Austin Lunt

BFA in Film and Media Arts

Spring 2023

Expected Graduation: Spring 2024

When I was first asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I said I wanted to be a director and now here I am in school for film. Even though it seems I have been consistent with what I wanted to be ever since I was little I actually haven’t as I even came to the University of Tampa for sports management. In elementary and middle school I completely fell in love with sports, specifically football and hockey and I quickly switched my mind on what I wanted to be from a director to a general manager of a football team. During my high school I would slowly over the course of time start to loose the love of the idea of working in sports but never really looked into other options. Not once did I think about film even though a passion for filmmaking was there for me as there were countless times of trying to make youtube videos and be a youtuber back in middle school and this would continue in high school with making a group channel with friends and my own channel where I made my own content. Looking back that drive to be a filmmaker/director never left me I just got a little distracted with other interests even though at the time I thought my dream of directing was dead.

Even though I knew I didn’t want to work in the sports world I still scouted schools looking for good sports programs and acted like that was still what I wanted to do since I thought I didn’t have any other interests and chose the University of Tampa off their sports program. My first semester at the university was dreadful and I was quickly trying to find other interests as fast as possible and wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. One class I was taking at the time that had really helped me rediscover my love of filmmaking was actually one of the gen-ed writing classes in AWR 201 taught by Prof. Waggoner. He designed his whole course around movies, specifically the Coen brothers films, and turned a class where in many you had to read but instead we had to write about movies. This along with talking to my uncle who works in the film industry and reflecting back on how much fun I had making videos in high school helped me rediscover filmmaking as one of my passions. As soon as I rediscovered what I wanted to do I quickly started writing a feature and and thinking of anything and everything for ideas. Something I learned by doing this taught me what I love most about film and what I love so much about sports. When it came to sports it was never the actual action or crazy plays but the stories and headlines that were created. I loved seeing stories develop on the field and love seeing the twists and turns of a good movie Which made me want to create my own stories with their own wild turns and I think that’s my strongest aspect to filmmaking is the stories I can create to keep a viewer on their toes. I think this can be a very valuable asset in wanting to write and direct especially with the decrease of attention spans filmmakers will have to work harder to keep the attention of the viewer.

I want to be able to put together incredible journeys for people to experience that is either thought provoking in actioned packed thrillers or give an audience some dumb laughs and some time to relax but no matter the journey I want the viewer to have a good time. I want to be able to create films for people to experience that is either thought provoking in actioned packed thrillers or give an audience some dumb laughs and some time to relax but no matter the journey I want the viewer to have a good time. Even though I believe that coming up with the actual stories are my strong suit I still feel like I have a lot to work on and get better at. I want to write more, whether that’s rewriting what I already have or working on new projects but something that I know I need to work on and that the University of Tampa has been helping me learn is the more technical side to filmmaking. I believe I can conceptualize and visualize exactly what I want something to look like but can struggle in executing technically but classes like Cinematography with Warren and the ability to get some experience on school film sets.

The University has also inadvertently helped me get better at the technical side of film by giving me access to apps like Handshake where I have been able to find employers like Personofi and Fermentaholics where I have been able to practice more on the technical side of film as a production lead and creating video ads. Once I graduate from the University of Tampa I plan on hopefully having enough money saved up by that point, and if not work till I get to that point I’ve decided I’m comfortable in, and move to Atlanta to truly start my filmmaking journey. I hope to get on sets and work as a pa climbing the ladder while also working on some shorts and working towards the opportunity of making my own first feature film.