If there’s one regret I have from my four years at Harvard, it’s not having taken a filmmaking class sooner.

My “Secondary” (Harvard’s word for “minor”) is in Film and Visual Studies, which means over the course of my time here, I’ve had to take at least 6 classes in either film studies or film production. I decided pretty late that I wanted to study film—I switched my Secondary field from math to film when I realized I wasn’t finding much fulfillment or having much fun in my math classes and instead found myself drawn to art and film.

There are two kinds of film courses offered by the Arts Film and Visual Studies Department: film theory classes (these are usually seminar classes where you watch films and analyze/discuss them) and studio classes (these classes provide equipment and teach the technical skills of filmmaking). I’ve therefore mostly been taking film theory classes, partly because I don’t have to take many studio classes for the particular academic track I’ve chosen, but also partly because I always felt intimidated by the idea of learning an artistic medium that I have absolutely no prior experience in.

It’s really hard to try new things, in general. It’s also really hard to try new things when you’re in an environment where it’s easy to feel imposter syndrome—where it often feels like other people have everything figured out and have much more experience than you. I really regret letting these feelings stop me from exploring my creative, artistic side. 

Luckily, though, I decided to go for it this semester (my last semester of college) and take an intro filmmaking course! At the beginning of the semester, the AFVS department sent me a SONY Z150 camera and a really fancy (and very heavy) tripod, as well as other equipment I would need. The learning curve was steep: I had to learn about image composition, filming, sound editing, and so much more. However, this introductory class has been doing a wonderful job teaching me the basics, step by step. The nature of work I have to do for this class is unlike any other class I’ve taken in college: instead of doing readings, writing papers, or doing problem sets, I’ve been having to come up with an idea for a film and film/edit my own footage! 

To commemorate this moment in my life, I decided to spend the semester making a film about my blockmates (the group of people who I’ve chosen to live with), who are also seniors about to graduate in the midst of the pandemic. Making a film that encapsulates the ways we’ve grown and the ways we’ve come to love each other has been a wonderful way to end my four-year college journey, and I’m really looking forward to watching this snapshot of our youth in the years to come.