SELF REFLECTIONS

Time to Regroup:

Movie Reviews

Last week and the week before, I watched several films to review for class, so be on the lookout for those. This week has been a time of playing "catch-up" on everything. There is a casting call for extras on USA's "Royal Pains," and I'd like to see my theatre classmates get hired.

I made a 90 on my English midterm exam (yay me) and I'm still struggling en español. Also, be on the lookout for our "Bringing a Painting to Life" short film in the next few coming weeks. I am on a great team; everyone stepped right up to their jobs as good teammates do.

APOLOGIES: I THOUGHT I POSTED THIS ALREADY... YET I FOUND IT JUST HANGING AROUND IN MY "CHROME" ON LAPTOP (2/28/13 from 2/23/13, I think)

The Left-Out Blogger Post (rt)

Well, the play "Cactus Flower" was great on Saturday night, its final performance this semester. Our group documentary assignment suffered delays but we got it finished, and I felt relieved to see that others go through the same trials and tribulations. I was privileged to be involved with a project of film students at another school yesterday morning that will wrap up filming next weekend.  We waited well over an hour for a store owner to arrive for filming (who previously gave the group's directors permission to use the space and agreed to open it early), and he never showed. So, at the last minute, they obtained permission from another store and had less than 45 minutes to finish and be out of the way for customers at normal opening time. I was impressed by this group, and enjoyed watching them work. I was a non-speaking character, so I had to simply hit a mark and turn to wave before walking out the entrance. Lighting had to change because their setup was for the other store and this one had more overhead lighting than the original. The camera angles had to be determined and set up quickly, because those were planned for the original setting.I really enjoy being able to see the production process in its infancy! 

Well...

I must apologize for my time away, but I have plenty to tell. After my illness that felt like the life was drained from my body, we began production of "Cactus Flower" in Armstrong's Black Box Theatre. This is my first full production I had the pleasure of working on, and people who aren't students ask, "Are you acting?" 

"No, I do sound cues." 

They say, "Oh." in disappointment--but I am glad to have learned something new. Because you have to watch the entire play from doors opening to theatre empty and be alert the entire time, you are able to see the entire process unfold. Props, learning lines without scripts, cast members getting comfortable with each other, lighting cues, and working through technical and creative difficulties. Theatre is much different from film in that: There is no "Take 2"

The show was sold out before it opened, and it encores this weekend, which (by the way), is already sold out as well. I must say congratulations to the Director, Stage Manager, Cast, and Crew for such a great show and learning experience for me.
A classmate and I visited SCAD's lighting expo, and were able to see different lighting effects created on the same set. I got to see a Red camera that was only $23,000. I will forego a house one day, I suppose. The frame rates and effects on the camera (before editing) were astounding. Also, although not much into still photography, we had a chance to touch a Hasselblad that was on sale for only $6,500--but from a normal distance it was able to zoom into the photo and see our individual eyebrow hairs. Lots of megapixels, 39 I believe. I must say SCAD's studio was most impressive of the entire visit.

As our group prepares for our documentary there's a bump in the road. The person to be interviewed had scheduling issues, so we had to completely re-do our plan. If we were Oprah's team, its a job well-done in recovering quickly.

Well, I saw "Flight" starring Denzel Washington before bed one night, that will be reviewed asap. Among others will be "Sicko" (Michael Moore), in the spirit of documentaries.

"A Horse and Two Goats" R.K. Narayan

On another note: I have the pleasure of working with another group of people in an English class (Ethics in Literature) to teach the class tomorrow-- R. K. Narayan's "A Horse and Two Goats." It's a short story about an old Indian man (Indian, not Native American) of the lowest of the lowest caste system living in poverty who encounters an American man who has a much easier life than "Muni." The language barrier makes for a comical exchange of two completely different conversations that contrast their lives and ends with the American buying the village's neglected statue, a treasure to him, for an amount of money that is insignificant to him but will set the old Indian man waaay ahead.

So--for the past several weeks and now at crunch time in all classes, it is "TEAMWORK." Precursor to successful projects...

This week in the life:

This week I saw "Dark Knight Rises" (Christopher Nolan, 2012) for the first time. I will elaborate further later. We began watching a film in my English class (Ethics in Literature) named "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee" (Yves Simoneau; HBO, 2007) that shows the perspective of Native American characters as land was taken, culture was suppressed, and they were forced to live in poverty on reservations in the beginning stages of the U.S. territory/border formation.

For health reasons, I've had to take a couple days off but I will continue to work on these assignments. I chose a painting that I love as my "Bring a Painting to Life" subject: Norman Rockwell's "Road Block" (1949). Years ago, I was given a reproduction (fancy for fake) of this painting by a friend, but the truck--I could've sworn--had "Coca-Cola" on it. Anyway, someone else talked me out of my faux artwork, so now I miss it. However, that painting always made me imagine that each person depicted has a different story. For me, it is the best choice. I will also be elaborating later on this.

My media usage has been cut drastically: I have uninstalled the Facebook app from my phone, logged out of other social media sites (logging in is time consuming and aggravating, so it forces me to use it less frequently), and I keep my phone silent most of the time to reduce the urgency felt to answer each text/call. It's now "order of importance."

Spanish is kinda beginning to "click" in my head. I have a hard time memorizing vocabulary, names, and dates (too much general anesthesia in my lifetime), but I am determined to be able to communicate with Spanish-speaking people. I am SOOO tempted to let this be my last semester of Spanish, since only two are required for my degree, but realistically that's a teaser. I think I would live the rest of my life knowing bits and pieces of a language and feeling like I cheated myself out of something better. Considering the length of "Dark Knight Rises," it'd be equivalent to walking in and out of the room every 20 minutes during this film if I stop learning Spanish now. So, ONWARD!!!

Although I am overwhelmed by the amount of assignments in all my classes this semester, I know the feeling of urgency will subside. After several weeks out of school and nothing productive to do, I know I will get back into "the swing of things" soon enough.

We all are experiencing anxiety over getting these blogs to work properly, so I am not in that alone. In Spanish II, I am having trouble remembering vocabulary from Spanish I. So I know how to conjugate verbs in a few categories, but I do not know what those verbs are. Learning a foreign language at (ahem cough cough) really is as hard as they say.

I was invited to participate on a team to create a PSA video that will enter a fellow student into a contest to win a scholarship, so in addition to our class projects and the play "Cactus Flower" I should get plenty experience this semester. In another class, I am participating in improv exercises. I have NEVER done improv outside of a local Mexican restaurant over a margarita with friends, and it wasn't class subject material even then. Needless to say, I'm very nervous about it.
Internally, I am really looking forward to working with my team on the documentary. I truly enjoy every step of film-making, even the preparation phase. I'm an "end result" type person, and do not mind sacrificing now for the best outcome. I am not competitive, either. I have noticed that theatre is a competitive atmosphere, and I suppose I have lived long enough to realize that we all have our specializations, gifts, talents, callings, or whatever name you call them by. I stay in my own lane, even if there are no lines drawn, so that we can all finish together.
Oh, and I did not know "Dark Knight Rises" was such a loooonnnnggg film! (nobody told me)