“Take in all the art you can. And analyze the hell out of it. That’s really how you learn. You learn from the masters. If you’re a filmmaker and you’re not watching three or four movies a week, you’re not doing it right. And look at bad art. Figure out what not to do. For me, I’m obsessed with it. Art drives me and fuels me, and it never feels like a chore. I think that separates great artists from good ones.”
Reade Wildman (Media Arts ‘17) will attend Concordia University in Montreal for Film Production and Literature. He’s looking forward to the weekly film festivals and active music scene, which will allow him to focus on both performing live music and his film education. Reade debuted his film "Sisters" at the Media Arts Winter Juried Festival, and "3 Vignettes of Love" at the department’s Fall Show.
“I’ve learned the grammar of film at The Academy. But with our current access to the Internet, if you have the desire and willpower, you can learn anything you want. However, I think the mentorship—having teachers and professors that I’ve made life-long connections with, has been the most important aspect of going to a school like this. And I’ve had a chance in a school setting to create my own work. It has been great to hone my technique, but it has also been a bridge to create original films. It’s pretty cool."
Now a graduating senior, Reade recommended that incoming freshmen focus and take advantage of opportunity.
“Learn to focus, and do one thing at a time. Pretty much every film I made at The Academy, I made to perfect one thing. If I wanted to have great framing, or wide shots, then I made a film where the exercise was to get that framing perfect. If you want perfect sound design, dedicate a project to doing something interesting in sound design. The same thing applies to music. Something as simple as playing a major 7 chord—you better be able to play that chord in every single inversion if you want to be great."
“There’s a lot of complexity in understanding how to take advantage of the education system here. We’re lucky, but you have to take advantage of it. A lot of it is understanding why you do what you do. You get out of it what you put in. If you put in the effort and the work, then you’re guaranteed to see benefits in your technique or your thinking. And it works both ways. Some kids come to this school with fantastic technique, but don’t yet understand the conceptual part of art. I was the opposite. I came here needing to learn technique in order to express my vision effectively."
Congratulations Reade! Good luck next year in Canada.
