Perks of being an employee under the Viacom family: Free screenings at Paramount’s gorgeous theater! Saw Transformers 3 & Captain America here so far. (Taken with Instagram at Paramount Pictures)
Big shoes to fill. (Taken with Instagram at Universal Starway)
Bacon cupcakes @ Robot & Monster Gallery. (Taken with Instagram at Nickelodeon Animation Studios)
Korean BBQ Burrito. (Taken with Instagram at Fat Sal’s)
(Taken with Instagram at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Blvd)
I might not be the biggest Harry Potter fanboy, but I really enjoyed the entire series growing up. I’m sure everyone has their memories growing up with the HP series and although I wasn’t a particularly fanatical follower, a part of me will always hold some stake in the world created by J.K. Rowling.
My “journey” started in middle school, when we had those book fairs in the multi-purpose room. I remember picking up the book and reading a large portion of it in the room. I remember taking it home and reading it by night light, painting the world of Hogwarts in my head. Fast forward a little bit, and I remember the excitement I felt when I saw the fourth book on sale at Costco. And of course, I remember the moment the first movie came out, and all of the gorgeous films that followed.
As much as I like to poke fun at the extreme fans of Harry Potter, this series has definitely left its mark on me. Both the books and the films will serve as an inspiration for me, and I will forever be in awe at J.K. Rowling’s ability to (both literally and figuratively) create a magical world.
I was fortunate to get an opportunity to PA for my friend Kari Barber’s USC MFA Thesis film, Maruta. Kari was a fellow intern with me at DreamWorks Animation last summer, and I’ve been really impressed with her progress on her thesis. Even the trailer is pretty breathtaking, but considering the amount of work she put into this project I don’t expect anything short of a masterpiece. =]
Though I wasn’t able to help out as much as I wanted cuz of school, work, and other obligations, it was cool to PA and explore the set. I even got to see a character get “amputated” and shot at which was pretty neat. I also saw my name on a call sheet for the first time in my life (woohoo!). Hopefully that won’t be the last.
So I’ve reached the midpoint of my summer program and thought it’d be nice to reflect on it so far.
As geeky as it sounds, I’m thoroughly enjoying my “summer courses”. Though I may complain about the workload and balancing it with internship and other stuff, it’s been a really great peek into the entertainment industry from one of the most respected film schools in the world.
A big component of the UCLA Summer Motion Picture Producing Institute (wow that’s a mouthful) is that we get to take a variety of classes ranging from an Overview of the Contemporary Film Industry to Planning the Independent Feature. As a student coming from a school without many opportunities in production or entertainment business, I feel like a very enthusiastic sponge every night, sitting in the comfortable seats of Melnitz Hall and listening to seasoned professionals share the secrets of their craft.
One assignment which has been particularly challenging is our project in Planning the Independent Feature. I’ve never imagined that I’d sit through a film class and have absolutely no idea what was going on. Though I know that I’m still fresh to this industry, this class has served as a very humbling reminder that I actually know nothing. Our ongoing project for this class is to pick a script and essentially define a step by step workflow for the footage of that script. We’re also assigned a shooting format and a location (I was lucky to have drawn Los Angeles and 35mm…not so lucky to have drawn a foreign format of Phantom Hi Speed…wth?). I ended up picking The Social Network because I’m a big fan of Aaron Sorkin’s work, the whole Facebook story, and of course, the lovely Rashida Jones.
All in all, it’s been a really fun experience learning the steps footage takes from the beginning to final DI. Other fun projects we’ve done include examining SAG agreements and writing mock letters to waiver specific policies, doing company/entertainment mogul profiles, writing script coverage (which I also get to do at my internship…haha). I actually enjoy the script reading and coverage writing process, which has made working in development a really enjoyable experience (that’s another topic for another blog though).
Cheers to a great rest of July!
The iconic Paramount Water Tower. (Taken with Instagram at Paramount Studio Lot)
DB @ Paramount. (Taken with Instagram at Paramount Picture Studios)
Salmon Eggs Benedict & Blue/Red Velvet Pancakes.
