Merry Christmas!

New Blog

Since the dreaded 290 class has passed, this blog now has a new purpose: documenting my travels/experiences in England.

On January 7th, 2009, I will leave to study abroad at University of Sussex in Brighton, UK. No, I am not studying in London. Brighton is directly south of London on the southern coast, and University of Sussex is about four miles outside of the city. For my semester away from USC, I didn't want another school in the middle of a city. I wanted green space, quiet, but close enough to the city that I can head in if need be. Oh, and they have film classes, so that helps.

But yeah. So now you can bid goodbye to seeing more films on here and instead I'll have pictures and text devoted to England. At least, that's the plan. Chelsea's blog was weeks-sometimes-months behind, so I shall endeavor for that not to happen. :)

Side note: Happy Holidays to all! In case I don't talk to you on the actual days, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year!

Vagabond Project

OK, so this is the final final project you will get from me. A little background...

We were assigned a group project to be finished entirely in class. The class was split into 3 groups, with 6 people in each group. Each person was assigned a job: director, producer/assistant director, director of photography, camera operator, boom operator (the big mic above the actors), and editor. We were all given the same scene for Waiting for Godot (worst scene ever). An acting instructor brought in a bunch of actors and we had a casting session, then picked the actors we wanted.

We had to create meaning to the "open" scene, imbue the scene with meaning and a scenario that is not specifically there. Very difficult, but whatever.

One class period was devoted to filming the scene. Then two class periods were devoted to editing the project. Each group had teams of 2 that edited their own cuts, so each group had 3 cuts of the same material. It was kind of interesting to see how everyone edited it together differently. 

Anyway, without further ado, my (and another guy's) edit of the scene. Enjoy.

Ugh. There are issues with this video. Unfortunately. Must have changed settings when I was exporting it. Crap. Sorry. The sound is not supposed to be that jarring in the beginning.

It's been great talking about all my production stuff this semester. Next semester look forward to blogging about my study abroad in the UK!

Film 5: Black Friday

LAST FILM LAST FILM!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!

I am officially all done with 290!! No more production classes for meeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Haha. But yeah. My last film was a documentary of Black Friday. I combined news reports from YouTube with my own interviews on Black Friday. Again, special thanks to Sydney for waking up incredibly early and interviewing everyone, and to Cecil for lending me her camera (major flashback to high school). 

And, without further ado, my last film.

One more film will be posted here. We did a group project in class, and I'll upload my version of the film and explain what the project was. But it won't be for another few days.

Anyway, I hope you have all enjoyed living through 290 with me. I hope you've enjoyed watched all of my student films and learning about filmmaking from my perspective. Stay tuned to this blog for further postings about my exploits in and frolicking about England next semester!!