Undergraduate: Emory University, BBA Finance Film, GPA 38/4.0
toefl：waived
gre：
The admission status is as follows:
offer：
american film institute, film producing, mfa
chapman university, film & television producing, mfa
columbia college chicago, film producing, mfa
waitlisted:
columbia university, creative producing, mfa
Final Choice: American Film Institute, Film Producing, MFA
I studied at Emory University with a bachelor's degree in business administration, majoring in finance and double major in film studies.
With such a discipline arrangement, theoretically speaking, the graduate students should apply to the major business schools, IVY League, and after graduation, they will move forward bravely to the major IBs, and if they can join the crowds on the streets of New York, it will be considered a victory. However, at this moment, life seems to be turned upside down, what was supposed to be a meal has become a hobby, and movies that were originally a hobby have booked the focus of my life for the next two years.
I think I'll have to give a brief account of my experience so you can understand why I chose itFrom business to film production.
I grew up in an international high schoolI applied to Emory UniversityI have been in college for four years, and I will graduate in May this year, and I will get a diploma as proof of my four years of study.
Time flies, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to reorient my life in college, but it is bitter and bitter.
Stepping out of the country and re-establishing your life in a corner of the world is a difficult task, like uprooting a big tree and then carefully cultivating a small seedling again in the giant pit left behind.
Whether you've studied abroad or not, or you're about to study abroad in the future, I'm sure you'll all experience this kind of frustration.
Life outside of schoolwork may be a torture that cannot be escaped.
In order to get rid of this torture, I entered my first micro-film shooting course, and it was this course that brought me like-minded partners.
But most importantly, I started making short films with them, and the first one was a short documentary about how Chinese international students spend the Chinese New Year abroad.
The short film won the Tribeca Student Short Documentary Award in New York that yearIt also lit up my impression of the movie.
In my four years of college career, perhaps it was this short film that secretly planted the seed in my heart, no matter how far I go in the future, I will still return to the film, to the story.
Of course, I understand that when any parent hears that their child wants to learn film, their first reaction will be to question and object.
My parents, too, wanted me to study finance or business consulting in business school.
I accepted their offer,I became part of an undergraduate business school, but I quietly double-majored in film. In the years that followed,I found an internship at a VR startup in California as well as an internship at the New York Film FestivalIt further deepened my good impression of the direction of film and television.
My application season officially started in May 2020.
I realized that if I wanted to study film, then graduate film schools in the United States would give me the best faculty and like-minded students.
Of course, anyone with a mobile phone or DSLR can now shoot beautiful content, but the industrialized film production process that graduate film schools can provide and the professors who are now working in the industry can help you develop to a higher level.
For example, among the past guest lecturers of the American Film Academy, including Ang Lee, Bong Joon-ho, and Zhao Ting.
However, for art study abroad, the biggest difference between it and other disciplines isEach applicant is required to express his or her artistic potential in the application materials it requiresAnd this artistic potential cannot be quantified, and it cannot be captured separately by GPA or standardized tests.
What's more difficult is that many times you will compete in the application and it is likely that it is not a student, but a practitioner who has been working in the industry for 3-4 years.
Therefore, for the application of Film MFA, the most important thing is to express your unique side, the talent and potential that only you have.
Let's put ourselves in my shoes last year and see what mysterious application requirements he was facing at that time.
In the case of AFI Creative Production, for example, I needed to turn in the content:
A narrative statement
A very important essay in your application is about who you are, what kind of filmmaker, and how the school can help you achieve your goals.
To put it simply, this is a personal statementThe difference is that it requires you to tell a story about you.
Don't just list the internships and activities on your resume, but make them part of the story.
You don't have any previous film experience, you don't have a lot of film and television-related internships or academic qualificationsBut this essay should tell you about your background, your passion for film, and your desire for the school.
If it's just a dry journal, this article will hardly help your application.
A resume
It needs to include workplace experience, on-set experience, and education level. Most film schools don't require you to have film or studio experience when recruiting students, but if you can have some of that experience, the school is more likely to look up to you.
Two letters of recommendation
Your transcripts
A feature film treatment, writing a short script for some short storiesIf you're a producer, you'll also need a feature film treatment and some short stories. Some film schools also require you to write short scripts that are formatted professionally.
When I was applying, I wasn't sure if the treatment and short script I wrote were something that Americans could appreciate (the story I wrote might not be understood by the applicant due to cultural differences), so I had to take each of my writings to my film teacher for review and revision.
In order to diverge my thinking, I wrote three different stories for each writing requirement and asked my teacher to pick out the best one.
The reason why film school requires so much storytelling is precisely because if you can't even write the title it gives it, the chances of surviving in the storytelling world are relatively low.
Even if it's your own story, it's not easy to tell it well. When should I start? How do you write? What tribulations have I been through? What have I achieved? Clearly showing your efforts over the years in a few pages is the difficulty of writing.
When I was writing, I listed all my experiences related to film and television since kindergarten, from painting Chinese paintings when I was a child, to high school photography, to various internships and shootings in college, all in chronological order.
Then I listed these experiences one by one in an almost CV-like way.
I showed it to my teacher for review, and the constipated look on his face still haunts me.
Pick up the pen again.
This time, I added some narratives and stories to the article, so as to make the text a little richer. His brow was slightly stretched, but the expression on his face was still as if he was seeing a plate of clear water cabbage.
I thought bitterly, and the third article was first written in Chinese, and then translated into English, which was considered a second review.
Finally, this time he nodded, but before I could rejoice a few times, he pointed out the most serious problem in my article:The article is too long and the focus is not prominent.
What else can I do, let's revise it. Badly written will naturally be deleted, but even if it is well written, if the focus is not prominent, it will inevitably be deleted. After a trip to cut it down, it was like a fight with someone else, and I lost my strength. Every deletion is like deleting your own child, and it is painful.
The good paperwork is solved, but then the more important part comes:Portfolio.
If you're like me, I applied for a production major, so the portfolio is relatively easy to solve,Most schools generally only need you a 15-minute piece of work, and they will look more at your past resume.
But if you want to apply for directing or cinematography, there's a lot more to ask for.
Not only do you have to prepare your own portfolio, but the film school will also give you a special topic for you to make a short film of about 5 minutes.
The topic of the proposition video varies from school to school, and the style of the school varies. Big head, right? Therefore, the best time to prepare your portfolio is not during the application season, but in the free time before.
The application season is more about writing essays for each school and preparing short videos for propositions, and it's best to prepare your portfolio before then.
If you haven't prepared before, when it comes to the application season, you need to prepare for each school's essays, portfolios, proposition short films, short script writing, and standardized exams. It doesn't sound that interesting.
The good paperwork is solved, but then the more important part comes:Portfolio.
If you're like me, I applied for a production major, so the portfolio is relatively easy to solve,Most schools generally only need you a 15-minute piece of work, and they will look more at your past resume.
But if you want to apply for directing or cinematography, there's a lot more to ask for.
Not only do you have to prepare your own portfolio, but the film school will also give you a special topic for you to make a short film of about 5 minutes.
The topic of the proposition video varies from school to school, and the style of the school varies. Big head, right? Therefore, the best time to prepare your portfolio is not during the application season, but in the free time before.
The application season is more about writing essays for each school and preparing short videos for propositions, and it's best to prepare your portfolio before then.
If you haven't prepared before, when it comes to the application season, you need to prepare for each school's essays, portfolios, proposition short films, short script writing, and standardized exams. It doesn't sound that interesting.
Every year from my freshman year to my senior year, I participated in the National Student Film Festival and made short films with my friends, so I basically had a regular portfolio ready, except for the paperwork. Even if I had prepared my portfolio and standardized exams in advance, essay and script writing would have taken me half a life.
Script writing is also a very important part of studying abroad.
Whether it's USC, NYU, or Columbia, you'll be asked to write some short scripts, 5-10 pages of content.
The first difficulty is its format.
The school requires a formal Hollywood writing format, and anything that is not written in this format is automatically invalid. I took a short script writing class and bought some books to learn script writing, but I barely managed to pass the format.
However, the format is just the formatMore importantly, what kind of story are you writing? How can you tell the story well, build the characters, and set up the story in 5-10 pages so that admissions officers who have seen hundreds of short scripts will shine?
What they want to see is not a student story written by a student, but a wonderful story that an individual wants to tell about the society, or the morals, or the characters.
What they want to see is a story world imagined by the applicant with the wildest imagination, and this story world is enclosed in words, credible and wonderful.
If you don't have a film and television major, this is undoubtedly very difficult.
PositiveAs I said before, the competitors are not students, but practitioners. If you can't open your horizons to a higher level, this will be a disadvantage in the application.
A letter of recommendation for studying abroad in the arts. That's right, it's important.
Yes, every item in the application is important.
The letter of recommendation can come from your teacher, from your internship unit, as long as it can recommend you and help you apply, no one is a problem.
The best of these things to give you are well-known people in the industry, and it's good that they know your artistic potential very wellBecause then they can write you a letter of recommendation that stands out from the rest.
My letters of recommendation came from a film professor, a film festival organizer, and a mentor who knew me very well.
I have been in constant communication with them for at least a year, so I trust them to be able to show my abilities and give me the right recommendation.
With so many application materials mentioned above, it is already very difficult for students who are film and television undergraduates to prepare. And for students who want to cross majors, it is even more difficult.
The conversation of parents, the inability to write the script, the difficulty of shooting, the lack of corresponding on-set internship experience, and the lack of suitable recommendation teachers. I've been through all of this, and from the moment I was going to cross over from business to film school in my junior year, I had to put all my energy into enhancing my background, getting involved in shooting, writing, building good relationships with professors, and looking for internships in film and television.
I thought this would be difficult enough, but since the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States in the second semester of my junior year, it has become impossible to go out to shoot and communicate face-to-face with professors.
I was alone in an empty residence hall in Atlanta, wearing a mask on time every day to get the meals delivered by the school.
To put it mildly, if I were alone in a coma in my room, no one would have noticed.
Confused. Helpless. I knew I might give up, but I wouldn't give up.
I passed the GRE, wrote a script, made a short film, participated in two online New York Film Festivals, and emailed my recommenders.
The only little consolation every day is a call from my parents, who are worried about whether I will be depressed if I live alone in the dormitory. I'm not depressed, but my body clock has been tossed and turned a few rounds. Sometimes I wake up and see that it is dark outside, and I look at the time at 6 o'clock: 6 o'clock in the evening. If I didn't really like it, how could I unconsciously keep writing and shooting t t
Choosing a school was a relatively simple process for me.
Pull out the Hollywood reporter, analyze all the advantages and disadvantages of each school, communicate with the teacher and set the school, according to the sprint, the main application, and the bottom score.
I was fortunate enough to get four interviews, pinching the time to calculate the time difference, and sometimes I could only put on a shirt and suit in the middle of the night and open a Zoom interview with the producer and director on the other side of the ocean.
I was ecstatic when I finally received the results, but then I thought that as a new student, I had to start from scratch compared to other students who already had work experience or had more experience on set.
But after all, this is the path I chose.
I'm not afraid of your jokes, I always feel that Chinese films have more potential and possibilities.
As a small individual, I am willing to devote myself to this industry. After two years of business school, the biggest gain was that I didn't want to go to business school anymore.
It's a bit unrealistic to talk about dreams at this age, but if you don't still have a little dream in your heart, it seems that your life is missing a little color.
Throughout the application process,The most important thing is to be honest.
Be honest with your school and be honest with yourself.
It may sound obvious, but it's the most important thing that will make you stand out from applicants and be favored by your dream school.
In fact, if you want to get into any creative field, you need to be honest with yourself.
It's not the application that schools care about, it's what kind of person you are.
The level of your grades, your resume, your portfolio. All of this is about what kind of person you are, and you are a person who can stand out in this project.
And the only way to let them know is to prove that you are an applicant worthy of their consideration. What's your story like? What are your beliefs? What do you think is your unique personality and content?
The answers to these questions must be known to you yourself before the school knows them, and you must have a clear understanding of yourself.
Fortunately, applying to film school is not an application to become a rocket scientist. The key is not to prove how successful you have been, but to prove that you are different and able to bring your unique ideas to the school.
Telling your own story, as simple as it sounds, is actually very difficult.
USC didn't give me an interview. NYU didn't give me an interview. Even Emerson College didn't give me an interview.
The three schools didn't show much interest in what I was writing, but the American Film Institute, Chapman University, Chicago College, and Columbia University showed interest in me.
Each school has their own different moderation mechanism, all you have to do is be yourself and then attract those who are interested in you.
The key point is: if you don't do it now, you lose this opportunity.
If you want to be a director, producer, playwright, videographer, editor, or any other creative field, you need to quickly prove that you can bring something exciting and talented to the table.
If you want a time to dig into yourself, the best time is now.
That being said,Another thing any applicant needs to understand is that we are not perfect.
Once you've submitted your application, you don't have to look back to see what's wrong or what's wrong with it.
From the moment we submit, we are the first to notice the flaws, because we already know the details of our application materials, but many questions only come to the surface after the submission.
Instead of dreading about these unchangeable problems, be honest about accepting the fact that you're not perfect.
In fact, you don't need to be a perfect applicant to get accepted into a film school.
I'm not perfect, just like every other applicant. Looking back at my application materials now, I feel that the feature film treatment I wrote was so naïve that it almost didn't reach the level of being able to read, let alone some well-hidden TYPO questions.
Don't get me wrong—you should check your application materials carefully – but don't trust other applicants to submit a perfect application.
If you're already perfect, then why bother going to school again? Film schools are looking for talented, enthusiastic applicants. All you have to do is do your best to achieve the best in your heart.
AFI was the first school to give me an interview, and it was the worst interview I felt I had done.
The person who interviewed me was Lianne Halfon, a well-known producer in the industry, who has produced Wallflower Boy and Juno, and has been on the podium countless times.
And I'm just a newborn calf, and I don't even know much about filmmaking. When she asked about my favorite movies, I just nervously talked about the movies I watched recently; I would even say that my favorite movie is Soul Journey, and this is a cartoon!
When I said Soul Journey, they echoed me for a while, and then tactfully said if it was time to move to some feature films, and it was only then that I discovered my problem and hurriedly talked about some of the feature films I had seen.
I didn't know what questions they would ask me, and I didn't know how to answer them, so I had to go on a rampage in the interview. However, it was the best school I was into.