Editor's Note: We caught up with advisor Phil Van recently to give us a perspective on his experience as a student at NYU's Graduate Film School as well as his perspective on filmmaking.

Undergraduate Years at Cornell

Q: How did you get involved in Film?
I was premed when I entered Cornell, but in my sophomore year I had a catalytic kind of experience. I had a migraine headache that caused partial temporary blindness in my left eye and a loss of speech for 48 hours. It was really intense. The hospital did a full check and determined that it was a severe migraine that caused a impermanent thing called Brocha’s Aphasia, which blocked certain paths in my brain.

I think it was due in part to the stress of being in college - I wasn’t happy with where I was headed. I felt opportunities were ending and a set path was closing in on me. I had always been in the arts. I drew a lot; I played guitar for years; and I always loved film. I wanted to pursue something in that direction, but I was fearful because of the economic constraints of a life as a starving artist.

After the experience, I decide that life was too short, so I dropped my medical pursuits and got heavily involved in student film productions. And I wrote a lot of music. I composed music for Justin Lerner’s films and my own. I put together a digital suite, with Pro Tools and Acid among other programs.

I wanted to do more after Cornell and working in the city on productions or in writing and editing for ABC didn’t feel like enough. I applied to graduate film school. I got into NYU, Columbia, UCLA and USC. I had this problem deciding where to go. I had a foundation in NY and I liked the independent scene here, so I decide on NYU.
Q: What were your films like in undergrad at Cornell?

One of my first films was DIZZY GIRL for director Justin Lerner (Voice Films Advisor). I shot the film and scored it. We didn’t really understand what we doing, but it was ambitious, and we learned a lot composing shots and creating a mood with a very limited amount of equipment. Then I worked on directing a 23 minute narrative that a photographer friend of mine, Derrick Gomez, shot. It was an intensive collaborative process; that film was a defining experience for me - what drew me in. It had elements of visual design from films that I loved like PERSONA and elements that I mimicked successfully to tell me that I could continue doing this and be happy.

Q: Was there someone who inspired you, helped or encouraged you?
Yes, Jameel Khaja. He taught briefly at Cornell during my Sophomore and Junior Year. He was an alum of the Columbia Graduate Film School program and had gone on to produce an independent film that won the dramatic feature category at the Austin and Berlin Film Festivals. He really brought all these narrative concepts from Columbia’s program to Cornell. He emphasized a standard of production and writing that I didn’t formally know. I was amazed at how effective some of his ideas were when used on set.

I also worked heavily with one actor over the course of three films. He was an accomplished actor, and through my experiences with him and a few others I learned how to work with actors for film. I really started to look forward to collaborations with talented performers.

NYU Film School
Q: Why NYU?
I almost went to USC based on their facilities and one particular film I saw there that was incredible. But in talking to NYU people, I found they were more aligned with my ideas and ideals.

Q: What are you learning at NYU?
I’m learning how to work with people. The way that they selected the class of 36 people is amazing. Every social, economic and racial demographic is represented, and they are all intelligent with an expansive range of ideas. They each have an individual passion for filmmaking that I didn’t expect to see on such a wide level. There are always problems and political issues - but I really appreciate their diverse opinions and ideas.

Q: What sorts of goals do you have at NYU.
I want to make a selection of shorts that represent my ideas as a filmmaker. I appreciate specificity and control. Sergio Leone may be looked at as a bit of a campy director now, but his characters are so refined and specific; he knows where he’s going with everything. My goal is to gain a similar level of control from my work in the program.

Q: Does this mean technical or organizational skills?
I’m always developing both. You get to rotate through all positions here. I know that to be comfortable as a director I have to learn everything I can technically without dedicating myself too thoroughly to one technical job that would get me stuck in a singular position like ACing. It can be sort of a trap - ACing is a wonderful job, but I want to direct. To learn the other crafts will inform my directing.

Q: How many films will you make at NYU?
I made two films last year. This year we make one 10-12 minute film. And the following year a thesis film. The thesis film can be anything you want, 10-20 minutes; it could be a feature. 10-15 minutes is best for festivals. 20-30 minutes is a weird range - it’s almost as though you should make a feature. But if you have a film that requires that time for development and uses every minute economically and is building consistently, then it make sense.

Q: What do your parents think about film as a career choice?
They both had reservations initially. My father wanted medicine or engineering - something in a purely technical field. He wanted me to learn a craft that I can know well and master. But I think this is possible in film. My mom is open to my doing what makes me happy – as long as I can make money.

Q: What do you want to accomplish in five years.

For years I did interviews with famous actors and directors for ABC and I remember so many of them stating something or other about really breaking out when they were 26 years old. It was very peculiar. For a while I thought that 26 must be a kind of magic age. But I realize now that’s not necessarily the case. I think if I can make a feature by the time I’m 30, I’m doing really well - a feature that gets distribution based on a script that I appreciate.

I got a chance to sit down with Christopher Doyle (accomplished DP for films such as “In the Mood for Love”). He didn’t touch a camera until he was around 30. Since then he has shot so many films and is really a master of his particular aesthetic and craft. He dedicated himself to the craft completely when he finally discovered what it would be. Age was secondary.

Maggie Cheung, "In the Mood for Love." Directed by Kar Wai Wong, Cinematography by
Christopher Doyle

Inspirations and Development
Q: Who are the filmmakers who inspire you?
For DP, Tonino Delli Colli who shot a lot of films for Sergio Leone. There is something about the way he composes - it’s jarring, dynamic, and specific. It shows a tremendous amount of control over his subject matter. You can feel his hand guiding every image in his films.

Another DP I admire is Sven Nykvist, who shot a lot of Bergman’s later films. SHAME (Bergman, 1968) blew me out of the water. It is one of the best films I have ever seen.

For filmmakers, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard - I wasn’t a big fan of Godard’s more renowned films like BREATHLESS or WEEKEND. Some of that material just didn’t initially feel accessible to me. Then I saw A WOMAN IS A WOMAN and PIERRO LE FOU (1965) and others that star both Anna Karina and Jean Paul Belmondo, whom I think are two of the greatest faces in film. I’ve since revisited his more popular fare and I now revere those films. Godard likes his actors as characters and vice versa. Anna Karina’s roles are completely organic – even when Godard gets extremely formal or experimental - it’s as though I know her as a person as I’m watching her perform. It’s incredible to derive that kind of naturalism from an actor, especially when the aesthetic and tone of the film contradict it.

The films I respect the most from a stylistic standpoint are so controlled and structural – films by Antonioni or Bergman - the compositions, pacing, camera movements are incredibly specific. The performances I respect the most are the ones that are lucid and organic. In masterful films like SHAME, there is this forced directorial hand on the images while the actors come from an entirely living, organic place. There’s a fine balance between the structural and the living – it is a director’s work to maintain a firm grasp of both at all times, even though they may at points seem contradictory.

Q: Do you feel like you’re still developing a process? I don’t think I will ever stop developing my process. I still make mistakes. It is almost impossible to work out something perfectly. The mark of a good filmmaker is using his imperfections and limitations to his specific and absolute advantage. I’ll always be struggling because it fuels the creative process.

Q: What advice would you give to youth getting involved in film - looking back on your growth as a filmmaker, where you are today and where you want to be?

To inform your filmmaking, try to experience as much as you can - I am not advocating some sort of out of control lifestyle. Allow yourself to be open to things that come to you. The greatest filmmakers are constantly deriving from their personal understanding of people, relationships, situations, conflict. Suffering and failure are incredible impetus for amazing filmmaking. Understand their place and importance in the development of artistic vision.

Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself. The people I’ve met that have consistently challenged themselves are so much more well rounded and developed in personality and understanding than people who have found the easy way out.

Find a way to express yourself clearly -- through writing, speaking, and gesture. This seems obvious but is a markedly underemphasized skill in filmmaking.

Finally, find a way to imbue your work with meaning. Whatever you’re doing, your work has to resonate as meaningful with you first, before anyone else. This again, may seem obvious, but is jeopardized all the time when people start thinking they have to stick to a certain way of doing things, telling a story, being creative.

All of your work has to be personal, no matter how far-reaching, absurd or grand. You’re in it to express your voice. Every beat of everything you do has to ring so true to you that it needs to be done in a certain way. You will be faced with change and compromise, and you’ll have to accept a lot of it, but the strength of your vision is what will carry your ideas unharmed to the end. All the hours and days you give to your films, all the frustrations and problems you endure will be justified and will become a part of a process that you will know and come to love like nothing else.

-- Norm Wada October, 2004

For more information contact Phillip Van.

888 8th Ave. #7V
New York, NY 10019
Phone: (646)831-0680
Email: proverb124@yahoo.com

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