School and Pics

I can't believe it's almost Friday again. I think time has literally sped up. I guess it's true that time seems to move slowly when everything is new and then gradually increases speed once you get into the rhythm of things. Pretty soon I'll be writing about my last week of class and telling everyone what I'm up to next. I've hardly had a moment to spare in this life of mine!

....which I guess isn't really a problem. Being a student is nice in that way. I just do what everyone tells me to do. I show up for class and do whatever is on the agenda to do. I don't have to plan for things, I don't have to be in charge. Sure there's homework and stress over group projects, essays and scripts, but it's a far cry from leading, grading, speaking and teaching. What a nice change!

So what have I been learning? Well, it's all rather dull and boring if you're not into film stuff... but it's  interesting to me!

1. Camera's are awesome. I love framing the shot, tracking motion, different angles, pulling focus. I have no clue what I'm doing, of course, but ignorance is a particular kind of bliss... it all looks great to me!

2. Lighting can really make or break a shot.

3. Sound is an entire school course in and of itself. Complicated! It's so hard to record and mix good sound. And to get that "movie quality" sound requires awesome skills in mixing....

 4. Working with a team is hard! For every shoot, even if it's just a couple of shots, you need at least one a person on camera, one assistant camera person, a director and the sound guy... at least. And since we're new at all this, chaos usually reigns at least for a while when we're sent out to do an assignment.

Enough of writing! Here are some pictures.

Little me and the big camera. That thing is heavy!

Doing an exercise in three-point lighting.

Me working the sound mixer for a shoot we did last Friday.

My team had an unfortunate time trying to figure out the mixer two days ago. Me and my Thai roomie got bored and decorated our classmate with flowers, while another classmate practiced with the boom.

And this is where I get to go on the weekends to do homework. Hooray for going to school in Hawaii!

And once in a while I go and have adventures, like climbing a 14,000 ft. mountain.

Me and friends jumping on top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii's tallest mountain (and the world's tallest too, if you measure it from where it starts, deep underwater).

And finally, a picture of what I did to my orange when I got antsy in class. 

So that's all for now. Next time I'll tell you about how I got talked into and (hopefully) survived, being in a dodge-ball tournament tomorrow. 

I have a very healthy fear of getting hit in the head.....