USC Week 5

This past week was relatively easy going and relaxing to some degree. We didn't have school on Monday, which was a major plus for all of us. It enabled us to recharge our batteries and start moving forward with our final project. I've actually been working on my latest film, A Change of Heart, for the past week and a half so I feel fully prepared to give it my best shot as the final stretch approaches. I'm so thankful that my mother helped me find my location and that both my friends, Tiffany and Simon, graciously volunteered to help act in my film.

On Tuesday, our professor showed us the dailies from our Universal Studios shoot. The dailies from our film, Purgatory, were better than some of the other groups but not ones that could really convey the story we had wanted to tell in the first place. Some groups barely had any footage to even reprise a film and another group had everything going for them, perfect to a whim. Aaron and I will be in charge of editing and sound design, respectively, so hopefully we'll able to make our film the best it can be even with some minor changes to the plot and characters.

On Wednesday, we went to Universal Studios for the last time. It dawned on me how fast the program had flown and it made me sad. I cherished all the memories and guest lectures we had during our trips to Universal Studios. Our final lecturer for the program was a story editor and his main job is to read over scripts which seem suitable for actors/actresses. He was very giddy while telling us about his job and even mouthed over his opportunity to become co-producer to a movie which comes out today called The Collector. After lunch, we ventured of to post-production and visited numerous sites where people gathered to edit films, place sound effects and music, and combine it all to make a film.

Yesterday, class lasted for only a couple hours in which our professor answered our questions about what graduate schools we should apply to if we're interested in the film industry or how we're supposed to get started and what kind of tricks that the film industry pulls. It was a really interesting and animated morning. Afterwards, we had to fill out our evaluations for our professor and our SA.

I have mixed feelings towards this program but at the end of everything, I've learned a great deal about the film industry in several aspects. I've also been taught many life lessons not only from my professor but from our guest lecturers, which I will keep locked in my mind for a very long time. Only one more week to go until I return home to San Diego. It's only recently hit that I've in Los Angeles for the past month. Boy, does time really fly by.

Universal Studios Shoot

This weekend has certainly been eventful. It was highlighted with our filming at Universal Studios on Saturday. My day started out by waking up at 6:30 and helping Aaron pack drinks and food for our actors/actresses. It took us about an hour to load everything into a ZIP car, which our producer (thank you, Jake) managed to rent. All of us arrived in front of the SCA building around 7:00 and started unloading and loading all of our things onto the bus. Our whole crew and cast met up with one another and introductions were thrown out. Around 8:15, our SA yelled out that we were about to leave.

We got to Universal Studios around 9:00 and started unpacking all of our things and taking them to our specific location. It took us about 4 or 5 trips to bring everything to our location. We started rehearsing and finally managed to film around 9:30. The weather the whole day was unbearable but that was the least of our concern. The whole cast and crew especially our director and DP were running a bit slow and by 11:30 were a little behind schedule. We managed to film 13 out of the possible 46 shots we had arranged before lunch.

After lunch, we were on immediate overdrive and started just having one rehearsal for every shot. Our pace picked up rather quickly and we managed to get 15 shots in 2 hours. Still, our crew especially between our producer, director, and DP started to quarrel over the pacing and speed of everything. As the time reached around 2:00, everything seemed to be settled and everyone was working well together. However, on one particular segment, our DP accidentally dropped the camera and one of the lenses popped out of its socket. Fortunately, our film wasn't severely damaged. It took us a little while to regroup after that but we managed to stand strong once again.

Shooting ended around 4:00 when all of us started packing all of our belongings as well as props and extra water and food back to the bus. We left Universal Studios around 4:30 and arrived back at USC at 5:00. It was one of the most tiring and arduous days of my entire life but hopefully what we captured on film made up for it.

USC Week 4

Hey everyone, I seriously am terrible at updating so I apologize for that. This week has been fairly stressful, not only for me but for my entire group. We've been currently finalizing our script for our film, Purgatory, auditioning actors/actresses, storyboarding, creating shot lists, buying food for our cast & crew, and much, much more. I have to say, a collaborative group project has added more pressure on my part because for our group to be successful, we all have to do our jobs. So here's a day by day update on what we've done so far:

Monday- We auditioned around 12 people for 5 hours for 4 parts in our movie. It was one of the most fun and most tedious things I've ever done. We had one of the best auditions to ever be recorded on video and hopefully the rest of the class agrees once we show it to them. : )

Tuesday- We spent almost 5 hours together finalizing the script. We threw out ideas as well as put forth the comments that our classmate's had to improve upon our movie.

Wednesday- We all went to Universal Studios, a weekly ritual and we were introduced to the writer of Rent as well as the show Jericho. He was probably one of the best people to come to lecture our class. Besides telling us his upbringing, he gave us some of the most sage advice that I will definitely take to heart. In the afternoon, we spent about 2-3 hours scouting our locations. We were assigned Mexican street and we took loads of photos at different angles trying to pinpoint where we shall place the camera once we begin shooting on Saturday.

Today- We went to Universal Studios getting props for our movie and then we went to Goodwill to pick up some clothes for our actors to wear. After we were all done, Aaron and I went to Denny's where we both gorged a burger and steak respectively. One of the most taxing days I've had thus so far.

USC Week 3

The week has finally concluded and I have so many things to update you on. On Monday and Tuesday, all of us screened our project # 1 films we had been working on for the past couple of days. It was such a hectic and arduous weekend especially for me, not experienced in shooting a film. I was stressed out shooting my film but most of all editing. I have something to say to the makers of AVID: "What in the world were you thinking when you invented this program"? I spent about 7-8 hours just trying to figure out how to edit but most of all, trying to create titles and credits for my film. I screened my film on Tuesday and to the surprise of myself, most of my classmates thought it was a fairly good movie. When I read the comments that were written by my classmates, I saw that the majority of them thought it was a movie that wasn't too complicated and was very easy to follow. My teacher, Don Zirpola was also supportive and gave me a lot of sage advice about what I should I improve on for my next film.

On Wednesday, we met Jim Bissel, the production designer for such movies as 300 and Jumanji. He gave us an overview and a descriptive account about what he actually does and what steps he takes in preparation for developing sets for his movies. He showed us a reel of 3 movies he had partaken and showed us step by step the different stages from beginning to end. I would rate him as one of the better lectures we've had, second only to Joel Cox. We also were shown the lighting and gripping department and had a short tour of what kind of lighting Universal Studios offers to television as well as film. All in all, it was a really productive day except for the food, which caused me to have a stomach ache by days end.

On Thursday, we traveled to Zemeckis and were given a lesson about the cameras we were going to use for project #2. Our instructor for the day, Raul Fernandez gave us the rundown about the cameras (16mm) we would be using for our projects as well as teaching us how to put film into each of our cameras. It was really interesting seeing the intricacies about how a 16mm camera works. Besides the camera, we were given a light meter, a tripod, a battery pack, spools of film, and caps for the lenses. In the afternoon, we were given a lesson about lighting and how lighting has an affect on particular subject depending on where you position your lights. It was a very educational day and definitely was a great way to end the week.

USC Week 2

It's been almost a week since my last post so I apologize for not updating more frequently. This week has been quite hectic since all of us have been working on our first film project. For the past 4 days, I've been preparing for my first film ever. It's entitled The Art of Communication, a story about the barriers of language. This past week, I've been scouting locations, filliing out permit forms, soliciting friends in my class to be part of my project. It's been a very arduous and tiring experience but I believe it will pay off in the end. I start shooting on Saturday and am anticipiating that the film will be good or at least not as bad as the examples we've seen in class.

One memory that I would like to point out that really made my week was when we went to Universal Studios on Wednesday and were given lectures by two people. The first, Joel Cox, a famous editor most known for his collaborations with Clint Eastwood, and Brett Ratner, the director of the Rush Hour series, X-Men 3, and etc. The fatherly advice that Joel gave out really stuck with me because it not only was directed towards the film industry but towards everyday life and how you conduct yourself on an everyday basis. "Relationships are key to being able to stick around in this business as well as doing more than what your asked to do". From Brett Ratner, he told us that we should keep making movies even if our first film doesn't get any responses from anyone. He also said the most important ingredient when trying to direct a film is storytelling. That is one of the most key components when trying to create a film is storytelling because you want to be able to convery a story to an audience.

If I manage not to retain anything from this course, I will definitely remember Brett Ratner calling me out during his speech. I was writing some notes down as he continued speaking but believed that I wasn't actually paying attention. He called out, "Hey, Asian guy with the glasses who's not paying attention!" I thought the whole incident was funny as well as embarrassing because he thought I was being rude to him when in fact I was writing down notes from his lecture. It will definitely be something I will remember for the rest of life and when the time comes and I manage to meet Brett Ratner again, I will be sure to bring it up.

These last two weeks have been probably the most stressful and most enjoyable weeks I've spent in quite some time. Whether or not I succeed as a director/producer/writer/editor, the experience I've had so far will bode well for what's in store for me in the future.

Exercise #2

Aaron and I arrived at our group meeting outside of the George Lucas Building and School of Cinematic Arts Building at 11 am to discuss our assignment that our professor gave to us the previous day. Our assignment was to shoot footage from an outsider's point of view (POV) who is searching for the dean's office. We talked about how the outsider would be a little child and that the dean would be his father. We went over the layout scene by scene and managed to draw up storyboards that would be used to illustrate what we were about to film. After listening to everyone's input about what we should do to incorporate all of our ideas into this 2 minute short, we started shooting the first scene.

The first scene took us about 5 tries to get because we had to adjust the angle of the camera as well as the sunlight and where it was shooting down from. The rest of the scenes went smoothly taking 1 or 2 tries each. We finished around 3:30 and from the looks of what we were able to shoot, our 2 minute short is bound to capture not only the attention of our peers but our professor as well. Even though I wasn't able to carry the camera and shoot the footage, I just had a blast hanging around people who are thinkers and really wanted this 2 minute video to succeed. It was amazing to see how it turned out after all of us gathered around to see the finished product.

Our assignment is due on Monday and I can't wait for everyone to look at our video. It certainly will be better than the ones our professor showed us on Thursday. I believe we got the best location out of every other group because first off, the George Lucas Building and School of Cinematic Arts is brand new and second, our prompt was really unique. Until now, I was really hesitant and thought I wouldn't be able to really think of an idea that would translate into film. However, what we shot today totally changed my mind about how I'll be able to tell my story. The unity and cohesiveness of my group really gave me confidence.

We'll the week is finally over and 4th of July weekend is here. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful weekend!

Exercise #1/Camera Equipment

We had our presentations today about our analysis on a particular film. My group chose Magnificent Seven and I discussed production design. My presentation I felt wasn't up to par with all the others because I wasn't able to analyze the movie fully. However, I felt after I gave my presentation and witnessed all the other ones, I was able to learn a lot about what I should look at when I'm analyzing a film. After all of the presentations had finished, our professor and SA (special assistant) informed us that we would be getting our camera equipment and learn how to operate the camera.

We went to the Zemeckis building after lunch and there we received our camera equipment. Our SA told us to be very careful with the equipment and told us to check everything to see if it was all working. That would take us about 30 minutes and afterwards we were free to fool around and shoot some footage with the camera. We went outside and shot some really random and funny sequences starting with one of our group members riding his bike around the outside of the Zemeckis parking lot while another two members of our group creeped behind him. It was truly a fun experience and it educated me on how to use the camera and operate with different angles.

Universal Studios Tour

Today's events made my stay here even more enjoyable. The whole class traveled to Universal Studios where we would be introduced to Tom DeSanto, the producer of the Transformers and X-Men franchises. He talked about his experience working his way up from being a film student at USC in the summer to pitching ideas/scripts to major studios to becoming a full fledged producer. He was a very down to earth guy who I got the sense that was very passionate about his craft. The advice that he told the class that really resonated with me was: "You can accept failures but you can't accept not trying." That really stuck with me especially in trying to figure out what I'm trying to do with my life.

Afterwards, our whole class was granted a tour of Universal Studios which I can say is very different than just sitting in a tour bus with someone pointing out everything to you. We were able to look at the various sets and get an idea what people may try to base their films on. We traveled to look at costumes and props, which were filled with so many things that I couldn't keep my eyes focused. Although I was disappointed not to meet any celebrities...I kid, I was still awestruck at the idea of me and my classmates actually being at studio and seeing sets and locations that vary from the Wild Wild West to New York Street.