Projects Update 12/25/18

6 months seems to be a good amount of time between posts. Now that I’m on break I’ll have a lot more time to write. Like on Christmas Eve… probably won’t write this whole thing tonight. Anyway, the first semester of college is over, what an adventure. So much to write about. Highlights were my first PA set job and getting a 4.0! So let’s begin…

Film Projects- No really big projects, just small things for fun. At the 50mm film club at CSUN, there are BYOG days where you bring your own gear and shoot something short based on a theme. They’re lots of fun. The first one we had to make a movie with one word in it, so we made a short where a kid wakes up and is confused where he is and why everyone around him is saying his name, he then wakes up in class to realize he had fallen asleep and his classmates were calling his name to wake him up. The second one we had to shoot a comedy and then found out that we had to edit like a horror movie. We did sort of a survivor thing, that really took a turn for the worse when we edited it. Lots of fun though. Other than those projects, there’s nothing else that I really have made recently. I’m going to work on a music video next semester with a friend. She’s writing it and I get to do all the camera work.

The Sundial- I got a job! Pretty quickly actually. They were hiring graphic designers at the school newspaper (The Sundial) and I thought I’d apply. I went in for the interview and they hired me the next day. The Sundial is pretty great, it’s staffed entirely by students, we post daily on the website and weekly on print. I work on print layout for the weekly paper. I’m one of three graphic designers under the production manager. I work twice a week, mostly on production day (Tuesday- the paper prints Wednesday morning). The job is really great what I do is basically get tagged in articles online, copy them to them onto the InDesign print page, lay them out with the photo (that I touch up in Photoshop), and then print a copy to be edited. Once it’s edited it gets handed back to me, I make changes, and then I hand it back to the copy editor to approve it and pin it when it looks good. Seems like a pretty straightforward system until it’s 11 at night, your an hour overtime (without pay), and the front page story is still getting changed, so you kind of just sit there waiting for it to layout, and then do it as fast as possible because its almost midnight and you want to go home… that was my first day at work. Typically editorial takes their sweet time to write and edit stories, so production (me) is sitting around a lot waiting on stories and edits. It sounds horrible, but it is so much fun. I love going into work, my coworkers are great, they stock the fridge, and best of all I get to make something. I like the job because it’s not clocking in, putting in hours, and leaving. It’s working until the job looks good and you’re done. I get to add my own flair to each page and do extra design projects like ads and graphics for the paper. My hours are flexible and I only really work on Tuesdays. It’s honestly a fantastic job.

Cover of the first issue that I worked on

ID Tech– I was looking through my school’s job/internship site for fun (you, because I’m normal…) and I stumbled across this tech camp that was hiring instructors. I wasn’t really looking for work specifically, but the camp stood out to me because it was really similar to what I’ve been doing at the Davis Arts Center. I looked more into and it seemed to be this huge international organization offering film and video camps at some colleges in my area over the summer. So over break, I thought I’d apply. I got an interview (that I thought I did poorly on) but then I got asked to join the team! I’m talking with the regional coordinator on Tuesday to talk about dates and classes I can teach. This summer I will be working now. I’ll make some good money and more importantly get some experience! UPDATE: I got transferred over to the southern SoCal manager who manages the UCLA and LMU locations. I will be most likely working there and living with my mom who is moving to LA in a few months. I still don’t know exactly where, when, or what I am teaching yet. I might not find out until April… yay…

DMA Work- Obviously since I left to college I haven’t been able to work. I’m going to email them over the summer to see if there is anything else I can do to help out and get some work experience.

Film Camp/Classes- I haven’t been able to teach classes during the year, but I think I’m going to sign up for a week over the summer.

Photography Classes– Same as the film classes.

Job/internship Applications- The only two jobs I’ve applied to were The Sundial and ID Tech, and I was lucky enough to be hired for both. I might start looking into some work around campus and the area for the spring semester. I might just want to focus on my own films though.

Set Work- So I was just hanging out in the games room and my RA comes by and points out my group of friends and says, “ask them.” His friend then asks what we were doing this weekend and if we would be interested in PAing (Production Assistant) for a TV set. My other friend and I were both around so we said we would. That was the beginning of a crazy weekend. The first thing we got was the call sheet. It was the first time I’ve gotten a call sheet, it was very thorough and outlined when we had to be everywhere. Our first call time was Saturday morning… or Friday night, I don’t whether 4am is morning or night. Either way, we had to be up at 3am because we had to pick up people on the way to the set. It didn’t help that we were worried that the Malibu fire on Friday night would force us to evacuate. Anyway, with a solid 4 hours of sleep, we were up and ready to go the strip club. Oh yeah, the set was at a strip club in Burbank. So we get there at 4, right as the strippers are leaving, and help unload equipment. My, there was a lot of equipment, it was all professional, industry standard as well. I was very impressed, I wasn’t expecting that, I thought it was student film. Turns out it was an independent film company that hired CSUN crew to make a TV pilot pitch to big networks. I got really excited, I was working on a professional set… mainly making coffee… but I’m really good at making it now. I learned how to set up c-stands, and all the set lingo like “points” (said to alert people when carrying large objects around corners), “stingers” (extension chords), and “grab some dirt” (grab a sandbag). Most of the time it was making coffee and offering waters to the cast and crew. I tried not to sit around and do nothing, but one time while I was hanging around while filming, I got called over by the AD to stand in as an extra. I thought it would be fun, I’d sit in the background of the club sipping a drink or something. Yeah..no, they handed me a stack of fake money and sat me front and center at the stripper pole. I had to throw money and a jeer at the stripper as she did her routine. There are some incriminating videos out there. Anyways, that was really day one set. Day two was much more relaxed, it was only 8 to midnight and we were basically running errands the whole time going between locations. Not a whole time on set. Although, I learned the most boring job as a PA, “Fire watch” where you literally just stand outside next to the equipment so it doesn’t get stolen. That was a fun hour… That day was the day we got our task. We both wanted the Executive producer to like us (me and the other PA) so when he asked us to find a statue of Santa Muerte, we knew that we had to find it, or die trying. Santa Muerte is the saint of death in a Mexican cultural religion, one of the characters in the show prays to its statue. Believe it or not, you’re local Walmart doesn’t sell them, so we spent a good 3 hours driving around the greater Los Angeles area looking for this statue. Finally, after a google maps search, we found a Santa Muertes religious store in Burbank. I’m glad it was daytime because that area was creepy. Turns out the store didn’t exist anymore, but luckily there was another one in Hollywood. So we get there and there’s this corner shop with probably over 100 statues. So we asked our executive producer which one and brought it to set, and scored big points with the EP. The first location was someone’s house. My duties included making coffee, and the blessed “fire watch.” Luckily I was off fire watch during the blood scene, that was kinda cool, it was fun seeing behind the scenes of the special effects. Later that night we moved to an apartment building where our job was simply to drive actors to and from there cars and the set for 4 hours until 3 in the morning. After an exhausting night, I was glad to get back home, but I knew I would miss the set work. The EP thanked us and invited us back to help out in January (which still hasn’t happened, but we’ll see). As for the status of the show, it has not been picked up (despite a rumor going around campus) but there’s still time for it. We will see.

Stepping in as an extra

The other set I worked on was just student film. My coworker was the producer, and they needed PAs. It was an upper division final project. The set was pretty professional (not as much as Cocaine Sisters) with a big crew and nice equipment. The film was a story of a deaf girl who was learning to sing. It was a good story and the actors were pretty good too. I liked this job because I got to be more of a grip, which I found really interesting. I learned how to identify lights, got to set them up, etc. I think being a grip is a job I’d like to do in the future to get into the industry. My plan, for now, is to go from PA to grip to 3rd AC, 2nd, 1st, camera operator, cinematographer. I think that is a logical progression.

Set up for “Hear Me” that I was PA for

Video/Film Jobs- I’m not the only film person anymore, so video work isn’t as easy to come by. I’ve been seeking out opportunities myself to work on sets. I’m kind of tired of the event video work I’ve been doing.

CSUN Cinema Club- So CSUN being a film school has lots of film club. The main one is the 50mm club that does lots of movie-themed events like screenings, games, and making shorts. However, there is also the Cinema Club and Multimedia Club. The multimedia club is more oriented towards multimedia production majors and focuses on things like VR. I went to their meeting, and it sounded kinda fun, but they had a club fee (for no apparent reason) and didn’t seem worth it. So I went to the last club, the Cinema Club. They did a poor job at publicity, so hardly anyone showed up for the first meeting, but the club sounded fun, the people were interesting, they had connections with the film faculty, so I saw potential. They also had open officer positions, so guess who stepped in… yep, I’m an officer in the club now. I’m mostly working on graphic design work and publicity. I made some posters for events and designed them a logo. However, We had a rough semester because the president and VP are both seniors and busy with their class film projects, so we’ve been skipping a few meetings. This semester we’re hoping to kick-start the club and get some more members. We have the club fair coming up so that’s going to be important to getting more members. UPDATE: we missed the club fair and one of our officers backed out. Looks like we’ll take a break semester and pick it back up next year with new management… me!

CSUN Classes- Last semester I took English Honors, Karate (my advisor recommended it), Astronomy, Human Geography, CTVA 100 (media and culture), and Intro to Theater. English was definitely the hardest, but I found that I’m not bad at writing essays, so it was ok. Just a lot of work and stress. Karate was a fun class. The professor was a level 3 black belt. He knew exactly what he was doing until it came to grading… we’ll talk about it later. Astronomy was an interesting subject, but a horribly boring lecture. That kind of ruined it for me, however, it was really the only class that I made friends in (don’t worry I have friends, they’re just all people from the dorms). Human Geography was one of the best, if not the best class I have ever taken. The professor was fun, interesting, passionate, and engaging. He knew how to make the subject fascinating because he himself was so passionate about geography. He is the reason why I only give 4s on Rate My Professor because he makes it a 5. So that was my favorite. CTVA was a crazy class, well just my professor, he was stern, intimidating and abrupt, However, the guy was hilarious and very smart. It was really fun having class discussions once you get past his intimidation. And then theater was online, unfortunately. The professor was a cool guy and had good lectures, I feel like in a classroom it would’ve been much more fun and interactive. I don’t think I’m going to get a minor (I’m more into camera related work, and I don’t want to get distracted by theater productions in upper div film classes). Anyway, I liked all my classes last semester and did well. I got a 4.0, well I say that because karate doesn’t count. I don’t even know what I’ll do about that course. I showed up EVERY day, studied for every test (even the 50 Japanese terms we had to learn), and was well prepared for all the written examinations… and he gave me a B+. Now it was a 1 unit class, so it didn’t hurt my GPA much, but the point is my GPA is now more than 1 digit. I don’t want to sound whiny, but the thing that bothers me the most is that I don’t think I deserve it. So I might try and fight it, we’ll see.

Film Festivals and Events- No film festivals really except for a few club things and a Halloween one (I just watched). One even though was the Entertainment Industry Institute Symposium. My professor asked for volunteers to work the event and I volunteered. The event was a bunch of industry people coming in and doing talks and masterclasses. I didn’t really have much of a job, I really just sat in on a lot of the classes. The coolest was Donald Petrie and Michael Grillo. Petrie is a director known for Miss Congeniality. He had some really interesting stories about working it. Grillo is a producer who has done tons of Marvel movies including infinity war. He also had great stories. Both were CSUN grads, which is always nice to see that our program is successful. I found the who event really fun and all the talks very interesting. I hope I can go to it next year as well.

Awards and Honors- No additional

Photography and Graphic Design- Photography has really been limited to where I am going. While exploring LA I have done a few portraits at places like Griffiths, the Hollywood Sign, Point Mugu, and other beaches. I’ve gone on some hikes and took pictures then. Just over break, however, I went on a shoot with my old photo friend and got some portraits then too. It’s really been here and there photography-wise. Otherwise, The Sundial is where I do all my graphic design stuff, with ads and page layouts mostly. That’s about it.

Photo of my roommate on the Santa Monica Pier

Film Review- Full reviews are quite exhausting, so I think I’ll do a do watch and don’t watch list of movies that I saw for the first time recently. Luckily over break, I say a lot of movies because my mom is an avid movie goer as well. She got me a poster of “bucket list movies,” so I’ll talk about the ones that stood out, one I saw in theaters, and a bonus “Really?” one. And then, of course, the ones that were just… ok

To watch:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody: I put this one on here because its hot right now with the Oscars coming up. I saw this and it was so fun! Highlights were the acting, and the sound mixing. Rami Malek did Mercury justice with his wonderful portrayal. The music as well fit into the story and sounded just like Queen. A great watch for all Queen fans (like myself) you will be saying GALILEO for days after.
2. Good Will Hunting: I mean there’s a reason everyone loves this movie. Matt Damon plays one of the most complex characters in cinema, complemented perfectly by Robin Williams, Stellan Skarsgård, and Ben Affleck who all playoff Damon’s contrasting character attributes. Honestly, it is beautiful to watch how this character develops. The way I see it is I have 3 years to write an Oscar-winning screenplay.
3. Her: I feel like people avoid seeing the movie because of its premise. I know because I was one of those people. But it is a really fascinating love story. The thing that struck me the most is how real it all seemed. Their relationship, his character, all if it was so realistic and honestly relatable at points. It’s funny, and really just fascinating to watch.
4. The Sure Thing: Now this is untraditional, but my mom made me see it because I was in my first year of college. This movie was just so fun and funny. John Cusack brought so much personality to his role, and honestly could say anything and be hilarious. I don’t know what it was about it, but it was just a joy to watch.
5. Love Actually: Yet another RomCom. I saw quite a few over break. Love Actually is heartwarming and hilarious at the same time. Every subplot is interesting, fun, and unique. I cared for every one of the characters and was involved in everyone’s story. Bill Nighy was hilarious, and I have a new found respect for Liam Neeson as a serious actor (him and his kid give me life). I’m going to make it a Christmas tradition to watch this one.

Only, eh…

1. Aquaman: It was not bad, but definitely not good. The costumes were absolutely repulsive, the dialogue was cheesy, and Amber Heard played one of the flattest characters I have ever seen. The good parts of it were the visuals, beautiful aesthetic above and below water and Jason Momoa was very good (unfortunately he didn’t have any characters to play off of well).
2. In Bruges: Honestly, I hoped for more with this movie. My friend really loved it, but I just didn’t see it. It just wasn’t that funny, and I couldn’t really care for any of the characters. The jokes were crude and awkward and offensive (in a bad, un-funny way). I really wanted to like it, but I just didn’t get feel it.

Other News- Wow, yeah, lots of other stuff has been going on too, but I don’t wanna get too much into that. College started out great actually. We had an orientation week where I met tons of people that I’m still friends with. Homework is not too much, little enough that I can still go out and do stuff every night which I have been doing. I don’t think I’ve spent a night in my dorm by myself yet… I like it that way. Otherwise, grades are keeping up, and semester 2 is looking bright. It’s so much fun being in LA. There are so many places to go and more things to do. It’s been really great so far, fitting in here nicely at CSUN.

Rock tower in Joshua Tree