How I Became a Filmmaker Without Film School
I’ve been making films for the past 15 years. So far, I’ve directed 6 live-action feature films and acted as the animation head in two animated feature length films. And I did not go to a film school. Instead, I went to an Engineering college to study Telecom.
The Computer Geek
It was the mid 90s. Computers were getting smarter, smaller and cheaper every year. The Internet was growing fast and there were talks of information technology everywhere. Colleges began offering new courses and it caught everyone’s attention. We finally had something else to look at as a career path other than engineering and medical.
Like most kids, I dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot and a doctor. My interest in computers, though, led me straight to choosing an engineering degree in information technology. Funny thing is that my interest was only limited to computer games and nothing more. I didn’t even know whether I could make a career out of it or not. All I knew was that it was the talk of the town and my parents also saw potential in it, so it seemed like the right choice back then.
Then I entered the most crucial part of my life. My interest in computers grew immensely. I developed new skills like image and video editing, animations and music. A whole new universe opened up for me. It was the most exciting time as I began dreaming of creating something fantastic. Unfortunately, none of that ever materialized as I had no clue how to formulate the ideas. But I kept on dreaming.
A New Millennium
The Y2K bug wasn’t the only thing for me to worry about. College caught me off guard and threw a whole new set of challenges at me. Moving to a new city, adjusting to the semester system and facing the scariest monster I’d ever seen in the form of a book called Calculus was enough to derail my plans. Still, I had to go through it. Specially after failing to convince my parents about switching my career to performing arts. And I can’t thank them enough for that. If I hadn’t learned to face my demons back then, I wouldn’t have made it this far.
Life took an interesting turn when I learned a programming language. It was the first time I understood how software and games were made. It made me feel like I got closer to seeing my dreams coming to life. I began by combining my existing animation and music assets with newly learned logic and produced a simple game. It felt like I had achieved something big. Though I was not bold enough to share it with the world, it allowed me to look at my life with a whole new perspective.
Following Footsteps
I had just started having fun with coding when Telecommunications was introduced to the syllabus. It was made obvious that it was a booming industry and that everyone should focus on securing their place in the market. I had to follow the majority, but my heart was still where it last felt warmth. Semesters became more demanding and I found lesser time for my interests. My happiness was restricted to making cool animated presentations for my friends.
It was obvious to everyone that I wasn’t in the right place. When all my colleagues went for internships in Telecom companies, I applied to a media production house. No response came back. Since the internship experience was mandatory for the degree, my last resort was to intern as a web developer in a real-estate company.
The Switch
Soon after graduating, I got a job at one of the Telecom service providers. I used to sit inside a room they called a Switch where all the data and calls got automatically re-routed to their respective recipients. My job was to report and resolve faults in the network to keep it running smooth. I tried blending in. Tried to enjoy, but I just couldn’t. Specially when I learned that I wouldn’t get paid even after probation. Not because I was bad at my job. It was just a norm. One of my seniors had been working there for two years without a salary. He was fine with it, but I wasn’t. If I were to borrow money from my parents even after a four year long expensive degree, I’d rather quit. And so I did, and went back home.
While contemplating my next move, I got a call from one of the media production houses I had applied to during my last semester. I had already made up my mind about applying for jobs abroad. That phone call gave me a good jolt, though. It brought back those warm memories from when I made my first game. My game dev career from a parallel universe flashed in front of my eyes. I had to give it a try.
One Last Try
I went in with a closed mind. Going abroad was still the plan. I took my computer hard drive wrapped in an old newspaper with my portfolio in it. And by portfolio, I mean unfinished animations, music compositions and video edits of me dancing and lip syncing to my favorite songs with my roommate from college, captured using the worst quality webcam. The interview wasn’t too impressive either. But I guess my passion saw me through, and they offered me a job.
Getting a salary made it an obvious move to accept it there and then. What kept bugging me was that I wasn’t in the Telecom sector. Funny enough, I had felt alienated during college, and now that I finally had a job that could help bring my dreams to life, I felt like a complete stranger. But it was what it was, and I found peace in my job as a Video and Sound Generalist.
A Little Push
Technology evolved and so did the companies benefitting from it. Our production house began redesigning their pipeline and establishing themselves as a visual effects studio. New posts were created and relevant resources were to be hired. Existing ones were either to be retrained or laid off. With my little knowledge and experience, I could see the end of my short-lived creative journey.
By then my colleagues from college were all getting comfortable in their positions and earning well. Going back just wasn’t something I could imagine. I’d be left far behind in the survival race. Though I was learning new tools every day, I desperately needed something to cling on to. Despite all the efforts, nothing was able to keep me afloat.
Until one day, one of my seniors asked me to try animating a 3D character. I took a small portion from one of my favorite songs and animated a character performing it. That was it. My peers praised the effort. One of the popular computer graphics blogs also acclaimed it. I was living a dream.
The timing couldn’t have been better. The production house announced that they had given up on becoming a visual effects studio. Seniors left the company one after another, while those who remained were asked to carry on as if nothing had happened. It wasn’t the same anymore. A road block was clearly ahead, and so with the help of my newly learned skill, I managed to get a job in a game dev studio.
to be continued