It does not seem quite possible that I have been living in Berlin for two weeks, but here I am. I think I am still in a little bit of culture shock, but I’m not as homesick as I was last week. I think it has helped to get to know people better and being able to fill the days with work and exploring the city. I’ve decided that Berlin is definitely one of those places that you can’t help but fall in love with it, the more you learn about it.
Last week I did not get a chance to talk about the film groups. I will be working with Josh Huffines, D’ung and Sean and I am especially excited to teach others in my group with the experience I have. We sort of decided on rough roles for everyone. I will be working in the writing and directing departments and working with Sean with the pre-production stuff. And, we all expressed interest in learning more about editing, so when it comes time for that, we will get together for a big editing party! Over the weekend, we had our first group meeting and hopefully we worked out all the kinks. We mainly had organization and communication problems and trying to find times that worked for all of us. I think next time, we just need to be a little clearer with each other and also be willing to be a little more flexible in scheduling and making time for project.
This week, in class, I sort of had a re-realization about how important images are in the learning and memory processes. I was talking with Chris McCarter about the readings we had this week and we agreed that being here while learning about its history makes the readings a million times more interesting because we can connect the reading to places that we pass by everyday. The film this week was Ruttman’s Berlin: Symphony of a Big City. I was a little apprehensive to see this film. In one of my previous film classes, we watched Man with a Movie Camera, which I personally found uninteresting. Perhaps I have grown as a cinema student, but I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed the Berlin symphony film. I think the way it was edited and juxtaposed captured my interest a little more.
This weeks class work was interesting, but I was much more involved and engrossed in the Object film project and writing the script for the final film project before Josh went off to the UK. The work paid off though, because I feel like we’ve prepared really well. We decided to make the Object project about the laundry machine and, although it sounds kind of weird, but I am really excited about shooting. And, I’m pretty satisfied with the script. I think the dialogue could use some work, but the important thing is that it’s done and ready for the next step. I’m really looking forward to the read through, because I think that will help make the dialogue sound more natural or rather naturally awkward (since the character is supposed to be slightly awkward). We’re working through it and I really, really love the shots that we’ve set up already too.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Week One
Upon preparing for this program, I knew I was about to embark upon something completely different. As a cinema studies major, film usually nothing more than a discussion in a classroom, which I love to do. But aside from my interest in film from a scholarly standpoint, it is the process of filmmaking that truly fascinates me. It is the kind of work that I really get excited about and lose sleep over (in a good way). I have only had a little over a year of filmmaking experience, and I just want to learn more. I want to explore all the different aspects of the process and re-learn things that I have learned in the past. I can hardly wait just thinking of the prospect.
On my first night in the city, I hung out with Josh Huffines—thank goodness, or else I would have been horribly jet-lagged. Being film-loving, kindred spirits, the project happened to come up. I honestly was completely wrapped up in an on-going project back in Seattle; I had not really given the Berlin film projects much thought yet. I knew Josh from the previous year and he knew I am always interested in writing, so he pitched me an idea for a fiction film. His idea was sort of a typical boy-meets-girl type romantic comedy. I don’t remember why, but I had gotten the impression that most people were more interested in documentaries. But, I knew I wanted to do a fiction film because I have always been consistently drawn to the writing process of things. I am also always keen to collaborate. I could not be a bigger fan of collaboration. Like I told Josh, “Collaboration is my new second love, even though I don’t know what my first love is yet.” In this past year I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of so many collaborative film projects and each one turns out way different that what you originally had in mind. But, I believe it is only in the best way possible, because with collaboration you get to take the best ideas from each side and put them all together to make one big masterpiece.
The only reservation I had about joining the group was the fact that I was well acquainted with Josh before the program. I was kind of afraid that taking the safe route was a big part of my decision. After the film this week, it confirms it only a little (I am still very much into the story idea). This week we watched Daniel Eisenberg’s Displaced Person. Like a good little cinema studies student, I jotted down the terms and techniques that he used, but other than that I was not quite sure what to think at first. Once the discussion started, that helped me get my film analysis wheels turning. The film had some focus on Hitler and his visit to Paris and I think that when a film has such an infamous character such as he, the viewer is almost forced to focus mainly on him. But, I found myself doing quite the opposite. I found the footage from everyday life much more intriguing.
I did not really think about why this was, while I was in class. But, now that I think about it, it is possibly because that screening and discussion day definitely spoke to how I was feeling at the time. As cheesy as it may sound, I definitely felt like a displaced person in this first week and I still kind of do. A few days later I got really homesick and has some personal family problems come up. It is strange being somewhere without the comfort of your friends, family, and routine. There are a few people on the program that are lucky enough to already be close friends before the program. I, on the other hand, have to start over, which can be a really cool opportunity to meet some amazing people, but also kind of scary and kind of lonely at first. But, to get back to the discussion day, we also talked about Berlin’s history and the various complex layers. That day was particularly helpful in my creative process and directing my ideas for the final film project. Instead of just making the film a boy-meets-girl story, we could also make the story a kind of allegory of our time spent here and our building relationship and memory with Berlin. From discussion with Josh, we have had many similar ideas such as this one. He seems to be more interested in the character relationship rather than the symbolic relationship, but I think this will work out because, while writing the script, we can keep each other in check.
On my first night in the city, I hung out with Josh Huffines—thank goodness, or else I would have been horribly jet-lagged. Being film-loving, kindred spirits, the project happened to come up. I honestly was completely wrapped up in an on-going project back in Seattle; I had not really given the Berlin film projects much thought yet. I knew Josh from the previous year and he knew I am always interested in writing, so he pitched me an idea for a fiction film. His idea was sort of a typical boy-meets-girl type romantic comedy. I don’t remember why, but I had gotten the impression that most people were more interested in documentaries. But, I knew I wanted to do a fiction film because I have always been consistently drawn to the writing process of things. I am also always keen to collaborate. I could not be a bigger fan of collaboration. Like I told Josh, “Collaboration is my new second love, even though I don’t know what my first love is yet.” In this past year I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of so many collaborative film projects and each one turns out way different that what you originally had in mind. But, I believe it is only in the best way possible, because with collaboration you get to take the best ideas from each side and put them all together to make one big masterpiece.
The only reservation I had about joining the group was the fact that I was well acquainted with Josh before the program. I was kind of afraid that taking the safe route was a big part of my decision. After the film this week, it confirms it only a little (I am still very much into the story idea). This week we watched Daniel Eisenberg’s Displaced Person. Like a good little cinema studies student, I jotted down the terms and techniques that he used, but other than that I was not quite sure what to think at first. Once the discussion started, that helped me get my film analysis wheels turning. The film had some focus on Hitler and his visit to Paris and I think that when a film has such an infamous character such as he, the viewer is almost forced to focus mainly on him. But, I found myself doing quite the opposite. I found the footage from everyday life much more intriguing.
I did not really think about why this was, while I was in class. But, now that I think about it, it is possibly because that screening and discussion day definitely spoke to how I was feeling at the time. As cheesy as it may sound, I definitely felt like a displaced person in this first week and I still kind of do. A few days later I got really homesick and has some personal family problems come up. It is strange being somewhere without the comfort of your friends, family, and routine. There are a few people on the program that are lucky enough to already be close friends before the program. I, on the other hand, have to start over, which can be a really cool opportunity to meet some amazing people, but also kind of scary and kind of lonely at first. But, to get back to the discussion day, we also talked about Berlin’s history and the various complex layers. That day was particularly helpful in my creative process and directing my ideas for the final film project. Instead of just making the film a boy-meets-girl story, we could also make the story a kind of allegory of our time spent here and our building relationship and memory with Berlin. From discussion with Josh, we have had many similar ideas such as this one. He seems to be more interested in the character relationship rather than the symbolic relationship, but I think this will work out because, while writing the script, we can keep each other in check.
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