Name: Marina Frances Coddaire
Major: VMA Writing for Film and Television
Graduation Date: Spring 2015
Hobbies: I enjoy good conversation. It doesn’t matter what we talk about really, whether it’s about them, about me, about the weather or society. People are interesting; everybody has a story and I want to know what it is. I spend most of my free time with music. I discovered my passion for film near the end of high school, but I have always been in love with music. The feeling I get when I sing is the purest form of happiness. It’s pleasure, it’s helplessness, it’s how and when I am able to let go of everything and resist nothing and just let myself feel.
What are you involved in on campus? I’m not nearly as involved on campus as I’d like to be. This semester got away from me as far as that’s concerned. I’m also leaving campus at the end of this semester, and while that usually results in less involvement I’m hoping to become more involved. I would really like to become a part of Active Minds. I admire their goal to open a dialogue and raise awareness about mental health here at Emerson.
What can we expect from you in the future (project wise)? I’m currently finishing up a trailer for a reality series called Frame of Mind, which is about individuals (and their friends and family) who live with psychological and neurobiological disorders. It’s been my semester project and my excitement and motivation for it hasn’t diminished in the slightest! The trailer is only going to be a few minutes long, but I have hours and hours of footage, so over break and into spring semester I’m going to be working on turning it into an intimate documentary that will focus on body dysmorphic disorder. At the end of the piece, I want the viewer to feel as though they know the individuals, to care about them, and for them to leave with compassion and understanding, as well as questioning the lack there of in our society regarding mental illness. It’s not just something “serious” or “important” to me, as it is something emotional.
There is this one idea that’s been cooking in my mind ever since I got here, and I’d give anything to make it. I’ve started talking about it again and people have been responding enthusiastically so I’m very excited. I want to make a piece that presents honest sexuality, and honest sexual expression. Something that shows sex for what it is: natural, diverse, accepting, beautiful, and human. Our dispositions and desires are an integral part of who we are, and I want to put those desires before an audience in the form of an experimental pornography.
Who or what inspires you? People inspire me. Plain and simple. Maybe it’s seeing someone picking up something that another person dropped accidentally and returning it to them, or someone swiping in a stranger at the T so that they can get home. What I love more than anything is seeing small selfless acts of kindness.
Biggest accomplishment so far at Emerson? In my writing for television class last fall, I wrote a spec script for Game of Thrones and that was cool, but my biggest accomplishment was that I stopped comparing my work, and I stopped doubting myself.
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Doing something with the degree that I will still be paying for.
Dream Job: I want to write, I want to produce, I want to make experimental artsy films just for me that hardly anyone sees and even fewer like or understand. I want to work in reality television, narrative television, full feature, documentary, indie, studio. I want to do all of this equally and I will be happy no matter where I am. But, my dream job? I want to be a mother, and I want to be just like mine: always loving, open, accepting, and an endless source of encouragement and support.
If you could trade lives with a celebrity for one day, who would it be and why? If I could trade lives with a celebrity for one day, I would trade lives with Peter Jackson. I would specifically make sure that I was getting his day off (if he even has one), so that I could spend the whole day freaking out over all of the Lord of the Rings sets, costumes, and weapons. I would walk around listening to, or at the very least, humming the soundtrack and I would be having the best day ever.