USC Summer School Film Program

I got up at 7:30 wide awake and ready for the day to begin. Aaron and I left the room around 8:30 and started on our walk to the newly furnished George Lucas Film School, which he donated 175 million dollars for the construction of the building. We arrived on time and listened to the various summer film coordinators lecture us about what to expect and what forms we should have filled out and what not. The best part of orientation was when a fellow student who had sat in the same seats as us 10 years ago gave us his life experience in the film industry starting off as an intern for Jerry Bruckheimer, an assistant to Sylvester Stallone, and finally a producer for a major film company. It was just amazing hearing his story and the advice that he told us really sunk in with me. Although orientation ran longer than I had anticipated, I enjoyed every minute of it.

The first day of class was electrified with our instructor, an influential and upbeat person who has been involved in the film industry for 30 years. He showed us 3 films which were done by previous students of his and asked us to analyze it. It wasn't what I was used to in terms of being in a classroom because usually my professor would just ramble on and I would be just copying down notes from his powerpoint or lecture notes. This was a more relaxed class and he gave us the opportunity to ask us what we actually wanted to achieve from this class.