Part Two: 15 Minutes of Faye

Part 2: 15 Minutes of Faye

I had to leave Territory to jump on another feature, this one in Bradenton, Florida directed by my good friend Josh Ingle.  Yes, I was leaving a job as a sound mixer to be a cook, but I like cooking and Josh is a good friend of mine. Also it meant a paid trip home where I could see my family on the days off.  It was a super fun shoot with old friends, cool days off at the movie theater AND I got to start up the Insanity program again to continue my goal of getting in epic shape.  My usual routine was to wake up and make breakfast for the cast and crew.  Then I would prepare the 2nd meal, do a round of Insanity, then I would go for a run with the producer, Addison Bryan. I would put the meal into the oven, take a shower and then drive the meal to set.  I'd come back, prepare third meal, clean up the leftover mess and then sit back and play some Bioshock 2 or Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Great days- I had a blast on this shoot.

Here is a list of the great tweets from set.  Prepare yourself, I tweeted the hell out of this adventure:

-"I want escargo on set." "Well fuck you." #crafty #cooking #15minutesoffaye

-Walmart sells dentist scrubs but not beanies. #WTF #15minutesoffaye #adventuresinfilmmaking

- My new living arrangement for the shoot has family photos in it. I feel like a squatter. #adventuresinfilmmaking #15minutesoffaye

- Lead actor here has gotten into a pillow fight with Justin Beiber and a towel war with Miley Cyrus. #15minutesoffaye
  (One of our lead actors worked at a Bed Bath and Beyond in LA)
- Also apparently it takes Kel Mitchell three hours to choose curtains at Bed, Bath and Beyond. #15minutesoffaye

- Conversation just went from Inside Job to gonorrhea to CatDog. #waitWTF #15minutesoffaye

- I just cooked a double batch of pasta in half the time on medium. This stove is powered by Satan. #cooking #15minutesoffaye

- Walmart doesn't carry cilantro? #screwyouguys

- My homemade salsa is a success.

 
- A Walmart Supercenter across the street from a Sam's Club. #theendoftheworld

 
- Watching The Room... Again #WorstMovieEver

- Spent lunch on set discussing the nature of art. "What is art? What is good art?" #15minutesoffaye #highbrow

- The 80's station is playing "Would I Lie to You (1985). We switch to the 90's station and we get "Would I Lie to You?" (1992) #WaitWTF

- 3AM shopping at Walmart in Bradenton. I feel and might possibly be the only customer in the store right now.

- Telling boogeyman stories from the #Sanctuary shoot over third meal. #15minutesoffaye

- You wake up at 3pm and say good morning to people? You have fully switched over to nocturnal morning. #nightshoots #adventuresinfilmmaking

- Discussing the artistic integrity of Lady Gaga over third meal. I love film sets! #15minutesoffaye 

- Add beer, wine, ramen, and ice cream sandwiches now. Wait, when did this set become a college party? #15minutesoffaye #waitwhat

- Empty beer cans, dirty wine glasses... Money in the fridge? Did I get sucked into The Hangover? #adventuresinfilmmaking #15minutesoffaye

-"I'm gonna blast you like a whore." -Our gaffer Zac #15minutesoffaye 

- "When you die in Naples, you die in real life." #neverforget #Sanctuary

- Theory presented on set: It is impossible to NOT like Queen. So is anyone out there who can disprove this? #queen #15minutesoffaye 


- I am being moved again. Le sigh. #15minutesoffaye

- Locked out of Wal-Mart because they lost power and apparently have no backup. #fail 

- Throwing free condoms around like ninja stars at third meal. #15minutesoffaye 

-Had to toss a whole new bag of sugar cause of ants. #fucknature 

- Illegal parking a moving van, Led Zeppelin, actors answering the door in nothing but towels... #adventuresinfilmmaking 

- Traveling down I-75 in the back of a U-Haul moving van. #dangerous #adventuresinfilmmaking 

- The Change-Up and then Captain America. #doublefeature #daysoff 

- I was just described as a "worldly man". What an awesome compliment!

-"Eating at Waffle House is like listening to Ke$ha. You end up greasy, gross and have a whole bunch of nasty in you." -Kyle Shelton

Up next, Part 3: Back to USC and For Closure
 

What happened to the blog? 508 Happened: Part 1

For reasons that are about to be explained the blog was out of commission over last semester. The second semester of USC's graduate film program is called 508. Now 508 is over and I will basically recap everything that happened over a series of posts. I will be able to do this thanks to my twitter feed reading like a history book of what I did.

Part 1: The Summer Before Faye
 
@TheScarletRebel:

Meeting McG, director of Terminator Salvation

14 Jun
  

We left off at a nice hike and finding the Cave of Life.  A few days later I met Bridget Moynahan and McG as part of the closing of the Youtube Institute Program that was being held at USC.  McG was very cool and actually talked to each of us who arrived early. Nobody does that! Bridget was super sweet as well. She wasn't there to be interviewed and was just there to support McG but was kind enough to talk to me anyway.

@TheScarletRebel

Chess Boxing is everything I thought it would be. #exhaustion #somuchblood

19 Jun
For those of you who don't know I started a Facebook group where people could challenge me to any experience or challenge they could think of. One I discovered myself while online at Cracked.com was Chess Boxing. Yes it is a real sport. It is quite big in Germany. It is exactly what it sound like.  11 rounds, alternating between chess and boxing. 4 minutes of chess, two minutes of boxing. Win by checkmate or knockout.  There is nothing else you need to know, you can watch the match in the video below.

Challenge 1: Chess Boxing


@TheScarletRebel

Going all Hermione Granger in Doheny Library. For real this time.

27 Jun It was great working with both of my trio mates over the summer before 508 began. (In 508 you work in assigned teams of three to make three films in 15 weeks.) I worked on Territory with Alana and was in a Critical Studies class with Drue Metz.  This class was taught by the infamous Drew Casper.  He is very intense as he goes into the history of film and he is very theatrical and animated.  He also assigns these huge papers that cover vasts amounts of film history.  I has to watch 7 Billy Wilder films outside fo the ones we watched in class and he also assigned several readings in books that were nat available to check out of the library.Turns out that of those 7 films I needed to watch the expansive USC film library had just 1.  So I watched that one and then on the morning of the day that paper was due (because the section of the library with those books is closed on the weekend) I went to the historic Doheny Library, down to the basement and pulled out stacks of books.  Anything written by Casper and wrote like a man possesed. I really looked like Hermione Granger because that library is like a castle and it looked like Hogwarts. And I was surrounded by books. And then everything I wrote was sourced by the books, not the internet. I found enough material in the books to cover up the fact that I was unable to see those extra films.  I spent the whole day on that paper and turned it in on time.  I think it is the paper I am most proud of in all my schooling years.


@TheScarletRebel:

I hereby commandeer this bathtub in the name of sound! #adventuresinfilmmaking

8 Jul
I got hired onto a feature film called Territory directed by the head of the USC Directing track and produced by the amazing Alana Waksman and Bernardo Duran, Jr.  I was the the sound mixer. We were in a hotel room and the only place sound could hide out without being seen by the cameras or mirrors was the bathtub.  We went to some really cool locations around LA including a toilet factory and some alleys full of the most amazing graffiti. I guess there isn't too much more to say about this now, it was just a great working on another feature.

Oh and yeah I died my hair red for the summer.

Up next, Part 2: 15 Minutes of Faye

Topanga State Park and the Cave of Life

8 of us decided to go on a long hike in Topanga State Park on Sunday.  We never actually intended on it but we ended up going straight through to the other side.  This was discouraging when we were tired and discovered we were on the other side and would have to go all the way back through it again to go home. But we all had a good time overall and it was great exercise.

Me, Fangso and Brian

There are several trails and our goal was to make it to the waterfall that is deep inside the park. After some detours and other distractions we did find the waterfall. It is actually off the path a bit and you need to go boulder climbing up the creek to get there.Once there I tried to scale the cliff face of the waterfall like an idiot. I was almost successful.

Me being an idiot

Damir at the waterfall

 

Kristin, Sean and Steven

There were also several cool caves slightly off the path we discovered.  One of them is the apparent hideout of the Zodiac killer. The other one I call the Cave of Life due to the secrets it holds.  What so I mean by this? Fangso ran up to the cave first and saw some letters and notebooks hidden there.  Messages, secrets and truths from the past!  We left our own message but I plan on returning and reading the entirety of both books and writing a script about it!

The cave of the Zodiac killer

The Cave of Life

Anyone interested in journeying back to the Cave of Life in the upcoming weeks?

All picture credit goes to Micaela Colman and her camera.

Sorry for the incessant emails

I set up a new Facebook group in order to experience new things and get the most out of life. It was so I could get suggestions for challenges I would have never even thought of. It has been a huge success except for one little flaw.  Facebook now emails you every time ANYTHING happens in the group. So I apologize for that inconvenience- I never intended that to happen.  You can easily disable the emails on the group page. There is a small box at the top that says "Edit Settings". A dialouge box will pop up and you can disable email notifications.

The idea for the group is as such:

"After I played Zelda for 48 hours straight Shyam said I should create a blog where I got suggestions about what else I can do for 48 hours.  I thought about it and decided I shouldn't just limit it to that. I have been trying more and more to live life to the fullest. So now I am opening this group. I will consider and do anything anybody suggests that isn't illegal or will kill me. So suggest away people!"

I will be taking these suggestions and fulfilling these challenges. Most of them will be filmed and probably posted as a web series of some sort.

Fell free to shout out suggestions here as well!

Sunset Blvd. and other madness

I feel bad when I don't update this more often. I want a solid record of my adventures so I can remember all the stuff I do out here. I should be more diligent and post regularly like the amazing Crissy Kikkawa does over at PlayBackFilm.

I worked on a couple of thesis film over the past week. One was at a crazy mental institution that had some abandoned wards in the back. Creepy stuff!  Then this past Monday I was in the mountains of Malibu and had to drag a 300 pound Fisher dolly up a very steep hill. Not fun. But I like exercise so... worth it?

This thing

 I am taking a summer class about Billy Wilder. Shockingly up to this point I had only seen one movie of his and that was "Some Like It Hot". this will be a perfect opportunity to see several films that I have been meaning to see. I guess I can call it catch up work. For example tonight I finally got to see Sunset Blvd.

I also went to a special karaoke event with some Reddit-ers last night.  My song was never called though. They were all spared of my awful voice doing my version of White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. It was my first karaoke song I ever sang and it's amazing so I wanted to do the same here. Oh well...

On a final note my class ends at the end of June instead of August. I can has summer vacation?

My P2! Finally!

I wanted to post my film earlier but I was having computer problems.

http://www.vimeo.com/23968488

Disharm0ny.com, 508 and the Zelda Documentary

My P2, Disharm0ny.com, is finished. It has been very well received so far in class. My friend Bryce is putting together a Vimeo group for our P2s and it will be up there shortly and I will provide the links for it here. But for now here are pictures:

After 4 years of having this idea stashed away it is now a film. The premiere screening is on campus this Friday. Thanks to all my cast and crew for helping this dream project become a reality.



We had our first meeting for 508 this week as well. 508 is the class number for Production II, our fall class in which we work in randomly selected teams on three projects.  My team consists of Drue Metz, Alana Waksman and myself.  You are the Producer/ Editor on one project, Director of Photography on one and, Writer/ Director of one.  I am DP first (for the film Drue wrote), producing second (for Alana) and directing third. The film I wrote is tentatively called Meet Derek.  The film is about Derek (surprise!), a 25 year old guy who has bad luck with the ladies.  He has only had 4 dates and they have all gone poorly.  So he is extra determined to make things go well when he meets Bridget. Much to his dismay the world seems out to make things difficult.

On a final note I shot a feature documentary outside of school this last weekend. It is a film about video games as an art film, the limits of human endurance, and insanity.  A small group of elite Zelda players have teamed up to beat 4 Zelda games in 48 hours.  I documented my journey to join those ranks... by myself.  Special shout out to Michael Starr, Shyam Sengupta, Brian Ott and Bryce Kho for helping me on that endeavor.  

Catching up

Sorry the long gap in posts. Spring Break was a whirlwind of seeing as many people as I could.  This week is jammed to the brim.  I didn't even get to watch "The Office" last night. Usually thats how I unwind after a long day. (Thank God for Netflix!)  This weekend I am the cinematographer for my P2.  So I am planning those with their directors while working with my producer for my P2 that takes place the following week.  I am also building a dolly.  It is almost finished. I just have to tweak the trucks a little.  I plan on using it on Xu's P2 this weekend.

Sleep will be a luxury with all the shooting this weekend.  Thursday at midnight I will be seeing Sucker Punch. Then I grab as much sleep as I can before Kristin's shoot Friday morning.  I will be wrapping around 7pm and I start Xu's shoot immediatley after and we go to 1am.  Now my AMC work schedule isn't done yet but I may be working Saturday or Sunday there and then have Xu's shoot from 7pm-1am on both those days. And then school starts up 9am Monday like usual. Exciting!

My P2 is called Disharm0ny.com.  It is about a website that helps you find your worst enemy. Someone you will be bound to hate so you can fight them and take out your stress on them instead of your loved ones.

Finally today is Career Day at the cinema school. Over 40 different companies are coming today and we can talk to reps about jobs and internships.  I plan on talking to Pixar, Warner Animation, Disney, Sony and Lucasfilm.  I think with all these Pixar events I am going to I am bound to eventually get an internship or residency there.  Their camera staging artist position sounds like a dream come true.

My P1

Sorry about the downtime between posts. I was enjoying my Spring Break.  Anyway the good news is, while I may not have my editing assignment or my FoD scene that I have been promising for so long I DO have a cut of my P1 on a private Vimeo page.  Click the link below, password in angel.


http://vimeo.com/21223064

Working on 3 projects at once

Sorry about the gap between posts recently.  I am currently trying to output my Directing project on DVD, edit my P1 and write my P2 all at the same time.  P2 is an interesting project.  The only thing we are required to do is write it and then we can have other crew members help with any or all other duties. We can also have dialogue this time.  I am again Group B so I get a chance to crew on Group A and C projects and have already been chosen to DP a film in Group A.  In other news I got to meet Lee Unkrich, Oscar winning director of Toy Story 3 at an event at USC.  There are a lot of other interesting events comng up and I will post more on that soon.

Into Dust

I shot my P1 Wednesday night. I haven't gotten on here to tell you all about it yet because it has been an sleep depriving situation and I wanted to be coherent as I wrote this.  So here is an hour by hour breakdown on how it all went.

Hour1:
I wake up at 8AM. I go through the morning routine as usual. I leave my sound kit at the apartment because I plan on coming back for supplies and don't want to lug it around all day. That will be a challenge though because I shoot in 14 hours and I don't have location permits finalized, homework to print out, work and classes to take of today. I pack food in my backpack in preparation of not having time to stop by Armando's for lunch as per my usual routine. I walk to campus.

Hour 2:
I arrived at work. If you didn't know I work in the Production Equipment Center at school. I pull equipment for orders and act as the repo man for people who don't return their stuff.So today I was pulling light kits for all the P1s including my own. I tagged it as mine and said I would pick it up at 5. I really don't want to carry this thing around. Heaviest kit ever.

Hour 3:
Still at work but got all the kits ready. I asked if I could take a quick break finish getting the permits finalized. They are super cool and let me. I am now officially allowed to shoot at the fountain tonight.

Hours 4-5:
Made some repo calls, surfed the web, found this picture also known as the best Zelda fan art ever.

Hour: 6:
Clocked out of work and found a secluded spot. I pop in my headphones and listen to this song as I write and organize my shot list for tonight. Now I know what I am doing tonight! Hooray sanity!

Hours 7-9:
I attend my writing class. I eat he trail mix bars to stay awake.

Hour 10:
I run and get my light kit before the PEC closes. I walk to my next class early so I can take care of some business. I want to know if I can leave early so I can prepare for my shoot tonight. Dominic stops by and delivers our camera and tripod. I am now carrying a large tripod, a decent size camera case, my backpack and a easily 70 pound 5 foot light kit. I set it all down and start calling UPS numbers to find my angel wings for tonight. Turns out the one dead spot in the whole cinema complex is right there. Thankfully Orlee- Rose was walking by offered to watch all my stuff as I found a signal and worked that out. Turns out my apartment building doesn't hold packages so since I wasn't there to take it UPS takes them to a warehouse and this warehouse closes at 7. I would have to skip class to get them and even then I would be cutting it close due to LA traffic. I decide I have permits for tonight and tomorrow and I can reluctantly film all the non-wing shots tonight, get the wings tomorrow and film those scenes tomorrow night.

Hours 11-13:
I attend my Fundamentals of Directing class. Peter Sollett says I did a good job with my cut considering the circumstances with noise. The rest of the class wishes me luck on my P1.

Hour 14:
John gives me and the huge equipment load a lift home.  I return to my apartment to see my roommate there. He was supposed to be at work.  Turns out he got a ticket for driving a California truck with a Florida license and the truck was impounded for the night. So since he was home when the UPS guy came by I have wings for tonight. Rejuvenated by this miracle I pack the food, the chocolate syrup (excellent blood for black and white films!) and a whole bunch of blankets. It's going to be a cold night.

Hours 15-21:
The wind has died down so it wasn't as cold as I expected at first but it slowly got chillier and by the end it was really bad. But it was worth it. the footage looks great. Sharon and Kevin were real troopers dealing with the cold and Mahin was a fantastic assitant. Here are some photos from set. Take note these are not screen captures.

Hours 22-24:
Sleep!

Hour 25:
I wake up with a slight headache and head back to work at PEC.

Hours 26-30:
Of course today would be one of the busiest days at work. I got a free burrito from some guy who stopped by to fill out an order though.

Hour 31:
I sit on a couch and beat the fire temple in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on the DS as I wait for class. Nathan sees me and tells me he heard that my P1 is being talked about as the most visually exciting in our class.

Hours 32-35:
In Cinematography class we broke into two teams (picked 4h grade kickball team style) and in less than 3 hours write, produce, setup, light and shoot a scene based on a picture.  Each team amongst themselves would select 2 actors, a director, AD, DP, key grip, camera operator, and 1st AC. I was chosen as director and decided to have fun with this. I decided that the scene would be at a house party between a government spy and a vampire fighting over a potion that would allow vampires to come out in the sun.  The sheer lunacy in the scene went over well. We are doing another assignment like this next week. This time we are doing the steak scene from Raging Bull and I get to be Jake La Motta.

Hours 36-41:
I go home and watch The Office and Kevin Smith's Too Fat for Forty. Then I go to sleep.


On a final note I am coming home for Spring Break on the 11th. I want to see as many people as I can so I need you all to comment and tell me when you want to hang out so I can schedule it and see as many of you as possible. Pick your time slots for March 12th through March 18th.

The Goblet of Fire

I am on the road again.

My apartment in California for the last month and a half has been basically an air mattress, TV and computer. So my dad and I are driving the rest of my stuff out this President's Day weekend. The extra day off makes it possible. The only downside it trying to setup my P1 while on the road. Lots of things still need to fall in place. My actress might need to leave early for New York. Will my angel wings arrive in time? Location permits and light kit forms need to be finalized. So I am a little stressed about all that.

I went to a presentation Tuesday night by Bill Kinder. Bill is the head of post-production at Pixar. He spoke about the differences between editorial duties for live action and animation. Fascinating stuff and I would have gone to that seminar for just that but there was more. He talked about the PAID Editorial internship Pixar has each summer. In that moment that roomed turned into the Goblet of Fire. Why? There is only one spot. I am going to apply even with the crazy odds.

Blogging via my Blackberry. Not looking forward to West Texas.
-Scarlet Rebel

Fundamentals of Directing

First of all, I am not changing my metaphors, Editing is still Potions, but it is resembling the Harry Potter version of having several Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. So far here at USC I have had classes with 4 different editing professors. Here they are and what they have edited:
Phillip Neel: Boston Legal, Twin Peaks, Ally McBeal, Remington Steele and currently Human Target
Tom Porter: Golden Girls
Normyn Hollyn: Heathers
Reine Claire- Assistant editor Assassins, Space Jam

Yes, this movie.

I worked on 4 Fundamentals of Directing projects this weekend.I was boom operator for two of them. I provided location for another and then I shot my own.  Lesson learned from all this: don't shoot yours in a parking garage on campus on a Friday night. I am praying I have decent enough audio to cut together a scene I am proud of.  It was a challenge for me and my actors but in the end we decided to try and use it to our advantage. My scene was from "All The President's Men" and we decided to try and make it a scene about paranoia.  Every time a loud distraction came by, or which there were many, I had my actors look quickly around and act as if they were being discovered. It should work.

My P1 is coming around the corner.  It is about a man who gets into a car crash and is clinging on to life but needs to let go.  An angel comes to comfort him in his final moments. It is shot in all black and white and at night.  Luckily it is a silent film so that should help because (see prior problem) it takes place on campus and I have to shoot on Friday.  I already found an excellent source of music for my piece. I am getting an original song from the band Gemeni.  If you are not familiar with them, check them out. They are simply amazing.  If you live in Orlando, go see them live because they have shows almost every weekend.

Gemeni

 

 

Steve is working on getting a sizeable upload of the Boston Legal scene and I will also post my Directing project after I edit it this week.

My P1 has been approved

Lots of news, so little time to post. 

Quick points:

1. My P1 has been improved and approved.
2. My Fundamentals of Directing project shoots this Friday.
3. Steve is converting our Boston Legal cut into a smaller file so you all can see it.

I'll post more news later when I have more time.

Happy Chinese New Year

I finally did it. I am not allowed to answer questions in my cinematography class anymore.

 

In all honesty, I am not trying to brag.  I am fortunate to have worked with a lot of the equipment on the indie features over the summer.  That combined with my eagerness and enthusiasm of being at the Hogwarts of film making have turned me into Hermione Granger.  I wasn't called out as an "Insufferable Know-It-All" but the above statement is true. I am still learning a lot and it's great! So today in Transfiguration (That means we are studying lighting which tranfigures the scene into something cinematic- I am not letting this metaphor die.) I got to finally understand F stops and how it effects exposure, the one thing that continued to escape my comprehension.  I am very excited.   

In Potions (Editing) my Boston Legal  cut came out pretty good but since it was a first draft they are having us all tweak it for next week. So that will be the one that I post on the private Vimeo page for you to see. It was a great experience. I had edited with a partner before coming here but it was always so frustrating for multiple reasons.  This time was different thought. Steve and I banged it out in just a couple of hours and we agreed on a lot. We seem to have the same vision for the pacing and timing of cuts.  It was also clear from the dailies that William Shatner is so "over the top" ridiculous that, as one fellow student put it, "it's a miracle he has a career". 

Steve and I are working on a project called Lotus.  It is very complex and will take a long time to explain so I won't get into details here but I want to say we are very excited.  Our TA in that class is very hard to impress but over dinner he told us that the idea was golden and not to waste it on a 546 project. 

As far as my P1 film goes I had an idea and pitched it my writing class yesterday.  I discovered that this idea needs some work.  The class was very helpful with the constructive criticism and I have gone back to the drawing board to iron out the details.  One thing is clear, I want to start off in black and white. I know the mood and look I am going for.  Yes, this probably is working backwards but I think I can formulate a story for the elements I have at hand.  I want my film to look something like this:

Oh and it happens to be Chinese New Year.  Like I said before we are a very eclectic class from all over the world so I am off to a party to enjoy some home cooked meal that I probably can't spell right.  Night!

I love film school.

So Sunday morning I woke up and it was cold. I bundled up and at first did not feel like working out.  That plan changed as it started to rain and I booked it over to church.  From there my day just got more exciting. I had to go through security on Jefferson because of the SAG awards were being held right next door to the Zemeckis center where I was working on a 546 graduate film called Volcano Girl.  I helped out in the grip and electric department for a few hours and the headed back through even more security because the event had just started.  Then that night we I went to a little documentary screening party for a great doc called "The Five Obstructions" which was about a film challenge between Jorgen Leth and Lars Von Trier (Dogville, AntiChrist).

Jorgen Leth

Today between my theory and directing classes I edited a scene from an episode of Boston Legal with my friend Steve. Very enjoyable exercise due to the fact that the production value and acting was better than some of the previous exercises (James Spader beats David Caruso any day) I had in my undergraduate years. Later that night, my directing professor Peter Sollet (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist) offered to set up a workshop next week with some of our actors. I signed up right away.  I hope that I get selected as it would be a great opportunity.

I will post again when I have a link to my Boston Legal cut.  It will be on a private Vimeo account as I can't publicly release it due to copyright but as you are my family and friends you will get the password to the page.

A New Purpose

So this blog is being revamped and has a new purpose- my journey through the USC Master's program for film production. It has already been a crazy journey.  Most of you followed my trek across the country via the Facebook album so I won't re-hash any of that here.  The group that I am part of here, the 2011 SCA Spring Graduate students, is an amzing group of people. We are a very diverse group coming from all over the world and we will all being making very different films, each with a unique perspective.  I can't wait to work with all of them.

I already have several assignements and I will be posting links to them here for you all to see. Over the next couple of weeks I will be editing a scene from Boston Legal, recreating a scene from "All the President's Men" and my P1.  My P1 is a solo project that I must produe, direct, shoot and edit all by myself.  It also must be silent, have no guns or cars and be made for less than $100. Not sure what I am going to do yet for that.

I am enjoying the benefits of being out here. I saw both The Mechanic and Sanctum before their release date for free. I nearly hit Winona Ryder as she booked across the street in her Golden Globes dress as she had illegally parked her Mercedes.  I must admit though, I hate the traffic and parking in this city. and it is always cold.  But these are trifles as this oppurtunity is beyond brilliant.  I feel like I am at Hogwarts. The way the Dean talked about how we were all hand selected and this was beyond a dount the best film school in the world.  She once joked that if all the SCA students didn't go to work one day Hollywood would shut down.  And the she realized that it wasn't a joke, it was true.  To further the Harry Potter analogy I decided that Cinematography is Charms and Transfiguration, Directing is my Defense against the Dark Arts, Editing is Potions and Sound is Herbology. Don't ask me why, it just feels right.

"Your cuts are too arbitrary Mr. Potter!"

I am working at the AMC Del Amo 18 because after a year of 80+ free movies I am not paying for movies anymore.  I am also working in the equipment room at USC. Great job as it is pretty relaxed and I get to be very familiar with all the tools at my disposal.

That's all I can think of for now but this blog will finally be updated on a regular basis because there is always so much going on I want to tell of you.  Also these posts will be prettier in the future with pictures and video but I am on the computer at work right now so I am limited.