Last weeks in School of Digital Filmmaking

Can you imagine, this school was so intense, I didn't even have time to write in my blog the last three weeks. Now, we have had our short film Premiere night (picture here) and our final test, we have received our grades (I got an A, yipee!) and everybody is getting ready for either departure or another school. Something that I am really proud of, is that our whole team got a 100% grade on our last film, and I just want to send a big thank you to my team; Alex, Emmanuel, Catherine and Sean.

The last weeks were awesome and some highlights were:

• Studying film history
• Acting/directing seminars with Kallan White, an experienced TV actress
• Production classes with Hollywood producer Mike Leahy
• Planning, shooting and finishing our short film "Let it Out" (see picture below)
  
• Premiere Night, showing all our films for the whole campus

I should be really tired, because several nights I stayed up until early morning to edit our film. But I'm not. At least not now. Joy gives energy!

In a couple of days I will be going back to Sweden. Originally there was supposed to be an internship coming up here just after this school, but that internship is now offered in the fourth quarter of the year instead. But there is another intership that attracts me even more, and that is one offered in Dallas, starting in August. This is a big project intended for world cinema distribution.

The project has just begun and in August we will be part of the starting preproduction. Director is going to be a very established one and some real Hollywood companies will be involved.

Our classes with Mike Leahy were awesome. Mike has produced 25 feature films and shared generously from his vast experience in Hollywood. What does producing mean? Producing means to oversee and administer the whole production. While the director has the artistic responsibility, the producer is responsible of planning and financing.
Anyway, Mike has a lot of credibility and he also has an interesting vision of how to continue in the future. It's a person to keep in touch with.

So how can I summarize this school? It has been extremely intense. I would even say it corresponds to a year of "ordinary" film school (a former student, when showing his credits from here, was allowed to skip two years in a four year film program in Canada).

Thank you all of you who have been with me in prayer and support. This is not the end!

Eighth week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week we had the opportunity to present ("pitch") ideas for our final short films in the school. Only three ideas were to be made into films. All the students and staff voted for the ones they found best. I was nervous when I presented my idea - about a guy whose crazy body "tics" show out to be hip-hop moves. But it worked and I got selected!

That means I will get to direct another film... which I look forward to. I immediately had to start working on the "first draft" (the first script version) and submit it, which I have now done. The next step is to finetune the script, then start the preproduction process (prepare locations, actors, props*, storyboard etc). Lots to do...

Another highlight this past week was a second session with Hollywood director David Cunningham. He had a workshop and gave us some advice for working in the movie business.

We have also gone further into lighting, which is a whole science. There is so much to learn about it. Today we made some assignments and we learned how to light a fake moving car (see picture).

Simultanously we are editing our first projects (see picture). Luckily it seems I don't have to reshoot anything.

Now I wish you a good week wherever you are!

*Props are physical things that actors use in the film.

Seventh week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week has been the most demanding so far, but also the most fun. We have been shooting our short films, the ones we hade prepared so much during the preceding weeks.

Everyone had to deliver a whole package of paperwork to receive "greenlight".

The package included script, visual and technical storyboards, budget, legal forms, call sheets, shot lists... and at the same time we had to find locations and actors for our films.

Finally we were all greenlit and I shot my film... so fun! I had a crew of three persons working with me, doing camera, sound and lighting.

It all went well, in spite of a rather high time pressure. I had 74 shots to make in two days, and practically all of them required retakes. And we used both dolly and smoke machine (see picture).

I also was camera operator on two of my classmates' films, and sound operator in one. It was all great fun. Filmmaking is something you learn by doing.

My own short film was about a single father who wants to talk to her teen daughter so much that he locks her in to his apartment (see picture).

Next week we will be editing, and I am both scared and eager to see the result of my filming.

Today there was a national memorial day, and we were all free. A bunch of us went hiking to a waterfall on the other side of the island. It was an incredible experience. We swam in a natural pool and looked up to an about 100 m high, 90 degree steep, waterfall coming down right upon us.
A good ending of a challenging week!

Sixth week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week has been very busy. The themes have been editing and production administration, and we have also begun on our short film projects.

Is this an intense school? You bet. I feel like we have covered knowledge equal to one year of study - in six weeks!

We have gone through the whole process of paperwork with a film production - budgeting, scheduling, legal documents, script breakdown and more. Every student now has to prepare their film including all the paperwork, and the whole project has to be "greenlit" before shooting can start. And this while we all do our best to find actors and locations!

We have now split into groups where everyone gets to direct their own short film, with a crew of trained people (fellow students). During nine days our group will shoot four films. On the first one I was DP (Director of Photography, basically equal to cameraman in this setting). It was fun.

I won't be long this week - I think the picture here pretty much says how it is right now - film work all around the clock. But if you love what you do, you can do it a lot!

Thanks for your support!

Urban

Fifth Week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week began with a day with David Cunningham, a Christian film director who directed a couple of Hollywood features and TV series: To End all Wars, Expelled, Path to 9/11 and Little House on the Prairie.

David gave us a picture of his way into Hollywood, and it was very interesting to hear it directly from him and to be able to ask questions.

We also have made more assignments. In one of them I was cameraman in the other director. The first one was a "noir" piece that we shot during night, making it black and white (see photo). It came out really well, and I hope to publish it on YouTube soon.

The other one was a scene from a real film, with a pre-written, weird dialogue. As location we chose an autoshop (where vehicles are being repaired) and we shot also this one during night, to have complete control over the lighting.

This week we also discussed the different departments and positions in a professional film crew. There are countless of tasks: producer, director, assistant director, director of photography, script supervisor, gaffer, cameraman, production designer etc etc.

Meanwhile we continue to work on our short film scripts. Each student will make a 5 min short, where we will have our own crew, consisting of other students. I have been struggling with the script, because believe me, it's easier to write a longer film than 5 minutes if you want to tell something. On the other hand it is important to learn how to tell things concisely.

Today (Sunday) I got the opportunity to see a beach called Mile 88. This beach is really small but it's a little pearl. Who doesn't like turqoise water?

I wish you an awesome week wherever you are. Thanks for reading this!

Urban

Fourth week in School of Digital Filmmaking

This week we have dived more into practical filmmaking, learning lighting and going further into sound and visual storytelling.

Simultanously we have been developing our short film scripts, with supervision from the school staff and according to scriptwriting theory.

We have been doing more and more group assignments, where we split into teams of about five people, where each has a specific role like director, audio mixer, boom grip, cameraman etc.

I got to be the director once (that's the role I most want to pursue), and it was really fun.

It's a little taste of what it is having a professional crew to cowork with, where each person is skilled and trained in his or her specific role.

Me and some classmates are going to a little church on Sundays, and I keep being suprised how good the sermons are. They are really instructive and applicable. This Sunday the theme was how to see what Jesus sees, in a very practical way. Jesus saw people who other people ignored, and he paid attention to them, just like God pays attention to every detail in our lives.*

With the help from God we can also start paying real attention to people around us, to listen to them and care about them.

*Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (A deliberate understatement!)

I wish you a really good week wherever you are.



...and, yes I got permission from the guys to publish photos!

Third week through!

This has been an awesome week. (see how I start to sound American?)
The topic has been "Screenwriting", which means how to "write a film", or rather its script. Teacher has been Kevin Miller, who wrote "Expelled", which is a movie that debates evolution theory. He took us on a journey through the prevailing models of writing for the screen, and even shared his own "synthesis" of it all as a Christian writer.

We got many writing assignments during the week, which we were to apply to our short film idea. "It's all about character transformation" was one of Kevin's main principles. I'll try not to forget that.

Can you apply the same principles for feature films as well as for short ones? According to our teacher, yes. It all comes down to: storytelling. "Even if you're passionate about filmmaking, view yourselves primarily as storytellers, not filmmakers", said Kevin.

He also said that if your "called" to filmmaking, the best you can do in this business, is to be good storytellers. And write about what you're passionate about!

Simultaneously I am getting to know my classmates better and better. I am so thankful to be on this place - which place could be better for me right now? Youth With A Mission is such a great place to be if you enjoy international environments - we have got almost the whole world represented here, or at least the major parts of the world. My closest roommates right now are actually African!

Next week we are going further into technical aspects such as lighting and camerawork. 'Gonna be fun! We are also going to continue to develop our short film ideas. The plan is to shoot them during the last two weeks of May, and by then everything has to been set up. So I need lots of inspiration! I am also thankful to you who read this, and for you who are praying for me or supporting me financially. I wish you a super week wherever you are!

Urban

PS. Did I get to see a beach yet? Yes I did, once!