"Island"

In less than two weeks I am directing a short scene for my Directing 1 class. The scene is an excerpt from my feature script, and I'm pretty pumped up to do it. I meant to shoot this scene over the summer, but didn't end up doing it due to scheduling and simply being busy with other shoots.
I'm happy that I'm doing it here and now because the two actors in it are the ones I have been picturing for the roles for a little while. We'll see if it lives up to what I'm looking for, but I've wanted both of these guys to play in this for a bit. They both agreed to play their respective roles and that makes me all the more excited.
Another thing that excites me is my uninvolvement in the cinematography of it. I always have shot the things I have directed, and it gets very stressful, very fast. It's time I move on from that. My roommate, Cody, is shooting it, and he's coming up with his own shotlist and everything, and all I have to do is approve it after we go through it.

Filmmaking. Weeeeeeeeeeee!

Happy thoughts and the non-difference they make in certain situations

I'm not going to delve into the topic of faith and spirituality. I can pretty much guarantee you that for the length of my time writing on this page, I will never do that to you. I know how many people feel, I understand, and I have my thoughts and beliefs as well. That's what it will be left at. What I'm going to say has nothing to do with either of those things (faith and spirituality).

If something seemingly awful may happen to me or someone I know, and it is out of my or their control, do not tell me to, "Hope for the best," and, "Think positively for them because it helps." Who is being helped? How is it helping? I'm sorry for the gross analogy, but I refuse to wrap a turd in tin foil and call it a hunk of silver. If Al Qaeda says they're going to attack a certain building in Lebanon, and you tell me, "Think positively and it may not happen," I'm not going to say, "You know what? You're right!" The thing is, I'm an optimist. I really am. But I'm also a realist. My "positive thoughts" cannot prevent someone across the world from acting on their own accord. They will do as they please, and have no idea that I even exist. My brainwaves are not reaching them and influencing any aspect of their life or decision making process. Maybe if it were something that I'm voluntarily doing, such as purchasing a car, then it would be appropriate to think "Stay positive". We all know how big of a pain it is to find a car. You'll always find the one you're looking for and it's just a matter of time, but that is another story entirely.

Where can a line of priority be drawn?

I always hear classmates talking about this, and pretty much want them to shut up for complaining so much. They talk about school as if they don't have a choice to go. They say, "Ugh. I have this shoot on Wednesday, and my professor won't let me get out of class to do it! Isn't that the point of going to film school!? To work on shoots!?"

Yes, it's true, one of the reasons for going to film school is to work on shoots. But there is another reason, and it's not just pertinent to film school. It has to do with going to school in general. You are meant to be taught responsibility. If you blow off prior engagements for new ones, then you are not dependable, and your word is worth nothing. Having class on a certain day is a prior engagement. Think of each class like a shoot. There is no rush, so you don't need to run out the door. Whatever shitty gig you were asked to PA on will come again.

Those are my thoughts when I hear people complaining about that.

What about homework though? I have no problem getting to class every week. I have no problem telling people that I can't work on their shoot if I have class. Hell, even paid gigs too. The thing is, I'm paying for classes. Why would I blow off something that I'm paying an arm and a leg for, only to be paid a small fraction of that tuition by whatever producer for some shoot? It makes no sense.

Again, back to the homework question. What about it? It's one thing to miss class, but I have a ton of homework. Here's an example. This weekend I have to write a paper for Visual Production Design discussing the production design of Chinatown. I have to read the entire book Thinking in Pictures, the Making of the Movie Matewan by John Sayles. I have to write a paper on that book. I have to create call sheets for one week of a feature shoot.

It's not so much that I can't do it, but it is enough to make me not want to do it. My time is spent instead editing this short that I DP'd over the summer, and going out to film various stuff with my roommate's new car mount. So is my time spent wasted? No. Are my priorities out of whack? Probably a little bit. But I'm not missing something I paid for. I'm missing something that is tacked on to that payment. But I need to do the homework, or I might as well not even go back to class. Hmmm. Never going back to class. Now that sounds good.

Progression is, by nature, the art of moving forward

Have I progressed? In what way? Do I constantly waste my time? I always find myself asking these questions, with no real answers to follow.What is progression if time is wasted? If you waste all of your time, then when are you demonstrating and furthering your progression?

My girlfriend, Laura, used to say "Don't ask questions." Though I disagree with that statement, sometimes it does ring true. I find that when I get all caught up in a slump where I'm asking myself all of these questions, I'm not helping the situation. I find that if I start thinking about these questions I move on to grander questions that only continue to set me back and screw me up psychologically. I aim to maintain a charismatic, confident persona, and it's pretty difficult if I'm sitting here in self-doubt, if I can call it that.

90% of the time the word doubt is not in my vocabulary, but I believe everyone has an ON/OFF switch. Sometimes mine gets hit, and it's a struggle to flip it back to ON.

Anyway, I will not sit here and sulk. I have class in thirty minutes and need to get there. And after that?

Sold!

Today I sold my Canon EOS Rebel T2i (550D). I had it for over a year, and I figured it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Don't get me wrong. I love the T2i, but it is a cheap, consumer-grade, plastic piece of poo compared to many other counterparts. I only sold the camera's body, as I am replacing it with a Canon EOS 60D, and wish to resume the use of my "leet-sauce" lenses.

There are many reasons for the upgrade, regardless of how minuscule they may be. The 60D has a pro-grade body. It is sturdier, stronger, heavier, more weather-proof, and there is less thin plastic used. It handles both heat and cold better, and has many more functions, both physically and internally.
It has manual white balancing, a built-in level, and many more features that I find desirable. All of these features are non-existent in the T2i.

One of my hobbies involves skateboarding photography and videography. I have a beautiful 8mm fisheye, and a top handle cradle for my camera, but can't effectively use either because I can't see what's on the screen. The addition of a flip out screen allows me to do this.

Anyway, with the upgrade to a 60D, I am investing in a camera that will last me longer, and will better serve my needs. The reason I didn't originally purchase the 60D is an annoying one. They released the 60D within a month after I purchased my T2i, and I was unable to return my T2i with the deal I got on it. I suppose I could have sold it, but I didn't.

If Given the Choice

If given the choice of one, and only one, super power, I would land on control of time. If you control time, then all else is variable. There's no sense in having the ability to fly, or be super strong, or highly intelligent. There's no sense in any other power as long as the option of time control is in play.

With that power, you will never involuntarily waste time again. I say involuntarily because everything involving time is involuntary. The mere existence of something that is considered to be a waste of time is only so because of the perpetual forward motion at all times. Every second that ticks by will never be seen again, so anything deemed unproductive is a supposed waste. If you can control time, then you have all the time in the world to do whatever you want. Time lost to sleep? Forget about it. Honestly, for me that would be the primary use of time control. Unless intentionally trying to cause a passing of time, I would never sleep in real-time again. I would freeze time, sleep as long as I want, then resume. I would sleep only between fractions of a second.

Regret would no longer exist, as hindsight is 20/20. I stand by that decision. No other power compares.

After all, this is a bullshit topic to bring up and discuss.

Time to go to sleep.

New Beginnings

Something that many web-dwelling people experience from time to time: a desire to start over.
On Tuesday, October 11, 2011 I sat in my computer chair, wandering through my infinite abyss of thought. I was basking in my self-disappointment, feeling that I have been wasting excessive amounts of time in a very short period. That was yesterday.

Today is another day.


I moved to Los Angeles a little over a year ago. I did not come here to spend hours on social networking websites. I moved here to make films. And that is what I'm doing, and that is what I will continue to do.

Tumblr is not what it used to be. I am abandoning mine, as the times have changed. It is no longer a personal blog website. Therefore, I move here, where I will post whatever I want, and not be absorbed by the pursuit of limitless followers, and where my page will not be bogged down by shameless reblogging of meaningless content.

All original, all the time.