Awwww yeah! It’s summer time! You know what that means? Forty hour work weeks and little free time, that’s what it means! Woo!
Ok, so maybe I don’t have as much free time as I would like, but there are up sides to my summer. First and foremost I snagged a job at Intelligentsia, which blows my mind. I have been working there for a little over two months now (it really doesn’t seem that long though) and things are still pretty awesome. Sure waking up early practically every morning can be fail at times, but for the most part it is well worth it as I get to hang out with some really great people who are amazingly passionate about coffee.
Coffee has been an obsession of mine for a while, but it was always a background obsession, that was until I helped my parents open their shop in St.Louis and I got a taste of the amazing industry (community might be a better term) that has developed around specialty coffee. There are so many amazing things going on in the industry, since it’s a relatively new industry it still is finding itself and doing some really amazing things along the way.
Aside from coffee/work this summer has been pretty dead, I did manage to film last week and am in the process of getting the footage edited. At first I was pretty happy with what I had shot but, and this always seems to happen, I am now second guessing pretty much every shot/everything else about the short. To this date I don’t think I have worked on a movie that I was completely satisfied with - sure my last two shorts where probably the best I have worked on, but each of them seemed to be missing some small piece.
There are loads of things that I need to work on as a writer, cinematographer, and director - but I can see the other side of things as well. I have the feeling that when I start to become more comfortable with myself in a creative position that I will start to be able to see some of the problems I am seeing after a shoot, before they become problems. For the most part the problems I am having can be solved with better planning and more time spent on pre-production, as well as some more work on nailing down what it is I need to plan out as a DP and what it is I need to do as a Director.
Next semester will bring the first of my Cinematography classes, which hopefully will bring with it some more chances to work on films, as well as chances at having my work seen and critiqued by my class mates. The main problem I have been having so far is that (and I don’t say this to gloat in anyway) most people dont seem to have problems with my work. Though I really think what I need at this stage in my career is a harsher review of my work, there are so many things that I know I need loads of work on, and I know there are more that just need to be brought to my attention by someone who can take a step back from the work. Which is the problem with just showing films to friends and others who worked on the project, they are not able (or maybe just worried to hurt my feelings) to take that step back and point out the flaws they see. Sure my feelings may be hurt, odds are they won’t though, and I will start becoming better for it.
I’ll leave it at that for tonight, and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.
