Intellectual Autobiography
Francisco Sierra
Understanding Media Studies


Many of my earliest memories involve the 1933 film, King Kong. I remember specifically the visual images of Kong swatting airplanes atop the Empire State building. I remember Kong fighting dinosaurs in the depths of the Skull Island jungle. I also remember how the film led me to proactively research apes and reptiles at the library, talk endlessly about King Kong and other fantastical creatures, draw pictures of Kong and other monster creations, and, of course, watch King Kong over and over again. Today as I reflect back on my childhood experiences I realize the true power of film or a medium in general. In my case a singular representation of visual media not only influenced my young malleable mind, but created a whole stock of memories, associations and experiences. Little did I realize that the personal effect of this one film would influence my intellectual and educational development.
The influence and understanding of King Kong and how it pertains to me did not occur until I began my college education at the George Washington University in 2002. I attended GWU with the plan of taking a variety of introductory courses and deciding my major based on which I enjoyed the most. The answer to me became obvious as soon as I enrolled in Electronic Media 75: Sight and Sound (EMDA 75) and met Dr. Joan Thiel. The goal of EMDA 75 was to learn how to create short visual narratives through a gradual development from photographs to video. Professor Thiel did not make this easy. She was cold, direct and distrusting and acted as if the class, students, and the world were a gigantic annoyance to her. She did not hesitate to publicly berate you with her raspy dissonant voice that could only be attributed to a lifetime of unfiltered tobacco use. She ran her class like a bootcamp. Tardiness was not tolerated, as arriving thirty seconds late would mean that the door was slammed in your face. Pop quizzes were thrown at us frequently and without warning. She did not follow the standard grading guidelines and considered Bs to exemplify excellence and Cs to measure decency.
In all honesty at first I didn’t think I would make it, but then two things happened to me that I didn’t expect. First, despite the challenges of the class and a tough unyielding professor, I began to have fun. I became fully absorbed in my visual media projects and creative development. This was truly exemplified in the editing room where hours would careen by and I would place every inch of myself into my projects. Secondly I began to understand Dr. Thiel and appreciate her methods. She was extremely stiff and directive because she exemplified the necessity of learning the formalities and processes of creating visual media. To her the creation of media was mathematical. You had to build ideas, formalities, processes into your head before you could wield the final product or result. Her directive and seemingly totalitarian manner was her way of forcing this down our throats until we had no choice but to do this and not jump immediately to the artistic side of things, which is what naturally would have occurred.
EMDA 75 helped me decide to major in Electronic Media at GWU. Unfortunately, as I prepared to declare my major, the field of study was cancelled. This led me to follow a different academic path, but still one that was relevant to my interest in Electronic Media. I pursued an Anthropology major with the Film Studies minor. I found Anthropology fascinating on so many levels, yet the aspects that most affected me were learning the variance of cultural conventions around the world, and semiotics. The latter truly resignated with me because of my interest in Film and Electronic Media. I began to ponder how any visual image may be interepreted in a myriad of ways by the individuals viewing them. I also became interested in how these interpretations can be influenced and transformed through the use of editing, sound, applied aesthetics, and other practices. In conjunction with my film studies minor I learned about the theoretical processes of creating and analyzing film, and developed an appreciation of the history and evolution of film over the past century.
I knew that I was planning on continuing my eductaion with Media Studies, and despite being interested in multiple schools, the New School was the obvious choice. The decision was not just basesd on the quality of the program but also the surroundings. To me, New York City would provide a place of endless opportunity, inspiration and location that would constantly challenge me. As I begin my education at the New School, I hope to take what I began at GWU and build upon that. My film education consisted mostly of theory , therefore I hope to balance this out with technical development and experience of the Film Form and Practice concentration. At the same time I wish to juxtapose this development with Semiotics to explore and hopefully create media that may alter a viewers common interpretation of a subject. I hope to involve one of my other passions and inspirations, horror films in this juxtaposition. The eventual goal is to utilize these fundamentals in the study and creation of horror films by playing with cultural fears and creating new fears through signified associations. I can’t say exaclty where I will be ten years from now, but my hope would be that I have translated my experiences at the New School into a full time visual production job.
As I prepare to do this, I can’t help but think back to King Kong and how it pertains to my intellecutal development on so many levels. Firstly, my association of King Kong is extremely unique to me as an individual because it represents what I wish to accomplish. I hope to present viewers with a visual representation that can be so affective and unique, so that it creates a completley original signified personal experience. Secondly, King Kong is a true representation of the importance of finding inspiration. With King Kong I became so enveloped in the film that I proactively began seeking out information on apes and dinosaurs and challenged my self creatively to expand on the ideas of the film. The same can be said with my goals at the New School, by combining three of my inspirations (film, semiotics, and horror) I hope to attack my goals with a similar proactive tenacity and enthusiasm that I had as a child. Thirdly, the importance of the medium is validated in my own experience. I became so enveloped in this film that it created entirely new memories in my own personal life. This is a true example of the power and affect of media and the specific medium of film.