The past 2 weeks have been chaotic between long internship days and school work. Recently we pitched short films, 6 of which have been accepted to be turned into actual shorts. My pitch was joint with my friend and co-worker Clinton Edmondson (http://cedmonson.wordpress.com). After I threw an idea onto the table, his mind (the mind of a writer) took the idea and wove a story. We worked long hours every day to write the script for Polaroid. Being that this is my first script, Clinton took the reigns on the writing process and I assisted him with research, rough drafts, story concepts, and character breakdowns while he ultimately took the story and turned it into a unique script that I can’t wait to produce. The past 2 days began our in house casting calls and I am proud to announce that we have cast our 3 female leads from Elon’s acting program. This Saturday we are holding an external casting session and production begins on Sunday. Because we have worked with each other in the past, Clinton and I have a good sense of each others strengths and weaknesses. With those in consideration we assigned roles with Clinton directing the piece while I will produce it and be the director of photography. We have a great crew of ambitious students helping us out. I can’t wait to spend the next 2 weeks putting this together for the premiere at AFI’s Mark Goodson Theater on August 4th at 8 p.m. (Reception starts at 7 if you are in the Los Angeles area at the time and have the chance to make it).
Latest
The Adventures of Foil Girl
Another Elon in LA production, The Adventures of Foil Girl follows Shelby, a typical commoner as she discovers she has a unique ability. Check it out on the videos page!
Welcome to the Hotel California
This summer I am participating in a school program called Elon in LA where students get the chance to live, learn, and intern in Los Angeles. For the program we take a class on mondays, have weekly projects and assignments, then we intern from Tuesday to Friday. I am in a productions class where our first assignment this week was to do a photostory with three pictures. We also have an optional competition to design a logo for “Elon in LA” and for “Climbing the LAdder Productions” (our mini-production company for the summer).
During the rest of the week I am interning at Precision + Post Productions
The company does a lot of post-production work editing, and creating graphics. It is a small company with some great people and through the first week I have loved learning from my co-workers and helping them in whatever way possible.
Le miroir S’est Brise
For a final project for class I did a short french film. I came up with a concept but having little experience with French I asked my roommate Clint to help me write the short; he took the idea and ran with it brilliantly. The piece is essentially the combination of a mystery and a tradgedy. Themes we tried to focus on in the experimental short include ambiguity and surrealism. I filmed the piece on a Nikon D90 (a DSLR camera) and edited it with FinalCut Pro.
“Lodi” Parody
Our latest class project was to a create a parody of the song “Lodi” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. The assignment was to replace the word Lodi with Elon and create a song about being “Stuck at Elon again.” In my approach you will notice a quick change in plotline and mood between the second and third sung verses. Thanks to Luke Lovett for playing ukulele and Kaitlin Buck, Michael Soucy, and Christian Binder for helping out with some camera work.
A couple more videos
I posted a few more videso from my Writing for Broadcast and New Media Class. Check them out on my videos page when you get the chance!
Searching for an Internship
I am going to Los Angeles this summer on a trip with the school. One part of the program is taking a class 1 day per week, the other part is doing an internship for at least 4 days per week. I am currently searching for and applying for internships this summer in the Los Angeles area. I will update you as I hear back from different places.
Two more videos
Hey everyone,
Two more videos are up today. The first one is a recap of the Elon vs. Appalachian State 2009 Football game. The game was the unofficial Southern Conference championship game. I was given some footage by the producer of Elon Phoenix Weekly and he asked me to put together a highlight reel of the game so the package on my videos page is what I ended up with.
The second video is one I made recently for my “writing for broadcast and new media” class. We were assigned to make a video that somehow related to the book White Fang by Jack London. I ended up making a video based off the Disney movie adaptation of White Fang staring Ethan Hawke. My video is a monologue I wrote from the perspective of a boy named Jake after his best friend, a half-dog half-wolf named White Fang passed away. It is a sad video but I really focused on capturing the emotion of the monologue I wrote in the music and visual shots I chose to use.
Please check out the videos and let me know what you think.
LC Video
Just posted a video that promotes Learning Communities at Elon. I worked with two other students from my learning community. I was present for all of the interviews (including doing a few of them by myself), but found myself very busy with Haunted Oaks so I had little say in the editing of the project. One unfortunate thing about the video was the lack of footage to use as B-roll. Overall I still liked the project, but I think it would have been enhanced if we could have used more video to go along with the great pictures and nice interviews.
Anyways the video can be found on my video projects page.
Los Angeles
I am currently taking a class in Los Angeles getting an inside glimpse at “the industry” learning what it means to be a part of the entertainment industry here in L.A. This is my first trip to Los Angeles (or even to the west coast) and already through 2.5 days it has been highly educational. As a class we have visited and seen a number of television shows as we watched the taping process then met with executives to talk about their roles in production, and in the business of television. We have also visited a small talent agency, a newspaper, magazine, digital editing studio that works with visual effects on movies, and many Elon alumni who are currently working in Los Angeles.
We will be here in Los Angeles until January 21st. I have already learned a lot about the entertainment business and life in Los Angeles from just over 2 days so I really look forward to 7 more days here.
