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.