Matt Larsen

Film Studies student

Ask Matt where he sees himself in the next ten years and his answer is partly joking but, you suspect, partly serious too. 'With any luck I'll be rich and famous and on a film set somewhere like Florida or the Bahamas,' he grins.

Matt is keen on film, but not just going to the cinema on a Saturday like the rest of us. He really feels he has it in him to work in the film industry. But he isn't one to just dream about it. Instead Matt has taken positive steps to realise the career he wants and he appreciates the value of a City & Guilds course in getting him moving.

He's doing his A-levels and he's applied for universities but he knows competition for those Uni courses is fierce and that he needs an edge and a show of commitment, too. 'Last year I did a City & Guilds Media Techniques course to help me with my university applications,' he says. 'I've just finished a promotional video for a department at college and I'm working on another. The film industry is all about building up a portfolio to prove what you can do.'

Matt is under no illusions that making films is a stressful job and one that demands a lot out of people. He's found that out already just by doing those college projects. 'The budget, the resources, getting everything organised like cast and crew and I don't have a lot of flexibility with my equipment,' he grumbles good-naturedly.

Matt believes he was always cut out for a career in the industry. 'I'm quite creative,' he agrees. 'I tend to hear and see stuff and then fiddle with it in my mind and imagine how I could change it and make it better.' And Matt isn't one to suffer false modesty. Ask him what he enjoys most about the job and you get a straight answer. 'The end result. When everyone looks at it and says "Wow!".' And,' he adds, 'I like forcing people to listen to my point of view.'

'My dream job would be to be a director of feature films; art house, but also the odd blockbuster as well,' he enthuses. His determination to do what he wants, and not what anybody else thinks he should do, is infectious.

'Do what you like doing,' he states. 'Why do anything else?'