Mission: Ambition
It's been a very blah weekend. The most exciting thing I did was do some shooting with Rockwell yesterday. The set was my room, but because we put it off to so late in the day, the light was very unsatisfactory. We're going to do more shooting maybe later this week, or possibly as late as next weekend if we decide we want to do more in Hamilton.What I'll say about our first project is that it's a pretty simple scene whose working title is "Morning". It depicts a young man, played by Rockwell, getting up in the morning and going through a normal routine. The aim with the project is to employ effective camera angles and editing to make something simple and mundane rather amusing. Our biggest challenge right now is lighting because, well, we don't have any lights. Except for the lamp in my room. Very professional.
Speaking of professional, one thing Beattrock needs if our portfolios are going to be a cut above the rest is some better equipment. That's why I'm considering taking out a bank loan to fund my equipment until I get a job next year. (And by next year I mean in 2007, when the school year is over or close to it.) Problem is, I know nothing about the equipment right now. That's my next research task: find out what kind of camera I should be looking for. And then I guess I'll have to be buying stuff like boom mics and lights. Hrm.
Although I enjoy school quite a bit and I'm totally psyched about my courses I hope to get into next semester, I'm also really looking forward to getting some work experience after school's out. Not only will I need the money to pay off my tentative loan, but I just have this burning desire right now to work on something that's not exclusively academic. Something I don't abosutely have to do to avoid losing marks.
The summer before last I worked with a local (Hamiltonian) filmmaker named Christine Whitlock on her schlock horror/slapstick comedy film "Marina Monster". Although I was originally interested in an acting part, I ended up doing various jobs on the set. I learned a lot about what it's like to work on a set with a crew, and that was great. Whitlock has indicated that she may have an acting job for me in her next project, which I think would be an ideal thing for me to get involved in as a side project - that is, next to a full-time job with a better wage.
It was suggested to me that I should look into working abroad - and by abroad I mean being a lumberjack up north, or perhaps planting trees in British Columbia. I don't doubt the merits of such an occupation, but I think I'd rather start establishing myself in the area, (both occupationally and geographically) that I plan to work in. This past summer, one of Geoffrey Rockwell's collegues hired Peter to work full time at his company, Epic Creative. He did web design with Flash and Photoshop. It goes without saying that I'd love to get a job like that, but I'd be happy even with something that comes close. The important thing is that I don't want to work at McDonald's. And it's not because I think I'm too good for McDonald's - at least, that's not how I think of it in my head. What I feel instead is that I'm good enough for other things. The last time I was home my mum described a certain job opening at Fortino's involving certain secretarial work that would basically require organization, charisma, and some innovative computer skills. And I thought to myself, "I could totally do that job." So that's the plan: I'm going to be ambitious, and hope for the best.
For now though, I should probably try to focus on the present. This Thursday I have to hand in my second 1000 word paper for Languages of the Media. The task? Explain the sociological causes and implications of a current Top 40 song. Lipton said we could write about the lyrics and such if we wanted, but he also said, "I challenge the better writers among you to tackle the more abstract and explain it." He went on to say he wants us to talk about things like pitch and tone, and then relate them to sociological factors. It's going to be tricky. After a little deliberation, I think I've settled on the popular song featured in Grey's Anatomy, "How to Save a Life" by The Fray. Let's hope it's got enough substance to inspire a thousand words worth writing.
posted by Dave @ 10:25 AM
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