Hi, my name is Victoria Corbin and I am applying for the
Film/Video Production Program. I’m 29 years old and
live in Long Island, New York. I’ve lived here my whole
life, with the exception of moving upstate for college and
then to Texas for college as well.
All throughout high school my goals for my future changed
frequently as do for most kids that age. I have an older
brother, I was going to aviation boces and was in ROTC, so
my focus for what I wanted to do as a career floated around the area of a
helicopter pilot, in the airforce, a cop… I even wanted to be a secret agent
for a little while there too.
I took one semester in a community college upstate on the criminal justice track
and realized I didn’t even like any of the people I was trying to become.
Everybody kept saying I needed to make college fun and do something I really
want to otherwise I’ll never do good or be happy…. When you’re just out of H.S.
and in the middle of it, you really have no idea what is offered out there and
what you can do. So at 18 what did I really know about….
THE REST OF MY LIFE?
Although never as a career, my dad always had a camera in his hand when I
was growing up. So in return I was always the kid hanging out taking pictures.
It just seemed natural and it was comfortable. In high school I took photography
classes and it was a lot of fun, but I never thought of photography as a career
because it was something that I enjoyed to do.
While I was in college I started to meet people from a nearby state college
(New Paltz) and learned more about what that college had to offer. That next
semester I transferred to New Paltz with a video/film major. Taking video/film
at a 4 year college meant that you had to take all the English, history, foreign
language and everything else courses as well...I’m a hands on learner and even
though I loved my video classes I wasn’t so fond of all the other classes I had to
take.
My parents at this point had moved to Texas a couple of years earlier, but
growing up in Long Island I refused to leave my state...I LOVE NEW YORK!!!!!
But, I decided to move and I attended The Art Institute of Dallas.
I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!
Even the art classes and all the other mandatory academic classes just
seemed to fall into place because the payoff was that I got to “play” in every
other class. The second I got a taste of constantly go, go, going in the studio
during production and postproduction… I just kept wanting more and more.
A couple of us got together with a teacher who had a small company that
would go and shoot local bands, sports teams or other events. I can’t really
explain the feeling of satisfaction when holding the camera and being in the
mix of everything going on but… J. It gave me that drive and push to just
keep wanting more.
After school I got a job at a news station. I was so excited because that was
where I wanted to be. My dream was to be an ENG operator…you can’t
really get more in the mix of everything than that. I took the job as a
teleprompter knowing that straight out of school that was where I had to
begin to get to where I wanted to be. I WAS SO EXCITED I WAS IN!!!!!!!!!!
Once I was actually in the field…. I realized that as much as I learned and
as much as I did while in school, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing
and I was completely unprepared. At school I got to work on the top of line
equipment from DVCpro cameras (which may not even be top of the line
but I really liked them, actually my favorite was the BetaCam) to AVID
editors. I loved working there but didn’t get the opportunity to learn more
about everything around me. I did get to work the live studio cam a few
times though.
I stayed there for a couple of years only doing my job and when I moved
back home to New York I was completely unable to get a job in the field.
I had no new skills outside of what I was doing. I had been out of school
for a couple of years and knew absolutely nobody in the industry that could
have helped me out because everyone I knew in the field, was all the way
back in Texas… a place I was not quick to start calling home (hopefully my
parents aren’t going to see this).
For a couple of years I’ve known about the Get A Mentor program and
would periodically check on the website, but never really doing anything
about it for one reason or another. A couple of weeks ago a very close
friend of mine made a comment… “Why don’t you practice what you
preach.” I’m the friend that is always telling people that if they're not
happy with their job or some other part of their life to do something
about it because the only person responsible for you and your happiness
is you. Well, when that was thrown back at me for some reason at that
time, I finally stopped and asked myself… what am I waiting for?
And that’s where I am now.
The next day I applied and within a couple of days I got a response.
Currently I work at a school for kids with neurobiological disorders and
every day is a different adventure.
But what I’m really looking forward to is the adventures I am going to
endure once I am doing what really makes me happy and that I’ve
always dreamed of. The more success stories I read the more excited
I get and can’t wait to actually get started.
