Parties are why we make movies

Orientation continued on Thursday. We met in small groups and were introduced to the Arri SR, the film camera we will be using to shoot our first MOS project. We set the camera and tripod up and practiced loading the magazine. It ended up being a refresher for me because I've shot on an Arri before, but it was a much needed and much appreciated refresher. I found out that we get production allotments from the department for each of our projects, including rolls of film, vouchers for film processing and transfers, and sometimes we just get a check to cash and use for whatever we need to in the production of our films. That is sweet. I will end up spending a lot of money of my own, but this is going to save me a ton. If I play my cards right, these allotments, scholarships, and graduate positions could make this educational experience a whole hell of a lot cheaper than anyone could have expected. 

In the evening we went to the Dean's welcome and gathered with all of the undergrad and grad students of Tisch. Every department had to stand up. Undergrad film=huge. Grad film=small. I like that. We are special. Afterwards there was a party for all first-year grad students in Tisch (party 2 of the week). There were waiters and waitresses walking around with snacks. There were free drinks and we each got Tisch bags and stylish Tisch flip flops. 

I must go back and mention the best part of the production orientation on Wednesday that I forgot to write about in the last post. One of the things we have been learning a lot about is insurance, how we use the school's insurance for equipment and shoots, and how a couple huge losses in the past couple years have threatened the school's insurance plan (one grad student had a whole truck with the equipment inside stolen and another burned a truck to the ground by closing the back door when a generator was running inside because it was too loud). The head of the production center gave us a formula to prevent equipment theft: he drew a circle on the board with two Xs for eyes + a crowbar x 30 seconds= THEFT. The formula is read like this: take a crackhead plus a crowbar, give him 30 seconds, and your equipment is jacked. It was hilarious. He invented the formula and was wearing a sweatshirt and t-shirt with the formula on them. He sells them on his website. I will definitely be getting one of those. 

Friday each production crew checked out equipment (which we will be keeping for the entire semester) and moved it to different crew members' apartments. We had a few last orientation sessions in the afternoon and a town hall meeting with all of the students in the program (2nd-5th years) and then, of course, a giant party (number 3 of the week). Great finger foods, desserts, and drinks (CORONA!). We ate and drank in the same room many of us interviewed in. It was unreal. I drank and ate and met Amy Fox, my screenwriting professor (the writer of Heights) and talked about the movie and what it was like to get it made. I also met my Aesthetics professor and we jammed about Obama. All of the professors were drinking and talking with the students, including the Chair of the department. Around 11pm we got kicked out and most people headed across the street to the Apple Bar, a common NYU hangout. The Chair, Amy Fox and some other professors came and stayed until well after 1am. We drank some more and hung out. I got to meet the last couple people in my class I hadn't officially met yet. And a little before 2am I finally went home. It was a great night. And I will say, I took advantage of the free beer at the party (5 coronas) and the drinks my friends bought me at the bar (2 coronas, a SoCo and lime shot) but remained responsible and in control throughout the entire evening. 

It all starts Tuesday. A year from now I will be a different person and a very different filmmaker. 

"Your professional film career has already begun."

There is a lot to say. I will try not to make this post too long, or I will break it up into multiple posts.

One of the things that has stayed with me after all of the days of orientation this week was a particular moment during introductions the first day of orientation. Everyone stood up, said where they were from, where they went to undergrad, if they had any film experience, and other stuff about themselves. The ages of my classmates vary (there are five to six 22 year olds, the rest are older). When a couple of the older students introduced themselves, they expressed how overjoyed and relieved they were to be here. Years of working in jobs or pursuing careers that were unfulfilling had beaten them down (they didn't say it, but you could hear it in their voices) and they felt so privileged to finally be able to do what they wanted. Maybe it took them a long time to realize they wanted to pursue film or maybe they knew all along and never wanted to admit it or were afraid to, but now they were facing it head on and were ecstatic. I always knew I was lucky to not only get in here but to have the ability to come here, and hearing the stories of some of my older classmates, it made me really appreciate my current situation and this wonderful new school and community of filmmakers I have become a part of.  I have always tried to be a person who is grateful for all of the advantages I have and my classmates have reminded me that humility and appreciation for all of my blessings are qualities to be cherished now and forever. I want to help others achieve their dreams, because just getting by is not living. A nice job, car, apartment, house, clothing, vacations, etc is not living. People need a chance to be really happy.

Wednesday consisted of long sessions about the post-production and production centers. We also chose class representatives and had a brief financial aid session. For lunch I decided to finally use my meal plan and try out an NYU dining hall. Now, I'm a grad student, so I've done the whole campus dining thing before, but when you're on an urban campus at a new school looking for a dining hall to eat in all alone because no other grad students have meal plans, well, it can be an uncomfortable (embarrassing) experience. Every dining location that was listed on the map was in a residence hall. I had no idea how to get in and I had no desire to ask. Freshmen streamed past me giggling and sucking on their binkies (exaggeration) and I grew even more uncomfortable with the idea of a meal plan. Eventually I wandered to 14th street and found a quiet dining hall in a building that has a fitness center, meeting rooms, student housing, and a career center (I don't even know what you would label this building) and is supposedly across the street from a house Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes just bought. I had lunch and declared my first NYU dining hall experience a minor success. Dinner, however, would be the same thing all over again. Except it was late, I was tired, and once again didn't feel like asking for help. So I walked all the way back to 14th street after unsuccessfully hunting down a closer dining facility, got some pizza to go (you can swipe a meal to get into a dining hall and then fill a plastic container to take with you instead of staying there and having to eat yourself with all the other eat-by-yourself losers) and went back to my room. I changed my meal plan to a more flexible plan and had no immediate plans for venturing into a dining hall anytime soon. Nevertheless, the next day I found a much closer dining hall and food court with a Quiznos and other good food (one meal gets you an actual meal, meaning: a sub, chips, and drink. Take that Towson meals) that I have been enjoying (for FREE with my FREE meal plan) ever since. 

Living in NYC is riding waves. It's highs and lows. Peaks and troughs. Great food, culture, excitement, walkability, movie everything--high. Crowded sidewalks, unfamiliar NYU dining facilities--low. I was pretty unhappy with NYC when I couldn't find a dining hall to eat dinner in. But as soon as I ate and settled back into my apartment and looked out the window as this beautiful city, I was riding high once again. 

James Franco is my classmate

Today was the first day of orientation. I was a bit nervous, so I arrived at the Tisch building a bit early. When I walked in, I passed James Franco, who was sitting on a bench in a lobby. I thought, "that's cool." I went up to our meeting room and sat down. A couple minutes passed and the room began to fill with students, and in comes James Franco. He sits down among the students and listens to all of the orientation stuff. I kept thinking, "I wonder when James Franco is going to stand up and tell us cool stuff about the film industry." It wasn't until about an hour passed that I had the realization that he was also a student there, one of my classmates in fact. Pretty exciting because he has experience working in the industry and might have some helpful knowledge he could pass onto us. I keep referring to him as James Franco. I need to introduce myself and get to know him as James and stop pretending I know him. If he somehow reads this post I'm gonna be mad embarrassed. 

During orientation we got to see a couple student films. We also got to meet most if not all of the faculty members, the Graduate Assistants (who are 3rd year students in the program who get FREE TUITION to be assistants in the department), and the Associate Dean, who was awesome. I got the impression that all of the faculty and the dean are genuinely invested in our success and are here because they really care, so that's cool. We had a one-on-one session with our advisors. Mine is working on a documentary she has been shooting in Afghanistan. She provided us with yummy Italian cookies, was funny, and had some great advice about writing. There was a mixer in the evening with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th year students. The department provided beer (Corona!) and wine. It was good to meet some more people, to talk film and how the world is ending (read: climate change, peak oil, over-consumption, overpopulation, species die off, the possibility of McCain getting elected), and to hear some unfiltered comments about the department. I basically heard nothing but good stuff, and we start shooting next week, so I am very excited. If I work hard, write my ass off, and believe in myself, I will come out of this program a working filmmaker, no doubt about it. Over the next couple years I could have films at Sundance or Cannes, I could be having meetings with industry professionals who want to buy my screenplay, I could be shooting documentaries in other countries. It's all within reach, I just need to work hard and believe I can achieve it all. 

One particularly simple but memorable thing my advisor said to my group today was, "You deserve to be here. Believe me." She talked about how extensive the application and selection process is, and that even though most of us probably have doubts about ourselves and think it is an accident we ended up in the program, she assured us it was not, and we deserved to be there. It was nice to hear. I typed those simple words up and taped them to my door so I see them every day.

Tomorrow I register for classes in the morning, and then orientation with the post-production and production departments along with some info on financial aid. Supposedly if you do well the department gives more money to their students as the years go on, along with my housing job and the possibility of being a GA my third year, this program could be a whole lot cheaper than I ever imagined. More updates to come. NYC rocks!!

a city of millions can be very lonely

New York City can be a very lonely place. Even though there is so much to do, and so many people, it's tough sometimes when you don't really know anyone. I've done a lot of walking around myself and reading, so I'm looking forward to film orientation tomorrow so I can meet some new people. However, as lonely as I am, this remains the greatest place on earth. 

Been working for housing a lot. It hasn't been too hard. Pretty easy stuff and it's been passing the time. It's definitely worth it considering all of the benefits. Today a bunch of boxes of those cool twisty energy efficient light bulbs were delivered to my residence hall. The university purchased one light bulb for each resident to use in their room to help make the university greener. I read about a lot of stuff NYU is doing to go green over the summer. Very cool. I've been told that I will have a lot of free time in this position once everyone is moved in (I am already experiencing that), so instead of doing homework or doing nothing I may see if I can use my time to work on a green project for my building or maybe I could work with my building's hall council to do something good for the two homeless shelters that flank our building.

School starts a week from tomorrow. Orientation is tomorrow. Let's hope this is the start to good things. I have a lot of things I want to accomplish in my life, and I really, truly hope this education gives me the tools I need to accomplish my goals. Especially because I'll have a quarter of a million dollars in loans to pay off when I graduate. 

Oh well. It's only paper.

Chipotle

I worked all day today, so as soon as I was free I grabbed my bag and camera and hit the streets. I walked towards West Village, but didn't stay on track. I let the streets and crowds guide me, and crossed a street whenever the crosswalk signal told me to. I stumbled upon a huge comic book store (I was drawn in by the The Dark Knight display in the window). Across the street was a movie theater, which was premiering Traitor, the new Don Cheadle film. I saw the red carpet and all the photographers, but the stars hadn't started arriving yet.

I pulled my camera out and starting taking pictures, but had a quick realization: taking photos of buildings is not that interesting, but taking pictures of people is. It's hard to raise your camera and take a picture of someone you don't know however, plus you never know how a person is going to react. So I started taking pictures from my hip, lining the camera up as best as I could and just taking pictures. A lot of the pictures were bad, but one or two were decent, so I think I am going to make a whole thing out of this. I am going to take my camera out as much as possible and take random, secret pictures of the people of new york just living their lives. Maybe after awhile I'll have enough good photos to do something with them. I will post some of these pictures as soon as I can. 

For dinner I tracked down a Chipotle (there are two near my school and apartment!). It's amazing to me how going to a chain restaurant or buying a brand name can be comforting. I don't think it really has anything to do with the quality assurance of the product, or even brand recognition. Americans take comfort in our Wal-marts and McDonalds when we are traveling. They remind us of home, even though they are all the same. If an American is walking down the street in an unfamiliar place and they are feeling a little homesick or uncomfortable, and they come across a Target and a church, I don't think I need to even say which I think the American would choose. Sadly enough, I took comfort being in the Chipotle, it reminded me of all the other good times I have had in Chipotle, at Towson and at home. And I love the food. Mind you, I know no one here, so I'm getting a bit lonely, but it's still pathetic that I felt comforted being in a restaurant that I have never been in before that looked like a restaurant I'd been in before and served food I've tasted before and liked. 

More work tomorrow. Work on Saturday and all day on Sunday when all the kiddies move in. I'm excited to start school orientation next week so I can meet some people and get started doing film stuff. 

My life in the capital of the world begins

I am finally here. I can't believe it. I am overwhelmed, overjoyed, and ecstatic. I moved in this past weekend with the help of Pablo and Melissa. After moving in I took Pablo and Melissa to see the World Trade Center site and then I saw my first movie in NYC with Melissa: "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2." Pablo left early Saturday morning, and Melissa and I explored the city for the rest of the weekend. On Saturday, we walked almost 60 blocks to Central Park. On Saturdays in August the city closes streets for walkers and bikers, so we were able to walk almost the entire way in the middle of the street. It was a great activity for my first day in the city. We enjoyed a walk through the park, got a lemonade, and took a long break to people watch. That night we had an awesome dinner in Little Italy. It was so packed full of people Mulberry Street was closed to cars. White, green, and red lights stretched from building to building. The light poles were painted with the Italian flag. We had a bottle of Lambrusco and shared dessert. It was a wonderful night.

On Sunday we went to Whole Foods and had all-you-can-eat sushi. We tried 10 different types of sushi. They were on a conveyor belt in front of us and we were able to grab whatever sushi we wanted as it passed. Most of the sushi was good, though anything with shrimp, avocado, or cucumber was the best. After lunch we walked halfway across the Brooklyn Bridge and saw the waterfalls in the East River. We walked down to the South Street Seaport and did one of the walking tours that Melissa bought me. After the tour we made our way to F.A.O. Schwartz, which unfortunately was closed, checked out the underground Apple store briefly, walked Central Park a little, and then had dinner at Serendipity (yep, the restaurant from the movie of the same name, not that many people have heard of it, or have seen it). The wait was ridiculously long, so we made reservations. The food was ok. Melissa and I shared a frozen hot chocolate (which is what they're known for). It was scrumptious and tasted like a fudge-sical. They had a lot of desserts on their menu but they were very expensive. 

The next day Melissa shopped while I did some training for my job. We had lunch at a small pizza place in midtown near Penn Station and then, unfortunately, Melissa had to go home. I left the train station for the first time alone in the city. I rode the subway back to Bleecker street and walked back to my room, where I unpacked for the rest of the night. I was exhausted and sad and numb, but so excited. I felt like I had been waiting for my life to begin over the past couple of years, and now it actually was. No matter what I did every day from here on out, as long as I was in the city, around people, seeing and experiencing new things every day, even minute things, I was living more than I ever could anywhere else. Just looking out my window and the complex composition of buildings was a gratifying activity in itself. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday I began working as a GHA in my building preparing for the arrival of the residents on Sunday. On Tuesday I explored the NYU campus a bit, checked out the campus bookstore and computer store, got my NYUID, and had dinner in Washington Square Park. The sun was setting, and the park was full of people eating, talking, sleeping, playing with their pets and children, reading, and just enjoying each other's collective company. On Wednesday I headed into the East Village, an area I had not been in yet. I found the Anthology Film Archives and the Angelika Film Center. I went into a number of small, corner grocery stores and wrote down prices of food so I could find the cheapest place to shop. I wrote down the location of a psychic and some other cool places I found. I walked for about an hour and a half through the East Village, the Lower East Side, Little Italy, Nolita, and Greenwich Village. I found a park with a playground, basketball courts, and a couple small soccer fields. There were a number of soccer games going on. I liked this park, and I definitely think I will go back again.

To explore Thursday: more of the NYU campus, the salvation army one block down (if it is open), visit Tisch School of the Arts, maybe the West Village. 

I want to post pictures of New York on a regular basis. I will post a link to some sharing website as soon as I start doing this.