USC Film School: Year One AND BEYOND

Vlog 13

2010-01-13T03:21:00.001-08:00

Vlog 12

2009-12-15T21:05:00.001-08:00

Vlog 11

2009-12-10T03:06:00.001-08:00

Vlog 10

2009-11-26T00:23:00.001-08:00

Vlog 9

2009-11-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

Late on this one, but I switched over to another editing program and had some issues with that...Enjoy!

Vlog 8

2009-11-16T22:25:00.000-08:00

Vlogbrother's Channel! Check them out;
http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers

Also here's some USC SCA Alumni;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC_School_of_Cinematic_Arts#Notable_SCA_alumni

Vlog 7

2009-11-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

This week, how much does it cost to go to USC? and Spielberg!

Vlog 6

2009-10-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Back for good!

I was going to to a camera lesson involving the 180 line, but for various reasons, I messed it up.

Here's a link that does a better job than I'd ever do of explaining it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/180_degree_rule

Vlog 5

2009-10-12T02:09:00.001-07:00

I'll finish it up sooner than later.

Techincal Difficulties

2009-09-26T10:25:00.001-07:00

This vlog is slightly late. I had some weird issues...enjoy!

Third times the Charm

2009-09-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

You can also just follow me at: http://www.youtube.com/user/sdabrucelee

Writing the Feature, Book!, and 9

2009-09-16T01:49:00.001-07:00

Vlog Post!

2009-09-15T00:55:00.000-07:00

Grades and First Year in the can

2009-05-20T23:58:00.000-07:00

So let's pretend I was waiting for grades to come out to post.

I don't think I ever told my first semester's grades so here's the whole first year:

507 was a Pass
510 - the general film class - A
599 - ideation - B+

508 A
509 - the weird class that had a bit of everything - A
529 - screenwriting - A-

So, let's put something to bed right away, I'm going to say that there is nothing outstanding about these grades in comparison to those around me. I haven't asked around a great deal, but it seems to be a very gentleman's B+ system here at USC film school.

I'm not complaining really, but there seems to be virtually no way to flunk out of film school unless you are actively doing nothing. I can't speak to undergrad, they seem to actually receive grades, but if you're in the market for MFA and have a bunch of money I'd highly recommend USC.

So, with that, my first year is done.

Taking the year in stock I could say things that I don't enjoy about the school. Maybe even more than I would like, but ultimately if you put the screws to it and say "Nick, how much have you improved as a filmmaker?"

I have to say greatly.

I suppose it's arguable that I could have achieved such an improvement on my own, I tend to heavily disagree. I would say more than anything it's been the pressure and the people that have pushed me to become better.

Also, the highlight of the year was certainly the screening that occurred a few weekends ago. USC provides an amazing theater (Norris) in which to screen all of our films. It was the first time I'd have my film projected larger than a projector in a classroom. It was awesome. I won't go into it all that much, but I know I want it again. Just forever and ever my movies on a big screen.

It was also a great experience to see our films with an audience. Granted, they are mainly friends and family and cast from the other films, but still they were a group that had no actual connection to my film and I sat there and got to take in an honest experience from them.

It was also the first time in a long while that I got to see my family, which came up in force to the screening. I was very glad to have them all there, and hopefully they don't think I'm wasting my time up here.

Next time, classes. I'll try and keep the updates quicker and shorter from now.

Largley Administrative Post

2009-05-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

So last time I told you I'd be explaining how the rest of my semesters are "supposed" to work here at USC.

I'm going to do that but first, for those of you who might be reading this and for some strange reason haven't heard through other means, My semester is screening their films this upcoming weekend.

On May 9th and May 10th, from 12-6pm on both days, all 55 short films from my class will be screening on USC Campus in the Norris Theater. It is 100% free, and there will also be free food and drink (yes booze).

Honestly, it seems like something anyone who might consider coming here would want to see. If for only the curiosity of what you will be producing here. I would imagine if I had seen the films it would have both inspired and depressed me. Take that for what it's worth.

Now for the FUTURE. This will probably be uninteresting for most, as it's just about how USC works.

So it all started roughly a month ago (? a total guess) with a meeting which was entitled "Life After 508" (508 being the colloquial term for the 2nd semester of film school here at USC).

In this meeting, they explained the basic requirements for the remainder of film school, how we would go about D-Clearing (a fancy word for obtaining our registration clearance, I have no idea what the D stands for, nor do I think anyone else does).

I will lay out the facts as plainly as I can and then move into commentary about the meeting and about USC's film school in general.

While at USC, every production student (me) must do the following:

Complete a Production III class
Complete a Thesis Project of some kind
Take 6 units of Critical Studies courses
Take 2 units of a TV specific course
Take 516 Advanced Script Analysis
Take 506 Visual Expression
Take 8 units of "electives"
Take 2 units of what amounts to a business/industry prep course

The Production III class is simply the next step in our production courses, as 507 was Production I and 508 Prod. II

However, what makes PIII different is that you have options. You make take 546 Fiction, 547 Documentary or A TV Pilot course over two semesters (whose course numbers escape me).

For the 546 and 547 classes it is roughly the same. Pitches are given, 3 from each are chosen (I believe) and then teams must be formed. If you want to take the course, you must prepare near the end of the semester beforehand and jockey for position on the team which you like. So basically, a few weeks ago, people in my class began desperately trying to attach themselves to projects in whatever capacity they wanted. The big cherry of these films is that they are funded by the school with an actual budget (I think something like $10k, though I could be off).

The rules for 546 Fiction, are as such. Scripts are open submission and then are picked by faculty. Directors submit reels and finalists are chosen by faculty. There is then what I assume can only be a really weird meet and greet where writers meet directors and watch their reels, and the two try to get together on something. Also at this meeting are anyone who would like to be a Producer. They too try to wrangle themselves on a project, in theory one they feel connected to.

These teams are formed. Don't ask me how exactly, it seems mainly the Director's decision, as the writers are encouraged to practice being marginalized, and the Producers are almost all people who either A) want to walk around the next semester calling themselves a Producer of merit, or B) are just doing this to get in with the faculty this semseter to increase their chances next semester when they submit to be a director with their reel.

After these teams are made, they seem to have an endless stream of meetings where they interview and accept reels from perspective Cinematographers, Editors, Sound Engineers, Assistant Directors, and even 2nd Producers. They then build their final teams and prepare for the summer and next semseter.

The process is largely the same for 547, however because there are no writers that step is skipped, but nearly everything else remains identical.

The Television Pilot Class is very different. All of this information is anectodotal so take that for what you will. You sign up for this class in the Fall. Everyone is allowed (though I don't think forced) to pitch at the beginning of the semester, their idea for a television program. The faculty and I believe the class itself, then decides which pitch they will turn into a 42 minute pilot television program (allowing the 18 minutes for commercials standard). The next portion of the class is made up of what I believe is assigning positions to people and writing the show.

The person who has their pitch chosen becomes the Showrunner, which seems to be the big cherry of this class. However, everyone else must pick several other positions, and apparently they usually get to do what they want. If you would like to be in the writer's room, or run camera, or sound or what not you may. The only other sought after position is, of course, Director. Though they seem to alieviate this by splitting the show into three acts and having a single director for each act.

Again, I believe the class has a budget, however, they do shoot much of it on a stage (again I think). The class stretches over into the spring semester to finish production. Apparently, USC is not terrible at this, as we have won what amounts to the Sundance of television pilots more than once in the past few years since starting the program.

So that's Production III.

Now the other complicated choice. Thesis project.

Again, I am not completely privy to ALL the choices of thesis options but I will outline them now.

One you may work in some capacity on someone's thesis, for your chosen route. This means that if you have taken the Cinematographer path, by taking Intermediate Cinematography and so on, your final project would most likely be shooting someone's thesis. The same would apply for sound or editing or producing.

Directing is different, as you must pay for your own thesis. I know this might sound insane, as we are already paying huge amounts in tuition, but somehow this is how it works. This may be also why a good chunk of people say film school is a sucker's move.

In your own thesis you have the option of having access to the school's equipment or not. Having access means you get some free goodies (camera, equipment, facilities, etc.) but chosing NOT means you get to retain ownership of your film (but also means forking over more $$).

Alternatively, one can graduate through the writing path, which means writing a feature length screenplay in order to graduate. This is commonly refered to on campus as "writing your way out".

In the end, no matter what option you choose, your diploma is exactly the same. If you did sound it does not say specialty in sound design or anything to indicate such is the case. I'm not complaining, I just thought it was odd.

So there are those options, there might be a few other weird ones, but those are most common thesis plans.

Now for the easy ones;

Critical Studies is a subset of classes where you basically watch films and talk about what works on a thematic level and how the film achieves this. They are usually focused on a particular filmmaker or a genre or time period (i.e. I shall take an all Spielburg class next semester, one in which he makes an actual appearance). These classes are infamous for ascribing incredible amounts of meaning to things that the production people know to be choices not for asthetic or thematic reasons but rather because it was simply available on set. I wonder if this impression is true or if REAL directors have just that much better handle on things. Probably a bit of both.

The TV course may be confusing as I already mentioned an extensive TV course while talking about ProdIII. This is, in fact, something altogether different, where one must take one of several courses:

Music Video Production
Reality Television Survey
Multiple Camera Production
The World of Television
Interactive Media

Basically, they are what they say. Multi camera is very centered around sit-com style shooting, the world of TV is talking about the state of television as of today and you create what is known as a "Show Bible" for an idea you have (anyone's guess what that means, perhaps there are commandments involved), and Interactive Media has nothing to do with TV but rather you get to make a game with a programer from the game department of our school.

I have no idea why this is a requirement at USC.

516 is a class where you watch a movie one week, then the next the teacher disects the script and explains in detail how the writer set things up. It seems interesting if not only applicable to those who want to write, bully for me.

506 is a class where you learn more advanced color theory and visual theory about shooting film. It seems interesting and important, but also seems like it could easily decend into very 'theory' and not nearly enough practical usage. Most people rave about the class, which makes me extraordinarily concerned about taking it.

The 2 unit business course is one of the three:

Organizing Creativity: Entertainment Industry Decision Making
The Film Industry: Career Challenges for Women
Developing and Selling your Film/TV projects

The first class purports to be about how to plan your career throughout the industry, the second is one where women in the industry come and talk to women who want to be in the industry and presumbaly warn them against it, and the last one is a pitching class.

All seem like too little too late, sort of scenario.

Finally, the "electives". These are really just options for you to pick which path you're going down. They highly encourage you to pick two or even three paths, which really means you have to take additional units than the graduation requirement.

Almost all electives are bound to be things like, Intermediate Editing, or Advanced Directing, and the like.

OPINION TIME

So, as I seem to have a perverse joy in not doing the norm, and have found that that has lead me inexplicably towards me being happier and happier. I sat down with the options and considered what I wanted out of my remaining time.

I found that I still enjoyed writing. It was a surprise of sorts. I expected to get here and be very weak among my peers in terms of writing, but found that was not the case. That is not to knock them, nor praise myself, but it seems to be the case that most production students are production students for a reason. That reason being they want to make movies, not write them. In fact, the vast majority did not proceed the way I did, in which I started wanting to write films only to discover that they are unlike nearly all other written media in that the physical written word holds little sway over the final product.

At any rate, I enjoy writing. I think I am not terrible at it, and I can get a lot better. Additionally, there seemed to be plenty of 'required' classes that I could take and not have to make specific decisions about.

With that in mind, I came to the conclusion that I would take:

506 Visual Expression
516 Advanced Scene Analysis
533a Writing the Feature
469 Critical Studies class on Spielburg

This brings me to 12 units, a healthy amount but as none of it is production I may even try to fit in 572, the TV course, World of Television. We shall see.

Most of my compatriots are doing almost none of these classes. Instead, most have worked their way into the upcoming 546s and 547s. In fact, it was quite the fever pitch for a while, as everyone started throwing elbows to make sure they were on a project.

It is here that I found myself extremely dissappointed, but also not surprised. For whatever reason, our class is the first in a long while to be genuinely excited to work on a 546 or 547. Wonderful, I mean that with no sarcasm. However, I heard that as the teams were interviewing people it became an artful game of dodge and avoid. Where directors would avoid talking to potential producers they were not going to pick, and then producers would avoid talking to potential editors/cinematographers/etc. that they would not be picking.

This is infuriated me, mainly because everyone knows everyone else here. It's a terribly tiny community and when people are avoiding each other and refusing to just come out and say, "we aren't going to have you on the project, sorry," it creates a larger amount of animosity than just making that tough phone call.

Apparently, this is precisely how Hollywood functions.

In addition, people seem to be willing to beg for jobs that they don't eve like, just because there is some amount of competition. People are completely excited to produce and AD projects. I can't bring myself to imagine spending a semester producing a project that isn't at least partly mine.

Regardless, I'm happy to avoid it.

Next post I'll talk a little more about my actual plan for graduation. It'll be good to write out my specific course structure, if for no one else but me.

508 Semester is nearly over, I shall try to explain it

2009-04-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

Alright, last I left off with a general description of the 508 semester as it was presented to us before we started. I'd like to now go into my direct experience with it and speak a little to the general feelings I think our class has expressed about the semester.

Before I start, it should be said that this is the FIRST semester of this particular set up for 508. As was the case for our 507 semester, we are the 'guinea pigs' for the new curriculum. As such, as I begin to rail upon some of the things I find annoying or frustrating with the program (as well as when I mention things I enjoy) it should be taken with that in mind. This is really the best first guess of the administration. I have already been told that next semester will run differently and it seems to be a step in the right direction.

So, as can be expected by a random assignment system, there are many groups in the program that have had conflict. Mostly, I believe that it's been what you'd expect in terms of certain people getting on each the nerves of someone else and it eventually culminating in some arguments/blowups/etc. Most of the groups seem to have gotten along in that fashion, which is to be expected. A few groups have had major issues, ultimately coming down to statements like "I'll never work with PERSON again!" But again, I would have been surprised if this had not been the case.

Personally, I count myself as lucky. My group has functioned pretty well throughout, and I think that I'm being the one to cause the most friction, though that may also be because everyone thinks that when they are directing rather than doing one of the other crew positions.

The semester itself is extraordinarily busy. That's not to say that it is difficult. The difference being that all one needs to have to succeed in this semester is the ability to effectively time manage. This is primarily due to the fact that we have 20 hours of class a week, nearly all of which is during business hours. This makes it very difficult to find time to do many of the other production requirements (location scout, prop hunt, rent equipment and return) without skipping class.

I believe it is designed this way. I don't have a very good reason for you other than they want to know we aren't wimps who will run crying when loaded up with work.

I find it to be frustrating, especially in that much of our class time is not spent incredibly productively. We spend a lot of our time in class watching dailies and screening cuts, which I'll begrudgingly admit has its benefits, but we could be doing that at any time of the day other than 9-5, but that is in fact the only time when we do it.

We also occasionally have classes in Sound, Cinematography, Directing, and Editing. The editing sections almost always fall close to picture lock, (the date in which our movie must be edited completely and then only sound can be altered) so they are often useful if for no other reason than to focus on our cuts of our films.

However, the other disciplines are very sporadic which makes it very difficult to get any kind of cohesive lesson plan together for them. It's like a year of watching dailies, cuts, and getting ready for production, spritzed with random classes along the way. It makes the whole thing feel very discordant.

Here's something of a fun fact. USC has required zero assigned reading from me this semester. I have had virtually zero required assignments outside of the three projects. Now, I'm not saying that they need to pile on to the semester, or that reading is the only way to learn filmmaking or even the best way. I am saying that I have personally had to just pick books at random from lists to continue learning, and that for a program in which I will receieve a Master's in Fine Arts one would expect to have some required reading in the subject in which one is earning one's degree.

There are a lot of frustating things about this semester. Recenetly, a friend and I spoke of the rapport that our 507 had achieved by the end of the semester last year. He commented that while he initially thought that it would be good to work with new people in the comming semester he now thought that breaking up our class only resulted in being thrown into a room with people you didn't particularly know with brand new faculty and no one knowing what anyone else was used to in terms of feedback.

I know that by the end of my first semester, my professors and my classmates all felt extremely willing to offer completely earnest opinions on anyone's film. Also, I believe there was an honest sense of kinship among the class. Sure, not everyone got along with everyone, but there was a sense of being baptised by fire together which I do not think can ever be easily created.

In a completely assy analogy, I would liken it to a squad in a military capacity. You all enter in together, excited but afraid, and being to learn a series of brand new terms, skills, and habits. Everyone gets to know everyone else a little bit at a time, people start to take on larger roles and sure people make mistakes and are mocked but by the end of it even the people you don't like on a personal level, you respect on a professional level because you know you all did it together. I think we left 507 with a sense of trust in each other.

Thrown into a new semester with new people, who never saw your stupid silent film about the couple arguing with books, there is a temptation to make yourself anew. I know there are people I had507 with who act very differently about their film this semester than they ever did in 507, and to be honest it saddens me. In addition, I find it awkward and difficult to comment in class. It's gotten better over the semester, but for the longest time I had a hard time giving a good god damn about anyone's film I wasn't working on. I don't know you, why should I care? Make whatever movie you want. Even worse, after the semester began and we found some footing I found myself being harsher at times than I would have liked to have been. And I'm sure I wasn't the only one as some people tend to get a trip on that sort of thing.

At any rate, in a way I can't fully explain, I'm very happy the second semester is nearly over. I have to shoot one more day, and then comes all the post work with editing picture and sound, but more than that, I'm just glad to be free of this class. It feels as if a great burden is about to be lifted and I will then be freer to do as I like here at USC.

Next time I'll talk about how the remaining years at USC are supposedly supposed to shake out.

I'm only several months behind

2009-03-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, so for those interested, this post is going to mainly focus on the breakdown of how THIS semester is structured. Enough of the old, on with the new.

So this term is effectively called the 508 semester, and it's supposedly the most time consuming of the program. What I heard before coming in was that it was meant to be such that they could force those few left that were planning on quitting to do so this semester.

The way it works is as follows:

Towards the end of the first semester we are informed of which section we'll be in for the 508 semester. The 55 (minus if anyone dropped, which one person did in our group, but then I believe two people came back from previous semesters only to have one of them drop out, somehow miraculously that brought us back to 55) students are divided into four "colors" each labeling you to a section of class.

There is no difference between the classes in theory, however, as there are no locked down lesson plans the faculty have a large amount of pull in how each class is run. Additionally, each 508 has a professor from each discipline; Directing, Producing, Editing, Sound, and Cinematography. So, because of the large sway the faculty hold, each class ends up with differing amount of instruction in each area.

However, the majority of your time in these classes (held two days a week from 9-12 and 1-5) will be spent watching dailies and edited cuts of other people's films.

Here is where I should explain how the groups within each class work. At that same time we were told which color group we were assigned to, we were also assigned to a Trio. The trios were supposedly randomly (I have no idea how random this was or not, but I have no reason to doubt them) assigned. The idea being that these groups of three would take on different roles for each production:

1. Director/Writer
2. Cinematographer/Editor
3. Producer/Sound Recordist

These then rotate from each production to the next; where a 1 becomes a 2 for the second project and then becomes a 3 for the third, or a 3 becomes a 1 for the second project and so on and so on.

We were allowed to state our preference of when we would shoot when we applied for the 508 semester, so these assignments seemed to roughly approximate our preferences. Obviously, it's impossible to please everyone.

Other than 508, we are required to take 529: Writing the Short Script, and 509: A confusing class about post-production. 529 is a straight up screenwriting class with actual script assignments and the 509 class seems to be a new class that has yet to find it's footing, but revolves a lot around editing and sound design.

In general, the 508 semester is a huge step up. First, everyone knows at least a little bit what it is they're doing. All the people who had never been on a film set in their lives and had no concept of the jargon and basic elements that go into making a movie, have now done at least 2 of their own and probably helped out on several others in various capacities. Second, the school takes 508 much more seriously. You can't use any copy written material without approval from the source, there are far more resources at your disposal, and there is an actual screening in the large cinema on campus (Norris).

By resources I mean, they give us a large amount of lighting equipment for the entire year, more than we had access to the entirety of 507, and on top of that, they allow us to check out additional lighting on basically a whim. We are given better sound recording equipment, and more importantly, we have access to the program Pro Tools (an exceptional sound editing program), we are given access to newly built folley stages (sound proof rooms for creating sound effects and in our case, also for any dialogue recording done after shooting the film), and finally, probably most impressive in terms of access that USC provides, we are given a 3 hour mix session in which advanced Sound students work their magic on our films, filtering out extraneous sounds and bringing up or down additional effects we have inserted and created for our film.

By the end of it all, each of us has a 5 mintue 30 second film (or less) that we directed and wrote, as well as one we produced and one we edited and shot.

Next, I'll discuss how this is all working, some of the issues that have come up, and ultimately how my upcomming production is going (as I am the third of the trio, only I have left to shoot)...

First semester wrap up, FINALLY

2009-02-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

I just reread my last entry and realized it's gotten far more personal. I'll try to include more general information in this entry, but as it's a catchup from me being a sucky blogger, I really tend to focus on my stuff directly. At any rate, here goes.

In our second film last semester, we were allowed to build a team, in fact, we were required to fill the positions of Producer and Cinematographer, while also being heavily suggested to get at least one more person to do sound work (boom operator).

I can't stress enough how nice it was to just run up and ask people. It was a little nerve wracking as that first day they told us to pick people was a little like asking people to go to the school dance with you. Though, in retrospect people really stretched themselves and worked on several projects (I know I did) which was amazingly considerate.

In maybe a short-sighted choice, I decided that my primary goal for my second film was to shoot a fight scene. A bondafide, rock 'em sock 'em fight scene. Probably not the best way to enter into a film project, but I had to be honest with myself and I wanted to get something done that I had never done before.

I managed to manufacture an idea that I didn't feel was too contrived, and hit home maybe a little moreso than I'm willing to admit. In addition, I received some very solid advice from my Producer in that I essentially rip off a fight scene I liked and fit our scenario. While this might sound disingenuous or like down right plagarism, I might tell you that filmmakers basically do it all the time or I might also tell you to cut me some slack as I'd never once done a fight scene before or I might also tell you that after showing it to a bunch of film students only one person could call me on the fight scene I aped.

Regardless, my Producer delievered in a serious way as far as talent was concerned (even jumping in himself), and we even got to (actually had to) work with a legit stunt coordinator, which ended up working out great.

The day started amazingly. Everyone was there more or less on time, we worked diligently and quickly. The guys were game for anything. It was going awesomely, or at least I thought it was until we had to break for lunch and I basically still had 75% of a movie left to shoot. The rest of the day was a lesson in conservation of shots, multitasking, and giving up a certain degree of control to those around me.

By the end of it, I was completely spent, knew I hadn't gotten even close to everything I had needed or wanted, and was worried I'd learned a semi expensive lesson about bugdeting time correctly.

At this point in the semester we were required to screen dailies. For the uninitiated, Dailies are the raw footage you shot, completely out of context, unedited, and completely naked. Everyone watches these and then asks you about all the shots you didn't get, and basically demands answers as to why you didn't get them. Essentially, you sit up there and get attacked (or praised if you have what they think you should have, which didn't happen for many) and your recourse is to simply utter varitions on 'I swear it'll cut together' until they let you sit down.

Perhaps I'm being unfair, but I hate dailies. I can see how they'd be useful on longer shoots with bigger budgets, but to ask us to screen stuff even this semester where we have two shoot weekends is pretty futile. Nearly everyone can't go do reshoots even if they had the money, and nearly all the comments are about what you didn't get and should go get. That said, there are a few jems in the attack which you can keep in mind for next shoot, so perhaps it's worth it.

All I can say is that after getting blasted for not having a 'Bourne' style fight I felt pretty beat up. I was specifically ripping an Indiana Jones fight, but it was still difficult to take. I did my best to restrain myself, smiled and nod, and then sit back down muttering under my breath about how I'd cut it together and show them.

However, the abuse continued through the rough cut stage. After examining my footage, I discovered that one of their comments, about shooting in a terrible sound location, turned out to be maginifcently true. I had basically no useable sound for the fight scene itself (which was obviously most of the movie). This meant the rough cut had a huge silent chunk in it, and if for one second you think this probably doesn't matter in a fight scene, I beg you to go pull any of your favorite action movies and watch them silently.

All was not lost, though it just meant more abuse for the rough cut. I worked through the picture edit, until I had my visuals completely locked, and then went to work on the sound design. Some hollywood movie magic for everyone, every punch you've ever heard in any media at all was completely fake. Punches sound gross and dull in real life; hell most don't sound at all. That satisfying crack/slap/smack that you hear is completely artificial. This mean that for ever hit I had, I had to comb through the sound archives and build each hit and each reaction.

I recieved great advice on sound from Midge Costin, a professor here (IMDB her for creds), who explained the importance of layering. Each hit you hear is probably not only one hit, but several. Lower 'body' hits are a good bass, while face hits a more slappy. Combining them can yield interesting results. In addition, you can add bone cracks at interesting times, and even layer in some really weird sounds if you want to get fancy. All I can say is I'm glad USC has a serious sound effects library.

By the time I layered in all the sounds, and then layed in a temporary music track (which eventually became my permanate), I felt a lot better about the film. I continued to massage here and there, and by the end I was really happy with where it ended up, and satisfyingly it played. Each new cut brought more satisfying results. The class ended up really digging it, and I learned a lot about fight scenes. I really couldn't have asked for more, well maybe a few more shoot days.

I'll catch up with the rest next time...sooner than this last one.

I'm a terrible blogger, as it turns out

2009-01-03T21:30:00.000-08:00

So yeah, it's been way too long to respectably have gone without blogging. Apparently, much of my family reads (or rather read [huh that doesn't work so well written]) the blog and to you I apologize. I swear I'll do better next semester.

For anyone who was reading this in a desperate attempt to figure out what to do with your life in regards to film school...I feel especially sad for, for many reasons, but primarily because I suck.

So let's try and sum up the last few months of film school in one post!

I believe I left off shortly after shooting project one. First off, I have to say at the time, I really liked how mine edited together. Hell, I loved the first cut that came in at something like eight or nine minutes. Something nice about being at USC was immediately having access to people you could show your edit to and have solid feedback from. I didn't agree with all of it, but to be able to be in the lab and turn around to find just about anyone in the room to receive considerate, reasoned feedback from is very nice.

Anyway, after painstakingly editing my nine minute wonder down to a five minute thirty second masterpiece, and still being told by others it was way too long I was sure that they were wrong and that on Monday the class would see how clever I was.

I was so very wrong. The feedback on Monday was almost exclusively along the lines of, "wow you have a decent movie in there somewhere, just hack that badboy down." And after some looking at it and general thinking, I realized a few things. One, I have always been in love with my own stuff. Even films before film school, they all could do with serious editing. A subset realization was that I needed to be better at editing my own stuff and probably would need an editor in future projects (probably why such a postion exists on every major film ever released). Two, you watching your movie on your computer montior on your own is very different than watching it projected on a big ass screen with 15 people (or even worse, film students) watching it. This might be a lesson for everone, if you can show your film to people and not feel crushing embarassment you're probably delussional.

I'm making out worse than it was; for the most part people were very forgiving and kind. Too forgiving and kind in retrospect. If I can't count on my peers to be brutal on me who can I count on?

I also came out of the first project with some good advice. A fellow film student gave me the very simple advice of, "Stop shooting for the middle". I imagine this doesn't apply to all young filmmakers, in fact, based on some student films I would imagine advice closer to, "Stop being so goddamn obtuse/crazy!" would be more sage wisdom. But, for me, the middle is where I sometimes end up. To make a long lesson short, it would be better to continually fail big than succeed small.

And looking at my first film, I have to agree. It was almost no different from anything I had done in the past. In the sense that, there would be nothing that would have stopped me from making the exact same film a year ago with my friends. Yes, I got to work with actual actors, which was good, but the film itself didn't require anything like that; though they did certainly add to the film.

So, when planning for my second film, I decided to that above all else, to do something that I couldn't have done on my own.

To be continued in the next post...

Unexpected Awesome

2008-10-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since a post, and I'll do a real one tomorrow but for now, I'd like to just say a few things about film school that I really dig that have been surprises.

Excuses - it has never taken a lot to convince me to waste a whole day watching TV/Movies, and it's not that I normally feel all that guilty, but film school has made that so much easier. All I have to do is pay the littlest bit of attention to camera movement, story structure, acting, basically anything going on on the screen and I instantly get to call that homework.

Bottled Water - we always have to have this stuff around. you need water for auditions and shoots. It's like the least you can do; that and snacks, but they're less omnipresent. I only drink bottled water now, just because it's awesome and available.

Prestige - it's not like people are super impressed or anything, but USC is a big deal, at least to some. If they knew what we really did I'm sure it'd be a very sobering experience. Not that we don't get to do cool stuff, but you always imagine it to be way crazier than it is, right? At any rate, when people ask me what I do, I usually receive a positive reaction. It is cool.

Events - I guess it should have been expected, but there are a bunch of cool things we get invited to as film students: free screenings, Q&A sessions, movie marathons, etc. Granted, most of it is stuff only film geeks would be into, but still it's rad. Also, taking a friend from outside the film school is pretty cool; it's like the tiniest bit of juice we can show off.

Reading - Not just the film reading, which is generally useful. We are encouraged to read outside material; magazines, newspapers, novels, whatever. They even tell us to watch people, become observers. It makes sense, and I've been doing some of it for a while. But, when someone just tells you to go do that kind of stuff, that it's important to your future work, well it's kinda license to just dive in.

There are a bunch of other things that are semi-unexpected, but those are some biggies. Maybe I'll do another list of something or other sometime.

Expect a real update tomorrow. For now, I'm off to 'study' Indiana Jones.

Editing

2008-10-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

First project is done, at least for me. Groups A and B have now shot, C to shoot this weekend. This week is supposed to be for us to edit our recently shot footage, however, what it seems like is it's time for most people to edit their Directed Scene from a few weeks ago, while simultaneously trying to edit what they just shot.

I wouldn't call it a breakneck pace, but it's certainly just fast enough to make sure we aren't doing anything besides working on our projects, sleeping, and eating. Of course, I'm sure some would tell you it is completely a breakneck pace. It all depends on who is where in their projects.

Shooting this weekend went well. I haven't even reviewed the footage yet (yeah, I know) but I think it's going to work out. By work out, I mean it'll turn into a movie that makes sense. We'll see after the edit how well it works out. But, the shoot was fun...or so I'm told. Honestly, we started shooting at about 9:30 in the morning and stopped at about 4:15 pm and the whole thing felt like maybe 30, 40 minutes tops when I was doing it. That's not even all that much of an exaggeration.

My actors were great. They both had a great sense of humor which made everyone feel better I think. I like it a lot more when the actors can joke around a little while I'm trying to make sure we get what we need shot wise. For those out there that want to make their own movies, I can't say how critical a shot list is, especially if you have an even remotely complicated scene.

Let's see, Group A screened their project 1's yesterday. It was pretty varied. I'm not going to sit here and cast judgment about other people's projects, but I will say that in general the shot composition was amazing in most everyone's and the camera we all used just shoots beautifully.

The real big news is that Project 2 is coming up really, really soon. Group A is shooting Halloween weekend, and pitching next week. Which means I'm pitching the week after that.

Time to get to work.

Blogging instead of working

2008-10-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

Quick catchup, then I have to sleep.

This weekend was noteworthy in that it was the first weekend for people in my production class to shoot Project 1. As mentioned before, we're divided into A's, B's, and C's; I'm a B, the A's shot this weekend, and I helped in shooting one.

His project was very different from mine. He shot a documentary, which, while I am a fan of, I have no real idea of what goes into the production of a film of this genre. Let me say I think it went very well, and I think the end product will be very successful. However, let me also say that given the limitations of this first project, it was a little crazy to attempt.

The limits placed on us are somewhat strange, and, to be honest, have never been adequately or clearly explained. As near as I can gather the rules are as follows:
5 minute maximum for the finished film.
No sync dialogue (meaning you can't have an actor actually read a line. you can however have voice over, sound effects, sound from the set, and I'm sure some other sneaky ways to use sound).
We are limited to our 8 gigabyte SxS which translates to about 28 minutes of footage on our cameras (these cameras, rather than shoot on tapes or dvds or any other format, shoot on sony SxS cards which are extremely cool and extremely expensive, coming in at about $500 for our 8 gig)

Now, most people, after seeing that the SxS card is basically analagous to a USB drive or Flash card (in that it can be unloaded over and over again onto any computer that has an SxS reader hooked up to it) realize just how cool these cards are, essentially providing the user with unlimited footage as long as he/she is willing to dump the data every so often. However, USC has specically told us that we are allowed to only use our card to load once for this shoot. Initially, the rational could be that they want us to practice for when we only have 25 mins worth of film to shoot on, but that thinking seems to fall apart because USC also strongly encouraged us to use the in camera review method to delete bad takes off our cards.

Several of the other students have expressed confusion and even down right anger over this somewhat paradoxical policy. However, there's little to do about it. So like it or lump it is my approach. I don't think it'll matter a huge amount in my shoot, but I know for a fact it affected my friend's. If there's one thing documentaries seem to require is the ability to just let the camera roll. I'm not saying this policy made my friend's movie impossible, but it sure made that day of shooting super intense. We'd sneak off to a quiet corner or his car every so often to run through the takes and delete what we thought wasn't useable. I didn't envy him.

Today was actually pretty awesome. The morning session consisted of a lecture from one of the inventors of THX, Tom Holman. Dude, also named 5.1 sound, which many people have in their homes. 5.1 is apparently a misnomer; a more acurate name would be 5.005. This is for reasons which I do not understand, except that the subwoofer is the .1 but is really not .1 but rather .005, if that makes any sense. What was great though, was he brought amazing original cuts of Star Wars and Raiders which we got to watch on the glorious screen at Norris Theater. The cuts had obviously seen better days but it was still amazingly cool to see them. There's a lot to learn about sound, and apparently USC is pariticularly know for our sound. Something worth thinking about if you're into sound...

Alright, auditions in the morning, editing in the evening, and I'm beginning to feel sick...

Shooting this weekend.

Shooting

2008-09-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

So I, along with half of my directing class, shot our first anything ever for film school.

Granted, these were scenes from already existing films, but still, it was a seminal moment for me at least. Working with actors who I had auditioned and who have been in many other projects before was a new experience. This is not to bag on my friends and family who have, in the past, been so generous in helping me out with my projects; I owe them a great deal. It's just that obviously, working with people who have put in a great deal of time and effort to get good at this is going to be a completely different experience.

In addition, I have to say that the instruction from our directing class paid off in spades on the day of my shoot. The ability to break down a scene, form and opinion about the intentions and beat changes, and then communicate those intentions to actors who then make adjustments to their portrayals accordingly actually occurred on Friday. And, yes, I am essentially describing acting and directing in very basic terms, but it's one thing to understand that this is how things should go and another to actually try and do it.

I'm not saying my shoot was flawless; far from it. However, I am saying that I accomplished something I hadn't before, and that it could have gone far worse. It was just the first time I've ever felt like a director, and that was pretty cool.

We'll see how it cuts together when I get it in the lab.

Today was our first day back to our Producing classes; let me explain. For the past several weeks we have been having our regular Monday class with an editor, as I've mentioned in previous posts, but now we're back to Tim Marx, our producing professor from the first few weeks who I always felt was excellent, and also terrifying. Today we did our pitches for our first non-dialogue shorts. This was not like the high pressure pitches we did week 2, but rather a time to explain our ideas to our class and both Tim and our Ideation professor, Mary Beth Fielder.

The professors then provided lots of feedback, both on practical concerns and story points. We all had very different ideas, some of which I felt very much on board with, others which I could never have even conceived, but they were all interesting on some level. I'm extremely interested to see how they end up turning out. Some people had some ambitions ideas which could be very difficult to execute, but if done well could turn out amazing.

I felt like my idea was kinda playing it safe in some regards. I had several ideas about non-dialogue shorts because I was actually prepared to make up to five of them this year (like previous years) so I felt better prepared, but I couldn't help but feel a lack of daring that was present in some of my peers' ideas. Of course, I think I can pull my idea off pretty easily, and that was important to me, so we'll see.

I'm glad the directed scene came before this project. I am not nearly as nervous after that first shoot. I'm really looking forward to shooting actually. Now, I just have to find some actors...

Auditions

2008-09-23T18:53:00.001-07:00

On prompting by a fellow film student who I respect, I'm going to be posting more often...or at least trying.

I wanted to speak about auditioning for a bit, just because I get the feeling that for most of us this is the first time we've gone through this process, and is one of the nicer things USC/living in LA brings to the table.

It's not that you don't know there are a lot of people here in LA trying to make it, because I'm sure most people have an understanding that a lot of people want to be movie stars. It's that there's no way to understand just HOW many there are until you go online to post for a tiny project, a single scene, of a film that's already been made, that you're doing on the cheap cheap with no lights, no crew, no nothing, and YET you can still get over a hundred submissions from actors wanting to be in your film OVERNIGHT.

We're not offering to pay them anything. They can't even use the footage on their reel because it's not our work. Yet still they flock to USC for even a chance to be in our movie. Why?

I can only surmise two real answers. One, they love the hell out of acting. It's their passion. You can see it on certain people when they audition; they love this. They're going to act no matter what, so why not come out for a day and do your project, get a decent meal, and have some fun?

Two, as crazy as this sounds, there might be a future in it. Not only will we all be making many more films that they could potentially be in, but we are at USC. That's not to say any of us are guaranteed anything, but you really never know, especially from their point of view. I know, it's ludicrous, but not any more so than spending thousands of dollars to go to film school.

Auditioning itself was less traumatic than I thought it would be, mainly for one simple reason. I get to choose. It's easy to forget when you're preparing and scheduling people that they want to be in your project, and will be incredibly nice and pleasant to you in order to get that. Once you realize this, and see that the Actors are in a way worse position than you are as far as nerves go everything relaxes. Or, at least it did for me.

After that it gets hard. Choosing is so difficult sometimes. These people only have a few days with the scene at most, and they have lives, they can't be devoting themselves to this hours at a time. Auditioning is such a weird process. I still have a lot to learn, but this first experience was eye opening. My next auditions will have to be pretty soon for my first project in Production. I'm going to try and get ahead of those so we'll see how that goes.

For those of you who wonder how we get so many actors, it's amazingly easy. Go to the following websites and post your project:

NowCasting.com
LACasting.com
BreakdownExpress.com

Some of them are just for LA area, but others have additional areas to post for. I can only speak from my experience here, but I received immediate interest from people who had trained seriously, and are passionate about acting.

We will see how it goes on Friday when I direct a scene from The Aviator. I'm hopeful, but it's not the perfect conditions. My actress is on a tight schedule so we're starting fairly early in the morning. As I've said before, it's not as nearly as critical or difficult as my first project will be, but still I can't help but worry over the things that could potentially go bad. I suppose it'll be good to work under conditions that are not ideal. I'm sure I'll have a post about it when that day is done.

Till next time.

Syllabuses? Syllabi?

2008-09-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

So here are the links to each syllabus from each class, like I've been promising you for way too long.

507 Production I
510 Concepts in Cinema
599 Ideation

It should be noted that the 599 is not from my section of Ideation, as my syllabus was not available online. It should also be noted that these contain phone numbers and email address of some professors at USC. I stress that these numbers and emails could be obtained from the USC School of Cinematic Arts website pretty easily, so if anyone is contemplating using them please refrain from pretending that I'm slipping up and giving away something here. Just use their own website, I'm sure it'll be easier.

As far as class goes, it's, um, going. In our cinematography class we shot on 16 mm film, which should be interesting to see this week after it's developed. Film has a mysterious quality in that you have to just trust the light meter and the charts, set your camera correctly and let 'er fly. Shooting digital, which is all of my previous experience, is always layed out right there for you in the view finder. What you see is what you get, basically.

Our directing class is heating up, basically due to our 2nd projects in that class coming soon. Our directed scenes, from various already existing films, are to be filmed over the next two weekends. This means auditions and more auditions. The halls of the Robert Zemeckis Center have been bustling with actors over the past few days. Auditioning is actually much more managable and fun than I had anticipated. Having never actually had auditions before, I had a natural amount of anxiety about the process, but all of that disappeared when the first actor came in and you could immediately feel the power dynamic in the room. I'm the director, you're the actor. I get to choose, not you. It's not an egotistical thing, it's just the facts, and they know it. Never, in the history of the world, have you seen so many beautiful people trying to be nice to so many nerds.

I'd delve deeper, but tomorrow is an early day. I've got to get up and head over to check out a location for next weekend's shoot. Even my time off is permiated by film at this point. There's no turning back now.

Late again

2008-09-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted, and I'm going to try and be better about it. Also, I've been trying to talk in generalities about the program, but I'm finding that more and more difficult. From now on the blog will probably be a more personal viewpoint and I can't say for certain it will really reflect everyone's experience, but it will be a more in depth look at My experience.

So some quick catch up. It's now the start of week four, and things are beginning to take off. I think just about everyone is feeling it since we were locked in for our first actual shooting projects.

As I mentioned previously, our directing class has a project where we have to shoot a scene from an already made film. My film is The Aviator. Last week we were assigned shooting weekends, either the 5th or 6th week of the program. I was given 5th week, meaning I have to shoot sometime over the weekend of the 27th of September.

As you can imagine, this lite a fire under many of us as the deadline was closer than first imagined. Most people, myself included, immediately had to get moving on the process. The first step has been to prepare auditions, which is basically, reserving a room on campus to hold the auditions, posting a casting call on one of various websites, and then scheduling actors to come in at the specific times you have reserved rooms. While not difficult, it is a little time consuming and requires a fair amount of organization to be clear on who is showing up to which audition at which time.

Personally, I'm doing a scene which is between Howard Hughes and Katharine Hepburn, which feels a bit odd to cast. When you post on one of these sites you have to describe the project as well as the characters, and to do that with Hughes and especially Hepburn was a little weird. Fortunately, I've had some response, and I hope at least a few work out.

The actual project is designed to be a real exercise. We aren't supposed to really worry about costumes, sets, etc. It's all about the acting and directing. We were even told that should the actor turn out to be not great for the role, that too would be a learning experience, so don't sweat it.

I've never auditioned anyone for anything. In fact, the opposite is true. I've always had to beg friends to be in my movies. So, I'm about as far as one can get from an experienced auditioner. I did help out a fellow classmate on Friday, and found the process to not be nearly as intense as I initially thought. I forgot that the basic setup of an audition is extremely skewed against the actor. All the pressure is on him/her to impress you, the director. They want to please you, they want to be in your project. As soon as people started coming in I immediately felt better about the whole process.

We'll see how my auditions go this week.

As far as other classes go, our 507 Production class has become 507 Editing class. Our new professor is a professional editor, he's done a bunch of David E. Kelley stuff, as well as Twin Peaks. The class itself is moving a bit slow, but outside of class we're editing a scene from Boston Legal, which has been very helpful. First off, it got us all into the Avid lab to pretty much learn Avid. I found myself taking to it faster than I thought, and now feel comfortable working on it for my future projects.

After editing the show, in partnerships, we had them brought into class and shown this Monday. It was interesting to see how certain areas are very similar and very dissimilar from group to group. It seems most of us have a natural sense of editing to some degree. Personally, my partnership worked extremely well. I was surprised; I assumed a partnership would slow down the editing process but I felt it sped up a considerable degree. I thing my partner and I were just lucky to be on the same page. We seemed to both agree whenever something didn't exactly work, and when I wouldn't know why she would often have a suggestion to fix it that worked out well, and vice versa.

Our professor gave us notes on our edited projects so we'll be altering them again this week. It should be significantly easier now. It's basically just minor tweaks here and there, lots of 'tightening' to do. It really gives you and insight into just how fast the cuts are on network TV. Look at older shows and you'll see a huge difference. We watched some scenes from Perry Mason (a personal favorite of mine) and you can see just how long the camera hangs on each take in comparison to the rapid cuts that are now common in any courtroom drama, or anything on TV for that matter.

There's lots more to tell, but I'm going to cut it short this time, in hopes that it'll spur me to write more often, and hopefully leave less out between posts.

I promise promise promise to put up syllabus for next post.

End of Week Two

2008-09-05T00:22:00.000-07:00

It's already starting to blur.

The days are bleeding into each other too quickly. I think it's a combination of factors that are causing this: One, the classes are long which takes huge chunks of the day away and because they are so interesting and have so much information, they tend to pass very quickly. Two, there are always things to do outside of class that are either directly related to helping us become better filmmakers or are just super interesting for filmmakers (examples are today I attended an Auditioning Seminar and last night I attended a screening of The Fly with Cronenberg doing Q&A before the screening). Three, I have taken to sleeping waaay too much, and finally, Four, I also seem to be fond of wasting away the rest of the day watching TV and movies reassuring myself that it's all "research" when really I should be getting life stuff done.

Anyway, enough of that. I'm going to try to wake up on time more, and waste less time in general.

Yesterday, we had another Cinematography class. We actually got to handle 16mm Cameras (the Arri-S for those of you who are camera nerds). These are old, old mechanical cameras; they have hard metal bodies, cool lenses, and sound like a model train set when running film. To me, it was a really crazy experience. It was so fun exploring, hands on, the cameras, learning to load film and how to focus lenses properly. We won't be using film cameras until next semester but I'm glad we're getting to handle them now. Several of the other students seemed blase about the cameras but it was my first experience so I was grinning like an idiot most of the class.

Today, was another round of Directing class. We learned what our projects would be in the course. The first project is an intensive scene break down from an existing script. Today we each selected a script to read through and select a scene from. The idea is to take that scene and answer a series of questions about it. Here are the questions:

1. What are the preceding circumstances for each character that the actors/director would have to be aware of before the scene begins? (You can't answer this without reading the entire screenplay).
2. What is the expectation of each character as the scene begins?
3. What is the intent/function of the scene as a whole?
4. Whose scene is it and why?
5. What's at stake in the scene?
6. What is each character's overall intent in the scene?
7. Define (i.e. draw lines) the beats in the scene. Indicate what the change in action is for either or both characters in the margins. REMEMBER: don't do any of this on the original script. Make a copy of the pages in the scene you're working on.
8. Looking over the beats, what would you choose as the most critical single action taken by each character during the course of the scene?
9. What is the turning point in the scene? This often translates to the most critical beat in the scene.
10. How is the scene resolved? i.e. How have things changed at the end of the scene from what they were at the beginning?

We've discussed what most of these questions are getting at in class, and have already done much briefer analysis on other scenes.

Like I said, we were allowed to choose our screenplays from a list, as best as I can remember the list consisted of the following films (I'm bound to miss several):

The Aviator
Being John Malkovich
Cold Mountain
Crash
Erin Brockovich
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Juno
Hotel Rwanda
Finding Neverland
Fried Green Tomatoes
Before Sunrise

I know there were a bunch more but my memory must be seriously shot because I cant remember any others, but you get the basic idea; they are all well written, character driven films. Which makes sense.

We were instructed not to pick a film we knew backwards and forwards, for the simple reason that that would completely derail the exercise of breaking down a scene. I chose The Aviator, which is a film I remember seeing in the theater and very much enjoying, and then never seeing again. Though, now that I'm told I can't watch it, I have the overwhelming desire to do so.

The rest of the projects are also script related, project two is for us to take a scene from the script we chose and stage it with actual actors. Several of the films are clearly difficult to pull off in regards to production values, but the thrust of the assignment is understanding of the scene and our ability to direct, not creating a perfect illusion. I imagine if one wanted, one could stage even an elaborate scene from say, Hotel Rwanda, with nothing more than cardboard and some gifted actors.

Also, during the latest Directing class, we discussed Auditioning in detail. There were a lot of very strange yet very useful tips on just the basic protocol of running an audition and how to deal with and interact with actors. There's a lot to be learned in this area, for me especially. I've never held an audition, never dealt with a real actor, and honestly, I'm kind of freaking out because of it. The one thing I do notice is that direction is based on the very basic premise of "What is the character trying to accomplish in this Film/Scene/Beat?" We have been told, and read in our assigned texts, that one must direct actors with action verbs. You don't tell someone, do this line angry, do that line sad; instead you have to sit down with the script and work out what exactly you think each character wants at each moment of the script (and I say think because there are a variety of interpretations, even among a class of 15). You then can tell the actor things like, Do these lines like you're persuading her to give you the book, or now you're demanding she give you the book, and to her you say something like you're taking a stand against him or you're guarding the book. Each is a specific action that can be acted, rather than just adding random emotion to a scene without understanding intent.

The classes are all piling on information, and all of it's useful. However, I am noticing there's a constant battle here at USC. I feel like we get a great deal of infromation that is intended for much, much later in our careers as film makers, and then additionally, information about how to handle our first projects. Rarely is the information overlapping. Maybe it's just because I'm neurotic, but I am beginning to feel underprepared for my first project already. I need to find a location (with a business ower that's agreeable and cheap if not free), set up auditions with possibly a 2nd audition to pair up my main two actors, learn to use the camera, and all the regular production stuff (write, plan, direct, etc.) I guess the best way to go about it is to just start going to professors directly and asking questions. I'm not even sure if my idea is doable, considering it needs a location away from campus.

I'm glad we are often taught what the real world situation would be in regards to many aspects of filmmaking, and I'm sure we'll figure out our first films much moreso in the coming weeks. I just wish every class somehow had an extra hour where they told us stuff specifically geared for our own films. I guess it's another learn by doing scenario, and I'm getting more and more comfortable with that being the case.

Alright, this is getting more poorly written by the sentence. I'm off to bed and hopefully up at a resonable hour.

Catch Up

2008-09-03T11:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's been a little while since a post. That's a combination of me being lazy, me being out of town, and me having a lot of work from school. But there's a lot to cover so let's get into it...

I was mistaken about 507 from the previous post. Let me explain how it really works. It essentially meets 3 times a week: for me, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday (different for other production majors).

Wednesday is always Cinematography. The professor is, again, an actual working cinematographer. He's done movies you've heard of, and has been working in the business for a long time; there seems to be no shortage of these kinds of people willing to work at USC. The class seems geared towards showing us the actual workings of cameras, beginning with 16mm film cameras and moving eventually to showing us how to work with our HD digital cameras that we will be making our first and second projects with.

Thursday class is always Fundamentals of Directing. Just like wed. it's taught by an actual director. It started interestingly, and is already an exciting class to be in. You would think that a directing class would be more free form as the skill is far less technical than cinematography, but our professor seems very interested in giving concrete examples of ways to direct better.

Monday class is rotational. We just finished our 2nd class of Producing, which was intense. Our second day was a full one. We started the day with pitches, 2-3 minutes of one student standing before the rest and trying to convince them that their idea for a movie/television show/web show was a great one. Our professor had us do it rapid fire, in a random order, but I have to say I learned a lot from watching others pitch.

It's completely baffling but the moment anyone got into any heavy story details, even if it was an interesting story, I found it difficult to keep track. I mean sure, if I only had one person to listen to I'm sure I could keep it in my head, but because we had so many you really only had time to remember a few striking images. With that little amount of time it seems you have to create some dramatic or exciting images inside your listener's head and work from that. As cliche as it is, the old "imagine Pirates of the Caribbean meets Lethal Weapon!" or "it's a modern day telling of three little pigs but THIS time the wolf is the hero!" works all too well. Also pre-casting your characters is amazingly effective, "imagine Robert Downey playing the devil may care Doctor..." and so on. It creates an image in the listener's head and that seems to be what matters in such a short time period.

After pitching, we discussed a short story as if we were going to turn it into a film. People had different ideas about where to place the exact story in time; keep it in the 60s or move it to modern times as well as stylistic choices on ways to differenetiate it from other Teen Dramas. Our professor then told us about making the actual film itself, which he did in the early 80s I believe. You can google it the story is "Where are you going, where have you been?" by Oates and the movie was called "Smooth Talk" and starred Treat Williams and Laura Dern.

Finally, we did a mock production meeting for another of our professor's works, an episode from the tv show Invasion. We were all assigned positions on a production team, A stunts man, constumes, transportation captain, hair and makeup guy, special effects, visual effects, prop master, line producers, unit production manager, 1st assistant director, 2nd assistant director, and director.

Again, this was an elightenting experience. No one had a real good handle on how the meeting was to be run. I was randomly assigned to be the Director, and after checking with our professor I was charged with galvanizing the rest of the group to make sure everyone had their stuff together. I think we ended up pulling off well enough. Everyone had something to contribute, and was prepared to talk about the show from their position's point of view. We ran a little slowly but that was to be expected; it was the first time most of us did anything like this. It was a similar situation to the pitches in a way; we were thrown into the situation and did our best, being corrected at the end and asking questions at the end.

Alright, that's enough. I have a little more prep to do before heading to the 2nd class of cinematography, and I'm hungry. More later. I'll try and post our syllabus for each class in the next post.

Year One: Day One

2008-08-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

First off, you may notice I now have my name at the bottom of all my posts. Due to a lack of real commitment to the whole anonymity thing on my end, and the super-sleuthing of one of my fellow film students, I'm giving up pretending to be some shady undercover agent feeding you secret USC information. If this shatters some strange fantasy anyone had (other than my own) I'd be both surprised and weirded-out.

All the same, I'll be keeping things relatively anonymous, and still posting all the "secret" documents I can that don't specifically tell me not to distribute them. Or, until someone of any importance tells me to stop.

The first day, as first days are apt to be, was slightly confusing.

It occurs to me that I haven't explained at all what classes a first semester film production student takes; they are deceptively simple.

507: Production I - 4 units
510: Concepts of Cinema Production - 2 units
599: Ideation - 2 units
507 LAB - 0 units

510 is the only class that has all the production students together. The remainders have been arranged such that you are with the same people all the time (except for a few people which seem to have some sort of rogue scheduling which I either can't quite grasp or haven't given enough thought to). I am unsure if they randomly create these groups for 507 and 599 or if it's some sort of prearranged system; most likely the former, though the latter wouldn't be out of the question.

Ideation seems to be SCA's fancy word for brainstorming. However, before you think they are at all stuck up about this, I have yet to run into a professor that didn't slightly mock the word after saying it.

Today began with 510, as all the Production students dutifully filed into the Norris Theater, a giant theater on campus. On a personal note, it's AMAZINGLY COOL to be taking a class in a movie theater. Appropriately enough, the class began with a meditation lead by Pablo Frasconi, possibly the coolest professor I have ever known. The man exudes calmness, and somehow commands respect through that. At any rate, the class consisted of the viewings of a few very exceptional short films (one by David Cronenberg of Eastern Promises fame), and some analysis and lecture about the nature of film.

This is where the confusion began.

Unlike most days where 510 would last for a few hours longer, instead we broke up into our 599 groups and were to meet those professors in various locations in and around the film school. The problem occurred in that a number of people (myself included) were unsure as to their exact 599 section number, however, everything was actually handled rather quickly, which very few issues as far as I could tell.

The idea of meeting our 599 instructors today, rather than tomorrow or Wednesday when the classes themselves were scheduled is due to an alteration in the scheduling. The first two 599 classes would not be about Ideation, but rather an Avid editing software boot camp. This is an extremely excellent idea, as I’m sure I’m not the only one to have very little experience using Avid.

The only downside being that it makes the first little bit of the school year confusing, a small price to pay.

Speaking from only my own experience, the 599 group was very enjoyable, and I think it will be an extremely useful class. Even the introductions around the circle of people were very interesting. Everyone spoke briefly about their background, how they came to film, and what types of films they were interested in making. I was surprised by the variety of paths people had taken to reach USC. There seems to be no profile for USC film students: some have film degrees, while others (like myself) have differing degrees, some have had completely different careers and lives, and everyone seems to be from somewhere different.

There was a two hour lunch break for most people after the morning, in which a good chunk of people seemed to head to the book store, and of course, lunch.

We returned to head to our first 507 session. As I said before, this group included the entire 599 group with just a few additional students. This class is clearly the one which will take most of the efforts of our first year. 507 is the Production class, which means it is the class in which we actually make films.

I mentioned these films in the last post, but with a little more clarity I can explain them better. The class was divided into 5 groups of 3 and one group of 2, strangely (probably due to my last name) I am in the group of two. Each member of the group is then assigned a letter: A, B, or C. As there are not enough cameras for everyone to have one for the whole semester, the letters signify who will be making their films first; A's then B's then C's. In roughly six weeks the A's will get the camera for a weekend (Fri-Mon) and edit the next week, passing the camera on to B's for the next weekend. In addition, Group A will then screen their films the Monday after, in what is probably an unimaginably nerve-wracking experience where the rest of the class comments on your film.

The first film is fairly simple, as it is to be completed completely on one's own:
5 minute max
one weekend shooting
one week editing
No dialogue

I already have an idea I've been kicking around for a month. I have to write it out and decide if it's doable and under the 5 minute limit. I think it will meet both criteria. However, I will have to learn a great deal about Avid, the camera, and general cinematography to not make a complete ass of myself in front of people...but I digress.

The second film occurs later in the semester and is more involved.
5 minute max still
use location sync-sound, optional production recording/dialogue
four weeks of production (shooting and editing)

The biggest shift in the second film is that it is crewed, rather than just you and a camera. The crew is made up of other students in the class. Everyone gets to direct their own show, so I'm sure there's some somewhat intense scheduling that occurs during the end of the semester to accommodate everyone's needs.

Additionally, we screen our dailies, cuts and sound design for faculty and, I believe, our fellow students, which at this point I would imagine is way less intense than dealing with screening our super personal one-man shows from earlier.

The 507 class seems like a generally no nonsense kind of class. It's four hours long and taught by an actual working Producer who seems to be yet another incredible asset; focusing on the practicalities and the craft of producing. The class also rotates, from producing the first few weeks to other aspects of filmmaking, and even involves our professors from 599 later on to practice pitching our 2nd film among other activities. The professor of 507 is so no nonsense that our very first assignment is to create a 3 minute pitch for a film, TV show, or webisode and be ready to pitch it on Monday for the class. Nothing like hitting the ground running.

The 507 Lab is actually a class called Fundamentals of Directing, and focuses every week on cinematography and camera familiarity. However, as I have yet to experience this class I'm not sure what to expect other than I have been repeatedly told we will handle and use 16 mm film in this class which is exciting.

I have to say, I feel like we did an incredible amount in one day. I'm sure this is just the beginning, and that the days will only get longer. I can only imagine that once we start our films it'll be a schedule none of us have experienced before, but if we want to be in this industry we will have to get used to these hours I imagine. It's refreshing that the classes began so seriously. Somehow I would have felt very cheated if the semester ramped up very slowly. If this is the premier film school of the world, as it and many others purport it to be, then there should not be any time to waste. We're here for three years, and we have to learn how to make movies. It's a crazy task, and I'm not sure if there is a right way or a wrong way to do it. But USC certainly has a plan.

In a lot of ways it all still feels like a dream of sorts. Every class is incredible, every teacher is seemingly brimming with information to impart, and every student is a dedicated, interesting, excited filmmaker. It's difficult to describe, but for the first time in my life I'm in a place that seems to have possibility sewn into the air. When I'm sitting in a class, being taught by an actual industry professional, in the Robert Zemeckis Center, the dream doesn't seem nearly as far away.

Till next time....

Orientation

2008-08-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today was orientation for the entire film program, and I do mean the entire.

The school is made up of six programs:

Production - the biggest program (50 Students each semester) the theory is that you can be almost anything coming out of this program; director, editor, cinematographer, even producer or writer despite there being separate programs for these...however, of the people I spoke with today, the vast majority want to direct.
Writing - 32 students each year, as odd and generalizing as it may seem you can really tell the writers apart from production people when you talk with them. There's a different pacing to the conversations, a little more wit, a little less energy(?)
Peter Stark Producing Program - Not sure how many students, 32 again I believe. I actually didn't mean a single Starkie (as they are called) today. I thought they'd be the one's "networking" the most. Somehow I feel I should ingratiate myself with them as soon as possible.
Critical Studies - 18 students each year, these guys are, I believe, the true film scholars. They STUDY film and it's form. I met a few of them, and I didn't really get into conversations where I could ask what they were going to be doing...I am pretty fussy on their actual program.
Interactive Media - unsure of student count, this is a dressed up title for game making peoples. The first person I met was from Interactive Media. It somehow feels out of place to me already, though maybe there's more overlap than one might think. There is certainly room for improvement in the story telling aspects of some games.
Digital Arts - 18 students each year, in my opinion these people are the ones with the most true talent at the school. I know their application process involves submission of actual artistic renderings which is more than I had to send. Apparently, this year is almost exclusively female due to some massive imbalance in previous years(?). I didn't get the full story exactly but that's what it sounded like.

Orientation Day went as follows:

Meet in the morning (everyone) at a theater on campus to be Welcomed to USC. We met several people from both USC at large and the Cinema School itself. We watched a short film that featured dozens of directors, producers, and people in the Industry who had affiliations with the film school. Most actually went here, but some (like Steven Spielburg) just told us how great USC is and how it's the best film school in the world (their words not mine, though it's certainly arguably the best).

Throughout the day they gave us a series of pats on the back on getting this far. It's odd though, somehow actually seeing people, working directors, on a short promo video tell me how great USC was and how it's such an opprotunity made me believe all the more that what we're all doing wasn't so crazy, and that maybe it was possible.

After the Welcome, we split into our respective departments and went to different rooms, mostly in the Lucas building (yes, as in Star Wars George). Apparently, everyone does different things but the Production people had a great series of three speakers talk to us. They allayed a lot of the fears I think everyone had, and cleared up a lot of issues. One of those issues being what the hell our classes are actually about.

They have revamped the initial production class that all production students have to take first semester (known as 507, as that's it's class number), and we will be the first class to go through this revamp. Where in previous years, I believe all students had to make 5 films completely on their own throughout the semester, now they have us make 4 films: One all on our own (write, direct, shoot, everything), One where we originate the idea for the film and act as writer/director with other production students helping out in support roles, One where we take pre-existing scenes, cast our own actors and shoot it our own way, and finally One where we act as a support role for another of our fellow production students' film.

In addition, we found out they also revamped the 508 class we'll be taking next semester. Where as once it was done in two man teams with one directing/writing the other shooting/editing and then swaping positions; the new system will make trios where the thrid man acts as a sound technician, allowing for there actually to be sound in that film where it was once completely silent. I believe all 507 films are still without dialogue but I am not completely sure.

We also found out what cameras we'd be getting to use this semester. They called it the Sony HD EX1, which I believe is this camera. And here's a link of the geekiest dude in the world telling you all about it, or one very similar.

After that meeting we actually had a break until 3pm which gave us over two hours to kill. A chunk of the production people went to lunch and had a huge meet and greet sorta thing. I assume the other chunk of people went to do something similar.

At 3 we reconvined at the same theater we started the day in with the rest of the film school. Here we were to attend our Saftey Seminar, without which we would not be allowed to film anything...ever. Here we were educated to the finer points of what is and isn't allowed while we are filming on and off campus. To cut to the chase (hey look a film metaphor), if we film on campus it's significantly easier than shooting off campus, and shooting with animals or minors requires additional cost and paperwork (and god help you if you want to have nudity and minors in the same scene together...also you're sorta gross).

That seminar let out at 5:30 and we all somehow attended a BBQ held for the film school, both graduate and undergrad (though I did notice the Grads were let in at least a half hour earlier than the undergrads). It was here that a bunch of people mingled (or networked) with each other, and to be honest, it was extremely enjoyable. Everyone at the school seems completely and totally good, interesting, nice people. I give USC credit for that right away. It seems difficult to do, but somehow they picked a group of people that mesh well. I don't know anyone all that well yet, and I'm sure issues will crop up with different people as we move through the year, but I didn't meet anyone today that I thought seemed malicious in the slightest...it's almost eerie.

Alright, I've been typing way too much for one day. I'm off to pour through the half dozen hand outs we received today.

Until next time.

State vs. Private

2008-08-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

USC is a private university. My undergrad education took place at a State run school, here in good ole California. I have heard that private universities have a more hands on, actually give a shit, approach to their students, and while I have no idea how they treat their undergrads, I am already receiving more attention than the state ever gave me.

I just received my Welcome to S.C.A. Production Division email with the following text;

Dear Incoming Production Major:

It is my pleasure to welcome you to the School of Cinematic Arts.

Enclosed is a brief film guide. You will also receive a more detailed handbook at your orientation. I urge you to familiarize yourself with these guides and to take full advantage of all the activities offered to you before the semester begins.

Our division is the largest of the six cinema school branches with approximately 600 students enrolled in both the undergraduate and masters programs. Although your course work may differ markedly, you all share some of the same questions about acclimating to both U.S.C. and the Los Angeles area.

During your first year, some of you will be focusing on your liberal arts education requirements, while others will dive right into hands-on film classes. U.S.C. will be one of the most challenging experiences of your life, and I hope also one of the most rewarding. You will work harder than you imagined, learn to juggle deadlines, classes, and cope with technical challenges. You will also make some of the strongest friendships of your life -- friendships that will last throughout your professional careers.

I look forward to meeting you during the fall semester.

Sincerely,

Michael Taylor, Chair
Film & Television Production

Yes, it's pretty bland and straight forward, clearly designed to apply to everyone. Still, it's more than state school gave me, and additionally, I received a few attached PDFs. One, is for the BBQ that is to take place after orientation, which actually seems like a really good idea in that it is both free food and a chance to meet whoever the hell I'm going to school with. The second is far more entertaining and was very surprising. Entitled "SC Film Guide" you can download the PDF here.

I was surprised how weirdly candid it is, with comments on the driving in LA, parking, working while at school, and by far the most useful for me being the "Where to Catch a Flick" section. I found it a little odd to send information about renting and the areas around USC at this point in the summer when anyone even a little bit sane should have wrapped up a place to live, considering the semester starts in less than a month, but still it's a nice thought.

I gotta say I'm glad I'm not relocating from out of state. Moving to LA, a city I don't know especially well, is already a little overwhelming, but to be moving from say New York to LA to start film school must be insane. All it takes for me is a tank of gas to get up there, but those dudes have to fly out at least once or twice. In any event, I appreciate the extra effort on USC's part, but I better get a little attention for my extra tuition, right?

Till next time...

The Answer to life, the universe, and the reason for the blog

2008-07-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

So the purpose of this here BLOG is two fold.

One, I can now point my family and friends to this site as a shortcut to the questions like "How is school going?" and others of it's ilk. I imagine most people don't really want to hear me drone on, and those who do will have an outlet for it now.

Two, in my preparation for film school and for USC in particular, I was somewhat shocked in the complete lack of information about the actual process. Besides having no information about HOW to get into film school, which I still have no real idea about even though I've been accepted, I found it more surprising there wasn't any information about WHAT you even do in film school.

I should point out a few exceptions to this statement. One is "Wendy's" journal which can be found here. It is a wealth of information, and similar to what I am purposing here; except for the notable difference that Wendy started in 2000 and her journal seems to be written entirely from some mysterious third person's perspective.

Secondly, there is Film School Confidential, which I actually found in book form several years ago in college when I was searching for film school information. Apparently, it has just come out with it's 2nd edition, and while I haven't read it, if it's anything like the first it'll give you a solid run down of many film schools in the country.

I'm sure there are other places to get information. The individual school's websites are somewhat helpful, but ultimately I think you'll never really know what it's like until you go, right? With that in mind, I set out on my mission to give my best effort in providing information about USC - School of Cinematic Arts. I say now, it will be informative but also slanted from my prespective; if I find something annoying I'll lay it out here. Also, as I'm not 100% sure I'm allowed to be telling and posting all this information, I will be keeping my actual name off of this, though to get it out in the open:

I have been accepted into the Production Program
It is a three year MFA program
I am beginning class August 25th 2008

Maybe I'm being ridiculous in thinking anyone will care about this besides my friends and family, but all the same maybe someone will find some use for this. Who knows? I feel very lucky to be accepted, I'm very excited to start, and hopefully this is just the beginning of my movie life. We will see.

More to come...