Retrospect and Presidents

It's May, so you know what that means. School's over. Thankfully and mercifully over. It was a tough semester to say the least. Did I succeed? Depends what your definition of it is. My standards for academic success are pretty low, so that has an effect on my definition. That said, I did well in the classes that I worked hard in. The other classes I gave a half-ass effort and got a half-ass grade. My fault, I'll pay for it later. What I find interesting is that the classes in which I had a teacher that I admired and enjoyed their company are the classes that I got As in. The classes that I disliked the teacher - not personally, but as a student - are the ones that I did poorly in. I think I could make a chart out of this data. Oh well, what's done is done. I have another two semester to retake courses I've done poorly in and hopefully I can graduate with a decent GPA. At the end of the day, I don't really care. Cs get degrees after all.

The most positive thing to happen since the beginning of the year is my growth professionally. I've had a super busy few months when it comes to film work. Here are the highlights:

- January, capstone film "Darkness of Light", camera operator.
- January, short film "The Following", director. IFP Special Award Winner.
- January, short film "Story of My Life", gaffer. AFA Film Festival Selection.
- March, short film "Without a Cure", cinematographer. AFA Film Festival Selection.
- April, short film "I'm the Best", cinematographer. AFA Film Fest 3rd Place Winner.
- April, short film "For Hire", director.
- April, short film "Streamlined", gaffer.

In addition to this, I was offered a job as a grip on a feature film. This would have been my first feature film work ever. It would have been a four-week shoot, six days a week, 12 hours a day. It would have been the most exhausting and most rewarding month of my life. However, it was not to be. The investor for the film had an unfortunate accident and pulled the funding for the movie. Without funding, nobody gets paid. For a project of that size, if nobody gets paid, nobody works. And if nobody works, no movie is made. So I lost that gig. But to know that there are professionals out there that want my services is a very good feeling.

Regardless of losing that income, my film work this semester has still been very rewarding. Each of the films I have worked on has been in front of an audience of at least 30 people. With the exception of the film I directed for school, they all received generally favorable reviews. That would discourage most filmmakers, but I am not trying to prove I am a good director. I have received praise for my cinematography and lighting work, and that is what matters most to me. I have already received offers for work next semester so hopefully I still have a few more films to add to my reel before my time at school is over. This is important with one year left because I am now starting to feel the pressure that after school is over with, I'm going to have to find legitimate ways to make films. Hopefully it all works out.

Another pretty awesome event happened as the school year ended. In case you hadn't heard, President Barack Obama gave the commencement speech at this year's graduation at my school, Arizona State University. A great and generous friend of mine was able to get his hands on a few tickets and gave me one so I could witness the momentous event. Here's a picture of my ticket:


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Here's a picture of the President as seen from my seat:


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Don't let the small size fool you. They were pretty good seats. Some of the graduates had worse seats than that. I won't rant and rave about his speech. If you'd like, search Google and you can find transcripts or even video of the entire speech online. I'll say that it was very inspirational, even if in retrospect I recognize it was mostly just good PR. But if the country would heed his words with sincerity, we'd be in a much better place. In particular, he spoke often about the need to drop the traditional selfish money-hungry American way of life, and adopt a lifestyle where we put helping others as a top priority. If only that would ever be possible.

Well, I've gone on long enough. Thanks for tuning in. My next post will be from California where I will be vacationing for the weekend at my sister's. Hopefully it'll be a fun time and I can come back relaxed and ready to get on the grind. Hasta luego.