Filmaking: My Career Goal and Ways to Get is

Since 2011 Japan has fallen to 72nd place in the world in Press Freedom Index. One reason is that the Japanese government and the media downplayed the severity of the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. I have a big concern that if this type of media reporting continues, Japanese people may lose their media literacy and be prejudiced against many events around them. In order to contribute to a society with a well-informed public, I would like to be a filmmaker who can offer information from broad perspectives.

When I was a freshman in high school, I was a member of the school broadcasting club and I committed myself to making movies and creating documentary films, which has led to a genuine interest in making movies. I have made various kinds of movies, such as comedies and documentaries. Everyone was impressed with the films I made and it has given me great encouragement to pursue my dream of becoming a filmmaker. Making films has taught me that they are a powerful way to influence people.

As a filmmaker, I cannot forgive the situation that the Japanese media leads people to being prejudiced because of a lack of information. In my opinion, films have the role of passing down past lessons to help us avoid making the same mistakes again. However, the reality is different. As the example of the meltdown at Fukushima indicated, the media holds back in criticizing the Japanese administration. Due to that, the media doesn’t report various information to prevent prejudice among the public.

Same as Japanese media, every film that I created didn’t include various perspectives, which led to the lack of viewers’ deep understanding of the information in my films, and it may have created a biased opinion of the information presented. By obtaining information from broad perspectives, one can compare each perspective and consider the choices they have. By looking at things from various points of view people can gain a much deeper ability to comprehend world events. Therefore, I would like to share various ways for viewers of my movies to understand world events.

In order to be a filmmaker with broad perspectives, I need to gain an understanding of many subjects. I am certain that seven clusters of the School of International Liberal Studies (SILS) will enable me to achieve my goals. I can gain a broad knowledge of culture, which contributes to expanding my perspectives by studying various subjects. Especially, the cluster of Expression is essential for me to gain knowledge of media and film. I would also like to study Media History with Professor Graham Law and Film Studies with Professor Norimasa Morita.

At SILS, which has about 1,000 international students, over 20 professors from foreign countries and the one-year study abroad program. Utilizing these resources I will be able to gain a high level of English ability as well as learn about people’s sense of values, which is required to be my ideal filmmaker, by communicating with foreign students and professors. As part of the one-year study abroad program at SILS, I hope to attend the University of Sussex in England because I wish to take classes in Media Studies, which focus on learning practical skills. I will be able to gain a higher skill for making films as well as a deeper comprehension toward media through the one-year study abroad.

For these reasons, I strongly wish to enter the School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University.

Works cited

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8. Film Studies for Free. (2021). Open access film studies. https://filmstudiesforfree.blogspot.com/
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10. Cousins, M. (2004). The story of film. Pavilion Books.