| On the Potential Brilliance of Cinema |
[mar. 15e, 2008|06:43 pm] |
I was fortunate enough to purchase via Pay Per View a French film by the name of La Vie en Rose, starring Marion Cotillard. I had been aware of this movie for some time, especially since Cotillard was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, and won. So, seizing upon the opportunity to watch it in a moment of free time I settled into one of the various pits in my failing futon and began to read the words and hear the beautiful French Language. At first I was more curious about why she had won over other very deserving actresses. Laura Linney too gave a brilliant performance in The Savages, as did Ellen Page, who was my dark horse to win. So, as the film began I first noticed the incredible physical difference between this beautiful French actress in her normal life to the rough-around-the-edges Edith Piaf character she was portraying. I looked incredibly hard but could no longer see the actress, but only the character. Not only in appearance, but the ridged way in which she moved, and her demeanor. Nothing was alike of the two women.
So, what I sat through for two hours and twelve minutes was nothing short of a symphony. The creative talents behind this film were geniuses of celluloid in the highest regard. The story was tragic at best, indicative of most French cinema that reaches our shores. However, this film would merely have been a beautiful biopic if not for the breathtaking performance of Marion Cotillard. She gave what I would have to say is the greatest performance of an actress in the history of film. The way she handled the role with such brilliance was an affirmation of my love of the cinema, and why it has such a power over me. I've never been shy about emoting through a film, and this left me weeping at it's beauty and strength. The final time Piaf graces the stage is a hallmark of modern cinema! I was reminded of why it is I want to make movies, that move inside that only the flashing arranged image can create for me. Sometimes I feel the movies are more real, more worth my energy and emotion than real life, because life never seems to truly compare to the glorious beauty of that twenty four pictures a second. |
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| Not too much, just a quick update |
[déc. 3e, 2007|12:41 am] |
Alrighty, I haven't said anything on here in like a month, so i figured I'd chime in.
First off was Halloween. It was super sweet, since Me, Mike, and Erin had the best theme costumes there (except maybe the really really awesome Transformers and Bioshock ones). We three were Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Slave Princess Leia. It was neat, here's some pictures:
 (Mike seriously gets a lot of credit because he ordered his from Singapore for like 130 dollars, and Erin gets extra bonus credit cause she made hers. I just ordered mine off amazon, but did spend a chilly 80 dollars on it.)
(I have no idea who the storm trooper clone was [also the wrong movies completely], but there was also some made-up sith lord and a Obi-wan, but they were long gone by this pic)
Other than that, there really hasn't been anything to insane in the goings on, just about the usual level of sleep deprivation, late party nights when no class early the next day, and then more school followed by little sleep. It's been quite the journey so far, but it only gets better as my lighting class starts to finally make a great deal of sense, and has also ruined watching movies for me.
That is all, I hope you enjoyed this little update. |
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| hello hello hello |
[oct. 30e, 2007|02:53 pm] |
Welly welly well. Thing continue to chug along, with the conclusion of my third month class of CMI (which I got a 90, B) and the start of my fourth month classes; supposedly the hardest month of them all.
We started lighting and College Math. Alright, this math class is a lark. The first day all we did was adding subtracting diving and multiplying fractions. I thought I was going to have a hemorrage sitting and listening to this fourth grade math. I'm pretty sure my eyes melted, can't be sure yet.
Also, we finally started the first of our truly film-related classes: Lighting. The class should be extremely useful and obscenely tedious. Also, it seems like that if we do anything wrong at all we will die. They seem to make this implicitly clear. A couple weeks before we started the Course Director had some dumbass student drop a 130lb 2500watt light onto his head from two feet above. He's now got to wear a breathing mask when he sleeps and has migranes. Oh the fun. Also, there's the risk of being electrocuted at any moments notice, so I'm having to place a lot of trust in the people in my lab group. All of the equipment we'll be using uses enough electricity to kill us instantly in one zap, so if I don't make it through the next two months of this, tell my family and friends that I love them. hehe. But seriously, they do have a lot of procedure and systems in place that are required so that we don't get killed. We're using these power distributers that pump 600 amps, and the lab instructors made it very clear that it only take .7 amps across the heart to kill us. Fun stuff. So, there are specific ways to handle everything and touch everything so that if we get zapped we dont get stuck and instead get thrown. I like the idea of being a DP (director of photography, for the uninitiated), but not of being a best boy electric. Which I'll have to do at some point in our group rotations.
Also, last week I got to meet several awsomes in the horror film genre. First off was Robert Englund of Freddy Kreuger fame. He was a super nice guy, and I got him to sign a print of the original Nightmare on Elm Street poster. Also that day I met Tom Savini and Lloyd Kaufman, who I tried to get a picture with, but I was too unfamiliar with my camcorder and it's picture functions. So, i missed an epic picture opportunity. Also, throughout the three days of Scream Fest Tom Savini just kept popping up wherever I was, which was kind of wierd. I'd turn around and there he'd be. Also, I met the first zombie from Night of the Living Dead, the one from the graveyard that attack barbera. I got a pic with him and got him to sign a small poster. I also met the guy who played hellraiser, the guy who played jason, the guy who played leatherface in the original TCM, the kid from Childs Play, the main actor from An American Werewolf in London, and the girl from saw who also played the dumb receptionist in Becker. She was nice, but I really really wanted to ask her about Becker, but I didnt want to seem derogatory about it.
Also Also, I went to Horror Nights like three times, and still might be going again Thursday. It's super fun, some of the most elaborate haunted houses ever. The Nightmare on Elm Street one freaked me out every time, and the Clown one almost gave Mike a panic attack (he's deathly afraid of clowns).
Well, that's about it, I'll leave with this delightful little picture:
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| HEELLOOO Sportsfans! |
[oct. 15e, 2007|06:18 am] |
Well, things are going pretty fantastic in school. My grades are the best they've ever really been, ever, in my entire history of scholarship. I've currently got a pleasant 3.5 GPA and a 96.75% GPS!!! I never thought I could do so well.
I'm going to Holloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Sunday, which I'm very excited about. I've lived in florida eighteen out of the 21 years of my life, and I've never been to it. I've wanted to for as long as I can remember. So, another dream fulfilled. I can put a line through that one.
So, in my CMI lab we were assigned to create a composite image using our photo software Gimp (basically a free version of photoshop), and I really liked mine, so I'm going to share it. Our assignment was to make the cover art for a CD from a real or fake band, and since there is a Radiohead album technically out that doesn't have released artwork, I decided to imagine up one using the images availible to us. So, this is it:
I just thought it turned out really nice. It got a bit degraded in quality when I saved it as a jpeg, but it's not a terrible reduction. It took a whopping two hours, which is actually a long while.
I like it so much I wouldn't mind if it were actually the album artwork officially. Maybe I should send it to them?? Haha, not that that would make much happen. |
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| Get SOME! |
[sep. 15e, 2007|10:59 pm] |
Alrighty!
So I was an extra in this soon to be worst movie ever called "Get Some."
It stars formerly talented Amistad star Dijmon Honsou, and a bevvy of other lesser WB actors.
Here's the premise, this kid in Iowa (that's right Iowa, and they filmed in Orlando...let it sink in) is at a Bar and his drunken father is driving them home, and totals the car. The father dies, and the lead character, some type-stud from the movie Sleepover joins the dangerous world of Mixed Martial Arts fighting. He has a rival in a blond type-stud who also is a fighter. Well, after his father dies in Iowa there's a fight after a football game, and it's recorded on a cell phone, then posted on youtube.com (that's right, youtube...let it sink in). After the lead's notoriety for this his mother moves them to Orlando (why? me and mike have debated this, and have settled on the rich wheat industry present in the citrus belt) to start their life over. But it begins again, and the lead finds a mentor in Dijmon Honsou. He teaches him MMA, and thus his fighting life begins.
Now, here's the place where me and my other fellow extras come in.
It's the climax fight outside of Club Zero (but the zero looks like that circle with a slash through it, so we took to naming it "Club No-Smoking") and we extras run from the club as the fight breaks out (we ran and ran and ran and ran, in total making it about fifty feet each time, it was like a broken watch trying to wind). Then, us "background" (as we were called) are to hoot and holler as they beat each other up, for some reason already in fighting gloves. I decided instead to be the "looking man," and stand on my tip toes and look as if I'm interested in what's going on in more a voyeur type of way.
The film is going to be dreadful, and the director was the guy who did Cry_Wolf. AS if the movie itself wasn't bad enough. Mike and I pretty much know it was nothing more than a paycheck.
It was interesting to see the movie thing go down, and know for sure that we don't want to make a life of being an extra. It was an all night shoot, from 6:30pm until 7:30am. I got 100 dollars. I pretty much hated it, but it was money and something interesting and job related to do, so it wasn't all bad.
It also contained one of the most homoerotic scenes I've ever witnessed in cinema:
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| Hooray! Things are going perfectly! |
[sep. 6e, 2007|09:49 pm] |
| [ | Humeur actuelle |
| | ! | ] |
| [ | Musique actuelle |
| | Ninja Warrior on G4 | ] |
Well, on my list of concerns were (a) Full Sail kept saying they hadn't gotten my high school transcript by the second time, and (b) I missed my mid-term for Creative Writing, and (c) my cell phone was lost.
Details of the problems:
(A) I got an email yesterday that was sent to my fullsail email account (which I never look at, until now), and in it was a slightly old email from the enrollment department. I opened it, and they said that they hadn't received by high school transcript, even though I had sent it to them twice. Fearing after the first time that they would have a stupid moment again, I had PJC deliver one to me directly as a backup. In the email, it said I had until August 24th to give them a copy, or they would remove me from classes. I first read this email on September 4th! So, I flipped out, and ran to my apartment from Mike's and retrieved my copy. I went straight to the person that had emailed me, and made sure they got it. It seemed that the discrepancy was they didn't know where (and seemed to fail to even look for) the date of my high school graduation was. When I pointed it out on the transcript, they were like "ooh" which freaked me out quite a bit. I still had to have it approved by a higher up, so there was still a chance of me not being allowed to continue on my schedule.
(B) I missed my mid-term for Creative Writing, practically wrecking my grade for the class. I was told to write an essay explaining why I was late (which was just my alarm not going off) to try and vendicate my absence. It wasn't an acceptable excuse, so my essay was more an appology, and a plee to not have my GPS score deminish along with my GPA. There seemed no way to save it.
(C) My cell phone went missing, well, I lost it. Then, I got contacted by Brandon and Wes that it had been found! However! When I went to lost and found after visiting the building where it was supposed to be, they couldn't find it. It was in their lost items registry, but there was no signer for it, no location where it was, or anything pertinant other than what it looked like and who supplied it with cell phonage. Where the hell was it!
Here's all my problems were solved:
(A) I got an email today that said that my high school transcript had been approved! Thank GOD! If there was anything for me to worry about, it was falling behind in my class. I like a few of the people in my class, and am starting to get to know a few of them better, so to drop back, and have to meet all new people would have been extremely distressing. NO WORRIES THOUGH! I'm in the clear on that!
(B) I went to my Creative Writing teacher during break today, just to ask him if he'd gotten my essay via email (as almost everything is done in Full Sail). He said he had, and I was pretty much ready to walk away just glad to know he got it, when he pulled a fast one on me, and told me that he was going to go ahead and give me the mid-term Saturday at 12:15, and hour before my lecture with him! I nearly pissed my pants with excitement. Both the acceptance email and getting to actually take the OH so easy midterm in the same day! I couldn't have been happier.
(C) Although this hasn't been officially corrected yet, tomorrow when my Mom gets into town I will then have my new cell phone, and that problem will be quickly remedied! So, another problem solved.
Now all i need to fix is: my money (I finally get my damn financial aid check Thursday next week!), my propeller account (kind like argo for you pensacola people, just a place for everything school), retrieving my old cell phone to transcribe my numbers so I don't have to run them down, and then cleaning my apartment (which is happening tonight, so that's really four things getting fixed in 24 hours!). Hooray for things going exactly as perfect as possible!
End of overly exclimated post!
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| Well HELLO! |
[sep. 4e, 2007|05:55 am] |
It almost feels nostalgic writing in this dinosaur. I haven't even seen the thing since January (or so it says that's when I last posted).
I decided to reopen the thing, partly out of being bored at 6am, partly out of a sort of want to chronicle my twenty one-month journey up the Mount Everest of Film Schools.
Well, I just got through my first month of classes, passing my first finished class with a B, though I was .05 points from an A. Which means I got a 94.95 in the class. They use the old scale. Hooray for passing Behavioral Science well!
I've still got a month left of Creative Writing, which is going well, but I've had a few slip ups, which were just stupid getting-adjusted mistakes, and I somehow managed to sleep through my alarm (ON MID-TERM day!). Which pretty much fucked my getting an A. I'll be struggling to get a B now, so I'm supremely worried.
I start Photography tomorrow, very excited about that. For as much as I paid to go here they better be providing the cameras and film, and both better be nice. From the course description it's going to be all black and white, which is fine, it's pretty hard to take a decent picture in color anyway.
I've also finally made a friend by the name of Michael Coy. He's probably the first (and from what I've gathered of my fellow classmates) and only person I've met that's at all the kind of person I can relate to. Also the only person I've ever met whose favorite author is also Bret Easton-Ellis (American Psycho, The Rules of Attraction...). Everyone else in my class (aside from the occasional few) seem to be little youtube fanbois who think because they made a skate video they should be making films. They've come to the wrong place, and I'm pretty sure that at least half of my class are either going to drop away or be held back. But, I'm just glad i don't have to suffer this gauntlet alone anymore, those first two weeks were the loneliest weeks of my life in over a decade. It was quite a test of myself to endure it. All of my long-lost insecurities about talking to strangers and being thrust into being social came flooding back with a passion. Then, our teachers would pretty much shove us into networking from the get-go (since they put such a strong emphasis on networking), and I would become the self-conscious silent-kid who can't start up a conversation with a stranger. I'm still very much able to be brought into conversation, but I've never been a smiley glad-hand, which caused me a great deal of self-doubt. People seemed to already have established little groups before even coming to class the first day, so I felt at a distinct disadvantage. It was, I swear to God, like high school. It kind of sickened me. I'm loosening up now, and becoming more familiar with my surroundings (both school and city). I don't feel like a complete social outcast anymore, but there's still some sort of off-putting effect I seem to have on most of these people. No one seems to want to even try to talk to me. It's still kind of hard for that reason. There hasn't been times where I've been an asshole or anything, people just wont speak to me. It's, again, like high school, and I'm a ghost in the hallways. Which is why having a friend finally has been supremely beneficial. I feel pretty assured of the fact that this might extend beyond a scholastic relationship, and continue on into my career. He belongs in a VERY short list of people who can listen to me and know what the hell my scatterbrained is trying to say. It should be a good two year collaboration.
Well, that's enough introspection and situation.
To summarize, I'm in love with Full Sail, and can't wait to really get my hands into the dirt. When I get out of this I feel I'm going to be a changed man, for the better.
I'm gonna try and keep a sort of journal of my two years, but I can't make promises because I still very much dislike writing in LJ. It seemed important enough though this time around.
Well, au revoir mes amis. |
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| Okay, so this is awsome!!! |
[jan. 28e, 2007|05:51 pm] |
WE JOIN A MAN IN A BARREL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN...
MEANWHILE, IN ANOTHER PLACE ENTIRELY...
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