Work Pile

Wow. This past couple of weeks was jam-packed with editing projects and screenplays that needed to be written. But I've never been more happy with my professional life. I'm getting lots of practice editing on two different platforms and I'm working on what will be my senior thesis.

This was my most recent and extensive project. I was commissioned by Rommel Andaya of ROMIX Productions to extend the Behind The Scene video for the one year anniversary since the shoot. It was a really fun project to edit. There was a lot of footage to go through but that was part of the fun. I'm happy with the result, but I did lag a little at the end. When Rommel first watched it, he said was interested for the entire video so that's a good sign haha. 

As for my senior thesis, I will be editing a western titled "Something About Death" but the title will eventually change. I've always wanted to do a western. What's more exciting is that we will be filming out in a little landmark town in Arizona, Chloride. The main team members and I actually visited the area last weekend for location scouting. It was generally successful but the only concern we have is the bar location. 

We will be taking a theatre and turning it into a bar. The theatre has a huge space to work with so it needs a lot of set design. Mind you, we will need to build the bar and fill it with tables and chairs and dress it with western-looking memorabilia. It will take a long time to complete. We sounded our concerns to the director/writer, Galen, but he assured us it'll work. Honestly, I'm really happy I'm not part of the production design team. Nevertheless, the scene we are filming in this location basically defines the movie. If this scene does not work, then the entire movie fails with it. 

Another concern is budget. The producer had to drop out of the project and now only three people are paying for most of the film. As of right now, the budget has reached $2,000+. I will expect it to reach $3,000 and possibly even pass it. I hope we can bring in someone that will gladly help contribute to the budget so each of us don't end up paying $1,000 each. 

Beside that, I truly am excited for this project. We secured some legit locations and they will look so amazing on camera. The residents of Chloride have been nothing but helpful to us. That's something hard to find in California. Also, everyone carries a gun in Chloride. 

My current project is a edit for OmniStories. I'm editing the prep montage of the first couple I worked for. The song I'm using is the acoustic version of Lovers in Japan by Coldplay. It's a great song and I need to get started on it asap. For my editing class, I'm making a recut of the movie Hot Fuzz and creating it into a romantic, almost Brokeback Mountain-esque trailer. I'm rather excited to see the result :) I'm also working on a feature screenplay for my Advanced Writing class. The logline of it is this: 

A wedding videography team struggles to produce a Same Day Edit while the co-owners of the company quarrel over their own relationship. Kinah, one of the shooters, is tired of recording happy brides and pressures June, her boyfriend and leader of the team, to turn her into his bride. 

As you can see, I based it on my experiences with my job as a PA for OmniStories. My characters are entirely original though, they do not resemble any of my co-workers. I have a lot of ideas for this. It's like a behind-the-scenes look of a business, almost like the movie Waiting... It will be a comedy, but not romantic since it doesn't end well for the couple haha. But I will do my best with this script so I can add it to my portfolio. The logline only reflects the "Emotional Story" of the script so I definitely need to redefine it.

RIP Steve Jobs.

August to September

I've accomplished my internship with TigerLily Media with the right to say I've been a part of a marketing that increased traffic on a Facebook page by over 500% and helped it reach 5,000 likes. It was a great learning experience working with the other interns through Skype and the WWW. I was invited back to stay an intern during the Fall semester but I already know that this upcoming school semester would keep me busy.

I also landed an editing internship with the San Diego Asian Film Foundation that would also take up a good chunk of my life, especially during the end of October when the festival is going on. This is exactly the type of internship I hoped to land before I graduate. The majority of my work is editing but I'm also doing some work behind the camera. So far, I've edited one project featuring Dante Basco aka Rufio from the 1991 film HOOK and helped film two other events. There's plenty of other projects to get started and finish. I'm definitely looking to be a part of filming and editing the How To Fest video that hasn't been renewed for two years. It gives insight to new film festival goers on how to go about the festival when it is their first time. Check out the video I edited below:

As for work, I received great feedback for my first edit with the Janet + Mark pictorial video. I finally got the rest of the footage I've been needed and finished the video within a day. It's a bit of a struggle when you don't have a lot of useable or presentable footage but that's where you have to get creative. I enjoy being an editor and PA during the weddings. I find it more satisfying than working fast food or folding clothes at a retail store. I never felt more happy with my job than right now. Of course, I'm still looking to work as a tutor at Mount Miguel but I haven't heard by from my supervisor. It'll be an on and off season for me since I'll be spending the majority of my time focusing in meeting deadlines for projects and graduating with high notes.

The first week of school was mostly spent on worrying whether I need to take the upper division writing course to graduate. Turns out, they added the requirement for this semester. The major conflict was that the editing class (which is what I'm looking forward to the most) and the writing class conflict. Just about everyone who wanted to graduate was worrying about how to go about this but we've found the solution. We'll still be getting credit for both classes but since we can add classes with conflicting schedules, we have to add one class as a special study class. Voytilla, the writing professor, added everyone trying to crash his class because he can't turn them away. I'll probably be dropping the cinematography class since I don't need it and it's just too much work with what I already have to do. The other class is the advanced film class, which is basically making films based off our own classmates' screenplays. Pitches start next week and I'm excited to hear what everyone has.

Pro X

I initially heard some great reviews about Final Cut Pro X from my classmates before it came out. Then it finally came out and all I read online were horrible reviews, including one saying this was "Apple's worst release in history." Well, today I finally got my hands on it. Of course, I can't fully understand the program until I actually edit with it but I got the gist of it from the owner.
It's definitely not better than FCP and it falls short on a lot of things. The backlash on Apple happened because editors were expecting something better than the old version. Here's a list of what's missing aka Cons:

• Chapter Markers
• Limited Export Settings
• No Export for Hi-Res JPGs
• No Support for EDL
• No XML Import
• No OMF export
• No Native Support for Red Raw files
• No Multicam
• No Capture from Tape or Output to Tape
• Limited Options for Arranging Your Workspace
• No Native Support for Third Party Plugins
• Support for External Monitoring
• Inability to Open Projects Saved From Previous FCP Versions

Pros

• Renders in background
• Synchronize clips feature
• Keyboard shortcut customization
• Full screen mode
• Better support for DSLRs
• Preview effects on clips in real time
• Improved audio editing
• ColorSync
• No more "Log & Transfer"
• $300

This will never be a complete list until I actually own the program and used it for myself.

Overall, Final Cut Pro X is a watered-down version of the regular Final Cut Pro and is not meant for professionals. I don't think Apple should get horrible reviews on this product from people that are not meant to use it. 

First Premiere Project

Janet + Mark

This whole week, I've been editing my first project for OmniStories using Adobe Premiere. I really miss Final Cut Pro. I'm all shortcuts with FCP, but with Premiere, I'm moving the mouse to the menu bar, looking for the proper action I need and clicking it. It's a frustrating process and I don't remember ever feeling this way with FCP, but then again, that was years ago. I'm getting used to it every time I use it, even using the blade and speed shortcut. I expressed my frustration on Twitter and got a surprising response back.

I didn't see it 'til a couple days later. I tweeted a couple minutes later realizing that the mistake was my own fault for pressing the track selection shortcut (A) instead of the selection tool (V).
Twitter is such an amazing thing. It allows companies to interact with their customers and directly reply to them like Adobe Premiere did with me. That simple response back made me feel like they really do want to help me out. An awesome marketing tool, it is.
As for my project, I'm not happy with the result. I honestly just put random clips together with the footage that was given to me. I was to edit the pictorials that include the bride and the groom but I only have footage of the groom, and not very good footage, I might add. The camera is very shaky and the content is not very elegant. I feel like my work is amateurish because of the footage and I'm dreading they will make of it. I'm only hoping they are testing me to see what I can do with what I have.
Btw, the Harry Potter movie was amazing. Not perfect, but amazing nevertheless.

Super 8 - Movie Review

Director: J.J. Abrams
Producer: Steven Spielberg, J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk
Screenplay: J.J. Abrams
Cinematography: Larry Fong
Editing: Maryann Brandon, Mary Jo Markey

This will be my first movie review and I hope to make this a regular thing for my blog. Also, be aware that I will not hesitate to spill spoilers. Well, I knew I had to watch Super 8 because Steven Spielberg is an executive producer. What can I say? The man is a genius in the filmmaking field. J.J. Abrams' hasn't really caught my eye since I watched Cloverfield. I haven't even watched Star Trek yet (it's on Netflix so I'll get to it soon enough). I heard great reviews about Super 8 from both sides (critics and moviegoers) so I had high expectations for it.

It did not fail. The story was told beautifully, visually and how it was organized to fall into place at the end. I'm also proud of the filmmakers choosing not to release the film in 3-D (I'm not a fan of 3-D, I'll write a blog about it sometime). I was also impressed by the cinematography. Whenever the locket was onscreen, the camera was set up to draw the audience's attention to it. It was a major part of the film since it was an emotional attachment for the main character. I wish I could get a screenshot of the ending when he is holding onto the locket so it doesn't get latched on the alien's ship. That was my favorite shot of the film. I have to watch the movie again to analyze the cinematography even more. Also... LENS FLARE, LENS FLARE, LENS FLARE. It's like J.J. Abrams signature move to put lens flares in his film. As I mentioned, I didn't see Star Trek but my professor Rich Underwood pointed out how often Abrams uses the common camera trick. I have nothing against it but it's just something I have to point out.

They also did an amazing job casting the right people. The kids were great. I absolutely loved them, especially the kid with the braces. "Can we get another order of fries? My friend here is fat." It's rare to have a great cast of kids that know how to act (comedic, horror) and interact so naturally together. Elle Fanning was a great choice for the female lead role. Great acting must run in the family.

The film had an E.T. vibe to it. Aliens, missing home, connection to humans, children, government interference, the list continues. But I can't deny that the film is almost a perfect mix of E.T. and Cloverfield. Although the story was on point, it was just all too familiar. And I wasn't too fond of the alien interaction scene. It wanted to make me roll my eyes... I mean, I understand that it's something that couldn't be avoided because of where the story was going so it doesn't necessarily ruin the movie for me.

Also, I should have stayed for the credits. Apparently, they showed the film they were working on at the end. Damn.

Score (out of 10): 9, the story felt all too familiar but that's typical for mainstream films
Recommend?: Yes

*I just saw on Wiki that J.J. Abrams is working on a Samurai Jack film based on the animated show. I loved that show. I'm quite excited for it.