The Hidden Gems of Humed: Cylindian Goodchild

The University of the West Indies is home to some of the world’s most brilliant and creative minds. Its growing population, however, has caused some of these exceptional students to go undiscovered. In this month’s series, “The Hidden Gems of Humed”, turns the spot light on Cylindian Goodchild, a final year student majoring in Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production. A very interesting area of study if you asked. I was privilege to have a chat with Ms.Goodchild. Keep scrolling to see what else I found out!



Q and A WITH CYLINDIAN GOODCHILD.

Jamilla: Cylindian, thank you so much for joining me. I am aware that you are in your third year at UWI and currently doing a major in the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film Production Programme. Do you have any minors?

Cylindian: No, we’re not allowed to do minors because a BFA is a special.

J: Really? Could you elaborate on what that means, please?

C: A special goes more in-depth than (a) major which would be a Bachelor of Arts in Film Production. So, we cover more topics in Film Production. (A) majority of our credits goes towards things relating to film production so there is no space for a minor.

J: Why did you choose to do a BFA in Film Production?

C: I chose to do a BFA in Film Production because I really love movies and I wanted to be an actress, but I found out that I had a little thing for directing so I said I (would) study Film Production and see where this goes.

J: All right. Do you have any favourite movies?

C: I can never select one favourite movie, but maybe I can say an awesome movie that I watched recently was, “Blood Red Sky”. That was my favourite movie (this) year.

J: What genre is that?

C: It’s a horror (movie).

J: Okay. The title sounds like one. So, you mentioned that you want to do directing, right? Do you have any specific person you would love to work with?

C: I have so many persons that I would absolutely love to work with. (For) actors, I would say Charlize Theron and John Boyega. And Keanu Reeves. And Will Smith. Those are the persons I would really love to work with.

J: Do you have any specific place you would love to work at as a director?

C: I would love to work for Warner Bros.

J: All right. I could see that. So, you mentioned that “Blood Red Sky” was an awesome movie. What exactly would you say makes a film awesome?

C: So, three things. You have to have a great story, great acting, and great visuals. Oh, and awesome sound. Never leave out the sound.

J: I would agree. Do you have a philosophy that you live by?

C: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

J: That is so true. What would you say is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

C: I think the best piece of advice I’ve ever received was (when) my programme coordinator said to me, “Your job is to make art, to make entertainment, and you can’t necessarily cater to everyone, so don’t worry about everybody’s individual reactions to what you make. Just do great work.”

J: That sounds like a great piece of advice. What happens then, if the work you’ve created is something you love dearly, however, the general audience is not in tune to that?

C: That’s the funny thing about it. Sometimes, as filmmakers, you want to make something, but you have to think about the audience because you (need an audience) in order to make money. It’s not to say that you (shouldn’t) make something because you are afraid that people won’t watch it – you never know – but the thing is, you can’t spend (a lot of) money to make something that people won’t watch. You can make short films and so on since it does not really take a whole budget and (a lot of) people you have to pay. I would say (you should) do some market research to see if it’s something that people won’t watch if you are concerned that people won’t like it.

J: I think that’s a good point. Let me ask you, is there anyone that you really look up to?

C: There is a female director that I really look up to – Kathryn Bigelow. She is an awesome director and the way she approaches filmmaking is that if she is to tell a story it must be worth telling. She tells stories to educate people. It’s not just about entertaining; it must have some value for the audience. And another thing, in her storytelling, she has this unique thing where she’ll throw you directly into the action instead of spending the (entire) time doing a build-up of the normal world – there is less time spent on that section and there is more time spent on the actual story.

J: Could you share some of her work?

C: She has done “Zero Dark Thirty”, “Detroit”, and “The Hurt Locker” for which she received an Oscar for Best Director.

J: Okay. Those titles sound familiar. Now, what would you say is your favourite thing about being at UWI?

C: Before online school, I loved walking to class. That was my favourite thing (along with) staying on hall. Hall life is really exciting.

J: What would you say is your least favourite thing about being at UWI?

C: My least favourite thing would be the amount of work we have to do in the short period of time. While I love learning, we have 5 courses, and the (number) of things we have to learn per course (is too much for) 3 months.

J: Do you have any advice for students like me in their first year?

C: In first year, do the best you can because as you progress the work gets harder and it’s more difficult to get the As. Work as hard as you can from first year so you can get that high GPA so you (aren’t too stressed) when you (get to your) third year. Get yourself in the habit of reading all the course material and having a good study regime because when you reach (your) third year that will be very important, and it will be very hard to adapt if you do not start (now).

J: Is there anything you would like to say to your future self?

C: To my future self: Keep working. Keep being creative. Keep being determined, and I really hope you’ve gotten some awards and you’ve gotten to make some international films.

J: I wish you all the best. We’ve come to the end, but is there anything you’d like to add that will help us to get to know you better?

C: Well, I could tell you about my final year project. We have to do a thesis film at the end of the year. (My project) is a horror fantasy film and it includes elements of Jamaican folklore, especially the duppy stories. I am (a bit) nervous to be doing the cinematography, the production design, the directing, and producing, and everything (but) I am really looking forward to making an awesome 20-minute film that would be a testament to all the things I have learnt over the past (few years).

J: All right. Thank you for agreeing to do this and I wish you all the best.

C: Thank you very much and thank you for deciding that I was a worthy candidate for you to interview for this article.

Do you want to learn more about Cylindian Goodchild? You may find her on Instagram using the handle @cylindianpgoodchild.