Bunuel and Herzog! I'm so sophisticated and I'm cool too because I can poke fun at my own pseudo-pre
Today was a long day of class.
In Actor's Craft our instructor lectured us for awhile then we did relaxation exercises for about the last 45 minutes. That was nice, I was tired and didn't want to do anything so getting to stretch and relax was a nice way to start the day.
Afterwards I had Sociology. Blah. It was all right.
After that I went out to eat lunch with Lee. We went to some care in Greenwhich Village which supposedly has the very first espresso machine in the United States. It dates back from 1907! They also had a real Caravaggio painting on the wall. I had a chicken salad sandwich and a strawberry milkshake. Yum.
Dramatic & Visual Writing recitation was alright. The story that Alex and I had been working on involving mass suicides and a sun that doesn't rise was on hold for awhile but I think I've finally got it now. I pitched it to the class and recieved one very constructive idea which is now setting me on my way to write the damn thing. I was also told by my professor that it's highly reminiscent of a Bunuel film called The Exterminating Angel. What a cool title.
After class I went to the video store and renting The Exterminating Angel and another Werner Herzog documentary. It's a two movie set and the films are called Lessons of Darkness and Fata Morgana.
I'll be watching the Bunuel film tonight and the other two tomorrow.
My D&V Writing lecture didn't go well. We were watching Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train. I fell asleep and missed a substantial portion of the plot. I don't think I missed out on much though, what I saw was just alright.
I just had a burrito from Burrito Mariachi which was very weird. It was a chicken burrito but the chicken was like the chicken you would find in chicken teriyaki back home. I miss that about Seattle, there aren't very many (if any) teriyaki places in New York. *sigh*
Still having trouble outputting my movie to a DV tape.
I've been thinking about the movie Alex, Andrew, and I are working on and I think it's going to be really good as long as we can pull off all the technical parts of it. The material is good stuff and I think it's important stuff too, more will be divulged in the future. I need to email them or something I'm sure you two are reading this get on AIM so we can discuss stuff again! then again they are just starting school... I'll give them some time...
My progress in the book Herzog On Herzog slowed down immensely the past week but I'm back on pace again and should have it finished any day now. His outlook on filmmaking is such the opposite of what I would have expected from him such as the fact that he's not intellectual about it at all and rather considers filmmaking a very athletic activity. I disagree with him in some respects, such as when it comes to digital filmmaking, but he's one of the masters of cinema and I've found the interview to be an intensely interesting read.
Speaking of digital filmmaking. I've come to terms with the fact that digital filmmaking is the wave of the future and that it's actually a good thing. Filmmaking right now is such an inaccesible art form because of the insane cost of just buying film and getting it developed but Digital Video opens up the art form to much more people and makes it much more feasible for students like me to gain experience and make features eventually. This leads to much more crap being made but also opens up the medium to those that might not otherwise get a chance to delve into it and offers a voice in the film world to people that are otherwise not represented or are otherwise represented by people who lack the life experience necessary to properly tell their story (a reason why Alex, Andrew, and I are writing a story about suburban life). Sure camcorders and computers aren't cheap but relative to making an actual film it is. I guess it's a step in the right direction, although film will always reign supreme, DV is a good thing. Now if only I could save up enough money for that new camera...
That's all for now, I think I'm going to go watch a movie. Bye.
