Memoir: A Film School Chronicle Pt. 1 (Choosing Our Adventure)

It was 2009 and I was 27 years old. My friends Matt and Nathan had been planning a move to Florida as soon Matt got out of the military. He was going to take his veterans benefits and go to Full Sail University in Orlando with an eye on an entertainment business degree. I was looking for a way out of where I was and had spent years imagining myself as a filmmaker. It felt like the pieces were lining up for me to pursue my dream. That January we visited and took the tour, fully expecting to attend in the Summer.

Full Sail is a for profit university focusing on all aspects of the entertainment industry. They advertise programs in animation, video game creation, live event production, studio music production, filmmaking, and entertainment business. They are practitioners of the hard sell. We got there during one of their open tour days were treated to a motivational TED-style talk about following your dreams and seizing opportunity. Then we separated into your interest areas and were led through the facilities which were, in the case of the film program, in busy use by elaborate and choreographed productions of the sort we might get to participate in if we attended.

Indoor sets featured minor stunt work and examples of small scale camera work performed by current students and instructors. We got a walking tour of the outdoor sets where we'd be able to film as students. All while being guided around by current students providing glowing testimonials.

After that we were taken into a tent in the Florida sunshine and given refreshments which we ate at a table with our own assigned “Admissions Guide.” This was a trained sales person who was there to answer our questions, allay our fears, and generally talk us toward the enrollment contract.

A lot of people probably attend these events not knowing if they want to attend or not and I imagine the production and choreography works to bring in a lot of people who are considering other options. My friends and I did not need to be sold. Their advertising had already done the job. Their ads appeared in magazines and on websites and were quite compelling for us aimless 20-somethings who wanted to prove we could achieve something new and unexpected.

Attending Full Sail is expensive. It offers two-year programs that expose you to industry standard equipment in classes taught by working industry professionals. Not exactly Oscar winners but people who have the expertise and are making a living. None of this comes cheap. On top of that is the fact that it is a FOR PROFIT school and the margins have to show significant return. This comes entirely from tuition. The bills that come in from a Full Sail education resemble numbers that are usually reserved for the Ivy League.

While we were in Orlando on our visit we found an apartment complex we liked and got on the waiting list. We began making plans for the practicalities of moving. We drove around and got a feel for the area. I visited with friends from the last time I had lived in Florida some five years before. 

By the time we got home to Indiana we were absolutely focused on attending Full Sail, living in Orlando, forging a new chapter in our lives. It felt like we were becoming adults at last, just before time ran out and we turned thirty and adulthood would just show up for us whether we liked it or not.