A Beginners Guide to Rekindling Your Passion
Synopsis
As a recent graduate of the class of 2020, George Wang continued his passion for filmmaking while pursuing his Biomedical Engineering degree. The founder and the Executive Director of the Atlanta Student Film Festival, George was also the creator of Filmmakers@GT, a student organization that produces high-quality student-made films. During his time at Georgia Tech, he created a rich culture for filmmaking and a memorable experience for many students.
E01 · Pilot
When George’s freshman year of high school started, he was an outlier to all the other students as he had just moved to a new area. Despite facing the trouble of making new friends, George stumbled on a video production class that was offered as an elective in his high school. The class caught his attention; without knowing what to expect, he signed up. Even though there was some ambiguity in his mind, it disappeared as he started learning the program and forming new friendships with the people in the class. This class became the foundation of his passion for filmmaking.
After his first year of studying video production, George had formed a strong bond with his classmates. He proposed to one building their own club and continuint to make cool projects to one of his closest friends. With the help of the teacher who taught the video production class, the two started a small film club. Though there weren’t a lot of students interested in the club at first, George and his friend used this club to cultivate their passion for filmmaking.
As the summer approached, George and his friend started brainstorming a feature film. Inspired by some romance movies, they co-wrote a script from scratch, went location-scouting, and got their friends to come and help with the camera operations. They were co-directors, co-producers, and co-leads during the entire process. After six months of shooting and editing, they finally finished their very first full-length film.
Seeking more exposure for their hard work, they asked if they could showcase their film to the entire school. After some careful planning with the school staff, they secured the auditorium to screen their film for the first time. On the screening day, almost 400 people attended the premiere, filling up the entire auditorium. Sitting quietly in the very back, George watched the entire film on the big screen. This was one of his most rewarding experiences, and it pushed him to keep pursuing his passion.
Their success was so inspiring that that the film attracted the attention of the local newspapers.
E02 · Filmmakers@GT
In college, George wanted to continue his passion for filmmaking, but he was unable to find a community like he had back in high school. As school ramped up, George’s pursuit of filmmaking was put on hold.
During his second year of college, he participated in the Campus Movie Fest and was surprised to find out that a lot of people at Georgia Tech also participated in the festival. After that day, he couldn’t stop thinking about a filmmaking community that could gather all these passionate people at Georgia Tech.
George and a few of his friends founded Filmmakers@GT to foster a community of people to learn about movie production and create quality short films. The club had a great turnout — with the help of the Student Center Programs Council (SCPC), it held its first student short film premiere at the student center ballroom. From that point on, George was hooked, and went on to hold many more student film premieres in the upcoming semesters.
E03 · Atlanta Student Film Festival
The success of Filmmakers@GT did not stop George’s ambitions. He had always wanted to create a film festival. Back when he first started Filmmakers@GT, he intended to create a film festival along with it.
In his last semester at Georgia Tech, he recruited some motivated people who shared his vision to make this film festival come true. The team secured funding from the College of Computing to hold a film festival on the campus-scale. However, George realized that the guidelines proposed by the College of Computing were limiting his ambitions: he wanted to create a film festival that included more than Georgia Tech students and recognized films made by college students from all backgrounds. This conflict of interest turned the team away from the offer made by the College of Computing.
The team restarted the search for funding. It was difficult to start over, but George and his team used the lesson they learned from the past to restructure their proposals. They created a new pitch that secured funding from the Georgia Tech Student Foundation, the Parents Fund, and BuzzFunds, with a budget that supported all predicted expenses.
However, following this success, the outbreak of COVID-19 forced a delay of the Atlanta Student Film Festival. George and his team had a grand plan that included the catering and the venue, but it all had to be cancelled. Though this was a difficult process for everyone, it was another learning point for George and the team.
It took a while for everyone to realize that the festival they envisioned would not come to life, and the difficulty caused by everyone being in different time zones didn’t help. But the team started working towards a new goal — a virtual film festival that screened 16 selected films out of the 300 student submissions from more than 30 countries.
E04 · Reflections
“If you have a passion, you would be willing to learn and keep going. That’s what will carry you through.”
Starting from not knowing anything about film, George found his passion through his video production class, and he carries this passion with him everywhere he goes.
What are his tips for success?
Don’t panic if your audience is small. Once you put the work in to create a solid foundation, your passion will show, and your audience will come.
Though it may seem that what you are working on will not go anywhere, take a step back and think about the fire you had when you first started, how special you are, and your passion and drive. Take yourself out of the equation and think about what your goal, motivating factor, and affirmations are, because these will never change.
Don’t be afraid to try different things and get out of your comfort zone. You can always find people who are interested in the same thing. Do things that you would not mind even if you are busy or even if you may face adversity. Figure out what drives you: what do you do that makes you feel like time flies by? Once you find it, hold on to that passion. Eventually, you will find yourself.
Finale
George aims to continue expanding the scope of the film festival and carry out the most supporting platform for all student filmmakers. He and his team are currently working on the 2022 Atlanta Film Student Festival. George wants to do more than showcasing student films. By harnessing the power of industry relations, George wishes to award talented student filmmakers with first person exposure and grant them opportunities to make their passion into a career.
