Remy Allis · Transcript · · Updated
Reading my GKS personal statement | Accepted without TOPIK/IELTS | Global Korean Scholarship Tips – Transcript
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Hi everyone, I'm Remy and I'm currently making my master degree in filmmaking in Soul, South Korea with the GKS scholarship. And today we're going to look at my personal statement I used for my application. Before we start though, I want to say a couple of things. First of all, obviously I'm no expert. I just applied, I did my research for that obviously, but I also don't exactly know what they're looking for, or what they're not looking for.
Second of all, obviously I'm sharing my statement. So you guys are very welcome to take inspiration from that. I would highly suggest not directly copying things because if you do get found out that immediately disqualifies you and you won't get the scholarship. And last but not least, as the name suggests, the statement is quite personal.
So it feels a bit strange sharing it. So please be nice and yeah, don't be mean, thank you. So let's get started right away. Uh by the way, it's quite long. It's three pages. So, uh, if you want to grab a coffee or a snack right now, I would highly suggest. Form two, personal statement.
To be honest, growing up, I never really liked going to school. I was sensitive and easily cried every time somebody showed that they didn't like me. I never tried anything new, too scared someone would dislike anything I did. Fitting in was more important to me than figuring out who I was as a person.
And fitting in meant to keep to myself and to not draw attention. However, I soon found a source of comfort during these times. Movies and TV shows. I know this might sound silly to some people, but it was what got me through many lonely days. Knowing that I would get to go home, open my laptop, and disappear into worlds where time travel was possible, where people got superpowers, and the quiet girl turned out to be the protagonist of an adventure she never would have imagined.
I cared for the characters on the screen as if they were my real friends. I laughed, cried, and grew with them during their journeys of self-discovery. I was in grade seven when I first presented the job of a movie director as my dream career. I joined the photography and film club of my school where I later got to be the manager of our own student company.
Here I got to meet peers with the same interest as me and together we got to learn how to create the art we only consumed until then. I still am and always will be grateful to our teacher Mr. who led our film club. He inspired me in ways I'm not sure he is aware of. Not only because he showed me how to operate a camera, but also because he lit a curiosity in me I didn't know was there.
Whenever he told us about his trips around the world, I found myself wishing this was me. Getting to know new people, places, and cultures. The world was bigger than my classroom and I could go find my own adventures. And that's what I did. After I graduated high school, I packed my bags and for the first time left my hometown completely on my own. I spent 9 months in New Zealand.
I traveled and worked all over the country. And I could probably write a whole essay only about this trip and how it changed my life. I not only got to know incredible people, but also myself. I learned to trust in myself and in the fact that no matter how hard or difficult something was, I would always find a way through it.
I also learned to take every opportunity that presents itself because you never know where it might lead you. As I was in need of money, I decided to take up a gardening job while staying in Taranga. To my surprise, I discovered that the family I was working for owned a film production company, Kiwi TV. It was during my time working in their garden that I was offered my first internship where I was able to gain insights into professional film productions in a foreign country.
This only confirmed my belief that pursuing my dream as a film director was the right path for me. I applied to the motion pictures program at Darmstadt's University of Applied Sciences and performed more than a couple jumps of joy as I received my acceptance letter. That's how I found myself moving to Darmstadt and beginning my bachelor studies in 2018.
This was the time I started to fall in love with learning. My experience here was completely opposite from the one I had growing up. It was easy to make friends and now I have a lot of people in my life I am sure will forever be a part of it. Our program was mostly practical, so I got to learn how to write, shoot, and edit movies.
A few of which I was honored to present at some smaller film festivals. One of my favorites was the "Kurzstummfilmfestival" in Essen. This festival challenges filmmakers to create movies that can be equally enjoyed by people with and without hearing, and therefore only films without dialogue were accepted. The film I directed, 'Wish for Something', won the best lowbudget prize in 2019. This first award will forever be a cherished memory of mine.
In addition, I had the opportunity to present 'The Sun is Shining', a short film about two friends that have to relearn how to communicate with each other at the Bundes Festival, "Junger Film", and 'The Art of Ink', a short documentary about a Russian tattoo artist who moved to Germany to pursue his dreams at the "Jung und Abgedreht" Festival.
Every time a movie I directed was shown on a big screen, something in me filled with joy. Equally as happy made me the comments we got online for short films, as well as the videos we shared about our life as film students. Growing up, I would have loved to have more insights into what a film degree actually looked like. The materials were limited and the only reliable resources were the official websites from the universities.
Therefore, two of my friends and I decided to help those who might be in the same shoes we were a couple of years ago and started our very own YouTube channel. Here, we took the audience with us to every film set we worked on and show what our life study in motion pictures looked like. Through the videos we uploaded once a week, I not only learned how to manage my time efficiently and work with deadlines on a regular basis, but also how to come up with new ideas routinely.
Truthfully, with just over 500 subscribers, our channel never got really big. But every thankful message we received from people who were looking to apply filled me with happiness. And with over 78,000 views in total, I'd like to believe that we could at least have a couple of people learn more about their dream major. I would like to continue documenting my life as a GKS student in South Korea with the hope to keep inspiring others with the same dream while providing useful and motivating insights.
One of the highlights of my academic journey as well as our YouTube channel was the opportunity to study in Canada as an exchange student. The scholarship I received from DAAD allowed me to make my way to Vancouver and start my spring term at the Capilano University. Here I learned how to navigate my life at a foreign university.
It is undoubtly thanks to all my professors and fellow students that this semester turned into such an enriching experience. From the beginning on, I was an active part of different short film productions where I gained insights into the Canadian way of making movies. Furthermore, in theoretical classes like world cinema, I was able to expand my knowledge about the film history of different countries and improve my English vocabulary by writing various academic papers.
Even though the start of the COVID19 pandemic forced me to take the last couple of lectures from home, I finished my studies in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.72 which earned me a spot on the deans list. Even though I was gaining a lot of experience during all my studies, I knew participating only in university projects wouldn't be enough to fully learn about the industry.
That's why I took the opportunity to work as an intern for Dobago Film, which was made possible by a funding program of HessenFilm and Media. Dobago film is a production company that specializes in digital series. During my internship, I had the opportunity to work on digital skin, a short series between Germany and Argentina.
The different cultures and workflows added an immense value to the joint production. As the assistant director, I was able to accompany the project from the beginning to the end and learned from the professional directors. Dobago film also co-produced the first international production of a web series between Germany and South Korea, Lotte House.
I got to meet the South Korean director who also the founder of the Soul Web Fest during a workshop I participated in this year about writing digital series. This was the first time I had the opportunity to talk with somebody working in the South Korean film industry and it confirmed me my ambitions to go there to further educate myself.
Through all my ambitions and adventures, I had the support of my family behind me. Neither my mom nor my dad received the bachelor's degree. So they were immensely proud of me for my good high school grades and attending college. My mother, a kindergarten teacher, always supported me in everything I was aiming to do. She inspired me to take risks and believe in myself, knowing she would always be on my side.
My father was more on the skeptical side. I know that he was only scared for my safety, especially when I first brought up the idea of living in New Zealand, but back then, it often initiated the desire in me to prove him wrong, to prove that I was capable of taking care of myself and I could follow through with the plans I made for myself without backing out.
He also wasn't completely convinced of me studying film. He would have preferred a safer degree with a comfortable career instead of trying to make a living creating art. But no matter how much he protested, he would always support me anyways. And I knew early on that I wanted to prove him wrong once more, to prove that film was the right choice for me and that I could build a successful career in it.
I wanted to take him to red carpet events and make him proud of me once again. He sadly passed away on the 13th of January, 2022. The cancer he was fighting with for years finally won and the same year I would later shoot my bachelor film and finish my degree. It breaks my heart to know that I will never be able to show him the films I will create but I still aim to make him proud of the person I have become so far and who I will grow into.
I want to keep growing into a better version of myself both personally and professionally as a filmmaker and I can't think of a better place to do that than as a GKS student in South Korea. In the last 5 years, I have completely fallen in love with the Korean film industry and the way stories are being told in a unique and beautiful way.
From the excellent acting over the beautiful lightning and compositions to the original plot lines, I would love nothing more than being able to learn about the art of movies and dramas in the country I think mastered its practice. I learned firsthand how much a simple show can influence your life. The impact media and especially television has nowadays is immense and can change people's perspectives on all sort of subjects.
Movies have the ability to take the viewer into a world they would never encounter in their everyday life and help to create an understanding for the things that might seem foreign at first. When I think back to the first Korean drama I watched, which was Secret Garden, I recall being a bit stunned by all the differences I saw. This was the first time I really got to watch and learn something about Korean culture.