forgive me if i sound a little harsh in this post, but in the words of REO Speedwagon, "i can't fight this feeling anymore." further, this will be a long one, because i have a few 'things' to talk about...
when i say 'things,' i'm pretty much referring to other students in my production classes, one class at Brown and one at RISD. now, i'll preface my argument by saying that i realize there are exceptions to the rule, and that i am not an omniscient entity.
however, if i have to sit through one more mind-numbing, narcissistic piece-of-shit video project by one of my peers, i think my head might split open so my brain can escape the pain. at Brown, we're talking documentaries. i don't expect Grizzly Man or Riding Giants, i just want something that somewhat resembles a documentary, and is watchable. what i don't want to see, is some video with a "concept." and by concept, i mean fuzzy, grainy, blurry, shaky footage, of god knows what, edited together... or rather, not together, with mixed-up, might as well be jibberish audio tracks layered into what i would call a fucking disaster. what makes this worse, is that one kid who always tries to read into the "piece" with their "psycho-analytic/post-modern/constructivist/deconstructivist/i learned some big words in Modern Culture & Media 11" bullshit. that stuff is all well and good, for projects deserving of such dialogue, not the semester-long training montage of one man's quest to learn the lyrics to "Notorious Thugs." (that vid, in all honesty, was awesome).
moving on... the RISD kids. grow up. not all of them, but roughly 50% of my directing class is taken up by "tortured artists." (tortured artists = children). "i couldn't do the project because the cameras were signed out, i had finals, i was busy getting lit off of opium tea." excuses are like... you know the rest. we all have the same issues: signing out equipment, getting actors and locations and doing this on top of other school work, so don't waste my class time arguing with the professor about why you couldn't get your work done.
finally, at both schools, learn to criticize, and take criticism. there's nothing more pleasantly painful than a totally positive critique. i'm not saying we need to lay into each other, but if someone half-asses a project, then it's up to the students in the class to let them know. unfortunately, most people won't call others out on it, unless they've done their work to back it up, and that isn't always the case. i don't want to show a project, and have everyone say "yup, great." i want to know what people think (though i wonder if i could even get a coherent thought out of some classmates), and i want to get better at what i do.
basically, it's a fucking shame that so many students at such great institutions as Brown and RISD are wasting opportunities, theirs and others. i'm graduating, so no more bullshit for me, but i hope for the sake of future classes, that something changes.
much respect to those other students who do great work, and make working in film and video an awesome experience. they know who they are.
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