[edit]

Merry Christmas everyone. And Happy New Year, too.

All afternoon I’ve been working on a final cut of my Atom short film with the director, Bryan Manning. We worked together and used ideas from both of our edits to make a very strong cut that we are going to submit to the Missouri Film Alliance of Springfield’s Show-Me International Film Festival for competition. If our film is considered, it will be screened at the Creamery Arts Center in downtown Springfield during the festival. Check out the new (and much better) cut of our film!

Watch it now!

I am officially done with finals! I have a critique of my Moxie commercial for MED 465 this afternoon, but no more tests or projects! It has been a crazy week. Not only have I been busy finishing projects and studying for my one final (I lucked out this semester), but I’ve also been hanging out with people more in the past week than the past three months combined probably. Last Wednesday I went with some friends to Haruno to get sushi and drinks (sake and sojo – yum!). Thursday I went to the Mud Lounge after I got off work to help my friend Ed celebrate his birthday. Friday I had the Film Society Christmas party. Saturday I had a family reunion/Christmas party in Pleasant Hope, then drove back to be at a graffiti party (wear a white shirt, bring a Sharpie, write on each other) at my friend’s house. It was by far the biggest/craziest party I’ve ever been to. I’d say around 100 people were there, and they went through 3 kegs of beer. Fun times. Then on Sunday night I had a party at the Moxie for employees, then I was at school until nearly 2:00am finishing my Moxie commercial. Then last night I went to Haruno again with a bunch of friends (and some people I didn’t know) and we all had sushi and more sojo. We left about midnight and some of us went to Fish for some drinks. Needless to say, I haven’t gone to bed before 2:00am in over a week. Tonight I am working at the Moxie and will be out late, then tomorrow night I’m also working at the Moxie and afterwards heading to the Belmont to catch the rest of the The Office party hosted by the Moxie. Saturday night I’m probably going to a party too…

I am about partied out! I start my new job on Monday though, so I won’t be going out during the week as much (who am I kidding…). Anyways, hope everyone’s finals went well (for those of you that had them)! I think I am going to end up with two A’s, a B, and a C. Not bad for being incredibly busy this semester with writing a 45-page script, completing two big film productions, writing and producing two 30-minute TV shows (my toughest project this semester by far), writing quite a few papers/production reports, plus working 30+ hours a week.

Speaking of my script, it turned out really good. I had to drastically change some things at the last minute due to something that happened on the show, so I’m still working out some kinks in the plot. But my teacher was very impressed by it. She thinks I could get into a really good grad school with it, and she suggested I try to get my master’s in dramatic writing. I really love writing, and after taking two scriptwriting classes, it’s obvious that it’s one of my many passions. But I just don’t know if I could continue school, both financially and mentally. I want to WORK! I want MONEY! I want to LEAVE MISSOURI! Anyway, I’m going to submit my script to a few competitions this spring, and then I plan on writing another script at some point for a different TV show, that way I can submit them to some agents at some point. Writing for a current TV show is called writing a “spec script,” and it’s what gets people jobs. For example, if the agent liked my Studio 60 script, he might pass it along to a producer for a similar show, such as Entourage, and that show might hire me as a staff writer if they really liked it. This is one way of getting your foot in the door. But you have to really be able to write. And my professor (who used to write for Star Trek and worked visual effects on From Dusk Till Dawn and Terminator 2) thinks I’ve got it in me. I just want to keep writing and see where it takes me. However, I am considering applying to NYU…

Ok, enough of this post for now. I hate writing about myself on here, I always feel like I’m bragging or self-centered or something. But I know there are a couple people who might wanna know about all this. Or maybe I’m just kidding myself. Either way, it’s my blog, and I do what I want!

P.S. Be sure to check out the previous post – I uploaded my short film.

I uploaded my short film, Atom, that I produced and edited in my cinematography/editing class to YouTube. The quality SUCKS compared to the tape version, so please excuse the pixel problems and loss of sound quality. This is my edit of the film, but we’re submitting the director’s edit to some student short film competitions in the spring.

If you feel confused by the story, don’t worry, many people are. It’s pretty vague, but we wanted it that way. Kind of a “take from it what you want” story. Essentially, the film is about two friends with two very different perspectives on life. Atom, the guy in black, just lost his mother and is dealing with his resentment towards her, as well as his regrets for not saying goodbye. Ben, the comedic character, provides some dialogue meant to show that you shouldn’t take yourself so seriously all the time, and sometimes people do crazy things for attention, but in the end everyone just wants to feel connected. Yeah, something like that. The director, Bryan Manning, is much better at explaining it than I. The film is pretty surreal, and can be interpreted as a dream, although not necessarily. Vague enough for you?

Watch Atom!