COM Ambassador Blog

Jimmy: Producer Tales from Prod III

Hi everyone! CA Jimmy here to talk about my experiences as a student producer for the FT 468 Production III course. It’s the highest level film production class you can take at BU. Each student applies to the class as a different role – director, editor, production designer, director of photography, sound, etc. (I applied as a producer!). I’m currently working on two very different films:

“The Badge” – a drama about a child who idolizes policemen he sees on TV struggling to reconcile his mother’s criminal streak when she takes him along on a drug deal

“It Came From Above” : a thriller about a sci-fi geek who is visited by a seemingly docile robot from space – and the consequences he faces for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The process has been very demanding, but also very rewarding. Here’s some of what I learned so far.

The Producer is the glue of a production

You’re like the shepherd that keeps everyone on the same page, but also an octopus that has eight arms to do different tasks at different times, but also a Nostradamus that can foresee problems in the future and adjust accordingly. The director has the vision and the story, but the producer must facilitate the circumstances for everything to run smoothly. Scheduling, budgeting, securing locations, and casting are all big responsibilities of the producer. There are also many day to tasks like reaching out to actors, arranging a crew, and checking on progress with the director. You should always be thinking a few steps ahead.

The work will follow you outside the class

80% of the work I’ve done has been out in the field in my own time. It feels great to be professional and achieving stuff in the real world, but it’s also been a lesson in time management when you have to balance 12 other credits of an academic schedule (I had to drop my rowing PDP; sad reacts only).

Email is your best friend and worst enemy

By this point in the semester, my fingertips are just about worn down to the bone. Because it’s the most ~professional~ form of communication, you’ll be emailing nonstop to put the project together. Everyone from actors, to production designers, to location owners, to BU risk management, to rental van agencies, and even random restaurants on campus for donations. For funsies, look at the subject lines of the last few emails I sent today

“Youtube Link—Audition Video”
“MA Law: Minor Work Waiver”
“Prod III Squad Car Follow Up”
“PROD III FILM NEEDS ROBOT ACTOR”
“Filming at the Cottage: Follow Up”

Shooting a scene takes a LOT more time than you’d expect

Who knew that 2 pages of dialogue can take up to 4 hours? I didn’t! When you work at higher levels of production, lighting and camera setup can take up to 30 minutes per shot. This also means that the gear you’re working with is much more higher quality and needs to be taken out in advance.

Food is important

Hungry crew = poor work. Feed your cast and crew good food or there will be a MUTINY on your set.

You’d be surprised how many people are excited to help with a film

For “It Came From Above,” I had to rent an airbnb in the middle of the Massachusetts wilderness. The couple who owned the cottage were absolutely thrilled to have us there, and were just generally excited to meet a film crew. They discounted the rental price, and threw in another trailer for free for our crew to stay in. Movies are cool! If you ask, people are always willing to chip in a little bit to help with something new and exciting to them.

Carly: “Hidden Gems” of Allston/Brookline

It’s easy to feel trapped on campus at Boston University. Our sprawling school covers a large majority of Comm Ave and has everything a student could ever need; thus many students stay on campus for the majority of their time. Commonly dubbed the “BU Bubble”, this phenomenon is well-known across campus, and many students are heard complaining that they don’t spend enough time “ in the city”.

But while trips to Faneuil Hall or the Seaport District might take a little more time out of your day, there are a number of easy places students can hit up off campus to briefly escape Comm Ave. Check out some of the best spots to hit in Brookline and Allston, the places that aren’t quite “in the city” but are well enough “off campus” to feel like you’re actually doing something productive.

Shabu Zen:

Shabu Zen is a hot pot restaurant on Brighton Avenue in Allston, the perfect restaurant to hit up on a rainy weeknight. Hot pot is a style of Asian cuisine during which customers cook their food in giant pots filled with boiling broth. Customers order one or two flavors of broth and then pick from a wide selection of meats -- all of which are served in thinly sliced raw slabs. The meat is then cooked IN the broth, a miraculous process to watch. You can also order raw noodles, vegetables, and seafood, all of which are delicious to cook in the broth. Shabu Zen is hot, delicious, and an extremely fun dining experience. I highly recommend having a meal at Shabu Zen in Allston.

LimeRed Teahouse

LimeRed is a new spot that recently opened this summer. Their speciality is boba tea, but they sell a number of delectable other drinks as well. The interior is decorated with a number of succulents and potted plants, giving the place a very relaxing atmosphere. LimeRed is a great spot to grab a boba or a coffee, chill out, and do some homework. Within walking distance from West Campus and Star Market, LimeRed Teahouse is an awesome new spot that can offer a change of scenery.

When Pigs Fly

Alright -- I’ll admit, When Pigs Fly isn’t exactly a place to hang out, but it sure does have some incredible bread. Yes, that’s right -- bread. When Pigs Fly Breads is an authentic bakery in Brookline on Beacon Street. It sells a variety of homemade, fresh breads, ranging from your classic Sourdough to Pumpkin-Cranberry to Spinach, Onion, and Garlic (yes, all three flavors in one loaf of bread). The store is warm and appetizing and consistently smells of freshly baked bread. So next time you need a study break, refuel your carbs supply by heading into Brookline and picking up a delicious loaf of warm bread.

Bottega Fiorentina

Alright, so maybe this list has turned more into the best carbs outside of Dining Hall breakfast potatoes, but if you’re cool with it, then so am I. Bottega Fiorentina is a corner Italian bodega off Babcock Street in Coolidge Corner. In addition to sandwiches, pastas, and salads, customers can also shop for a variety of authentic Italian grocery items -- imported straight from the motherland of carbs itself. Stop in and meet the owners or pick up some food for a picnic in Amory Park, either way, definitely fill up on what Bottega Fiorentina has to offer.

There are tons of other restaurants and stores in Brookline and Allston, and all of them add their own flair to the community. So get out there, support your local businesses, and “get off campus”. Try a new restaurant, take a walk around, and enjoy these neighborhoods we’re lucky enough to call our own.

Eliza: Coffee Reflections

It may have taken until senior year, but I’ve finally accepted it. I’ll never be the type of person who wakes up early to drink coffee in my apartment, or even to make it and take it out the door with me.

I will always be the type of person, however, who rushes walking to see if there’s a chance of popping into a coffee shop before my meeting / class / COM building tour. I will continue to spend that $2-$5 almost every day, but I’ve decided that I needed to come to terms with my habit.

To be fair, the “treat yo self” movement has been around for a while, and I’ve indulged in a few cozy sweaters (for those Boston winters) or a dinner out (for when cooking like an adult is just too much) using just this mentality to justify it. But I never looked at my daily caffeine fix as a part of this philosophy, I just did it, every day, and felt bad about spending the money after.

In the grand scheme of my spending, coffee is definitely a drain on my wallet over time, but having come to terms with that it’s something that gives me joy, I’ve started to look at it as more of a lovely little bit of self-love, and not a irresponsible indulgence.

This all comes along with getting older, probably, but learning to “not sweat the small stuff” is something I try to work on every day. Of course, my inner perfectionist fights tooth and nail for every little behavior to be analyzed. Taking the drama out of little things, like buying a cup of coffee, means more energy and time to focus on things like school work, or even more simply on just enjoying the day.

The moral of this (caffeine induced) tirade is this: find something that makes you happy, and run with it. Because those little parts of your day have a way bigger impact than you’d think, and in the long run, coffee is always a good idea.

Kate: Top 5 Low-key Study Spots with the Best Views

The semester is in full swing and we are all swamped with dozens of assignments and midterms with fast-approaching deadlines. With all these assignments come a great responsibility...to find the absolute best study spot on campus. The perfect spot is quiet and not to busy with a great view of the city to help you procrastinate on those long and dreaded days/nights in the study lounge. Here are five low-key study spots on campus with the best views.

1. The greenhouse

The greenhouse on the top of CAS is a hidden gem. It is open to people who are in the gardening club, so find a friend or join the club to enjoy this amazing spot. After getting the key from the department office, you can head all the way upstairs to the roof. The greenhouse itself has nice plants and greenery, but the rooftop view behind it makes this spot special. There is a little office with some couches and seats to study in adding a used, but cosy aesthetic to the space. This space really is a secret, so it’s almost always super quiet and empty. This is a great place to get straight to work and I highly recommend it.

2. Hojo

Hojo is another great option for a study spot with a great view. Just walk into hojo and head up to the top floor. There are always open tables in both the regular and the quiet study lounges, so it’s a really great place to meet up with people or isolate yourself from the world and get to work. To top it all off, there are 360 degree views of the city.

3. StuVi2

So, this one isn’t exactly a secret but if you’re talking about study spots with a view, you have to include the study lounge on the top floor of StuVi2. This study lounge has huge floor to ceiling windows that surround the building giving you an incredible view of everything Boston. If that doesn’t inspire you to study, it’s fine because the lounge is open 24 hours so you’ve got plenty of time.

4. Law building

As one of the newer buildings on campus, this spot is a little less known. However, there are tons of places around the law building with incredible views of the river. Whether it be the Charles River Room on the fifth floor or the cafeteria on the second floor, you’ll find floor to ceiling windows (that are actually clean!!) to give you a little happiness while you’re studying. These places are usually pretty quiet and there are always places to sit around the building. An added bonus - the ambitious law students will inspire you to work hard and get your assignments done.

5. Yawkey Center for Student Services

The last hidden spot is Yawkey Center. This spot has two floors of dining hall, three floors of academic assistance, and six floors of great views. The CAS writing center and the Educational Resource Center have comfy chairs and spots with incredible views of Fenway. Sometimes, you get a free concert too!. You also can’t discount the dining hall. Marciano commons has some large windows with great views of Bay State or Fenway. It can get pretty busy but you can usually find little nooks where it’s quiet and there aren’t as many people. You can, also, take as many snack breaks as needed, making this study spot one of my favorites!

Daera: Getting Homesick as a Sophomore

I was 8 or 9 years old when my mom sent me to sleep-away camp for the first time. It was the same camp she had gone to and I was beyond excited. Until I was 12 years old, I lived in a house of only adults, so I was beyond ready to spend two weeks in nature with kids my own age. Despite never being away from my family before, I didn’t get homesick (although I pretended to because everyone else did #peerpressure).

A vintage picture of me leaving for camp, circa 2009

In fact, I loved getting away for the summers that two weeks of sleepaway camp eventually turned into a month every summer. After a few years of that, I started going to an academic sleep away camp at Northwestern, which was three weeks long. Essentially, every summer starting when I was about 12, I was gone for at least 7 weeks of the summer.

Now, let’s fast forward to August 2016. My family is preparing to send me away to college exactly 972 miles away from the home I grew up in. I’m an incredibly emotional person, so I cried when my family dropped me off and I cried when I said goodbye to all my friends. I prepared myself to leave home by bringing lots of pictures and stuffed animals but as the first semester rolled by, I still hadn’t gotten hit with the homesickness everyone told me I would experience.

A picture of me and my 7-year-old sister, Grace, in my dorm room

Now, let’s fast forward again to August 2017. Another year older and another year wiser. Instead of making the 15-hour drive to drop me off at school, my family puts me on a plane and sends me on my way (this way not only more cost and time effective, but ensured I did not try to pack up the whole house like I did the previous year). I expected things to go swimmingly. I was a sophomore now, not the new kid on campus but not old like my senior friends who are preparing to start their real lives (sorry, Rachel). Homesickness came at me hard and I didn’t know what to do.

I called my mom and told her how I felt and she instantly started looking at plane tickets for that very weekend but I told her I had to hold out until my planned trip home in November. At that time, it felt like one of the worst decisions I ever made. My family means everything to me and I missed them like crazy and here I was passing up an opportunity to go home. But, in the end, that was the best choice.

The consistent homesickness passes and now only comes in waves. Once I fell into the routine of the school year, it was easier to distract myself from those feelings. I reconnected with my family on campus (aka, COM) and started volunteering so I can get off campus once a week. I talk to my family as frequently as possible (for example, yesterday I called my mom just to tell her about the amazing salad I had) and I’m counting down the days until I go home again (at the time I wrote this: 26 days, 16 hours, and 12 minutes). Now that I’ve finally experienced homesickness and know how to deal with it, I’m ready to tackle this next four years. Next years challenge? Spending the whole year abroad.

Tyler A: Fall in the Bay State

Have a little Fall Fever? No worries. Here are some remedies that will help you to get out of Boston and explore the region:

1. Apple Picking: A New England Autumn wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the orchard. This is the quintessential experience every Bay Stater and BU student should have. Grab some friends and take the trek! And yes, there is more to do than just pick apples. Many orchards have stores where they sell homemade goods (cider doughnuts, anyone?), and you’ll often find other cool stuff, like Pumpkins! Growing up nearby, my go-to was Tougas Farm in Marlborough, but Honey Pot Hill is another BU student favorite.

2. Salem: It’s October, and things are getting spooky around here! Visit this very historic city, which easily accessible by the Commuter Rail, for Haunted Happenings. During October, the town comes alive with haunted houses, festivals, parades, and so on. I visited Salem on Halloween my freshman year, and it was an unforgettable experience. Don’t like spooky stuff? That’s okay, too. Salem has a lot of history and is still great at any time of the year. Fun Fact: did you know that Salem was the capital of Massachusetts before Boston and was considered one of the most important cities to the original 13 colonies? Go visit and discover more!

3. Witch’s Woods: So maybe you like Halloween but you don’t want the crowds at Salem. We have other options! Check out Witch’s Woods at Nashoba Valley Ski Area. It’s open Thursdays through Sundays and hosts a variety of attractions, from carnival rides to haunted houses to a “Jack-o-Lantern Jamboree” to hay rides! Better catch it quick, though, because the last day is Halloween!

4. Walden Pond: What would New England be without its world famous foliage? Walden Pond State Reservation is great for hiking and taking a little break from the city lifestyle. Take a trip down Route 2 to get there and experience the place where Henry David Thoreau spent his days in the birth of the transcendentalist movement. You can even see a replica of his one-room cabin!

5. Plimoth Plantation: Take a trip back in time and down the South Shore to the old Plimoth Plantation, an interactive indoor/outdoor museum focused on educating people on the historic Plimoth Colony. Experience Native and English cultures as they interacted back then!

Now, ~fall~ into the best season of the year! Enjoy!

Zach: Ranking the Bagels of BU

HELLO I AM BACK and it is time for another BU Food Ranking… today I will be ranking the BAGEL options near campus. Now, I will admit, this is a little biased, I only ever order the same thing. I am a little old jewish man so therefore my order is a lox bagel sandwich on an everything bagel. I sometimes will go for a whole wheat everything if I am feeling healthy. So… here goes my thoughts…

6: Starbucks

These are not bagels. They are cardboard. I won’t even waste my words here.

5: Einsteins in CAS:

What a NIGHTMARE. The line is always such a disaster. The bagels are SOGGY because they were FROZEN. I know they are not FRESH. It is a disgrace and I am disappointed that BU thinks of this as a legitimate bagel option. They get points for location however.

4: Rhett’s in the GSU

Now I will admit, this has a low ranking because it does NOT have a Lox bagel sandwich… so @BUDiningServices… get on that. However, their bagels are delicious and the chipotle chicken sandwich is always a lovely lovely option. Again… points for location.

3: Bruegger’s Bagels

I really do love Bruegger’s bagels, and I have a lot of nostalgia for when I lived in Myles and would go there most mornings. They get points for putting capers on the bagel sandwiches, for having truly HOT bagels that have just been pulled out of boiling water. Also… the bagels here are not too expensive. So really great points here. Locations are okay, they have a location in Kenmore and one in Coolidge. This really would be higher on my list but for some reasons the bagels don’t have a WOW factor.

2: Kupel’s Bagels

Okay I know they are far away from campus, but holy wow these are good bagels. Yes they are more expensive, but they even have a distinction between NOVA LOX and SMOKED SALMON. I mean they are really getting into my old jewish nitty gritty here. Their bagels are stellar and they only lose points for price and distance and the LINE on weekends.

1: Pavement

So this is a basic top choice… I know… but they are so. good. I really truly love Pavement bagels. They are always consistent and never disappoint. They lose points for the line, the fact that you see people you know every time you go there and I don’t have time for that with cream cheese on my face. Also… all the employees look like they are in an SNL sketch about hipsters. Their delicious bagels make these oddities worth it though.

THANKS SEE YOU SOON KEEP CALM AND BAGEL ON.

Megan: My Favorite Place in Boston is a Rock

My favorite place in Boston is a rock.

Now, it isn’t just any rock, in fact, you have to do a little bit of traveling to get there. You start the journey at the entrance to the Long Wharf, by the Marriott hotel and Faneuil Hall.

Follow the wharf down until you approach the water…

And, once you’ve reached the far-right end of the wharf, you have reached my favorite place in all of Boston to be: The rock right on the corner.

It boasts some pretty incredible views of the Boston Harbor:

And the wharf it is connected to has some pretty insane history too. It dates all the way back to 1710, and is the oldest still-used wharf in the city.

But, beyond that, this is my happy place in the city (I know what you’re thinking, a rock?!). Whenever I have a day or few hours to myself, I am most definitely going to end up sitting on this rock looking out into the harbor.

Sometimes I get there by walking basically the entire length of Boston from BU to the wharf, and sometimes I’m already downtown for my internship and am just on lunch break. But, no matter what, my explorations always lead me back here.

I’ve done a little bit of thinking about this, why this is the spot I always make it back too. For the one thing, I love being close to water (maybe it’s because I’m a water sign, or maybe it’s because I’ve lived close to large bodies of water my whole life), but it also shows me how much life is happening around me in Boston at all times.

From my spot, I can watch airplanes take off from Logan, listen to tour guides on the harbor boats talk about Boston, and witness a photoshoot or two for Instagram. I’ve sat at my rock and done homework, but I’ve also just sat taking everything in and listening to music, like the one time this summer I sat there for three hours listening to The Great Comet of 1812 soundtrack.

Sitting on my rock provides me an enormous sense of comfort, and I’ve realized just how important it is for me to have a place in the city that really feels like home to me.

Lilah: New Kid on Set

I have a story that epitomizes my time as a new Production Assistant this summer. I had the opportunity to work on “The Sinner,” a new television series produced by USA Network. I was the youngest person on set by 5 years, and I often misunderstood directions. Part of this is because a film set has a different language. This story has less to do with that language and more to do with my own ignorance, but it still shows how things got lost in translation for me during my time on set.

The Key PA had asked me to get our Assistant Director a “peanut butter and jelly sandwich, heavy PB and heavy jelly, triangle cut.” I enthusiastically ran to Crafty to execute the best PB&J this man had ever seen. For context, I never ate sandwiches as a child, so I am still pretty foreign to sandwich culture. I spend 15 minutes making this beautiful creation, bring it back, and a fellow PA says, “Uh, I think he meant cut down the middle.” I had cut the sandwich into a literal triangle, and I realize that I did not know what “triangle cut” meant. In my defense, I only started eating PB&Js in college! Sue me!

I left the sandwich by the door, and raced back to Crafty to construct another PB&J - cut down the middle this time. After 25 minutes, I hand it to my anxious AD and return back to my post. Suddenly, every crew member starts coming up to me and asking, “Hey, can I get an octagon-shaped sandwich?” Ah, another mistake: I left the sandwich on a bench, everyone got a picture, and word spread fast. From then on, that mistake was my trademark.

Although I was anxious about being the youngest crew member, it turned out to be an amazing experience. My naive mistakes gave other people a break from the stress of filmmaking. While I didn’t necessarily enjoy the torment, it reminded me about the nature of a film set. In the end, they respected me. I worked insanely hard for almost 4 months, 15 hours a day. A common saying for me was, “She’s young, she’s learning.” The crew taught me how to laugh at myself, and how to move on from errors. If you are ever the youngest person on set, use it to your advantage. Make friends with whoever crosses your path, because they want to give you advice. Being the center of a joke on set was truly amazing, because everyone learned the new kid’s name!

Here is a photo of the incident. Pictured next to me is our Director of Photography, Radium Cheung.

Angeli: What I Learned from Traveling with BU Admissions

A couple of weeks before I returned to campus for the fall semester, I was in the Midwest for the first time in my life. My younger sister was getting ready to begin her first year at Washington University in St. Louis, and I tagged along to assist with the oh so fun move-in process (a trip to a new city with great food wasn't a bad incentive...) Amidst the shopping, unpacking, and exploring, I couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia. I thought back to my own freshman move-in and relived the unfaltering excitement of being in a brand new place with so many new friendships, experiences, and lessons to come. I then thought of all the hard work my sister and I had endured to get to the universities we now love to call home. Without the slightest of doubts, I knew that either of us would be willing to work twice as hard if we had to do it again.

Life being its unpredictable self, I also received quite the unexpected email while sitting at the St. Louis airport. The BU Admissions office had reached out to me to see if I was interested in interviewing to be a student representative. If selected, I would get to share my Terrier story in four Florida cities. About a month later, I sat in yet another airport, waiting to fly to my hometown of Fort Lauderdale. My "rockstar tour," as my friends have endearingly come to call it, would begin in Miami that Sunday morning.

From there, I would travel to Boca Raton, Orlando, and Tampa with a team of Assistant Directors of Undergraduate Admissions. At each location, we hosted a one-hour reception for high school students interested in applying to or just learning more about BU. My role was to be the undergraduate voice, which more specifically entailed a ten-minute speech on my academic and extracurricular achievements thus far. Ever the optimist, I couldn't help but also throw in a conclusion with the basic underlying message of "follow your dreams, kids!"

Getting on stage was somewhat nerve-wrecking each time, but it was ultimately so worth it to be able to answer questions and offer advice to the students and parents who approached me afterwards. I actually think my three days "on the road" are among the most rewarding I've ever had because of those post-reception conversations. I definitely didn't expect that teaching others about what BU has to offer would result in learning some new insights about myself, but it absolutely did. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways:

1. BU has exposed me to some cool stuff. - When I first sat down to write my reception speech, I thought it was going to be insanely difficult. I worried that I wouldn't know what to talk about for a whole 10 minutes, but I quickly came to realize that 10 minutes wasn't enough time at all. The greater concern was what I wouldn't get the chance to talk about. Summarizing two years at a university like BU, let alone in a city like Boston, is pretty challenging, especially if your mantra has been to seize every opportunity available. I somehow narrowed down my list of highlights, which ranged from being able to create a thirty minute podcast for my WR150 final project to holding a leadership position in an organization as an underclassman and (rather randomly) taking Tai Chi as my first PDP.

2. I've (thankfully) come a long way since senior year of high school. - As I interacted with reception attendees each night, I thought back to when I was in their exact same position three years/a lifetime ago. When I was seventeen, I knew that I wanted to live in a city and study something communication-related. That was about it. It took a lot of self-reflection and forcing myself out of my comfort zone to get to the assurance I feel today. Do I still encounter self-doubt? Absolutely. But being at BU, constantly surrounded my incredibly driven and passionate people, has propelled me to maintain a standard of confidence in myself that I definitely lacked in the past.

3. I'm too proud to be BU. - Knowing that I'm a COM Ambassador is already a pretty big indicator that I enjoy gushing over this school. Getting to share my Terrier love beyond this campus was a whole other experience, though. I was given the chance to really think about all BU's done for me and now I'm a bit obsessed with ensuring it can do as much for future students. So just a fair warning for all: I'm prone to overly spirited rants these days.