Hey, guys. I'm looking to transfer to USC's School of Cinematic Arts for its Critical Studies program. If you can give me real, honest feedbacks on this essay, that would be awesome! I'm debating on using this for the prompt below or for the common app essay on why I want to transfer.
Actual prompt: The Cinematic Arts personal statement should be a carefully prepared explanation of the applicant's goals, describing any film, television, scholarly, critical or other creative background, as well as career objectives. It should present a clear and accurate picture of the applicant, outline objectives in the field of critical studies and explain how attending the School of Cinematic Arts will help reach these goals.
Essay:
What is it about films that fascinate me? The answer to that still remains obscure to me. The question began with Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights." Unaware of the film's inappropriate and explicit content at the tender age of five, I somehow managed to climb a stack of books I compiled on a stool and get my hands on the VHS tape. As I pushed the tape into the large gray box connected to the television, my eyes remained fixed at the television screen while the then-Marky Mark danced to the groovy beats of The Commodore's Machine Gun. This was just the beginning for me.
A few years later I introduced myself to works of Spanish filmmakers such as Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo Del Toro, and Alejandro González Ińárritu, from films ranging from "Habla con ella (Talk to Her)" to "El espinazo del diablo (The Devil's Backbone)" and "Amores perros." It only continued to expand to other international films from South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook's "Oldboy" to the works of Italy's Marco Tullio Giordana. My obsession with film became uncontrollable at this point. I dwelled into different types of films including silent, noir, neo-noir, classical, exploitative, experimental, remakes, avant-garde, and so forth. At the end of each sitting, however, I would still ask myself the same question: What is it about films that fascinate me? I wanted to dig deeper behind film beyond the production value.
Being involved with my high school's newspaper gave me an opportunity to write about the films I saw and what they mean to me. It was an opportunity to discover more about films and myself. My very first film review was for the South Korean's thriller "The Man From Nowhere," which was my first written article to receive an honorary high school journalism award. As students came asking me about my opinion on certain films, I found myself asking the previous question once again. What is it about a film that makes it so "good" or "bad?" What is the film's purpose? How does this film connect with my own life? Why this film, why now? These questions continued to boggle me at Penn State.
The School of Cinematic Arts at USC will help me find the answers to these questions. With guest speakers from around the world and the limitless resources I have in the city of Los Angeles, I can fulfill my lifelong goal, which is to obtain my PhD in Critical Studies and teach a film studies course at a university. However, I am open to change whether it is writing a book on film theory; writing film reviews as a critic for Entertainment Weekly or Empire magazine; researching cultural myths and the auteur theory, while simultaneously directing my own film; or working in the media industry - the options are limitless. The philosophy of the School of Cinematic Arts will also help me understand film from a broader perspective by learning about the evolving media from faculty members with experience in the industry.
Although, I wonder if there are definite answers to these questions. Maybe they will never be fully explained or answered because of the indefinite nature of film and media. I know, however, the Critical Studies program at USC will skillfully prepare me for work in the film and media industry, but most importantly, it will help me further understand myself as a person and the art behind Eisenstein's and Bazin's theories on "mise-en-scène," or Capra's Hollywood-esque influences on filmmakers and the consolidation of film industries - the opportunity to learn is endless. With a degree in Critical Studies from The School of Cinematic Arts, I can carry my passion in academia and teach people film as art and important cultural phenomenon.
Actual prompt: The Cinematic Arts personal statement should be a carefully prepared explanation of the applicant's goals, describing any film, television, scholarly, critical or other creative background, as well as career objectives. It should present a clear and accurate picture of the applicant, outline objectives in the field of critical studies and explain how attending the School of Cinematic Arts will help reach these goals.
Essay:
What is it about films that fascinate me? The answer to that still remains obscure to me. The question began with Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights." Unaware of the film's inappropriate and explicit content at the tender age of five, I somehow managed to climb a stack of books I compiled on a stool and get my hands on the VHS tape. As I pushed the tape into the large gray box connected to the television, my eyes remained fixed at the television screen while the then-Marky Mark danced to the groovy beats of The Commodore's Machine Gun. This was just the beginning for me.
A few years later I introduced myself to works of Spanish filmmakers such as Pedro Almodóvar, Guillermo Del Toro, and Alejandro González Ińárritu, from films ranging from "Habla con ella (Talk to Her)" to "El espinazo del diablo (The Devil's Backbone)" and "Amores perros." It only continued to expand to other international films from South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook's "Oldboy" to the works of Italy's Marco Tullio Giordana. My obsession with film became uncontrollable at this point. I dwelled into different types of films including silent, noir, neo-noir, classical, exploitative, experimental, remakes, avant-garde, and so forth. At the end of each sitting, however, I would still ask myself the same question: What is it about films that fascinate me? I wanted to dig deeper behind film beyond the production value.
Being involved with my high school's newspaper gave me an opportunity to write about the films I saw and what they mean to me. It was an opportunity to discover more about films and myself. My very first film review was for the South Korean's thriller "The Man From Nowhere," which was my first written article to receive an honorary high school journalism award. As students came asking me about my opinion on certain films, I found myself asking the previous question once again. What is it about a film that makes it so "good" or "bad?" What is the film's purpose? How does this film connect with my own life? Why this film, why now? These questions continued to boggle me at Penn State.
The School of Cinematic Arts at USC will help me find the answers to these questions. With guest speakers from around the world and the limitless resources I have in the city of Los Angeles, I can fulfill my lifelong goal, which is to obtain my PhD in Critical Studies and teach a film studies course at a university. However, I am open to change whether it is writing a book on film theory; writing film reviews as a critic for Entertainment Weekly or Empire magazine; researching cultural myths and the auteur theory, while simultaneously directing my own film; or working in the media industry - the options are limitless. The philosophy of the School of Cinematic Arts will also help me understand film from a broader perspective by learning about the evolving media from faculty members with experience in the industry.
Although, I wonder if there are definite answers to these questions. Maybe they will never be fully explained or answered because of the indefinite nature of film and media. I know, however, the Critical Studies program at USC will skillfully prepare me for work in the film and media industry, but most importantly, it will help me further understand myself as a person and the art behind Eisenstein's and Bazin's theories on "mise-en-scène," or Capra's Hollywood-esque influences on filmmakers and the consolidation of film industries - the opportunity to learn is endless. With a degree in Critical Studies from The School of Cinematic Arts, I can carry my passion in academia and teach people film as art and important cultural phenomenon.
