Being in the IT Field, with a film background is pretty strange. They seem to be on opposite sides of the spectrum upon first glance, and second glance, and perhaps upon every glance. I really feel like an IT fraud. I got my first full time IT job after a 13 months of working at the Apple Store, without a single certification or degree. I had done some tech support work working for my college but that was part time and very basic stuff.
I got hired because I told them I could install RAM and therefore could probably take apart the rest of a computer (mostly true). After getting hired, I passed a couple of certification tests (which don't really help you learn to take apart a computer) and I guess I became legitimate and therefore thrust me into an identity crisis.
Now I typically enjoy computer tech stuff, don't get me wrong. I like taking apart computers, putting in new parts, and what have you. I even enjoy troubleshooting software issues, but the sticking point is helping people with the same mundane things everyday, where the most common solution is to tell someone to restart their computer and everything will probably right itself.
A new development in my list of tasks has come about lately. I've been asked to write some scripts, and I don't mean film or TV scripts (which would truly make me happy). I've been asked to program and this is something I have really no experience in. It's been a challenge and it's definitely give me a mental workout. Of course, that was until I just started looking on the internet for already created scripts that would save my boss and I a lot of time (he doesn't care if I actually create the scripts, he just needs them).
This new script making task has gotten me down on myself. Not just because I'm terrible at it, but because I feel like I'm slowly being consumed by this tech industry that I vowed to only work in until I got my big break. I haven't sold a screenplay, I haven't left Orange County, and all my work experience has to do with fixing Macs. It's a slippery slope and I realize that I'm going to have to try to get out sooner or later or just accept that this is my life. No amount of decadent designer clothes is going to be able to convince me that I'm not "one of them".
Soon I'm going to be a programmer who feels winded when he tries to use his creative side of the brain. This is not a knee jerk reaction, but a reality that I've slowly started to create for myself over the past few years.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Bare Necessities
Growing up, I took a lot of things for granted. There'd always be toilet paper, I'd always have a laundry basket, there'd always be (unexpired) milk in the fridge. These are things that are pretty necessary (maybe not the milk) to live and are a pain when you are without them. I kind of groan when toilet paper needs to be purchased, and I was pretty infuriated when someone decided to steal my laundry basket from the laundry room a couple of months ago. While cheap, replacing some sort of laundry transport device is seriously frustrating, especially when you're in the middle of doing your laundry.
My friend Mike grew up as a navy brat. He spent the first couple years of life in Spain and his recollection of Spain was less than glamorous. He doesn't speak about tapas or the beautiful view. He talks about how the TV only had a couple of channels in English and how the highlight of his day was being able to watch Thundercats. (I forget whether he had to watch it in Spanish or not.)
He moved to the States and went to school. His family was financially in good shape, they were a pretty American household. 4 bedrooms, 3 kids, a couple of cars, they were middle class, if not upper middle class. They had cable TV, computers, video games, all the things a teenage boy would want, except one thing: a microwave.
We were probably 13 or 14 years old at the time when Mike told me about how his family was researching various microwaves. He was absolutely giddy about it, like if a kid were to get a new bike, or a new video game. I'm not sure why this family had been sans microwave for so long; they could definitely afford it. I don't recall any stories about how the old one crapped out, or how they had a toaster oven instead, they just didn't have a microwave but now for some reason felt that they needed one. How they were able to manage without one for so long never really popped up in my adolecent brain, but now that I think about it, is pretty impressive.
So on one glorious fateful day, I came over to Mike's house and there was a microwave, and Mike wanted to make me something using said microwave. Sounds weird, I know, but since I knew how much the microwave meant to him, I obliged and told him that I would like some nachos. It was something easy, and something that would be ideally be made in a microwave. So he piled a bunch of chips on a plate and put some cheese (those weird liquidy Velveeta cheese slices, which probably barely qualify as cheese) on top, threw the plate in the microwave and let his new prized possession do the rest.
We sat down to watch some TV and Mike had a look of accomplishment on his face. The microwave had made him into a new man. The microwave beeped to let us know it was done and Mike brought me back my nachos. Unfortunately, the microwave's nacho auto-cooking auto setting didn't know how to handle Velveeta cheese and ended up burning my nachos. I had never encountered burnt nachos before then, so I chose to ridicule Mike. He blamed his failure on his inexperience with microwaves and vowed to do a better job in the future.
I think we both learned a valuable lesson that day. No matter how high tech the device, common sense will always be needed and that should never be taken for granted.
My friend Mike grew up as a navy brat. He spent the first couple years of life in Spain and his recollection of Spain was less than glamorous. He doesn't speak about tapas or the beautiful view. He talks about how the TV only had a couple of channels in English and how the highlight of his day was being able to watch Thundercats. (I forget whether he had to watch it in Spanish or not.)
He moved to the States and went to school. His family was financially in good shape, they were a pretty American household. 4 bedrooms, 3 kids, a couple of cars, they were middle class, if not upper middle class. They had cable TV, computers, video games, all the things a teenage boy would want, except one thing: a microwave.
We were probably 13 or 14 years old at the time when Mike told me about how his family was researching various microwaves. He was absolutely giddy about it, like if a kid were to get a new bike, or a new video game. I'm not sure why this family had been sans microwave for so long; they could definitely afford it. I don't recall any stories about how the old one crapped out, or how they had a toaster oven instead, they just didn't have a microwave but now for some reason felt that they needed one. How they were able to manage without one for so long never really popped up in my adolecent brain, but now that I think about it, is pretty impressive.
So on one glorious fateful day, I came over to Mike's house and there was a microwave, and Mike wanted to make me something using said microwave. Sounds weird, I know, but since I knew how much the microwave meant to him, I obliged and told him that I would like some nachos. It was something easy, and something that would be ideally be made in a microwave. So he piled a bunch of chips on a plate and put some cheese (those weird liquidy Velveeta cheese slices, which probably barely qualify as cheese) on top, threw the plate in the microwave and let his new prized possession do the rest.
We sat down to watch some TV and Mike had a look of accomplishment on his face. The microwave had made him into a new man. The microwave beeped to let us know it was done and Mike brought me back my nachos. Unfortunately, the microwave's nacho auto-cooking auto setting didn't know how to handle Velveeta cheese and ended up burning my nachos. I had never encountered burnt nachos before then, so I chose to ridicule Mike. He blamed his failure on his inexperience with microwaves and vowed to do a better job in the future.
I think we both learned a valuable lesson that day. No matter how high tech the device, common sense will always be needed and that should never be taken for granted.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Soundtracking Screenplays
I have not made a movie, but I make soundtracks all the time. It's probably because when I was younger I used to make mix tapes (actually CDs) all the time, whether it be for friends (getting them into the good music), girls I had crushes on, or just myself for the car. So making a "soundtrack" is just a logical extension of that now that I'm trying to write screenplays. It's just how I work, and why shouldn't it? I don't believe you can make a great film without a great score/soundtrack to accompany it. All great filmmakers utilize great music, so why shouldn't screenwriters, right?
I started writing my first screenplay in Junior year of college. I had the idea, but I didn't know how to turn that idea into a 90+ page document. Writing 90 pages is kind of daunting, even in screenplay format which has very generous spacing, so I threw some tunes on my iPod which I felt would be part of the film's soundtrack, perhaps not lyrically, but in feel. Screenplay #1 was a romantic comedy with a bit of a twist so I used a lot of glitch-pop like Looper and Dntel (pre-Postal Service stuff) and while the songs might've not even been romantic or fitting, they helped me think of scenes.
Screenplay #2's plot takes place in high school so accordingly, I filled my iPod up with stuff that was popular in high school, actually no. I filled with stuff that I thought should've been popular in high school like Jawbreaker and things that I wish kids listened to in high school now like Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I concede that high school is a time to be punk, I just wish they listened to the good punk at the time, since it's probably too much to ask for kids to listen to good old-school punk.
Screenplay #3 is about a Korean-American family and I obsessively listened to Danger Doom. I can't really elaborate on that or I'd give too much away.
I'm starting to re-write Screenplay #1 and I've hit a serious case of writer's block. I've been going to a Screenwriter's Group and I've gotten a lot of feedback on how I can make it better and I've actually ordered a book to also help me with the rewrite, but the problem for me has been finding the music to help me through the process. The music I used for the inital write can't be used again, so I'm searching for music to reinspire me to flush out this alternate universe that I've created. I hope whatever band/genre it is doesn't get offended that I think they make good "re-write music". It just means their music is cinematic and I know that I can't write a great screenplay without a great soundtrack.
I started writing my first screenplay in Junior year of college. I had the idea, but I didn't know how to turn that idea into a 90+ page document. Writing 90 pages is kind of daunting, even in screenplay format which has very generous spacing, so I threw some tunes on my iPod which I felt would be part of the film's soundtrack, perhaps not lyrically, but in feel. Screenplay #1 was a romantic comedy with a bit of a twist so I used a lot of glitch-pop like Looper and Dntel (pre-Postal Service stuff) and while the songs might've not even been romantic or fitting, they helped me think of scenes.
Screenplay #2's plot takes place in high school so accordingly, I filled my iPod up with stuff that was popular in high school, actually no. I filled with stuff that I thought should've been popular in high school like Jawbreaker and things that I wish kids listened to in high school now like Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. I concede that high school is a time to be punk, I just wish they listened to the good punk at the time, since it's probably too much to ask for kids to listen to good old-school punk.
Screenplay #3 is about a Korean-American family and I obsessively listened to Danger Doom. I can't really elaborate on that or I'd give too much away.
I'm starting to re-write Screenplay #1 and I've hit a serious case of writer's block. I've been going to a Screenwriter's Group and I've gotten a lot of feedback on how I can make it better and I've actually ordered a book to also help me with the rewrite, but the problem for me has been finding the music to help me through the process. The music I used for the inital write can't be used again, so I'm searching for music to reinspire me to flush out this alternate universe that I've created. I hope whatever band/genre it is doesn't get offended that I think they make good "re-write music". It just means their music is cinematic and I know that I can't write a great screenplay without a great soundtrack.
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