Whistling Away! My Film School Experience

A Freshman in Film

There's a palpable buzz in the air. The serene atmosphere entwines with the uneasiness of my breath, producing a chaotic burst of emotions and a bevy of questions. 

My first day and my first step into the next phase of my life and I'm already confused; where to go? 

scared; who to talk to? 

guarded; what do I say?

impatient; when will I start making films? 

and the most important, panicking; WHY AM I HERE?

Already I'd learned an important lesson about film writing and film in general. The five W's. The basis of which an idea needs to be manifested and trust me I've got a lot of them. 

But that Why always stumps me. 

No! I know why I'm here, but I don't know WHY I'm here. 

Ever since I've truly known myself, I knew that my love for comics would push me to become one of those dudes who writes and draws some of the fanciest looking heroes. 

But after being pushed around, getting confused and breaking my massive ego to bits and pieces. I rose like a metaphorical phoenix and decided, this is it!

Film making is an art form that has become the center of my existence for the past two years. This blog and the idea that a hundred people could be reading it, gave me the rush to test my writing skills in animation school. 

It festered in me an obsession, and has bloomed my desire to want to enter films. I'm not going to abandon my pursuit of working for Marvel, that's there. 

And with a burgeoning Indian comics industry, I hope to see myself push the ceilings, break barriers and make it so that the world notices me. 

The same goes for film, whether it be as a writer or a director. 

Learning about film has been such an exciting prospect, I can't wait to see how far I can go in this field and this colorful industry of Bollywood that I love. It's a struggle I admit, and it's not as idealistic as I'd like to paint it. 

But if I put my head down, work hard and have a bit of luck on my side. I know I can make it. 

That doesn't mean that I'll stop blogging, this piece has given me the strength and passion to push myself to write and write and write. I might slow down here and there during the year, but I always come back. 

So I'd like to thank my friends, who followed and read this blog amongst the many strangers, and made me want to write more and in the process learn a lot more about myself. 

This will also hopefully allow me to write better about film making, since I've learned a lot of new things. As well as right about the varying tastes of films, of different students. 

PS: I know, I should have started with the HIndie Awards but the re-watch is taking longer than expected. I'll do it as soon as I can. Plus I also need to talk about the Oscar nominees. 

Oh and yeah, In case you didn't guess from the title picture; my film school is Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. 

'Nuff Said

Aneesh Raikundalia