I think the highlight of this week was doing the improvs to get script ideas. It was great seeing people’s faces light up when their classmates interpreted their ideas. It really seemed like people were feeling stuck, like Tony, but her face completely changed after Charles and Evan created dialogue. It was very gratifying to see Tony light up like that. We have really good actors in our class. Charles and Michael in particular. I got into a dialogue with Michael and had to stop cause I was getting too caught up and emotional. That was interesting to me. Melissa also identified a key part of my dialogue that was missing and I wouldn’t have discovered that on my own. Story telling is difficult. Understanding the story arc is a challenge, but I love it. It is really exciting to me. I really like our class a lot. Everybody is really engaged. Shiela was a crack up doing her improv about Charles story. She was really able to capture that character. It was also great seeing the editing assignments. I loved Jonathan’s and Jules’ project. I also really liked mine and Tasha’s. We had a really fun time working on ours. It was a lot of hours, but we laughed a lot and marveled at the times when the scenes hit the music beats so perfectly. It was a great learning experience. Tasha picked it up so fast. I am still unsure of the mechanics, but that is no surprise. I don’t learn those things easily.

Wow! What a week it has been. My weekdays at BDFI have well exceeded what were already high expectations. I was surprisingly impressed when Patrick said the school is not necessarily technical, but a “Leadership” school. To be leaders in our industry. Now that is the right idea. I knew that I made the right choice to attend BDFI, and can’t wait for the second day.

When we watched clips from Se7en, I learned about negative and positive space, 180 degree rule (something that I need to work on), matching shots, framing correctly, and it was fantastic how it was all explained. Shifting the positive and negative space to reveal characters is something that I never realized until watching the clip. Keeping the more important characters larger in the shot, and having certain shots be calmer or more convoluted depending on the demeanor of the character seems very useful and artistic. The whole presentation really helped me visualize and understand the concepts, something that I had rarely seen in any other film class.

Going over the basics of screenplay and how we needed to “pitch” an idea made me nervous but excited. The area for me that I think I can learn the most in is effective storytelling and screenplays. I have many ideas always stirring in my head, but don’t really have a good way to get them down on paper, and in a way that tells a story. I’m very excited to learn how I can do this. Sharing embarrassing moments about ourselves seemed weird at first, but in the end made complete sense. It really made me think harder about what would make a good story and the potential themes that a filmmaker could explore when writing a movie.

I learned that working with the other people in my class is going to be a must. Just a few minutes after finishing class I was in one of the edit bays, helping out a classmate on FCP. I loaded up Motion and we worked for a bit on some footage and graphics. He even taught me a few things about Motion I didn’t know. I loved how on the first day of school I walked into an edit bay, fired up FCP and started editing.

In cinematography class, I got to brush up on my skills with my favorite camera, the HVX-200. Being able to just go and shoot, try out depth of field and play with the white balance settings was a great lab.

In editing, I refreshed my memory on capturing from tape (I’ve only worked with P2, XDCAM, and direct to disk digital workflow for 2 years). So being able to play around with FCP and help the others out in the class was a lot of fun.

One class that I was pretty nervous about was improv. I’ve never really been good at it, but our instructor made me very comfortable, and I ended up feeling very good about it all. I feel I’m going to learn a lot out of her class.

Not only did I get to watch clips from one of my favorite movies (Se7en), I learned a ton as well. Being able to interact and learn from industry professionals has already gotten my mind stirring for new, great projects, and I can’t wait to pitch them on Wednesday.

Brilliant to view the final products from students of their selected films put to music. Powerful messages conveyed through editing and the perfect tunes.

Amazing how far we’ve come in three weeks. Nice to see the development and evolution of our 3 min dialogues.

Teachers work together beautifully to help us sharpen our skills to create the richest, most convincing, highest quality dialogues possible.
If they are anything like the one minute music videos we made last week
we will be in for a most memorable show!
What a blast!

Thank you all!

The first day at Berkeley Digital was one of the most exciting experiences of my life. The school is absolutely amazing and I feel very honored to be a part of it. This institute is everything I could have hoped for. Attending classes in an executive style suite is exactly where I want to be.

Today was a very exciting day for me. I am finally going to do what I’ve always wanted to do and that is make films. The Berkeley Digital Film Institute is the best decision that I have ever made. Walking into the building this morning I expected nothing but positive attitudes and supportive insight. That is exactly what I got. I am completely blown away by how professional this Institute really is. I know by attending I will be given all the access and knowledge I will need to achieve my film making dreams.

The session today was very honest and exciting. The set up of the courses being consistent with one another is the best way for us to learn the step -by -step process to filmmaking. Today’s session also made me realize how much time and dedication filmmaking truly is. I am determined to dedicate myself to this Institute as much as I can.

My first day of school was everything I thought it would be. It was fun, exciting, new, insightful and very important. Today was the most important day of my life. Today I take the first step of achieving my goals in the place I have always wanted to be, an institute that is industry level. So from the classroom setting to the working professionals as my mentors, this school is going to change my life forever and today’s session proved to me that I can expect nothing less.

Film School continues to be a value packed growth experience that I am completely enjoying. It keeps getting more exciting to me as I grasp new concepts and expand my knowledge. I still feel a churning energy inside myself that wants out, but I know that I must be patient.

Of course I do have my favorite classes. I really enjoy Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I also really like labs. This weekend Tasha and I spent evening hours in the editing suites. That was great because it was so quiet and we could really get stuff done.

I find myself thinking about future projects and general concepts all day long, and in bed before I sleep. I hope it won’t get out of control- crazy because we have to find time to process what we have learned and recharge our batteries.

For the most part I find that the instruction is excellent and the group we are in is particularly well balanced and fun.

Surprisingly, we are down to business. We are getting ready for our first film shoot in four weeks. We have already chosen our scenes for this three minute shoot. We are prepping for casting our actors through local agencies, finding our location, learning advanced editing tools, and shooting techniques. Needless to say this is all up hill and it’s great because in the next three semesters we will polish our skills. This is exciting because meeting this challenge our first semester will only take us to extreme heights by then end of our matriculation at BDFI.

My first day at Berkeley Digital Film Institute (BDFI) was more than I had expected by all means. It blew me away hearing what I was being prepared for in terms of leadership, method, and the way into a job for great studios. Patrick did a phenomenal job of describing our place in the film industry today and in describing the changes that were taking place between L.A. and Northern California. He put into perspective how much this school focuses on leadership and our role on set as opposed to the more technical side and vocational schooling. It was his confidence in himself and his school that really pushed things over the edge for me and helped me to decide to step out on my own in BDFI and have confidence in who I am and why I am here.

After leaving class on Monday I had lunch with a few of my classmates and was extremely excited to see the energy and confidence that they had and had been given in class in just that one day. Like me, some came into it nervous and not knowing what to expect, but sitting down to hear Patrick’s confidence in the school and in us was exactly the thing we all needed. Every student is hand picked by Patrick and it shows us that he sees something in each and every one of us, so when he steps up to show confidence in where we’re going and why we’re here it’s a huge boost and something a little surreal. It’s almost like you’re getting your first taste of success when he shows that confidence in you.

After going to BDFI for only 1 day I’ve still got that anxious feeling, but I’ve never felt more energized, confident, or ready to take control of my destiny in the life I’ve chosen in film. I was born to direct, BDFI’s showing me how.

Today in Patrick’s class we pitched the idea for our first project – a three minute piece done with a locked down camera. As a group, we are feeling a bit more comfortable with each other. It’s interesting to note that many of our story ideas are very personal ones. It will be interesting to see how this personal attachment to a storyline will affect how we each direct our actors.

Melissa helped me develop a stronger scene objective for my protagonist which created a stronger spine for my scene. She is very direct in her delivery and really “cuts to the chase” which makes her a great asset to our group.

One great thing is that Jonathan (a fellow student) is our T.A. He is always available to answer questions about Final Cut and it’s comforting to know that he is my first line of defense when I’m really stumped on certain aspects of Final Cut. This is important since we are all beginning to feel a build-up of the pressure of having to organize and complete our first project.

Orientation is a process. Getting acclimated to what is suppose to happen in the next 15 weeks with 12 new individuals is very exciting. I believe this group will have a high level of communication due to our interactions during break. I remember Tasha, Liz, Marcie, Michael, Jonathan, Jules, Evan, Charles, Toni, Luis, Collin, and Christina.

Two of our instructors, Fred and Alan, weighed in nicely about their journey in the business of film. I am convinced that anyone with the desire and dedication can contribute in some capacity in the production of films

I enjoyed Patrick’s invitation to begin to explore aspects of the role of director of photography. David Fincher is an incredible director and learning methods his DP uses on his films particularly Se7en was interesting. Se7en won best film at the International Fantasy Film Award and Hochi Film Awards. Myself, I loved his movie The Game with Michael Douglas. My family and friends still talk about that movie.

Being oriented to Berkeley Digital required understanding our role as a student. Being trained to become leaders in the industry is very different than becoming a worker. Workers are trained for a job. Leaders are trained to create jobs. I will hold on to that perspective and show true leadership throughout my matriculation through Berkeley Digital.

I like the round table approach for student instruction. I have received a doctorate and throughout my education, survival was about connecting with a few other students that were able to match your ambition and alienating the rest of the class. By during this you would hope that your group would be top of the class and be able to maintain high GPAs. I look forward to this less dogmatic approach to learning. I think we can all learn from each other and help support each others projects.

After class I went to lunch with Charles, Toni and Michael. We got into my van and drove to Cedar and Shattuck. We walked around and ended up at Sauls for lunch. We had a great time bonding and getting to know each other. I look forward to having lunch or breaks with other students in the class because I plan on being an intricate part of each of my classmates experience at Berkeley Digital.

I did not feel intimated by the process of bonding with other students or the curriculum. I am ready for the challenge of the first semester because I know once you lay a solid foundation the process of learning film directing/producing will be fun. I am looking forward to seeing my fellow students work as well as my own.

Just as in life, the older I get the more I realize how little I know, so too at BDFI. Further exploration of each subject in the Digital Film Industry has illuminated the tremendous amount I have yet to learn. Although at times disheartening and frustrating, it is inspiring to have met others who are completing, or have completed, this amazing program and confirm the light at the end of the tunnel.

Instructors, staff, and students are very accessible for help and inspiration. I have found that I really enjoy digital editing; Sharif, Colin, Jonathan, Alex, and Michael have been tremendously helpful in walking me through the basics of this most enjoyable and foreign world. Thanks a ton!

I’ve been asked a million times about what type of hard drive to buy, so I’m gonna give everyone a couple options and an overview of buying a drive for media backup/management.

Basic requirements of the hard drive:
7200rpm disk speed
100GB capacity or higher
FW800 interface (firewire 800) - some people might say you don’t need this. trust me, its better we have this interface than dont.

Here are several drives that I have used and seen used in a professional environment.

G-Drive (capacities from 320GB to 500GB)
http://www.g-technology.com/Products/G-DRIVE.cfm

DAY 1 (PRODUCING/DIRECTING)
Right from the start Patrick set down the house rules — the parameters from which we are to operate. This course of study is a job, he says, and we as students are to act accordingly. Be present. Be on time. If this is a problem, communication is to be done via phone, not e-mails. We are held accountable not only to ourselves, but also to our fellow students. Assignments are to be done on time. He stressed not only accountability to each other, but authenticity to ourselves and to our work – a holistic approach.

The dimly lit room in which we all sit, around a long oblong-shaped table, feels comfortable, relaxing – like a nest – it presents a simulated production meeting of sorts and a safe place to release our creative joys and angst. Patrick is extremely articulate and succinct in his delivery, mixing his academic and film background with the creative efficiency of a hip CEO. His sense of humor is palpable in the many interesting stories he relates. Leadership, he says, is the primary goal of what we are to learn and what he has to teach us. Something I know I direly need in my tool kit! This statement alone made me feel I had made the right decision in coming to Berkeley Digital. After so many false starts, I was finally at home and would be able to finish my life’s dream. With what the school has to offer, I feel there is a world of creative possibilities to discover and experience, and with leadership being its prime target, I have within my grasp the best of both worlds.

The feeling here is collegial and as I look around at my fellow students with whom I will be spending 16 months of creative fervor, I feel a kind of scary and excited anticipation. After our individual introductions, that exemplify our varied backgrounds, I find there is much everyone has to bring to the table and because of the diversity, much to be learned and experienced from each other. Patrick’s very interesting “improv” exercise allowed us to see each other in a different light and helped to lower the initial barriers that may have been present when we all arrived, not knowing what to expect. The most interesting aspect of this exercise was the revelation of theme in each “embarrassing moment” story presented – a fish out of water, walking to the beat of your own drum, sexual tension between parent and child, parental abuse (to name a few) – and the possibilities of story embedded in each. Interesting to note that after a double promotion, how my academic performance vastly degraded year by year. My whole experience in that one school year proved to be a double-edged sword.
Our screenwriting and cinematography instructors are introduced and each gives preliminary notations on what we can expect from their respective classes. The most amazing thing is that our projects are to be overseen through the interconnection of the instructors from the different disciplines. I find this system to be extremely unique and collaborative in the highest sense of the word.

Patrick delineates what classes we will be taking each day of the week, when our first project is due, and explains the timeline for achieving the completion of same. The organization that his “big board” represents is mind blowing. Nothing is left to chance. We know what to expect at every turn. He has given us the blueprint and the tools; it is up to us to deliver the goods.

DAY TWO (CINEMATOGRAPHY)
We are shooting with a Panasonic HVX200 and had a torturous but fun lab trying to remember what we were taught in class. Since the tendon in my right arm is on the fritz, I had a hard time holding the camera steady, but my shots still looked pretty good.

DAY THREE (SCREENWRITING)
I hope to quell my fears regarding writing dialogue, among other things. One of the exciting things we have to do is pitch our stories. This will greatly help later on when we have to pitch in the “real” world. We watched “Tootsie” for lab.

DAY FOUR (EDITING)
Patrick showed us a terrific technique for cutting. Something that was never taught in all the creative editing classes I have taken, nor in the Avid class at USC. Our instructor, Sharif, showed us how to capture. Lab was spent downloading our tapes that we shot on Day Two and capturing to Final Cut Pro.

DAY FIVE (ACTING)
This class was the most anxiety producing for me, but as it turned out, it was a total blast. I know I will learn much since acting is an area where I am the weakest.

Lab was the week’s-end wrap party. Patrick gave a toast honoring us in our decision to change our lives. It was a touching scene, one not too soon

My First day at school was a very good experience. First of all, I feel like Patrick really got our creative juices bubbling with the “weirdest experience before 12” exercises. It really proves the point that you can make a movie about the most personable experiences. For example, getting hit by a car, peeing your pants because your teacher wont let you go, or even getting called names in kindergarten that affected your whole life. I got a really good feeling about this particular group of students, we are all so different and yet so much the same. I feel that we are all here for a different reason but all motivated by the same dreams. It was nice getting a good look at the schedule for the next 16 weeks. I have never been so excited for something in my whole life. I already know that this is going to be a life changing experience for me.

It is strange to wake up and realize that you are not in your quotidian life anymore, this week of adaptating has been really crazy, moving and diverse; exactly as the spirit of this region. Then I just came to the classroom and I could notice that everyone there is also as diverse as this city. I really enjoyed sharing the experience of the first day at the school. It was amazing to dig deeply into everybody’s stories from our childhood. The stories shared were fantastic and some of them very deep. I could notice that everybody here has a great story to tell. I hope that things get better and we can together make strong teams and powerful projects.

I’m very happy to be here, my mind doesn’t stop thinking and imagining the fantastic stories we are going to shoot. I’m going to take everything that comes from the faculty and my classmates, because it is something really worthy. My vision has never been as positive as now. I hope my inner devils disappear like a gentle dissolve (it is happening).

I enjoy to share my experiences with the others and learn as well from them, aware of course to doesn’t want to take their experience as mine, just as it is shown on Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Andrei Rublev”, when this Andronicos monk from the XV century on his pilgrimage around Russia, listen and watch everybody experience and notice that the end of his life that he couldn’t live his own experience because he was busy trying to live others.

It is also fantastic to notice that the acting in America comes really natural and it’s because that it is the character of the society, generally everybody has a very developed character and that it is perhaps one good characteristic of the individualism. The strength to take out naturally a situation where everyone can act like if they where in front of that fiction is something that surprised me, also we need to remember that we are on art school and I’m surrounded by other artists, great artists by the way. My idea is to also make my filmmaking more narrative, because that is one of the huge mistakes of young Mexican directors, we can always watch a fantastic decoration, great cinematography, wonderful editing, but what is always scrubbed from their projects is the story, the performance of the actors as characters and the sound.

I will try to find out how to deal with all those problems, fix them, and make them better, we will see the progress of the full time filmmaking student.

I am so excited to be at BDFI! After today, the first day, I am even more convinced that I have chosen the best school to teach me the fundamentals of digital media production and directing. I also expect to gain experiential understanding of all aspects of the industry.

Patrick is a wise, witty, eloquent deep, passionate and sincere individual, to name a few of his admirable qualities; he has gathered a group of extremely interesting and talented fellow students who seem to compliment each other in constructive ways.

I am excited to be offered this amazing opportunity. The teachers have considerable experience in their respective fields, and I am eager to begin learning from the wealth of knowledge they offer.

Patrick, Fred and Alan are very personable, competent and intelligent; I am sure they will challenge me to my core, and provide the training for me to go as far in this field as is humanly possible.

What excites me most is that Patrick is passionate about the edgy, heartfelt, raw material that explores not only the depth of the human soul, our passions pains and humor, but also seeks to touch the viewers in ways that expand and improve the very way they see themselves, and their hopes and dreams for our future.

Friday: End of first week at Berkeley Digital Film Institute

What a week! We have covered so much material and become much better acquainted; it is hard to believe that I have been at BDFI for only a week. True to his word, Patrick has brought us top-notch instructors who are not only extremely knowledgeable, but also very competent in their teaching abilities; we are having a blast! I am most grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to the weeks to come. I am also grateful to Patrick for selecting such an interesting and talented group of students. There is a feeling of mutual support and companionship, and I am sure that many lifelong friendships will be formed.

Today was my first day of the first semester for the film course at the Berkeley Digital film institute. As Patrick put it…”it is the first day of the rest of your life”.

After the gathering of all the budding filmmakers in the hallway we congregated around the very large and inviting conference table in the “big” room. We waited for all of the students and the staff to settle and the life changing process began. Patrick is a interesting speaker and welcomed us warmly to the new world of film. In addition to all the technical information and the artistic skills that we will bring to the program our leadership skills will be the most important to master. Intuition plays a big role in becoming a great film producer, so I am hopeful as I do rely on this greatly in my own life. He gave us a brief outline of the hectic and full months ahead.

We all took turns to introduce ourselves to our new group of comrades! We had to describe where we are from and why we were there and our experience with film. I was very impressed with the experience of these people that will become an important part of my life. I really love the fact that there is so much diversity within our group, people from different parts of the world with different ways of looking at life. I could not help but think of all of our different paths in our lives that have lead us to this one place at this particular time. I can see that already there have been some bonds being made that I am sure will be long lasting.

Patrick proceeded to outline the plan for the next 8 weeks. Each week was crammed with deadlines. When you see all of it in front of you it can be quiet intimidating. On the other hand it is useful to know what we are getting into. So the next 8 weeks is going to be a journey for us all. My biggest fear is the script writing. I am not known for my writing skills! I am more of a visual person. I have some stories floating around in my mind but it is hard to validate them and get them out on paper. Our scriptwriting teacher Fred Ritzenberg stressed the importance of a strong script, and without a great script the film is not worth creating. I need to learn to wear my heart on my sleeve and get stuck into the process without fear and with full confidence. I have been through one of the best Art schools in England and succeeded. I know how hard criticism can be to an artist, perhaps the worst kind is from oneself!

Alan also introduced himself and his knowledge and experience is really impressive. I can tell that Patrick and him work well together. Patrick presented a Flash tutorial about some rules regarding shooting. It contained scenes from the movie ‘Seven’. It was so interesting to see the magnitude of work and consideration that a goes into just 2 scenes of a feature film. It was so interesting to learn of just some of the camera tricks that the filmmaker uses to communicate to us certain emotions. Each frame is considered, the aspect ratio of the screen, the composition of the shot, where the eyes are looking and the body placement, the special relationship to the negative and positive space. The importance of the character is emphasized with the placement and scale of the body in the frame. Each frame is like a painting. During a seated cafe scene, it was very interesting to learn about the180 degree line rule that is applied with the camera. I am sure that when I look at a film now I shall see it with different eyes.

I do hope to get to know the terms used in the flash animation. I was not writing down notes, I wanted to concentrate fully on the screen. Perhaps some notes will be handed out or we will recap on the key issues covered. We shall see tomorrow! It was surprising to me how much information can be presented during a short time. It is also a new world to me with a different language that I am sure I shall get used to.

To finish off our day we did a group exercise, which was writing down an embarrassing moment during childhood. We only had a moment to write it down. Then each person around the table told their story to the rest of the group. It was interesting to hear Patrick explain the circumstances and meanings from the perspective of a film producer. I felt very moved when all these shared experiences surfaced. I felt trusted and emotionally closer to the group. I am really excited about this new adventure and am wondering what tomorrow will bring. This is going to be a very interesting journey… perhaps worthy of becoming a script for a movie one day?

Peter Burns writes:
Actor make-up being touched up on the set of a Summer ‘07 Berkeley Digital student film.

Peter Burns writes:
Three Summer 2007 Berkeley Digital students on the set of a short film night shoot. The Panasonic HVX200 camera is in the background.

Peter Burns writes:
Our local San Francisco SAG/AFTRA representative has been exceptionally suportive and informative about our working with SAG actors. After I submitted a preliminary document, she sent out a Student Short Film Agreement packet which I, as the project producer, filled out and then routed to the SAG actor and BDFI Dean for signatures. I highly encourage other Berkeley Digital filmmakers to work through SAG for the experience and practical production education.

Peter Burns writes: