No, Earth didn’t open up a hole. At least for now. But I’ve been very busy in the last three months. And sick. Very sick (t’was the real flu).
That time in February when I had the flu was the worst. I still tried to do my best at school, but it was hard to keep up. I was so happy once this passed after 2 weeks. Suddenly life became much easier again. It felt like I lost a solid rock off my back, or gravity was reduced, or a big rubber band that was holding me back snapped. I was so relieved. Especially when my appetite returned.
School is demanding, I can tell you. So far we had 4 shoot days for 4 different projects. Twice on the Universal backlot, once at a sound stage at school (which I missed, because I had 103.6 F fever that day), and our documentary shoot last weekend. All that footage still needs to be edited, too. Nothing is finished so far. Next couple of weeks will be fun.
What else happened in life? To be honest, not much. There is barely any time for activity outside of school. I managed to sneak 3 tiny Disneyland visits in. A movie here and there. A few hours with friends. But it’s way less than I would do if I were here on vacation. It’s fine though. The weather starts to become a bit more stable and warm. And I like to be here. In the moment. Able to attend screenings when they happen. And not having to look virtually over the pond and cry me a river.
What about school in general? Mid terms passed and I have A’s in all but one class. Elements of Screenwriting, where I have a B. Why? Well, let’s not get into it.
Sound is fun. First half was the technical side of recording sound on set. Second half is how to improve sound in post-production with Pro Tools.
Post-Production is fun. Learning how to edit movies in AVID with an amazing instructor who is a genius in the field.
Scheduling/Budgeting is a lot of data entering. I never wanted to be an accountant. This comes very close to being just that.
Directing is interesting. I learned things, but I am not sure if I am able to direct anything after this class.
Cinematography/Lighting is fun. Our instructor has a plethora of jokes. He doesn’t like when I make the jokes though. I like the chemistry, and I permanently step over boundaries to see how far I can go.
Law/Business is a lot of fun. That’s probably something you won’t understand, but our instructor is the bomb. I couldn’t believe it myself. Even with the weekly quizzes we have, it is a very enjoyable class. And on top of it, I probably learned the most in this class. Very exciting, very complex, but when you know all of this, your life becomes that much easier in production.
Documentary is, how should I put it, so la la.
And that’s it for the first semester which will end after the second week in May. Then I have a week to regenerate, and off we go to have even more fun in the second semester.