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July 28, 2003
A Welcome and an Explanation
First of all, thank you for taking your time to read this journal of sorts. I'll try my best to make what you read here worthwhile. If it doesn't meet your needs, I leave it up to you to stop immediately and find some other distraction on our world wide web. Remember, only you can prevent forest fires...
First a technical note: This website is a work in progress. You will notice that the links, while they work, have no content as yet. You can find the site's index by clicking MatthewSilas.com at the top of the page.
I am beginning the masters program in film direction at UCLA this fall. As I have been researching and applying to graduate programs in film over the past couple of years, I've had a heck of a time finding good, first-person, raw perspectives about the various programs out there. Not surprisingly, many of the programs do a pretty good job of promoting themselves: "we are an incredible film school", "we have had more Oscar winners in the last 5 years than [enter school name here] and [enter school name here] combined", "We have the latest greatest technology", "We have more working professional filmmakers among our faculty than..." and on and on and on. But nowhere did I find answers to the questions that really mattered: what, specifically, do you learn, what, if any, is the guiding pricipal of the program, who/how are the professors, what are the possibilities after studies, is it really worth the cost, what sort of atmosphere exists/is fostered among the students and faculty, what are the program's strengths, how will I PAY for this?
Most of these questions are still unanswered for me, but I decided to jump off the plank anyway, and cast my lot with my hopes rather than my fears. So, I decided to create this journal to both record my experiences and provide a voice in this wilderness, so to speak, albeit subjective and biased, for those out there considering graduate studies in film at UCLA.
I will post as often as I can and attempt to cover as many different aspects of my experience as it relates to the program as possible. Feel free to send in questions to mail@matthewsilas.com
I'll close with a little quote from a great little band that should be really big:
"They say California is a recipe for a black hole
but I say I've got my best shoes on,
and I'm ready to go."
-Rilo Kiley
Cool! I can't wait to see what you discover in your grand adventure.
Posted by: Stephen Zinn at July 28, 2003 05:49 PMI must not fear.
Fear is the mind killer.
Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over & through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
There is joy beyond the fear;
because in the stillness
that surrounds every good crash and every great performance,
there is a timeless moment of blis.
And it’s not just that you know you’re alive.
It’s that you’re more alive than ever.
The key though, is that your fear is not king.
But this fear or weakness as you may see it becomes your strength,
because you see into the greater and possibly even the greatest
and this puts your fear to work in the factory of life to produce your good.
In a sense, it becomes your slave.
Courage is the mastery of fear, not the absence of fear.
Posted by: Mark Twain at July 28, 2003 06:06 PMThe best chance you have,
if you want to rise,
is to give yourself up to loneliness,
fear nothing,
and work hard.
The fear is the mother of the event.
We cannot escape fear.
We can only transform it into a companion
that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures...
Take a risk a day - one small or bold stroke
that will make you feel great once you have done it.
The need to be a great artist makes it hard to be an artist.
The need to produce a great work of art makes it hard
to produce any art at all.
Setting impossible goals creates enormous fear,
which creates procrastination, which we wrongly call laziness.
Do not call procrastination laziness.
Call it fear.
Fear is what blocks an artist.
The fear of not being good enough.
The fear of not finishing.
The fear of failure and of success.
The fear of beginning at all.
There is only one cure for fear.
That cure is love.
A man who fears nothing
is a man who loves nothing,
and if you love nothing,
what joy is there in your life?
Taking a new step, uttering a new word is what people fear most.
All sentences that seem true should be questioned.
Posted by: Blinn Anne Isacowitz at February 28, 2004 12:49 AM