I am Joseph Ferrara, a Perth Amboy High School graduate from the class of 2023 currently enrolled at Rutgers New Brunswick. During my time in Perth Amboy, I took part in the Communications Academy which offered courses in Foundations of Production Design, Journalism, International Diplomacy, and Video Production along with Acting which I took outside of the academy. I spent time as a stage manager for my Junior and Senior year musicals and also volunteered over the summers of those years for the Middle School theatre program hosted at the high school. In my Senior year, I served as floor manager, audio tech, and director for my school's morning news broadcast "Panthers Roar." I took part in my school's Gospel Choir, Fashion Club, and Drama Club. My dedication to the arts and most specifically filmmaking is a passion that culminated in Perth Amboy and moving forward with this love for the art, I would like to contribute to cinema as a director, writer, and producer from the indie medium all the way to Hollywood.
Text
Text
Cinema has always been about gaining new perspectives for me. I feel my work and the stories I consume have always reflected my state of mind at the time. I never took the time to appreciate why I’ve chosen film as the medium where my obsession stands tallest. It had not struck me until the first time I’d picked up a camera and made a mini-movie with my friends in 9th grade that there was an outlet of creativity missing from my life. Naturally like anyone in this field, we have our expressive needs and up until high school, I’d always chalked mine up to hyperactivity from the media I consume, not a direct response of wanting to contribute to it. Nothing has had such a long-lasting impact on me like film. I grew up on it and with a father who watches them 24/7, I’m exposed to cinema from many generations. I see film as a way to immortalize conversation. The human experience is ever-changing and unique for everyone. I think it’s within many people's journeys to discover their place here and make sense of it but more often than not, we won’t have the resources to take these journeys. You know what they usually will have, two hours of free time in their day. Two hours is all it could take for someone to gain a new perspective, to cry, to be inspired, to overcome some anger, to escape. I’ve always been more drawn to fiction and been most affected by narratives that are grounded but separate from reality. The fine line is taking me out of my current situation but reminding me what I’m consuming isnt too far from it. At the end of the day I love people more than anything, I spend most of my days trying to surround myself with them. I love them so much that I’d like everyone I know to find some clarity during the time they spend here. To be vulnerable on a larger scale and express in a way that requires more than words, is the dream to me. An endless conversation is what I’d like to make films for so that one day a work I may have constructed decades behind me could still be something others sit down and talk about. At the end of the day, there's only so much time for us to do something like that.
iii
ii
i
During my Junior and senior years I served as stage manager and assistant stage manager for my school's musicals, Freaky Friday(2022) and Into The Woods(2023) in my school's theatre program. Our director Mrs. Ashley Gottesman gave me the opportunity at the beginning of Junior year and it opened up a large involvement in the arts for my remaining years of High School. I along with three of my peers was even gifted the Theatre Program scholarship at Perth Amboy’s senior awards night.
Another mentor of mine Mrs. Allison Graham introduced me to volunteering for Perth Amboy's Summer Theatre Program(2022) with the middle schoolers the summer of my Junior year. I dedicated around 110 hours over a 5-week program helping the youth put on a full production for the town by early August and trained a young crew with video production techniques under Mr. Frank Yee.
A premiere opportunity through the academy was the All-American High School Film Festival 2022 in New York. I was appointed the role of director along with the writer by Ms. Carolyn Macchia and Mr. Frank Yee. I along with 9 other students was tasked to produce a film under 3 day deadline in New York while starting pre-production over the summer. It was a great experience with strict deadlines and a primarily student-led production.
I took Video Production/Advanced Video Production with Ms. Carolyn Macchia during my Sophomore and Senior years. I learned the basics of framing, screenwriting, editing, and producing shorts through the course. Over my 3 years in the communications academy, I contributed to the completion of over a dozen screenplays and self-produced a variety of projects.
I attended the Garden State Film Festival for our NY Film "Women in the Mirror." Other festivals it was showcased at were NJ Young Filmmakers, Montclair Emerging Filmmakers Kent Place Film Festival, and the Ramapo Film Festival.
I took part in my school's Gospel Choir during my Senior year under our choir director Mr. Jeffrey Pando. Over the year, we performed a winter and spring concert, went to the NJACDA Voices United Choir Festival hosted at the Carteret Performing Arts(2022) and Events Center, and competed at the Teen Arts Festival held at Middlesex College(2023).
I took Acting ll under Mrs. Ashley Gottesman my senior year and worked with a variety of material such as monologues, self-written scenes, and multi-partner scenes. We covered material ranging from the most unserious comedies to gripping dramas. Taking the course was great exposure to understanding the actor's process and informing myself as a director to manage a scene more purposefully.
I was required as part of the course to participate in Perth Amboy’s end-of-year Theatre Showcase. Here I performed one scene with a partner and facilitated set changes for mine and the Advanced Acting class.