Somethin New

It's been a month since I moved from home (Philly) to LA. I'm slowly adjusting to the "LA life," the size of the city, and everything else the city has to offer. Working in the art department isn't what I'd really like to be doing, but it's a start and I'm not complaining, not at all. Since being out here, I've been in the house a lot trying to formulate a game plan. How can I get my name out as a videographer and editor, I'll figure something out. I'm excited to meet new people and create new contacts.

unTilted

I feel like it's been forever since I decided to post something. I've been doing so much to get my directing career off the ground that I actually forgot about documenting my every step. 2013 was a really good year, I learn to edit (somewhat lol) and I shot 4-5 videos. It was also my 2nd full year working for the same employer. Because of college I'd never worked for a company for more than 8 months, I have to say I'm proud of my willingness to stick out. Now that the calendar has changed so has my vision. Toward the end of last year I wrote a short film, and I have a goal of shooting it this year. I was offered a job in LA, so in about 2 weeks I'll be packing all my things and heading into the great unknown. I think the excitement of the change also has me nervous. This is something I've wanted for a while (to be offered a film position in LA), now that it's here i have mixed emotions about everything. Will I succeed, am I ready, how smoothly will the transition be, do i even still have the job (I was offered the job on the 2nd of January, due to a death in the family I can't leave until the 30th. All these questions swirl through my mind as I blindly pack my things for the biggest opportunity of my life. I've been so good at giving my friends advice about everything, now I need advice. It's not that my friends aren't available, but what do you say to the guy who said that he's wanted this opportunity for a long time, now he has trepidation about every move after January 30th...I think for me, life just began....

An ode to the summer (a lesson learned)

Before the summer started I was talking with friend about summertime goals. She was telling how she needed motivation to lose a little weight before the beginning of the next school year (she's a school teacher). It got me to thinking, maybe I should set my own summertime goals. So I set out to think of reachable (yet difficult) goals that I could reach for over a 3-4 month period. I already had 2 video projects on the editing board that I was pressuring myself to finish. Once i decided to create a directors reel I wanted to make it diverse. Music videos, short films, features, documentaries, etc. What better way to diversify my reel then to add it to the list of goals i'd reach for, so one of my goals was to create 2 more projects this summer. Trying to become a director has been a lot more difficult than i've cared to admit in the past. Trust is very key, you need gain individuals trust. The people need to know they can trust you, especially when you have nothing to show them as far as work, so they have to "trust" you won't f**k them over. The word free has been apart of my vocab during this journey also. In order to get to where you want with no work you'll be doing a lot of "free" work because no ones gonna pay an unproven videographer. back to the story tho. My thoughts were to thrust myself into the city (Philadelphia) and see where I'd land. Got a call one evening from a former client about a possible opportunity that he wanted me to look into. To be honest, I blew the thought of another opportunity off (this guy wasn't the most reputable) until I received a text from the person who was possible interested in my services. She wanted to meet up to discuss the opportunity of me working for her. Making a long story short, we met (she's gorgeous), discussed, worked together, and there's a project on my external hard drive with her name on it. When setting out to achieve goal that you set, I've come to realize, it isn't as easy as I wanted it to be. I've been flaked on at least four or five times this summer, I've procrastinated on at least 2 opportunities (smh, same on myself)and I haven't been able to find leads on anything (semi excuse). Now that the summer is coming to an end and I've only half completed this goal I feel like a I've learned from this minor failure. I've learned that just because I only completed half of my goals, the summer wasn't a full failure. Also, I should've been specific about how I wanted to create these "other" videos. Why couldn't generate one myself? Why couldn't I write something, shoot it, and add it to the reel? So I've decided extend these goals through the rest of the year while I finish writing my first short film. I guess this is one set of goals that I'll be reaching for a lil longer.

I wonder if I really know what it is to fail. To fall flat on my face and have to recover from it. Sure, plenty of ppl say they're afraid of failure, but if you've never really failed before what are you actually afraid of? I had an uncle tell me that if I wanted to achieve the success I needed to taken completely out of my element. How would that teach me about failure? It wouldn't, it would just place me in a circumstance/situation that I may not be verse in. Besides, who plans to fail at anything? How many people wake up and think "today's the day, today's the day I finally lay that proverbial egg". No one, failing happens, it's like a thief, you don't know when they're coming, you don't know what they'll take, you just know when they come you're gonna lose stuff. I've never been afraid of failing, I've never been afraid of not failing. I've never embraced failing either, I guess I I've always viewed failure as something that we all eventually go through (like breathing, we all do it because if you don't...well you know). An unfinished thought...

GH2

I recently purchased the Panasonic GH2 for film purposes. Before purchasing I'd been doing research on how to improve my experience with the camera, and I stumbled upon the different articles discussing how the camera had been hacked. I was amazed to discoverer how the patches boost the camera's performance to make it conquerable to Canon's Mark ii, iii, and even the RED. Of course after read the articles I wanted to try and download one of the patches for myself. I'm disappointed that my computer (Mac PowerBook GH2) will not support the downloads. Does anyone know of a way that I'd be able to acquire a hack patch or is anyone willing to part with one. I'd be willing help with projects of any sort if needed.

He chewed me out!!

I created this blog because I thought I'd have something to say, I always have something to say. It's funny because I'm struggling just write this entry, or maybe it's sad. I'd been telling people, everyone, that I working to become a film director. If you receive awards for the amount of people you can tell you're going to do something without actually doing it, I'd have a huge award to show off. I wasn't doing what I was telling everyone I was doing, or for better words i wasn't doing it to the best of my ability. I could blame it on personal issues that have plagued me over the last 8-10 months or I could fight through and work hard, I choose the latter. My uncle seen that i wasn't doing what I was suppose to, and he decide to "call me" on it. Me: hello? Uncle: Wassup, haven't heard from you in a while what you been up to? Me: Nothing much, working hard Uncle: How's production work coming? Me: Silence For the next 45 minutes after that silent moment my uncle went on to tear into my ass about how I needed to re-focus. Most times I would've taken what he was saying to me personally because he didn't know what my current situation was. But I remained quiet because I knew my situation. i knew i wasn't working hard enough, I believed he knew it also. The convo ended with him telling me that I was pursuing the wrong profession, and that I needed to re-evaluate what i was doing. That's crazy, right? Well, about 20 minutes later my old college roommate called and i told him about the conversation and while telling him he stops me and says "dude, this is motivating me, think about it!" So I did, i thought about it for a few seconds and I responded "you know what you're exactly right it is making me feel some type of way other than offended" his words began to resonate with me. I wasn't working hard as i should, i wasn't exhausting all of my resources. Since then, I've began re-writing the ship. Re-opening my creative section, taking a few risk, and allowing the chips to fall where they may. And it's all because of silecne...

UnTld

As I sit here, one episode of the TV show I'm creating finished i wonder: "Could I really do it"? Create a successful television show? I've been writing since the end of September and whenever I sit in front of this computer I have mixed emotions about how things are going to come out. I finished the first episode and it was about two weeks ago. It was about 17 pages, I've read and re-read that first so many times that I began to hate it, so I sent it off. I asked a former professor and my mentor to read it. I wonder what they they're thinking. One of the individuals at one time made a living grading my papers (rather harshly, it's all jokes) the other I met working on the set of a movie. i just can't help but to wonder.