Colella612

As an aspiring writer and filmmaker, the interconnection of word and film is paramount. The idea of being able to read and decipher meaning within texts and flesh them out in discussion and discourse has, therefore, been an integral aspect of my studies. During an introductory filmmaking course in high-school, however, I found yet another passion. My teacher began showing us frames from Tim Burton’s 1990 film, Edward Scissorhands, having us then try to interpret what the frame was trying to say and seeing how this interpretation played into the many themes surfacing throughout the film. It was like a light bulb went off inside my head when I realized that I could study film in the same way that I study the written word, how the two are interconnected and so very necessary in this type of storytelling. I knew then, at that moment, that I needed to be a screenwriter and a filmmaker.

After starting college, finding an outlet to use my skills and passions both on campus, and in the community, was the next step in curating my skills as a filmmaker and a storyteller. It was through the English Department at The College of Charleston that I was fortunate enough to meet a faculty member and, through their guidance, I was exposed to The College of Charleston Film Club, where I have since been the President for my Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years. Through my involvement with the Film Club, I have cultivated a strong community of filmmakers on campus, a place for students as passionate about this artform as I am to watch and study film and express themselves by writing and producing their words and visions through weekly film screenings, screenwriting and filmmaking workshops by faculty and local talent and involvement in campus and local International film festivals.

When not in the classroom or coordinating student filmmakers and the Club’s endeavors, I am still either behind the camera or tapping at the keyboard. I am always creating and attempting to tell stories, whether it be campus connected stories and activities through my job on campus as a Video Producer at CisternYard Media, or telling the stories of community businesses like Charleston Culinary Tours and The Pure Theater as promotional works for their social media, and even creating my own short films for personal satisfaction and film festival submission.

In all the work that I have done it has widened my imagination and altered my way of thinking and given me new perspectives on how best to visualize the stories in my head and of those around me. Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick once said, “If it can be written, or thought, it can be filmed,” and, for me, creating work that makes audiences cry and laugh, makes them feel fear and joy, that gives the story its full breath of life, those are the stories I hope to tell.