A NEW SCENE

Hi everyone! My name is Michael and I'm a Junior from New Jersey. 

I've always been a big sports guy. At one point, I played 5 different sports at the same time (Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Tennis, and Hockey).  Come the start of high school, I was dictated to pick just one sport and stick with it. Basically, Mom was tired of carpooling me around to several practices everyday. My dad wanted me to stick with baseball, and Mom wanted me to stay with tennis. Naturally, I picked neither! I ended up choosing soccer and became a 4-year varsity starter at one of New Jersey's top Catholic soccer high schools. 

From there, I was recruited to several schools in Florida to play ball. It came down between Florida Southern and University of Tampa. The decision was tough due to scholarship deals and my opinion of one school over the other. In the end, I chose Tampa over Florida Southern because I felt I'd be happier, even if I had to take less scholarship money.  

Coming in as a Sport Management major, I truthfully didn't know what I wanted to do as far as career paths go. All I thought was, "Well, as long as it's in sports..." One semester goes by and no class really sparked life for me. The spring semester of my Freshman year comes around and the soccer team has its offseason. One of the guys thought it'd be cool to go out to the field, kick around, and make a video of us playing. Taking the initiative, I bought a GoPro and began messing around with it.  I went to the field with my teammates and screwed around with the little GoPro Hero 4 Session that started it all. I went back to my dorm that day, and watched endless YouTube tutorials on editing in Final Cut X until I knew enough to cut a video together. 

A few days later, the video was finished. I showed everyone I knew (naturally I was proud of my first ever video). Despite it being very amateur, people appreciated it. We ended up making a few more of these small videos, and gradually I became more fluid with the process. 

After that semester, I switched to a Film & Media Major and never looked back. Slowly but surely, my equipment, contact list, and skill level grew tremendously. I've worked with several city councils, sororities, DJs/Producers, artists, athletes, and friends on projects that have helped me in so many different ways. More than anything, I relied on YouTube tutorials and other creators to help me learn.

I am by no means where I want to be, because there is so much more to learn. This is a medium where you can never be content, because technology is changing so quickly that you will get left behind if you fail to learn new concepts or simply act complacent. 

A perfect example is Animation. I know absolutely nothing in this field, but I am excited to get my feet wet and see where my creativity takes me. I've been in Premiere and After Effects for over a year now and still don't know a sliver in Animation. In fact, I'm positive there is more I DON'T KNOW than I DO KNOW in these programs. Stepping out of my comfort zone and learning new techniques in Animation, Photoshop, and all areas I'm not familiar with is the only way to grow. So that's why I joined this class!

Can't wait for a great semester with everyone :) 

If you want to see any of the recent work I've done on Instagram:

Handle: @michaelcobuzio