Back to the 8:30am to the 11:30pm.

Classes start tomorrow. Interesting schedule.

Non-Linear Comp. Edit 3: Avid
M 12:00pm-02:50pm
Miller,Crystal (although online it says I have Dave Taylor)

Dunno about this. If it's Dave Taylor I'm happy as hell to have a class with the editor of both Grizzly Man and Pootie Tang. Don't know anythign about Mrs. Miller (potentially Ms.).

20th Century Art
T 12:00pm-02:50pm
Griffeath,Craig H

Mr. Griffeath's stock and trade is as a musician. Hopefully a fun new slant to viewing 20th Century art.

Silver Screen & Ivory Tower
T 08:30am-11:20am
Levie,Matthew B

I'm excited for this class. Mr. Levie studied under Woody Allen's editor and he seems to have a fair number of credits to his own name (nothin' I've heard of though). Always happy to sit at an editors feet and listen to them muse about the world.

Science Fiction and Fantasy
Th 12:00pm-02:50pm
Marcoux,Tom

Mr. Marcoux seems to be the inventor of personal branding (or at least so his bio reads.

Lighting 2 (The Set)
F 03:30pm-06:20pm
Redmond,Lee

Lee doesn't have a bio up yet, but he is hands down my favorite teacher at the academy. He's the reason I'm not an editor 100% of the time, he helped foster my love for Conrad Hall, Roger Deakins, Christopher Doyle, Matthew LeBatique and Greg Toland. I learned more about film and who I am as a filmmaker in one semester with him than I have in the three years I've been here.


I graduate in fall of '09 and of course this has my mind reeling. I'm 23, I'm an art major and I will have a slip of paper which says "please pay me more money!" Now I'm very happy to have that slip of paper since it takes a doctorate to work at a McDonalds these days, but I can't help but feel like the piece of paper is meaningless and my reel is more important.

And besides that, my education isn't ending there. I'm taking a course every semester at CC just to keep learning. Also plan on getting my teaching degree at some point. Maybe flesh out that Philosophy major I started at GVSU two years ago. There's just too much out there and to many interesting people to learn from. And heck, if CC's only $25 a credit hour, why the heck would I pass that up?

I keep looking at my job that I have right now and wondering if it will continue to sustain me much longer. It pays okay, but I could use something that at least has a quarterly raise.

One of my issues as an independent filmmaker is that I want to create my art and I don't want to be paid for it. I want to put it out there and just hope it changes people's lives. I'm learning about cinematography and editing because I feel it puts me in touch with the divine. When I'm playing with light or making people tell a story from pieces of their conversation, all of a sudden there is this sense of harmony. I can honestly hear the voice of god and feel the universe wrap me in its love. Why would I ever give that up? And I have a real difficulty asking for money for something that is so spiritually fulfilling. But I suppose that's what I must do to survive as an artist. Make myself a commodity and hope what I can make of myself will last beyond my lifetime.