Being Violently Ill and Midterms (a vicious cycle)

A couple of weeks ago Midterms began here at Chapman University. At roughly the exact same time, as if on cue, I got the flu.

Now some of you may be calling me an idiot for not getting a flu shot, well the joke is on you. I got one of those silly vaccinations. Apparently the flu shot is only 60% effective. That’s a D! Which, due to my illness, is the grade I will be getting on most of my midterms. (That is a joke. I actually have done pretty dang well on my midterms so far by working my butt off.)

Anyway, I have managed to keep this cold going pretty well because apparently all of my teachers got together and mapped out the midterms so they fall one right after the other. This combined with other film related obligations means that I have had either some huge test to study for or some crazy film assignment to produce ALL THE TIME!

I have been pretty much blowing my brains out of my nose for about three weeks now with varying levels of intensity. Let me point out the obvious real quick as well… when you are sick, the last thing you want to be doing is studying the effects of classical conditioning on comprehensive learning for you Psych 101 class. You want to curl up watching some random netflix instant pick because that sort of mind-numbing relaxation is about as much as your germed out mind can really handle. I barely have the strength to get my 100 lb frame out of my lofted bed, let alone the strength to bike ten minutes across campus to take a test on “why do we care about the use of Dutch Angles in post-classical film”. To be honest, at this point, I don’t care. I just want to be well again.

In order to get well, I will be needing these 8 things:

1. Another bottle of NyQuil because I finished mine, and drugs are expensive
2. Chicken Noodle Soup
3. My teddy bear, Philbin
4. An in house attendant to get me things that I can’t immediately reach from my loft bed. (Because my roommates have officially given up on me)
5. 10 hours of uninterrupted rest
6. People to stop knocking on my door asking to borrow nail clippers, my copy of PostModern Theory, my backpack, etc…
7. A Hulu Plus Subscription
8. My Mother

Since the early part of my semester (see https://filmlyle.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/how-to-not-drown/) I have done a reasonably swell job of keeping on top of my school work.

A have now fallen far enough behind to be epically chasing the deadline, up until all hours getting whatever is due done right under the wire. Cramming every night and sleeping whenever I can.

I was also wildly misguided in thinking that I would only have one midterm in every class. Apparently my psych teacher is having a fun psych experiment in which he hypothesizes that his students will never ask him why we have already had two midterms.

My favorite things are the classes that not only give you a test, but also a assign a six page paper. A six page paper that is due the same day as the test.

My Dad has this saying that he used to say to me when I has stressing out. This is a phrase he coined when he was in college. I won’t tell you where he went but it rhymes with Shmanford. Anyway the phrase is…

You never catch up, the quarter just ends.

God I wish I was on the quarter system cause I got quite a trek until the end of the semester.

Whew. Okay, all done with the rant on midterms. Thank you for letting me indulge in this therapeutic blog post, it was essential.

This post wasn’t very film-y. Well next weekend I’ll be on set on location. So that should lead to some fun posts to look forward to.

You Must Wear Close Toed Shoes on Set (and other important rules that I forgot)

Today I will be talking about this face…

Without any doubt, at this point in the semester I have made a bunch of little mistakes around the film school that don’t really get me in any trouble, they just make me look like an idiot. Fun, right? After the aforementioned mistake occurs, I receive this look…

Some of the stupid mistakes I have made:

1. Not remembering close toed shoes and having to make the fifteen minute walk back to my dorm room in order to get them.
2. Using the wrong side of my key card when trying to open an editing lab. (Asked the lab assistant for help and was subsequently very embarassed)
3. Tried to export a project to a Bluray, didn’t work, so I asked a lab assistant and was using the completely wrong program. (Same lab assistant)
4. Tripped on the main staircase.
5. Never watched Breaking Bad. (Film School heresy apparently)
6. Talking about the movie All the President’s Men, called it All the King’s Men. Two very different films, felt like a dumb-butt.
7. Broke the 180 degrees rule. (I knew better. So much shame.)
8. Locked my key card inside an editing bay. (Crying, so much crying)
9. Actually gotten lost.

So yea, I don’t know what I’m doing.

So I had to make a film for my Intro to Visual Storytelling (FTV 130) class. The assignment was to make a 2 minute dream sequence about a fear or desire you have. I thought that it might be funny to make a parody of our class and the fear of showing your film in front of a group of your peers (which is what we do in FTV 130) and having them hate it. This is a genuine dream I have had. In order to film the project, I had to film in my classroom on a Sunday.  Not knowing what to do exactly I asked my teacher, who is an adjunct professor who has never taught the FTV 130 class before, he said I should check with this professor, who then said I should fill out a room request form. I filled out a room request, then I was told to talk to the safety manager. Who I couldn’t find. I eventually found him and he told me all these complex things that I already forgot. After all of this was said and done, I felt pretty boss. I felt all knowlegeable and awesome cause I filled out paperwork and got stuff done. Sunday, I get to the classroom and the door’s locked. Go figure. Not sure what to do, I call my orientation assistant, Hannah the Junior, and ask her what to do. She turns out to be a Dodge TA and has a key card that unlocks most of the doors.

As she comes to help me, I complain about how much work I had to do to get this room booked for this hour on Sunday and all of the people I had to talk to and all of the paperwork I had to fill out and blah, blah, blah.  She was all like, “You totally didn’t have to do any of that.” I was like, “Dammit!”

The video worked out, it’s super weird and pretty interesting and if I could I would post it on here. But I can’t.

To re-quote my grandpa,

“It’s important to learn form your own mistakes, but it’s cheaper to learn from the mistakes of others.”

I tell you my own inadequacies because I care about you all, and I want you to succeed. I really do. I believe in you all… kinda. Good luck.

 

 

Related articles

• Use a film school and software to get into the entertainment industry (techburgh.com)
• Film School or No School? (juliavanvalkenburg.com)
• Advice for Incoming Film Majors (From Someone Who Did it Wrong) (ucaftercruz.com)

Film Sets: A Feudal System

This past weekend I had the privilege of working as a Production Assistant (PA) on a set for a friend’s senior thesis project. As a freshman who knew almost nothing about what actually happens on a film set, the experience was rather illuminating. As I understand it, there is a definite hierarchy that arrises from the jobs on set. The pyramid of positions works similarly to that of the government established in the middle ages. The film itself is the Kingdom, and the shoot is a battle. The monarchy must be swift, strong, and creative in order to win the war. This is going to be a stretch, so just go with it.

The Feudal System

The Director/The King

Reigning from his throne, the director works all of his loyal subjects towards the vision of a better kingdom. HIS vision of a better kingdom. All subjects are to Answer to him as moves his pawns around the veritable chess board of the set. The endgame is his endgame and we are all at his mercy. The King’s assistants are his young princes, AD 1 and 2. They do the little things the king is too busy to do like slate the scene or get all the knights and peasants to “quiet on set” while rolling. The King himself may be benevolent or tyrannical. Make no mistake, no matter how kindly he may be, the director is always the king, come hell or high water.

The Lords

His Grace, Duke of Photography

The lord of cinematography works closely to the king. He controls a great group of knights and has some say in the visual aspects of the kingdom. He may openly discuss shot setup, lightning, and movement with the King. The good Duke has much honor in the land and is a very distinguished position. As the war begins, you will find the Duke leading the charge along with the director. The duke is an integral part of battle strategy and general organization of each attack. The majority of the knights are under the Duke’s jurisdiction.

His Eminence, Earl of Sound Design

Although much of sound capture is done during shooting, the Sound Designer often has his own separate castle where much sound recording is done post shoot. The Lords position includes automated dialogue replacement, foley, sound mixing, and sometimes even score. Like the King, the Earl does much work during and after shooting due to the lengthy process of sound editing and foley.

His Greatness, Viscount of Production Design

“Everything the light touches is our kingdom” The production designer is a busy bee before and during the shoot. Every single this on a sound stage a PD had to create, or find, or steel, or something. The PD has a great amount of Knights working with props, costumes, makeup, and emergency backdrop snafus. The production designer works closely with the King before the war to go over formations and locations of the battle field. The Viscount has, in my opinion, the most stressful job.

His Loneliness, the Baron of Editing

The Editor is not always seen on set, but he has the whole weight of the kingdom on his back. The entirety of all of the action is on the editors back and there is very little hustle and bustle. However there is a very anxious King more that likely breathing down your back. You may often find the King living with the Baron for weeks at a time as he edits the crap out of all the footage. On a large production there is often more than one. However, this is film school, so really this lord is just a 21 year old in a dark room, surrounded by empty cups of coffee. Sorry to get away from the analogy.

The Knights

The DP’s Knights – Assistant Camera 1, Assistant Camera 2, Camera Operators, The Gaffer, Best Boy, Sparks, Focus Puller, Grips, and Film Loader (This person, nowadays, backs up the digital footage to a hard drive. No one uses film anymore, it’s simply Medieval… get it?)

The Sound Designer’s Knights – Sound Assistant, Sound Recordist, Boom Operator

The Production Designer‘s Knights – Art Direction, Special Effects, Makeup, Costumes, Props

The Editor’s Knight – Dubbing Editor (sometimes)

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The Peasants

Production Assistants – We do the stupid work like fetching the actors from makeup, or stopping people from wandering on set, or getting coffee for the important people. A lot of the time we just stand there.

I hope you enjoyed this strange analogy. If nothing else… I learned how to spell the word hierarchy today.

Related articles

• Production Team – Responsibilities & Roles (jamesrudrumee2615.wordpress.com)
• Sound Design (sapicken.wordpress.com)
• 25 Cool New Things You’ll See in ‘Thor: The Dark World’ (screenrant.com)

You, like Movie’s Too?! #I’mNotAloneAnymore

Before we got our housing assignments this summer, we were informed that we would be placed in halls based on the colleges inside the university that we would be attending. Business students with business students, science with science, etc. So, that meant that I would be living with only a bunch of film kids.

My first response was, “Oh please no!” Because I wanted to broaden my horizons and make friends who are in every major. I also felt that I wouldn’t be unique or different if I lived with a bunch of other human who were just like me.

As has been a recurring pattern in my life, my original assumption was wildly incorrect.

As it turns out, living with other film kids is the best thing ever. I found that even without thinking, outside of my hall, I would naturally gravitate towards film students. The reason for this is so obvious I am mad at myself for not paying attention before.

Similar interests = Something to talk about

When your sitting in group of freshman, crying silently to yourself due to the excruciating awkwardness of trying to make new friends,  wouldn’t it be nice to have a similar enjoyment of camera angles to discuss? Perhaps you would like to converse on varying types of tripods? You watch Burn Notice too!?! Friendship achieved!

So I suggest living with film students. I really do.

In order to prove that this is a commonly held opinion, I played “Hall Troll” and refused to let people by until they gave me a quote about living with film students.

Here are a few of them…

“No matter what, you can talk about something, because you have stuff in common.” Julie – TVBJ (Television/Broadcast Journalism)

“It’s nice living with people with similar interests.” – Adam – Digital Arts

“It’s helpful. Easier to make friends.” Talia – TVBJ

“I like being able to make a random movie quote, and have four people’s heads poke up and look at me.” – Matt – Film Production

“I don’t live here.” Jake – Accounting

“I like it because, if you don’t have a tripod, and you need one, you can just knock on someone’s door and be all like, ‘Hey, do you have a tripod?’ Boom, free tripod… for like a few hours” – Makena – Film Production

“It’s awesome living with people with similar interests… oh everyone already said that… alright, I gonna go take a nap.” Tanner – Film Production