21

A brief disclaimer: my roommate has been watching the standard Monday night line-up on the tube. So if the following is somewhat incoherent, the TV is to blame. I have learned that J. Lo and Ben have postponed their engagement. Johnny Cash and John Ritter have passed away. The California Re-call may be postponed until march. Michael Jackson had a little party where he started a food fight and was covered with cake by the end. Anyway, if you tuned in to ET tonight, you probably already know this.

The past few days have been full of introductions and information. Yesterday, we went to the Welcome Barbecue for the 2003 Directing Students at Professor A.P. Gonzales' house. The journey there was about as exciting as driving the Budget moving van to pick up our refrigerator in the Pasadena hills a couple of weeks ago. Professor Gonzales' house is a gorgeous spanish-style villa in the Hollywood hills. His directions to get there took up the better part of a single-spaced page printed in 12-point font (I'm not exaggerating). Back and forth, one jack-knife after the next, I slowly climbed my way up into the hills on narrow, gutter-less roads lined by dense foliage, wrought iron fences and splendid homes, which stand seemingly impossibly on stilts. The spire of Capitol Records stood out in stark relief against the smoggy background of the sprawling LA metroplex.

The party was packed with new students, ranging in age from 25 - 35, and professors. A. P. was a gracious host and laid out wild rice, a pear roquefort salad, and chicken breasts. He's the department's Vice Chair and has a generous, quiet presence.

Like a diva in the old-school style, Delia Salvi, actor, director, and author made her appearance (She's the one who write Friendly Enemies). I said, "Ms. Salvi, I read your book!" I've never had the opportunity to say this to a published author before. She was tickled and asked me what I thought. "I love it," I said. Perhaps an over-statement. I was just sort of swept away by the excitement of it all. I enjoyed the book and learned a lot, but I don't know if my feelings about a technical book on directing the actor can be qualified as "love". ;)

And then there was Barbara Boyle. She is the new Film, Television, and Digital Media Department Chair. She has a 30+ year history producing such films as Platoon, Instinct, and BOTTLE ROCKET!!! When she said that she is essentially the one who gave Wes Anderson his first chance, I nearly fell over. In my mind, this is her primary defining characteristic. Although, she's been involved with many a great filmmaker. She has a lot of energy and even more contacts. She seems generally excited by her new role of leading a new generation of filmmakers to careers and prominence in mass entertainment. She feels that while the 20th century was defined by "words, the 21st century will be defined by images."

And then there were the students: 21 of us in all. We are the 410s, known for the numeric designation of the Filmmaking Workshop course that will be running across all three quarters. This year, there are 6 women and 15 men, which is not necessarily normal, it's "just how it worked" this year. They range in age from 25 - 35. The majority are about my age though. I think I might have the mean age. Most did not study film as undergrads and most have been out of school for a while doing things as divergent as working for Tivo, taking calls for corporate execs, teaching a course with NYU in South Africa, directing Anime overdubs, and taking pictures for the Associated Press. The group is somewhat culturally diverse: Latinos, Asians, African Americans. Several folks are foreign: one gentleman is from Bulgaria, another from South Africa, and then there's a woman from Switzerland. From a film standpoint, many of the people have had little or no experience in film, one gentleman has directed and acted in the theater, others have made documentaries and DV shorts, and still another gent has been a camera loader and focus puller on major film sets. Quite a few are from the east coast, one hails from Gerry, Indiana (when he said this I began singing The Music Man to myself), there's a woman from Aurora, Colorado, and then quite a few folks from California. The greatest thing though is that in all of my conversations, I've encountered very little ego and a lot of good will among my cohorts.

This week is what they call our boot-camp. Although it really wasn't that strenuous today, we will be learning about all of the film production equipment we can imagine over the next few days. It's great to finally be started. We met today on Sound Stage 1. There are three film sound stages in all and three for television as well. There we were given an overview of the first quarter along with an extensive schedule. It appears that we will be working 6 days a week. Then we were given a tour of the facilities, an overview of the equipment checkout procedures. All the equipment is free to the students. And they have some killer gear. Arri SR3s, Nagra sound recorders, fine Sennheiser mics, tripods, dollies, cranes, and all of the lighting gear you can imagine. The day was finished with a screening of some of the 2 and 6 minute films made by last year's 410 students. There was some interesting stuff. Although, I have to say that nothing really jumped off of the screen. I'm not trying to be a rotten tomato, it's just the truth. It should be said that all of the films we saw were made by first-year students. A. P. has made it clear that the emphasis of this year is process, not product. We'll have years 2 and 3 for product. So given that, the work was decent and original at least.

I have to think of a 2 minute short that I will need to complete in the first 10 weeks of the class. They give us 400 feet of film and pay for lab fees. We only have 4 hours to shoot it. I'm rambling now and I should stop. Let me just say though that A. P., in his introduction, reinforced the idea that his hope for us is to form a cohesive team, to work together, to support each other, to trust each other, and to build long-lasting professional and personal relationships. There are quite a few of the 21 whom I have met that I can totally imagine this happening with.

Posted by Matthew at September 15, 2003 07:25 PM