Last night concluded one of our music video shoots. It was an amazing bonding experience with the crew that brought us closer together in many different ways. I am very thankful and pleased with everyone’s hard work. Here are some behind the scenes pictures and footage! This project’s release date is getting closer… Stay tuned!
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a huge annual event for Houston, drawing people from both inside the city and outside. It is said that more than half the population of Houston attends this event during the few short weeks it is open.
Each year, HLSR and the NRG Stadium/ Center offers countless positions for volunteers and interns from around the city. One internship offered is as part of the media crew; filming and directing various events, among other tasks. This is a great opportunity for communications/ media students to gain experience working different production aspects in real live situations, get their hands on professional equipment, and make connections. This internship is also paid, and a little extra income in college is never a bad thing.
I recommend students sign up in the coming years if given the opportunity.
Unfortunately, this internship is only available to students of a few select schools. The University of Houston, Lonestar College, and Alvin Community College are the schools participating this year, with a whopping 90 interns.
Picture taken during downtime at the switching station at the birthing center:
Working on it and it should be very cool. Looking forward to getting as many of the people at the offices of 4381 involved in this.
The film Bohemian Rhapsody is about legendary musician Freddie Mercury and his years as the lead singer of Queen. The film was a box-office success and received four Academy Awards. However the film suffers from its numerous historical inaccuracies. The most controversial decision was to depict Mercury as having been diagnosed with AIDS before Queen’s Live Aid performance. In reality, Mercury wasn’t diagnosed with AIDS until two years after Queen performed at Live Aid. This change was clearly made to give the band a reason to make a triumphant comeback so the film can have a Hollywood happy ending. The film does nothing interesting with the story of Freddie Mercury and instead chooses to take liberties with the facts in order to tell a more formulaic story that heavily resembles previous music biopics.
This year of the oscars was different and surprisingly. There was no host and a shocking win. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has won for Best Animated Feature Film. The film has won number of awards lately. I have seen the Spideverse and it was best to end 2018. It was great to see a Marvel film to win.
This fog is a pretty nice opportunity to get some good eerie road footage or some good pics too. Took this image at IAH by my house.
It was really awesome to get to hear from Emmanuel Osei-Kuffor! Really learned some stuff based on his experiences, and the film he showed was really good. I can’t wait to see the full feature.
Guillermo attending the guest speaker’s session at the Jack Valenti School of Communications. Our guest speaker Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour introduced a film to us students he created in Japan called “Born with it”. This film was very inspirational, he spoke about the process of filming, editing, and what crew he had out to make this film happen.
Tuesday was a very good day for me inspiration wise, I managed to calmly figure out what I can do for my project by asking a coworker if he can help me with finding a truck. I know I need to do most of this myself and I am, however working on the storyboard is honestly one of the most difficult things I have done because my imagination can never really fit what I put on paper. On top of that I am afraid of my own creativity in fact I’m a bit of a perfectionist so a lot of times they’ll be a spark of inspiration and the moment I start to over analyze the whole story begins, then poof the inspiration is gone. However, today would continue to be full of inspiration for me since we had a surprised guest speaker by the name of Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour Jr. who showed us his short film “Born with it” and had a Q&A afterwards.
Here is a synopsis of the film: (On his first day of school in a small Japanese town, a half Japanese half black boy tries to prove to his new classmates that his dark skin is not a disease.)
I learned a lot from Emmanuel and he talked his experience making the film and his travels, I couldn’t help but feel inspired. as for the Q&A I was nervous to ask questions but after awhile of hearing other great questions that got me thinking, so I asked my first question which was a stumble at first but he understood me which made me feel so much better about myself and my train of thought. I asked about the trust aspect of the production and how he managed it, as well ass the pressure of being director, writer and producer of his film– of course thats not how it exactly came out but he thankfully understood what I meant . The explanation he gave was great, he basically said he needed to find the right people he could trust to do each job so he can handle what he needed to do. Furthermore, Emmanuel mentioned not liking the process of writing but instead liked being a director more, this was relatable to me and got me thinking that maybe I should look more into directing and not worry so much about how I write my own scripts.
After everything was over I had an opportunity to talk to Emmanuel but I was nervous at first which was silly because this was a great chance to talk to another person who is in the film business so with the help with a fellow screenwriter Ny’ree, I built the courage to go and talk with him. We had a talk about script writing and finding the feelings and characters for any script and how it also helps to trust in those you are working with as well as just to write to get it on paper then bring the edited mind to it later. Ny’ree and I also got to find out more about receiving grants from the city of Houston and how its easier to receive one here because the Houston Arts Association is looking for people to help with whatever project they show they have a great passion for. So of course this opened my eyes to the a lot of possibilities and I am very grateful to have talked to him and even was able to network with him by getting his email which is the second time I have been able to network with someone in the film business, which means I must be doing something correct.
I’m going to stop here because I didn’t mean to have so many posts in a row these few days and I have rewritten this post a dozen times because I just couldn’t quite figure out how I wanted to convey my message but I took my lesson today to heart and decided to write my thoughts first and then come back with an edited mind later so I can share with you all my experience, I hope my inspiration given to me today helps you all in whatever project you are working and I look forward to working on more creative projects.
Thank you for reading my post and now I can finally go to sleep!
As I take a long deep sigh of both relief and despair, I can’t help but laugh at the pure insanity that you can experience when creating something meaningful. I guess as Steve would say, “Here’s to the Crazy Ones”. I’ve learned many lessons over the past few weeks, but the one that has become my dearest friend is the very one I plan to expound on today.
When I first embarked on this journey I had this fixed idea of what I wanted and how I wanted it to go, but oh how the mighty have fallen. Here I lie slain and humbled by the creative process without a single regret. Regardless of how many grey hairs that are yet to come, I am quite proud of my relentlessness.
There was a time, nothing short of two days ago, that I had no clue of what I was doing, or where I was going. Thus I didn’t know where I wanted to transport my audience. The only thing I knew, and I still know now is that I must create something meaningful. I must create a film I genuinely love and can be proud of.
For a short while, I was crippled by the thought of not having enough money, or resources to get the job done. Then, when I realized I was essentially panicking before I even had a finished story that I wanted to tell I just laughed at myself and carried on. This crippling sensation of needing things before I even knew why I needed them caused me to pour my focus in places they didn’t belong. Where there is a will there is a way. Whether it’s gear, location, or whatever you have made your chosen poison – it’s still possible. Look deeper into the problem and solve it.
Then there came the Time Dragon. Beware of this dragon. He likes to creep in and tell you filthy lies. Lies that will bring you under this weird spell of thing that you don’t have enough time. Trust me, you can make the time. There is always time. You just have to create it.
Today, while recovering from a cold that seems to love me dearly, I sat at my desk and attempted to work on the stories that have been burning in me, and some that were fresh. A week ago, I felt like I couldn’t write a decent sentence to save my life. A month ago I questioned whether I was cut out for this profession, but today everything came together. I was on fire. I say that in the humblest way possible. Remember I have been slain by just the writing process alone, but I wanted to tell you that at some point we all want to give up.This moment of clarity that I am experiencing may turn to an entire panic attack the night before our first day of shooting, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. After drafting and redrafting and finding the light at the end of the darkest tunnel in Gotham, I have finally found what I was looking for. I have stories that abandoned because I was making it more complicated than it actually was. Then there was a time when I settled for the sake of doing something.
While our goals and paths may differ, or be one of the same, I want you to know that you can do it. Just simplify the problem and tackle it. Get to the root of whatever the issue may be, or the story you want to tell, and find a way. For me, it was the act of doing the work, and the work itself. For you, it may just be convincing that local cafe clerk that his location and only his location is the right one for the story you want to tell. Get it done.
Imagine if you will being on your death bed – and standing around your bed – the ghosts of the ideas, the dreams, the abilities, the talents given to you by life.
And that you for whatever reason, you never acted on those ideas, you never pursued that dream, you never used those talents, we never saw your leadership, you never used your voice, you never wrote that book.
And there they are standing around your bed looking at you with large angry eyes saying ‘we came to you, and only you could have given us life! Now we must die with you forever.’
The question is – if you die today, what ideas, what dreams, what abilities, what talents, what gifts, would die with you?
– L