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I know this was posted on another forum, but Tsdad (thank you!) told me that I would be better off posting this here...

Hi, I know its getting late in the college admissions games as applications are coming up on their due-dates, but I have decided that I will take a shot at at least one of the "major" film schools. I understand competition for many of these schools is extremely fierce and I'm a late comer... but it was something I've wanted to do, and though UC Berkeley was initially an attractive prospect for an academic look at film -- the selections of classes, and the Prerequisites to declare it as a major, (The Pre-REQ entry course was not offered this semester nor will it be in the Spring!) courtesy of state "Budget Cuts/Crisis" has become, at generous statement, slim and at the harshest of criticisms, bare-boned to non-existant. I've already almost finished two film courses, both in critical analysis, but they were necessary background regardless. One was actually a Comparative Literature Course on the history of Film & Comedy with an emphasis on its effect on race, ethnicity and social class (Yes! One of those diversity requirements, but it was thoroughly enjoyable!) and a look at the technical aspects, theory and history of German and American film, (a course cross listed as German and Film Studies) and I am doing very well in both of these courses. My academic record is resonably strong, considering the difficulty of Berkeley, (roughly 3.2, will likely be a 3.5-3.6 after this semester assuming I don't blow my finals)

I understand that the competition is fierce, but I would like to know if I had a snowball's chance in Hell of getting in before I wasted my time compiling portfolios, writing personal statements, etc.

As for as experience goes, I've taken some courses in video editing, programming interactive media, film theory and history and I'm a prolific cinematographer, though only have about 5 serious film projects to my credit up to this point. I have several other art projects under my belt, including a collection of photographs from my summer trip to Japan.

A scan of my portfolio includes:

"The Prank Phone Call" - 14 Minutes, DigiVideo --Independent Student Film Competition
Position: Writer / Editor / Producer / Cinematographer
"Summer in Kutchan, Hokkaido" - 48 Photographs, Color & Black and White
Position: Photographer
"Glouster's Paradise" - 6 minutes, VHS Color, -- Done as a final project in an AP English class
Position: Actor / Writer/ Assistant Photographer
"Clashing Ideologies" - 30 Min, DigiVideo - MiniDocumentary accounting the tensions between student groups during a protest, Israel Action Committee, Students for Justice in Palestine. (Caught incidentally as Guerrilla Film)
Position: Cinematographer / Producer
"The Cosmos V2.0" - HTML Website/Computer Graphic Gallery -- Website programmed as a final project for my "Intro to Computers Course", includes extensive use of in-house CGI and photo-editing.
Position: Computer Graphics Technician / Editor / Programmer / Animator
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Trailer" - 4:32 minutes, -- done for a video editing course, given clips from "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" and had to make a trailer from it.
Position: Planner / Editor / Animator
"Heaven and Hell" - Flash Program / CGI
Done for an interactive media course -- created a game/quiz that determined whether the user went to Heaven or Hell on the basis of their actions.
Position: Writer / CGI-Artist / Animator
Other things in my portfolio include being a contributing editor/associate contributor to the UC Berkeley Humor Magazine, paintings, poetry and short stories.

I know I'm probably going up against kids that have several, more impressive productions under their belt -- but all I want to know is do I stand a chance at getting into at least one school? Thank you for your time.

By Ubiquitous (Ubiquitous) on Monday, December 08, 2003 - 09:03 pm: Edit

By the way, email me if you want to talk about any of this interesting life experience or computer related shizzle. Lata..

By Paula (Paula) on Thursday, April 22, 2004 - 06:46 pm: Edit

hi. im from colombia so i guess i have half the chance other people have of getting into a good film school. know there must be very hard to get into it. im 15 and i will probably star university here in colombia next year. but i really whant to learn and i know the school i go to will be very important. im just askin for a chance and i just whant to know if i have it.
than you. paula