The good and bad of this week

I feel like I was really productive this week. I just pawed through all my syllabuses and updated my to do list for the next 10 days and I'm not behind on anything yet. Though there is plenty of reading and watching in my future.

So, good things that happened:

Some days I feel like a poser

Maybe I shouldn't admit that in a public place. It might be that no one but the family is reading this now, but it is still public. I don't think it's entirely bad to admit though. I signed up for the screenwriting class because I knew it would force me to stretch and grow, so it's not that unexpected for me to admit that I'm slightly out of my depth.

Sound Design might be the winner

Had my 4th class today, Sound Design. I think this is going to be my favorite class for the semester. It's a technical class, so slightly more suited to my temperament than the writing class. It's project based so it will involve a lot of fun stuff like running around with a mic and recorder to create sound effects. And for homework we'll be watching (listening to) films like the Lord of the Rings, and Wall-E. I should go to Best Buy and get myself a decent pair of speakers.

I think this class will just be fun, but also I think there's a lot to learn. It's a long time since I took Fritz's radio 1 and radio 2 classes. The physics of microphones hasn't changed, but all the digital tools are new. I'm really looking forward to this one.

The down side of being pathologically organized

I had my first editing class tonight, so that's 3 of the 4 so far. I think it will be a good class. He's clearly a knowledgable and experienced editor. And I even think he has a plan. He certainly has a syllabus, and he's been doing this particular class for a while. But his approach, this evening anyway, felt very random. I doubt it was actually random. Maybe I'm too used to taking (and giving) software training classes. Even when I've had trainers who weren't very good - which was rare, but has happened - they were organized. I suppose it's the difference of teaching 3-5 straight days vs 13 weeks in a semester. In a 5 day class of mine that ends up being about 30 hours of instruction, and our semester it's 39 hours so it's not that big a difference. But because it stretches over months instead of a week I think it will end up being much more laid back. Or at least this instructor feels rather laid back. And slightly rambling. I'll just have to get used to it. Maybe I'll even end up liking it. Just right now it is so against the grain.

He's treating this as an advanced class because we've all taken production courses already where we were required to edit with Avid. But those were production courses so there was only just enough editing instruction to get us through getting our projects done. We all can manage a rough assembly and he really shouldn't need to be doing things like teaching us how to make in and out points. And he didn't, and nobody needed him to. Yet I would still just once like for someone to do things like walk me through the interface and make sure I know what things are called so that when I'm trying to look things up I'm using Avid terms rather than Final Cut or Premiere terms. I suppose it won't kill me to just sit down and go through every page of the text instead of using it as a reference as the instructor suggested.

Life as a TA

I have 2 classes today, but in neither am I a student. When I went to Ithaca College most everyone was there with an assistantship so we all had teachers we were assigned to as soon as we arrived. At BU unless you get the Comm 100 TA job you don't TA until 2nd year. Is that better or worse? Well financially it's worse. But here, because they wait until they know you and what you can do, you get jobs that are a good fit. At IC I was doing data entry for a professor's research. That's a common thing, but so much less fun than helping out production classes. 

Now I'm doing the grad production 1 class and the undergrad cinematography. The first will let me get to know the new first year MFA students. The second lets me work for John Hoover. I loved taking the class from him in the spring. I am certain to keep learning from him. And he has worked in New England for 30 years so he's very well connected. He is someone I want to impress. 

Films we talked about this term

I want to keep a running list of films that get mentioned in classes this term that I want to remember to see either right away or eventually. Check back periodically if you're curious. I'll keep adding to it.

And We're Back

First day of school today. I had 2 classes: Screen Adaptations, and Line Producing. You probably have a good idea what the first is, and only sort of an idea of what the second is. I think I'm going to like them both though, so I'll blather a bit about each.