long term passions has been film and as a kid I saw it as a way to get away and in a way dive into a creative space where I was in control. Anything i wanted to do, if i tried hard enough it could come alive on film and so i fell in love with it. I did it for many years but as I grew I thought something in the creative arts was unrealistic and I would never amount to the great producers of Hollywood. I never thought my vision could appear on the big screen so I put my passion behind, but subconsciously it was front and center. As years went on I grew my skills without even knowing it as every movie I watched I picked apart meticulously from a young age and never thought much of it. Some may have seen me do this and i have even had people say “why can't you just enjoy the movie” or “why are you such a critic?''. But they're wrong if they think that because I loved it. Seeing the scene and picking apart shots made me subconsciously feel closer to the world of film. In my mind it was like i was behind the scenes and i could see how they were shooting every shot, every camera angle, how they set the lighting, or stitched together shots. I even watched endless amounts of movies and videos about how they shot certain movies. I read enough articles to fill multiple books and was enthralled by actor interviews. I even went to places like universal studios, Comic-Con and Disney world and instead of just enjoying the roller coasters or atmosphere, i relentlessly thought about how they made these amazing films. I was more interested with the behind the scenes than the actual movies being shot then about a year ago i realized what i was doing and thought to myself that this is what i should be doing. I had without knowing it put in 10+ years of research into something that really interested me. So i gave film making another shot and i was far better than i ever was as a kid, go figure. I had skills in plot development, cinematography, insights into film production, and I was ready to work harder than ever. For the past year I have been devoting a huge chunk of my free-time to developing my own skills and I've grown exponentially. I started with just i movies and an idea but that grew and I now can fluidly use premiere pro and stitch in complicated edits into my videos. I've learned camera professional camera tricks and even invested in professional equipment. For example, I am currently building a supercomputer which I worked for months at my job to be able to afford. I have never worked harder at something in my life yet feel so entertained and invested like it wasn't work at all. All I can say to whichever college that accepts me, I will be one of the most hardworking applicants you will see and like always, I strive for improvement.