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.

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.