The Present, the Future, and Applying Yourself
By: Nicholas Tedesco
Tags: College, Filmmaking

Me during the first month of my stay on campus, taken in front of College Hall!

Hi, hello, and howdy, my name is Nicholas Tedesco, I’m an 18 year old aspiring filmmaker from Staten Island, New York, and I’m currently attending Montclair State University in my first year. I am majoring in, as you might have guessed, filmmaking, and although COVID-19 restrictions have made things complex, it is still vital for me to begin making strides that will help me academically, so I can succeed in the long run. These academic goals consist of keeping on track with assignments, managing my time, and networking to build my personal brand. In order to further the progress of my personal brand, I have been reaching out to people with connections, been trying to upgrade my own personal equipment, and have been taking any kind of commission work that I can in order to build repour and gain experience.

My entire life, I have always been passionate in the art of film, from viewing them at a young age, to making small films of my own using nothing but my old cellphone and action figures. Whenever I am able to create a meaningful work of art I can show to my friends and colleagues, the feeling of displaying all the work that went into making it, and the subsequent payoff, is an emotion that very few words can adequately describe. As for interests, I have many, such as music, art, boxing, model making, reading, science, and anything else I manage to find interesting. I believe that the best part about being a filmmaker, and having a passion for film, is that you can always find a way to overlap your passion of filmmaking with your own interests. I can create a film about science, I could make the soundtrack for said film, and I could even create a book novelization of that very same film. The opportunities are only limited by your creativity and how far you’re willing to take an idea. The best example of this creativity is Paul Verhoeven, director of my favorite film ever, “Robocop”. Verhoeven was not afraid to push boundaries and create something revolutionary when it came to the field of cinema, kickstarting a new breed of action films that were insightful, yet interesting.

As mentioned previously, my absolute dream job is to be a filmmaker, specifically an independent filmmaker that way I’m not stifled by corporations and companies in how I create my films. Of course, as is standard in any sort of art based job, it’s not about what you know, but who you know, and this is one of the most quintessential assets to my career being successful. By contacting other indie film companies about dates and locations on shoots, I have been actively making connections and trying to find people to work with, the biggest obstacle of course being the current COVID-19 circumstances. One of my most recent projects was actually made on campus, we had to create a film with sounds we recorded ourselves, but no dialogue. It’s a good portfolio piece, and can help when making connections with other local filmmakers.

Having personal assets that work well for you, as aforementioned, is an incredibly vital feat to possess, and the most essential of those being grit. Grit can be defined as one’s passion, or one’s ability to be able to go above and beyond in what they are passionate about.

Using all the skills mentioned before, the education I’ve obtained, and the experience I’ve amassed over the years, I will achieve my dream of becoming a full time filmmaker, by making thorough connections, honing my communication skills, and mastering the craft of filmmaking.