See ya 2020! It’s Christmas Eve today and only about a week left of this insane year. Lots to tell about these last few months of my fully (almost) online fall semester. Wrapped up an internship, new job, new films (nothing special), and new hobbies.
Film Projects
Really just a few class projects that I worked on this semester. Nonetheless a nice way to stay creative during this hard time.
The first class project we were supposed to focus on cinematography. I was excited about that, and wanted to explore more creative lighting. Funny enough, what inspired me for this project was the water kettle my mom has in her apartment. At night it glows this deep blue and lights up the whole room. I knew right away that it was going to be included in the project. I really built the rest of the film around it, the opening shot is me making tea. Additionally, I used blues throughout the film such as my alarm clock, laptop, and the hallway of the building. I balanced this with the tungsten lights of my mom’s apartment to give it a very indie (or Joker) look. The story was very simple, because the film was only about a minute long. I wanted it to relate to the corona lifestlye that we’re all experiencing right now, so my story ended with a scary knock on the door that ended up just being the Postmates guy dropping off food. I had to star in it (with my quarantine beard), and I actually ended up doing all of the camera work as well at the same time, a total one-man-show. What I really wanted to explore with this film is what I like to call Edgar Wright editing. For those who may not know, Edgar Wright is the director of my favorite movie, Hot Fuzz, and happens to be one of my favorite directors. His films have a very unique editing style with quick cuts assisted by loud diegetic sound effects. The whole first scene of my film is edited in that style. I thought it turned out well, the whole as a film. My only qualm is I just wish my camera could pick up low-light better, some shots are a bit grainy and washed out. But I did my best with my resources on hand.
The second project we were supposed to focus on audio, and I knew I had to include one particular sound effect… a cough. This story I actually had in mind since last spring at the beginning of the quarantine. It was a time when no one knew anything about what was going on, and the thought of simply walking outside sounded horrifying. So this film centered around a guy who after 8 months finally works up the courage to leave his house. This one was a bit more basic with no fancy lighting or camera work. I took some more tricks from Edgar Wright, and had some more quick cuts, as well as action parody shots (I comedically shot a scene like a standoff). This one ran a bit longer, the hardest part was to try and tell the story with no dialogue (lots of visual cues are included). I was proud that it really came together well, and the class laughed at all the right parts too. I just wish I spent a bit more time on lighting, and cinematography. I was on a time crunch, and I didn’t operate the camera in most scenes because I was acting.
Both turned out well, and I am proud of both in different ways.
Alta Global Media
I had a really great time interning with this production company! My supervisors and the fellow interns were all really nice, friendly, and supportive. I felt like a learned a lot and had a fun time doing it.
The internship started with a bang, I helped in the review and adjudication process of short films for their affiliate film festival. I watched 40 films in a week (23 hours worth), and exhausting, but a great time. It was an incredible experience to be able to see some really stunning films. I feel like I learned so much about what it takes to make a really stellar short film, and what works and doesn’t work for that unique format. It was great to see some of the films I reviewed go on to show at the festival. Truly a unique experience. Next up on the assignments was helping with the social media fundraising campaign for a video service the organization is launching. I primarily worked on the graphics side of things, creating a few short videos and animations as well as text graphics and posters for the campaign. Those were my primary assignments of the internship, but I did take on a number of other tasks like research and graphics projects.
In all, I am so grateful to have had this opportunity last semester. I could not have asked for a better first internship. I look forward to staying in touch with the people I met through the internship, and hope to someday return to help out on some other projects for the company.
CSUN SM&C Videography Job
New job! I’m really happy to announce that I will be joining CSUN Student Marketing and Communications as a Videographer. I’ll be working remotely, 20 hours a week editing and animating videos for various departments and organizations around campus. I start next week, so I’ll come back with the UPDATE:
So I’m in my second week right now, and really liking this job. The staff I’m working with are all super friendly and nice, and the projects I’ll be doing are all really interesting. The department works primarily in recruitment to the school, so it is really interesting to think about how to basically sell CSUN. I was in a meeting with the writers and found it so fascinating their ideas of what they’re using in the marketing emails. Its really cool to see the behind the scenes of how all this works. I was really excited, because I was asked for my opinion on one of the projects. It meant a lot, because normally I wouldn’t be involved in that side of things. I was happy to give my input on why I came to CSUN and what other people like me are looking for in their college.
The first two main projects I’ll be working on are one for out of state students, and another for an admitted students day we have coming up. Right now we (the other videographer and I) are looking for interview participants for the first one (which is actually really hard to find). We’ll be making short videos based off the interviews where the participants talk about why they chose CSUN. The second video for the CSUN admitted students day is going to be fully animated. I am definitely capable of doing this, but it still will be a challenge. I am already preparing with short animated projects to work on a full animated video (like training for a marathon). Right now I am just designing assets to use in the video. I’m digitally drawing building around campus, it’s working out really well! I’m excited to start writing the video and putting it all together.
I’ll be helping out with a few other video projects like one with the president (which is very exciting), as well as more interview videos, and some animated instructional videos. It sounds like it will be a busy but fun semester!
The Sundial
Due to pandemic budget cuts, I unfortunately was not offered back my position as a graphic designer at The Sundial. I was very sad to hear the news, but I knew that my experience at The Sundial was not going to be the same under these new conditions. I have only the best memories of working in the newsroom, and am happy to leave on a positive note with those at heart. I worked with some really fantastic and fun people and wish them success in their future endeavors.
CSUN Cinema Club
The club actually had a very successful semester, I am really happy that we were able to keep it alive. We met every single week, as well as ran a successful recruitment campaign during “Meet the Clubs”, re-registered the club with the school, filled out our annual budget, and started selling merch. We were incredibly on top of everything. We had some really great events too, the whole semester. We had 5 speakers come to talk. Two industry professionals and two professors. Those events were the most popular bringing in 30-40 people each. We had a few movie nights (that weren’t too popular) as well as a few screenwriting nights where we planned out script tag. Script tag is a collaborative screenwriting activity where a group takes turns writing the same script. That was lots of fun, and a good way to stay creative during the quarantine. Our big final event of the year was CineFest, our student film festival. We had students submit their recent work and gave away prizes (merch) to the best ones. We also showed for the first time ever, the final cuts of the clubs first film productions from the first semester of the club. Those were really great to see.
What was great about this semester in the club is that it moved to became more of a community. Most of us would stay after the meetings just to chat and hang out, it was a really nice way to keep up those human connections in the virtual world we’re living in now.
We’ve continued to meet over the winter just to hang out, and we are of course officially starting up again at the end of the month for the spring semester. We hope to have some workshop events and maybe some more socials next semester. I’m excited to see where the club will go.
Set Work
As tempting as it is so seek out set work, I am just not sure I feel comfortable in that environment at this time. I hope to return to working in person on set in the coming months with a vaccine, but until then I plan to work on my own projects, my job, and school.
CSUN Classes
Let’s wrap up last semester’s classes at Zoom University and talk about this semester’s agenda. CTVA 240 Fundamentals of Video Production (Prof. Stratford): Best part of this class was getting to work in the studio. We went in for 3 shoot days and it was fantastic, so refreshing to be back on set. It felt like a really professional environment using industry equipment. Our project was a short scene shot multicam, I was a cam op. It was fun working with the TV cameras, but I got stuck with the master cam where I just held the same shot the whole time. Could’ve been replaced by a locked tripod, but still a good time. Looking forward to taking CTVA 340 next semester. CTVA 305 History of Broadcasting (Prof Marghitu): pretty straightforward class. A good selection of weekly screenings and interesting discussion topics. Wrote a paper on Political Comedy at the end, a subject that I am getting really interested in now. CTVA 319 Criticism in CTVA (Prof Cagle): This class felt like a film discussion group. We spent the whole time just chatting about movies. The screenings were very unique, saw some films I don’t think I would’ve otherwise, and the papers were on some interesting topics. We had to keep a film journal of every movie we watched outside of class as well. In all learned a lot about writing about film. FIN 302 Personal Finance (Prof Timmerman): I ended up taking this course, because CTVA 351 never panned out. It was even better than FIN 102 that I took last semester. Such a good course with incredibly comprehensive lessons on financial topics. The class was pretty much entirely textbook readings and quizzes based on them, but we did write two papers about our financial life and got really great feedback from the professor. Incredible course. HIST 370HON Questions in US History to the Civil War (Prof. Kaja). Best part of this class was the professor. He was incredibly smart, fun, engaging, kind, and understanding. He made the course material interesting and engaging, and respected the challenges of an online learning environment. It was an incredibly low stress course, and I learned so much! One of the best professors at CSUN.
So next semester I have a full 15 units again, taking all CTVA courses! My production classes are CTVA 340 Advanced Video Production and Editing, and CTVA 342 Digital Cinematography. I’m really excited for the multi-cam project in 340 where we write our own script and design our own set. I’m hoping to AD this time round, we’ll see. I’m also excited for the directing class as that this a subject I’d like to learn more about, but I am most excited for the cinematography course. I can’t wait to learn more about cameras and lighting, and really go in depth about working with the equipment and setting up shots. The other CTVA courses I’m taking are CTVA 301 Design of the Media Message, CTVA 482 Network Program Development, and CTVA 440 Theory and Techniques of TV Directing. 301 is an intro course I am taking so that I can take some CTVA Management courses in my senior year like media management, and advertising (which I am very interested in taking). CTVA 482, I’m excited to take to learn more about development. I’m hoping it will help me understand how production companies are structured to prepare me for future jobs and internships. 440 sounds fun too, I’d really like to learn more about directing as it’s something that I haven’t done a lot of. The class sounds more theoretical, but nonetheless interesting. Looks like a good class to take online.
Applications
Just one application this semester for my new job in student marketing. This one was nice and straightforward. I actually heard about the job from my dad’s former co-worker who happened to be working at CSUN. She said her department was hiring a videographer and sent over the job description. When I saw it, I was thrilled, the job was pretty much written for me. It was a videography job that also wanted someone who could edit, and animate, as well as work with photos and design. And I could do it all remote for the time being. I was thankful to have so much previous experience in the skillsets they were asking about, so my resume was very strong. The big ticket was the reel. I had never made a proper reel before, so I was worried about putting it together correctly. It was great that I had a good amount of material between The Sundial and AGM motion graphics and the videos I made for peer coaching. I also threw in some personal projects as well. Believe it or not, what I spent the most time on was the title effects. I wanted to show off my animating skills, so I custom-made them. The reel ended up being a little over 6 minutes which may be a little long, but it felt appropriate for this job. Everything I included felt unique and important to show my full range of experience.
Film Festivals and Events
Nothing big, but I did go to two industry speaker events. The first was an OSCAR panel on Halloween with various professionals in production fields like cinematography. It was nice to hear what they had to say about their industry. What I really pulled away from it was more energy and excitement for the field I’m going into. The other event was put on by CSUN and had alumni from the business side of film. It was really encouraging to see Matadors in the industry talking about how important CSUN was to their careers and to hear that I was on the right track.
Awards and Honors
Nothing new, just Dean’s List again.
Photography
I actually got two more freelance jobs without really trying! The first one I got through my Yelp shop (which I thought was closed, but apparently not). Anyway I was lucky enough to be in town during the time of the inquiry, so I thought I’d do the shoot. It was a High School Senior Portraits shoot. We went to the Arboretum as usual, and hit all the good spots. I feel like I’m learning more and more about portraiture with each shoot, and it felt really comfortable and natural working this one. The client was really nice and fun to talk to as well. It was a great experience, but I think I’ll take a break from freelance work now that I have this new job.
I say that, and then I did another shoot for one of my mom’s friends. This one was different, because I was shooting her artwork. It was a whole different ball game, but we worked it out. We had to shoot outdoors because of COVID, but I thought that would be best anyway because it is bright and there is the most even light. However, I did not realize that a lot of her work was with metallic paints that reflected the sun. This was a challenge because a lot of the pieces were very bright. I’m still glad we shot outdoors though, because the pieces looked really nice in the sunlight. The camera picked it up pretty well, and the light for the most part was very even. I had to fix a few things in photoshop, but they were not a problem. The shoot was much more heavy on the edit, since I had to crop the pictures into perfect frames, this was done very carefully in order not to warp or crop off any of the painting. I thought they turned out really well, and I hope that the client likes them too.
Otherwise, I’ve been up to my own personal photography work, mostly shooting on film. I finished my first roll and am making good progress through my second. I’m hoping to get them both developed soon. Additionally, I just got batteries for another film camera of mine, and am excited to start working with that.
I still have not started that Etsy site yet, I keep toying with how I want to edit my photos. I have sort of a dark theme going on right now, that I’m not sure whether to stick with. I really do want to get them up, I just keep putting it off. I think I’m just going to have to pick something and go with it. UPDATE: I edited 7 photos that I think I’m going to start the site with. They do all have a bit of a dark and contrasty theme going, but I pulled up the shadows a bit and that made them better. I’m hoping to launch the site next month.
Goals
I’m reading a book on breaking into Hollywood right now, and one of the things it says to do is to have a plan, and write it down. Everyone always tells me to write down my goals, and I always pass it off, but I would like to start to take time in this blog to write them down. So here we go:
Before Next Post (summer): (1) start pre-production on a film of my own (2) find a summer job or internship (3) edit a video not part of my job or class.
Before Next Year (2021): (1) finish a short film of my own (2) work on 4 sets fall semester (3) assemble a film reel I am proud of.
Right out of College: (1) find a part-time or full-time job or internship (2) work on a set at least once a month (3) have at least 10 industry connections.
2 year into the industry: (1) Have a steady stream of income from a job(s) on set in film/tv production (2) Have 10 credits on my IMDB page (3) Look into teaching at a college or university.
5 years into the industry: (1) Get to the point where people are offering me jobs. (2) Be in the credits of a film that is shown in theaters or on a streaming service. (3) Begin teaching at a college or university.
Gear
I couldn’t resist on black Friday, so I got some Small Rig goodies. I got a cage and a wooden handle. I wanted something that could help make my videos just a little bit more steady, but didn’t want something as complex as a gimbal, so I decided just to go for a sleek and simple wooden handle. I haven’t used it a lot, but right away I can tell that it is really nice quality and really does make a difference in how steady my shot is. I would definitely buy from Small Rig again, and am considering getting a handle for the other side. Very exciting to start shooting more with it.
Other News
Well, this thing didn’t go away by spring as I’d hoped, however, there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully by next project update I will be eating indoors.
This semester has been really lowkey. My classes and the internship really were not too demanding, so I had a lot of free time. I spent the majority of that time with my girlfriend. It involved lots of cooking and baking, and watching Netflix. Our adventures included a lot of pasta and ramen, as well as french onion soup, and snickerdoodles. I also went down to LA for two months last semester for my in-person classes and to see my mom which was nice.
The big event this semester was my birthday. My girlfriend planned a nice day around Davis, and we also went down to LA. Not quite a Vegas 21st, but just as good. It was nice to have a little vacation from everything for a week.
I also picked up a new hobby, electric guitar. I’ve played acoustic for a few years now, and finally made the move to electric. I’ve been playing mostly Green Day, so that’s a good time, I’m really liking it, it is so much fun.
The holiday season was different than usual, but I still got to do a lot of my same traditions. I went to the pumpkin patch and carved pumpkins with my girlfriend. I made thanksgiving dinner with my mom, and had friendsgiving over Zoom with my friends. I made cookies, decorated the tree, and looked at holiday lights in Davis, and then went down to LA for Christmas. It was hard not being in Davis for the holiday, but I was happy to be with my mom. And then I came back to Davis to say adios to 2020.
It was a quite and simple semester, and nice to take a step back from everything. I’m hoping this year will bring the same relaxing feeling with maybe even the excitement of being able to see other people without risking death.
Ah, the simple things… Until next time…
moviemakermcneil 