“I always wanted to be an actress, and for as long as I can remember,” says Juliet Devette, a new film student at the prestigious University of Southern California (USC) and recent graduate of from the Film Production Technician Program at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) last spring.
Devette’s road to her ultimate desire to act has been somewhat winding through her multidisciplinary education in the arts. As a talented musician, vocalist, songwriter, visual design artist, filmmaker, and actress, she coins herself as an “imaginer.”
“SLCC was such a good, comprehensive technical film school… it covered all the bases,” says Devette, in comparison to her USC film studies.
The only difference she points out, at least so far, is the nonlinear digital software; USC uses AVID while SLCC uses Adobe Premiere CS6. However, the editing process and protocols remains the same.
Yet, Devette is always one to plunge into learning. While at SLCC, Devette took on all the classes and experience she could to absorb technique and enhance her artistic abilities.
As a recipient of the CBJT Digital Media Arts Grant, formerly available thanks to SLCC’s partnership with the Utah Department of Workforce Services and the US Department of Labor, she was able to take a myriad of classes at the SLCC Center for Arts and Media (CAM) at the South City Campus.
These classes included cinematography, film production, and screenwriting, where she was able to write, direct, act, edit, and design a number of short films.
Furthermore, Devette rounded out her musical passion with classes in audio production, musical performance, and songwriting. Then, she topped it off with classes in visual design and animation, as she is also an award-winning visual artist.
When she wasn’t immersed in her studies, Devette found time to be engaged in student life at SLCC.
She served on Student Life and Leadership, acted and understudied as Juliet Capulet in Verona 5, a sci-fi interpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and was the voice of Katniss Everdeen in the RadioSLCC adaptation of The Hunger Games.
Though she says her true passion was always acting, she didn’t really have opportunity for acting training, so she found other artistic outlets, such as visual arts, musical performance, and band.
She primarily lived in Malaysia during her elementary school years where she attended a Japanese school, where she learned the Japanese language and played a school issued trombone.
This was a disappointment, as the trumpet she dreamt of playing had already be assigned to another student. Yet, she quickly mastered the instrument, while also taking piano, ballet and, later, voice lessons.
She excelled in visual arts while also playing sports like volleyball, basketball, and softball, as well serving in the student government. By age 16, she landed her first acting gig, the lead in the high school play and later modeled for clothing manufacturers Body Glove and Under Armor.
By her senior year, Devette was Student Body Vice President and hosted her first art exhibit “Education”, for which she won the Advanced Placement Studio Art Award.
While in high school, she and her friends saw music videos popping up on the internet and they decided to make their own.
She started playing around with video equipment and shooting music videos and short films, which resulted in being intrigued with the process.
“It was fun to make art with good music!” she says, and points out that she has continued this interest by posting several of her vocal covers and original songs on the internet.
This spring, Devette’s hard work at SLCC paid off when she when she was accepted into USC’s Film Program.
Devette feels her studies at SLCC expanded her horizons, broadened her artistic opportunities, and helped her gain confidence in her abilities.
She believes the SLCC Film Program gave her valued technical knowledge and experience, flexibility to adapt to ever-changing environments, and the foundation of story-telling in various formats.
She describes having thoroughly enjoyed her classes broadening her knowledge and confidence, which, in turn, helped her to better understand her roles, acting or otherwise.
In terms of her new endeavors, Devette explains, it was chance of a lifetime to enroll in USC and continue her academic interests in filmmaking while also pursuing an acting career.
“I still want to be an actor…I always push for more,” says Devette, “it’s like ‘What if?”
You can follow Devette’s work on Youtube, SoundCloud, and her artist’s site.
