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.