1/16
End of the First Week
End
of week 1 finds
our new grad students with a sense of relief, in that they at least have a feel
for what to expect. But this relief is short-lived as they now know that
the workload will be considerably heavier than what they had as undergrads &
what they expected. Wendy overheard other students saying things like, "I
don't know how they expect us to get it all done." This coming from
graduates of schools like Harvard, MIT, NYU & Berkeley.
Prior
to beginning school, each & every piece of correspondence Wendy received
from USC contained some form of a cautionary caveat, stating something to the
effect that successful completion of the production class (507) is a
prerequisite to continue with the program. At first, Wendy thought the
redundant warnings annoying, but now she understands. It's going to be a lot of
work.
Wendy
said some of the profs have already warned them that a few students in the last
class didn't manage their time well & were forced to drop. Profs warned
students that they need to be prepared to get after it. We've already canceled a few planned outings - to
conserve time - to give her more time for reading, planning, shooting etc.
Wendy
volunteered for the 'A' group in the Production class (507). There are two other
groups - 'B' & 'C'. She opted for the 'A' group cuz this means she might get
a chance to *direct* later in the semester - even though being in Group A means
she'll have lots of work (making films) due early, which puts extra
pressure on her now. And she's stressing already, cuz if she has any probs,
there's little/no time to recover, & she wants her stuff to rock.
She
feels more is expected of her, cuz she's the only one in her class who graduated
from USC's undergrad Film prgm (Critical Studies). There's only one other USC
grad in her class (of 50-ish), & he's a PolySci major.
She's
been spending most of her time reading a books on directing actors. Every once
in a while she'll yell out something's she's read that she finds especially
interesting. She feels that directing will be one of her strengths, cuz she
feels she'll be able to make actors feel safer & more comfortable than other
directors. She feels she has a natural inclination toward directing .. I can
vouch for that; she's constantly telling me what to do. =D
She
finds the difference between undergrads &
graduate students dramatic. Whereas the undergrads were "just kids",
her classmates are serious. They mean business.
A bunch of students got together after class on Thursday. Wendy said the other students, many from the East coast, said that USC's graduate Production program was the way to go - that it is far better than the undergrad program. Classmates from overseas, from countries like Singapore echoed the same.
As
a Critical Studies undergrad, Wendy
The
other book she's been tearing into is on Sound. They guy who teaches her
Sound class developed THX - the sound system in THX-equipped theaters. I
love the THX intro - the one that rumbles the seats at the end, when the bass
kicks in. Obviously, this guy has lots of real-world experience. The guy
(Tomlinson Holman) wrote the book they use as a text.
Tomorrow, she'll get together with Kellie for her first grad-school shoot. Kellie was in one of Wendy's undergrad films, BodyMind, which was shot on super-8. Can see a RealVideo movie of BodyMind here. You'll need a recent version of RealPlayer, which you can get here. Look for the small letters that say, RealPlayer Basic is our free player. They make you hunt for the freebie. You'll need at least version 6 to play the movie, & a broadband connection (fat pipe -> cable or DSL) to be able to stream (streaming is when the movie starts playing as soon as you click the link). If you still have only a dial-up connection (skinny pipe), you can still view the movie, but you'll have to download it first. A special download link is provide for those who don't have broadband connections. It'll take a while to download. I can suggest a download agent such as GetRight, which will restore lost connections, & keep you from having to start over from the beginning if you lose your connection. Can get GetRight here. Click the Most Popular link, or search for GetRight.
Wendy
said it still hasn't sunk in - that she really got into USC's graduate Production
program.
She also sometimes feels inadequate - in comparison to the other students in her class, from the best schools in the country, & around the globe. One kid in her class is named Noriega - can't help but wonder about that.. ;-)
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