film – COM Ambassador Blog

Richie: Cannes Film Festival, Europe, and Colombia!

I hope everyone’s summer has been going great! For those of you just graduating high school, congratulations! If you haven’t done our Summer Orientation at BU yet, I promise it’s such an awesome experience. Some of my closest friends today, I actually met during my BU Summer Orientation. Enjoy your last few weeks at home, and get excited to finally be at COM in the Fall!

I personally have to say, I’ve had the best summer of my entire life so far. A few months ago I wrote about being accepted into an internship program at the Cannes Film Festival. I was unbelievably excited to start working at the Film Festival in May, but I never expected all the amazing things I would be a part of.

I arrived to the beautiful tropical town of Cannes on May 14th. I had been in Paris for a few days before with my brother and thought most of France would look just like Paris. Obviously, I was surprised when I arrived to beautiful beaches lined with palm trees! The program I had received my internship through, Creative Minds, was also hosting about 150 other students. I quickly became friends with student from Texas, California, China, Mexico, and even The Netherlands!

Some had come with the networking aspect of the program where they partook in dozens of workshops with industry professionals like Randall Emmett. Others came with the filmmaker aspect, and were put in teams to create a short film while at the film festival. I was a part of the internship experience and was placed with WME.

Most of the internships at the film festival have the students work every other day, and sometimes only up to 8 days. Whereas, WME is a very sought after internship, I was working every single day from May 16th to May 27th. My days would usually start around 9:30am and could sometimes even last until 10pm! While the work was tough at times, WME was an incredible agency to work for. I learned an incredible amount of the industry on the talent agency side and was treated very well by all the agents I helped. My duties were mostly errands and any odd job an agent might need for us to do, but they never hesitated to answer our specific industry questions and give us great insight to the world of film.

While I did miss some screenings of films during the day, I still managed to make it to a number of Red Carpet Premieres and other exclusive screenings! My favorite two films would have to be Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson’s new film that premiered on the opening night, and Beasts of The Southern Wild, an American Indie film that won this year’s Grand Jury Prize for dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival! Just with every festival, you’re bound to see a few films that you quite honestly won’t enjoy. Yet, I must say Cannes offers an array of all types of films and Beasts has to be one of my favorite films of all time now.

The film festival is also known for some of the craziest and most exclusive parties in the world! While I mentioned I wouldn’t get out of my internship until around 9pm on some days, the night hadn’t even started! I found myself out until 4 and 5 in the morning almost every single night. Different parties hosted the likes of Swedish House Mafia, Busta Rhymes, David Guetta, and many more. A memory that’ll definitely stick out in my head is going to the very exclusive premiere of Cruel Summer, Kanye West’s short film! The film was shown on seven huge screens and all shot with multiple cameras to immerse the audience in all the action. Afterwards I even shook Kanye’s hand and was able to speak to him for a few minutes on his film! Jay Z and Kim Kardashian were in attendence, and afterward the protagonist of Kanye’s film, Kid Cudi, even performed!

I could go on about Cannes but also want to let you guys know how amazing my traveling in Europe was! I had never been to Europe before the Film Festival, and obviously wanted to do a bit of traveling while I was there. As soon as the Film Festival ended, I took a train over to Nice for a night. I stayed at an amazing hostel where I instantly made friends from all over the place! (Traveling through Europe and staying at hostels is highly recommended, definitely the cheapest, funnest, and easiest way to meet plenty of young people with amazing personalities and awesome travel stories! Definitely go through www.hostelworld.com!) I then traveled to Pisa, Florence, Rome, and took a flight back to Paris to be with my older brother. It was a great experience, and traveling alone definitely opens you up to making friends a lot easier! I made one last weekend trip to London and then prepared to leave Europe after about 5 weeks!

It’s been a very eventful summer and right now I’m winding down and spending some family time in Colombia. It’s been about five years since my last visit and I have to say I alway love coming back.

If any of you are interested in the Cannes Film Festival Program, I highly recommend it. I’m actually going to be recruiting new students for next year’s program and would love to answer even more specific questions on how to get in! It’s the experience of a lifetime and looks incredible on a resume no matter what field you want to get into after college! Send me and email at rduque@bu.edu or message me on facebook by just searching my name!

Next post I’ll catch you guys up on the pre-production of my new short film being shot here in Boston during the fall! Can’t wait to meet you all in September!

Richie: Indie Production Company

Hey everyone,

If you read my last post, you might’ve heard that I was able to get an internship at the Cannes Film Festival for this summer. Obviously I’ve been incredibly excited for it. I’m sure I will learn plenty about the festival process, screenings, distribution of motion pictures, and even more.

However, I am most interested in the production of actual movies. While I could try searching for another internship or job on the actual set of a short film, I instead thought, “What better way to learn about making movies, than just going out and making plenty yourself?”

That’s why three friends of mine and I have decided to start a small production company. We’ve helped each other out on our Production 1 films and since last year have been shooting and editing a few live sessions for independent musicians around Boston. We’ve had experience working with each other and thought it was time we stepped it up. With a name finally agreed upon, oneonefive productions has finally begun preproduction for our own independent short film.

Preproduction:

Recently we’ve been making changes to the script, setting up a budget, and creating a schedule. We’ve even gone into researching the best resources for casting, equipment rental, and even deadlines for film festival submissions months in advance. Our first film’s will be about three adolescent working class Boston kids. Unable to receive a college education, like so many in their position, they grow a resentment towards the student’s inhabiting their city from distant parts around the country. The group cons and robs affluent college students in the Boston area, yet our protagonist begins to have a change of heart.

We’re confident in the story premise but still definitely have a few details to iron out before we start shooting.

Getting Jobs to Fund our First Film:

Apart from making changes to the script I wrote, a large part of what’s been on our plates has been funding the project. Although a Kickstarter campaign was thought of, we feel we must be a bit more established before we can realistically start getting strangers to give money for our film. This is why we’ve been focusing on getting jobs shooting promos, live music sessions, music videos, and anything else we may find a client interested in. Our first job will be at a hair salon on Newbury Street, interested in shooting a few instructional videos on how to use their products. This way, we’ll be getting more experience, building contacts, establishing a track record, and funding our film all at once.

Our production company is very young, but we’re all very excited to finally be doing more of what we love. We always talk about crafting our skill or making that first real legitimate film. Though we may have a bit until that film gets completed, the group is happy that action has been replaced by mere talking. I definitely recommend engaging some close friends of yours in different talks and meetings and see if you guys can create a small production company or artistic collective. I definitely think it’s the best way to start learning apart from classes or internships, and start establishing a name for yourself! By the way, if anyone has us in mind for a shoot, email us at oneonefiveproductions@gmail.com!

Sarah: True Life: I’m an Intern

Hey terriers! While many begin the hunt for a summer internship, I thought I’d reflect a little on my own.

This past summer, I had the most incredible first internship a film student can ask for – being a production assistant on the set of a feature film. The Place Beyond the Pines, a film written and directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), and starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper, began filming last July in Schenectady, NY. Schenectady might not sound familiar to you, but I grew up practically next-door. It was a BIG deal for such a small town.

Being on set was unlike anything I’ve ever done before. I gained practical knowledge, made connections and experienced feature filmmaking first-hand. It turned out to be the most rewarding (and brag-worthy) internship I could have hoped for. It was also the most overwhelming. I went through a trial and error period in the beginning, but I learned more from my initial uncertainty. Here are just a few things I picked up as a first-time film intern.

1. Comfortable shoes are essential.
Twelve-hour days are average. Fourteen-hour days are typical. Sixteen-hour days are not unlikely. Production assistants do not sit. Ever. You might get twenty minutes to scarf down lunch, but that does not guarantee you any time off of your feet. Flexible shoes with some support will help prevent throbbing feet at the end of the day. After day one, I ditched my tennis shoes for an old pair of running sneakers.

2. It takes a LOT of people to make a movie…
…and you have to know all of them. I was astonished to discover how many people it takes to make a feature film (this was a low-budget, independent film, mind you). Directors, producers, gaffers, electricians, personal assistants, sound mixers, location scouts, prop masters and makeup artists make for a substantial crew. When you consider all of the work done both before and after filming, the crew on set is just a portion of a larger team – a team of hundreds. As the eyes and ears of the assistant directors, production assistants are responsible for knowing who everyone is and what everyone does. Study up right away – there will inevitably be seven Mikes.

3. Filmmaking has its own lingo.
Do you know what sides are? A hero house? A squib? Neither did I. There isn’t any kind of vocabulary list you receive before hand, but nearly everything on set has some shortened ID. The key PA might brief you on your first day, but just like knowing every person on set, it’s your responsibility to know all of the terms used on set. It will mostly come with time and repetition, but doing some research beforehand can’t hurt.

4. Everyone is your boss.
The only position lower than a PA is an interning PA. There is a key PA who all others will generally report to and receive instructions from. The higher-ups will relay instructions, requests and problems to the key PA, who then delegates responsibilities to everyone else. It seems pretty common, however, for other crew memebers on set to ask a PA for assistance. Whatever they ask – do it. For me, most times it was someone asking for a pen or a new radio battery (or to hold an umbrella for Ryan Gosling so the rain won’t smudge his tattoos). If a crewmember asks you to do anything that requires you to leave set or an assigned post, make sure you tell the key PA. They must keep tabs on their minions at all times!

5. Days are long, but not necessarily busy.
On my first day, my key PA told me that the job involves doing everything and doing nothing – bizarre, yet true. There is no single responsibility of a PA. Tasks change with current needs and circumstances on set. Most days, my responsibilities required me to run around set for twenty minutes and then act as a human traffic cone for the rest of the day. It’s the nature of the business; I had to do my job so the actors and directors could do theirs. If you want to impress the crew, be the happiest, most attentive traffic cone on set. And don’t sit down!

6. Call sheets are tricky.
Call sheets hold SO much information. This one piece of paper holds almost everything you need to know for the day – call times, weather, scene numbers, props, location and the entire crew list. It isn’t of much use, however, if you don’t know how to read it. My key PA tried decoding it for me on my first day, but barely made it through the heading before he got pulled away. This is another thing you kind of have to learn through experience. The interns on set would often band together to decipher the scene descriptions. I found out, though, that interns are not the only ones who have trouble reading call sheets. The assistant directors would often joke about holding a Call Sheet 101 class.

If you have the opportunity to work on a movie set, take it! Maybe my rookie mistakes and lessons learned will help you through your first few days!

The Place Beyond the Pines is scheduled to release in the fall – go see it!

Jason: New Semester

Hey guys,

Well, here’s my first blog entry of the semester. Classes just started so I figured it’d be appropriate to talk about how my first couple went. I’ve only had my liberal arts classes so far, my film classes are tomorrow (although by the time you read this I will have had them) but for now I’ll just talk about my first day back.

First of all, I was skiing in Park City, Utah the week before I got back to Boston and it’s warmer there than it is at school; so that was a bit of a shock. Anyway, if you end up living in West Campus make sure you get to the bus pretty early through out the winter because EVERYONE will be waiting for the bus and they can’t all fit. I ended up taking the T took my first class because the bus was too crowded.

My first class was sociology of law and society. I’m taking this class because A) it’s applicable to the topic areas I want to cover in my documentaries and B) it fills a requirement. The professor is hilarious and we’re going to have the opportunity to sit on a criminal court case. After watching religiously watching every episode of SVU, that’s been a dream of mine for some time now.

The class immediately after is Spanish. Last year I switched from French so I can participate in the Madrid Film Studies and Documentary Video Production Program in the fall. Right I’m now at the 5^th semester level so I’ll be all set to go next year. I can’t really say much because apparently the professor who taught the entire class yesterday was subbing for our real professor. Should be good though.

That’s about it on that front. It’s good to be back and I’m pumped for a great semester.

Richie: Internships through the Emma Bowen Foundation

Hey guys! I hope everyone is super excited to come to Boston this fall! You should all be proud and psyched to have gotten into the the best school at BU: COM.

I remember a huge reason I decided on COM last year was because of the security I felt I would have in finding a job after school. I’m sure many of you can relate to the fear of not finding a good job after college and as an aspiring film maker I can say that fear was ten times greater for me. I used to not be sure if I should chase my passion or just settle for a field with more jobs and better income. Yet, as I’m sure a lot of you will agree with, both COM’s film program and BU in LA program finally had me feeling comfortable with my choice in film.

Now, for all you interested in film, television, broadcast journalism, or any other media related job (which is basically anyone in COM), I highly, highly recommend applying to the Emma Bowen Foundation. If you’re looking ahead and thinking about getting a job in whatever communication related industry, then this program is definitely for you. EBF is a program dedicated to helping minorities break into the media business by setting them up with a four year internship. Students have an 8 week commitment to work for their corporate sponsor every summer that they’re in college. Some corporate sponsors even allow their interns to work throughout the year as well.

Each summer your department is changed so you can get a taste of different jobs in the industry. The benefit of having a secure internship every summer for the next few years is incredible, anyone will tell you. Also, you’ll be building a strong relationship with your company where many students earn a job afterward or, through their connections, find a job at a different company.

Oh yeah, and if you guys are curious about what companies participate in the program you can check them out here http://www.emmabowenfoundation.com/main.html. To give you and idea though, I work for Fox Television Stations, and have friends that work for HBO, NBC Universal, the YES Network, ABC, and many many more.

Some of you might be hesitant to give up eight weeks of your summer. Maybe you want to enjoy your summer, but just to remind you all, summer vacations in college are around three months so you’ll still have plenty of time to hang with friends. Plus, we all know the wisdom of working hard early in life to enjoy a comfortable, fun job, later in life. And if that doesn’t win you over, did I mention the internship is not only paid but also a scholarship program?! Now most people will tell you how insanely difficult it is to find a paid internship (even if it is only minimum wage), yet EBF has all its partnership companies give out matching funds at the end of every summer. So that basically means, if you dedicate yourself to working those 40 hour weeks for two months, not only will you have all the money you were getting paid, but the company will match your hard work! You do the math, 40 hours a week for eight weeks (getting paid $7.25) is over two grand!