Welcome to our family at BDFI! It is a pleasure to have met some of you and am looking forward to meeting the rest of you. You are all in for a great treat. I know that the first week is truly a unique and exciting experience…well -guess what….it gets better! Would love to hear all about your adventures so get blogging! Enjoy your weekend!
So tomorrow is my second shoot. I think I’m prepared, I have a great crew lined up and great actors. The location is in a hotel room in Berkeley, where the staff have been so helpful and kind. It always amazes me how much pre production work there is to do. I feel pretty confident that all will go well. Today one of my friends visited me at home and was confused. He stated that I seemed calm. He expected me to be freaking out! Well we shall see if I sleep at all tonight. I am so excited and nervous at the same time. The support that I have received from everyone around me is so amazing. I am so fortunate to have great friends and comrades! Wish me luck!
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?