A Decent End...

I have just returned from a decent end to an ok day. It was not a great one...well, let's say that it started off as ok and then went to bad and then ended with a decent end.

So, let's skip my morning because honestly it is rather boring. The only thing I did that was remotely interesting was take a package to the post office and have it sent to Geoff. It was amusing as the trams weren't really running correctly and well, that meant me carrying my abnormally heavy box up the street to the post office and getting weird looks from people who didn't move out of the way of my umbrella as I walked (I couldn't do much with it as I was also carrying the box).

Then, around 2pm I left to go and attempt to take my Czech final. I say attempt because there was a series of miscommunications that went on and led to the end result of over half of us having to take the final on Wednesday, which is what I really didn't want to do.

You see the confusion came as to where we were having the test. It's not a normal day for our class, and so we weren't sure if we were having the final at CET or FAMU. And well, one thing led to another and eventually we all thought it was figured out. We thought the final was at CET, but it turns out that it was actually at FAMU. But, by the time everything got straightened out, some of us had to reschedule the test to Wednesday. And this did not and still does not make me a happy camper. I really wanted to get the test over and done with so that I could spend the last few days in Prague doing nothing but shopping and such, but now I have to take a final. Oh well, I guess you do what you have to do.

It took a bit to get over this, but a trip to the Christmas market with Dave and Steph helped a bit. We got food and I bought some more Christmas gifts and figured out what to get other people. And then we headed back to the apartments to get ready for the FAMU party, which I had no idea was going on.

We left for the party around 11pm, and let's just say that FAMU had been turned into what Kris described as a "frat house". The entire building contained decorations and food and beer and music and game. It was absolutely incredible. Apparently, this was the Christmas celebration. Even the professor were there...along with almost every single FAMU student! The only part I'm sad about is that it was a mafia themed dress party, but I didn't know so I didn't dress up, but I wish I had. It would have been fun.

I stayed for a while. Mingled with all of the FAMU International students that I have come to know and had something to drink, but eventually the smoke and amount of people in the room started to get to me, so I left. But, it was a very fun party. You can definitely tell that it was a party thrown by those who are film majors. Everything was well lit and designed. But, it was also really weird to see FAMU as "a frat house".

Here are some of the pictures I took at the event!


They are a guy setting up a film projector for a showing something on the wall, a few FAMU students sitting and mingling, and the stairs colorful and not as crowded as they were later in the night.

Overall, not a bad day. It could have been much worse. Tomorrow I'm going to do some more Christmas shopping and then I'm going to go over and have a Christmas party with Marek, Petra and everyone else. It should be lots of fun!

Also, as a side note. Kris and I have finished editing our movie, we only have a few more things to do with it (color grading, subtitles, etc.) and it will be ready to screen on Tuesday. I'm a little bit nervous about that.

The program is slowing coming to a close, but it will go out with a huge bang! So, keep reading! Updates will be coming at you fast!

Countdown: 6 days left in Prague

Film Back-Log Day 7, 8 & 9: This Week Didn't Seem to End!

It felt like last week went on forever. I can't believe that it was only a day and one week ago that Kris and I were out in the park shooting our own movie. Now, we are at the finished the shooting cycle and we will begin the post-production part soon...

So, Friday I was on Steph and Shayna's shoot for majority of my day. That was of course after I spent the morning working on the blood for Tarek and Drew's shoot. I arrived at Steph and Shayna's shoot and we got straight to work.

I have to say they worked really fast and efficiently. There was not much wasted time anywhere. They knew their shots and how they wanted their actors to act and everything went really well. I was quite surprised because there is normally at least one thing that goes wrong in the production process and they seemed to be doing just fine. I got to continue my job as a slate girl with them and I helped to coordinate lunch/dinner/anything else that needed to be done. And though it was fun, it was exhausting. I was grateful for the beer we got after we wrapped. It made the night a bit more relaxing.

Saturday morning I got up and dressed in the nice dress clothes that I brought with me and headed over to Drew and Tarek's shoot where I was to be an extra in their laboratory scene. I played the part of the mathematician-scientist as I ended up writing calculus equations all over the board and solving them. I'm glad to see that the math classes I took in high school are coming in handy somewhere.

Being an extra was a lot of fun. Their movie seemed to be coming along better than I expected. I was worried that they may be making things up on the spot as they went, but they seemed to have a pretty good grasp on what needed to be done...so needless to say, I was rather impressed.

When I got home that night though, I felt like crap though. Not from being an extra, but from working on sets for so long and just continuously going. My body just ached. I think I went to sleep at like 7:30pm that night and didn't wake up until 8:30am the next morning, which was just before I needed to wake up. (Thank goodness I went to sleep when I did. I woke up feeling so much better. They only thing I had (still have) was an annoying cough.)

Sunday was a day of fun for me! All of the blood that I had been working so hard on for Drew and Tarek was finally going to pay off. I was finally going to show off the fact that I do well with gore. And boy...did I ever...

As a comparison, we checked on Saturday and found that the human body has approximately 5 liters of blood in it. I made approximately 5 liters of blood...and we poured about that all over the floor of one of the directing rooms in FAMU...so...much...gore...it was AWESOME! The actors weren't entirely pleased with me as the blood was still cold when I had to cover them in it, but beyond that it looked pretty cool. The only problem with the blood was that it functioned like real blood. The more it sat out, the darker the color became and it began to dry to things...like actual blood does...it was a lot of fun to play with though.

Here are some of the picture I took from Drew and Tarek's shoot!


They are me as a scientist, Gordon, Dave, and Kim strapping the Kevin (the lead actor) down to the "love machine", Kevin covered in blood splatter, and...the bloody floor and chairs...when it was still neat (It got messier once we put actors in the mix.)...also,minus the actors in their underwear (I just felt that I shouldn't post that here...)

After my fun time with the blood, I came back to the apartment...along with Drew and Tarek's cast...and I wasn't able to escape quickly enough. As much as I like being on film sets, I don't think I enjoy them being in my apartment. So many people, it makes me feel like I need to host...even when it's not my event. And this is how I ended up trapped...well, that...and the little children that I ended up watching.

You see, two of the actors were once married and in order for them to do the roles in the film, they needed to bring their children with them. Well, I ended up sort of pseudo-babysitting...which wouldn't have been an issue if I actually knew how to handle children. But, seeing as I'm me...and children scare me a bit...I didn't really know what to do except humor them when they talked to me...perhaps I'll get better with children with time...

I was so excited to go to bed Sunday evening. It meant that the week of shooting was finally over. But, it also signified a very sad fact too. What was once a great adventure is now slowly coming to an end. But, I'm not going to look at it that way at all.

So we may only have three weeks left in the Czech Republic, but that doesn't mean that I won't be exploring. The Christmas market has just opened up and I only wandered briefly through it tonight, so that's to be seen. And of course there is adventures to be had in the editing room once Kris is feeling better again. (Poor Kris caught the flu...:-(...) And I'm sure much, much more too! Keep watching!

Of Pitching, Opera, and Baseball

The weekend isn't even over and already so much has happened!

Majority of this week led up to Thursday morning, where all of us FAMU kids had to stand up in front of a panel of professors and pitch our stories. This doesn't sound like it should be terrifying, but the panel of professors was bigger than the amount of students we had in the entire room. Add to that the fact that we had seen FAMU students pitch stories to a panel the day before...and their ideas were ripped to shreds. Needless to say, I was terrified.

So, of course with the day going the way it was thus far, Kris and I had to pitch first. We did just fine. The story was solid and the criticism we received was more about where to shoot, how to shoot, what kind of actors we would need, and other more practical things as opposed to story criticism. They did say, however, that our story was very fragile and needed to be executed well in order to make it all work. This was such a relief. After we pitched, everyone else did the same.

Once pitching was over, we went on to have the rest of our classes for the day. They were normal. Though, I do have to say that my history teacher is quite funny. After showing us some paintings from the Decadence movement, he informed us to go home in the evening and say "Hello" to the creature under our beds. He's a very interesting character.

Friday morning came around and I went on the art and cultural excursion with some of the other FAMU International kids. We were going to go inside town hall, but due to the crappy weather (aka snow and rain and cold...) we decided to go and look at some galleries instead. We saw one about a typographer from the 1900s, an interesting collection that looked like a child's drawing (the picture to the right is one of my favorites from this collection) and the Polish Institute where they had Polish designs of modern products on display. We were going to see Chopin's death mask, but that is not on display until next week, so we are waiting...though we did get to see the workers installing the exhibit. The Polish Institute building was a very medieval building on the inside.

After the tour, I stopped in Old Town to get a crepe for lunch and then I came back to the apartment and took a brief nap in preparation for the opera. Kris and I had bought tickets on Thursday after class to go and see The Marriage of Figaro. Prior to this, I knew very little. I knew the show was a sequel to The Barber of Seville, I also knew it had to do with the count trying stop the marriage, and a bunch of mistaken identity. But other than that...nothing. The most exposure I had had to these operas was this:

Rabbit of Seville, featuring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd (1950) @ Yahoo! Video

Turns out...not even close. As I'm sure you might have guessed. But, it was a great time. Kris, Dave and I got to see one of Mozart's classic operas at the Estates Theatre, which is where Don Giovanni premiered. It was beautiful. We also got decent seats for an inexpensive amount of money...350 CZK per person...deal! The pictures below are some that I took while we were at the opera. It was a rather awesome night.



























































After the opera, Dave headed home while Kris and I ventured up Wenceslas Square to find a sports bar to watch the Dodgers-Phillies game. Even though I'm not a fan of sports, I still had a good time. There were other Americans to talk with and it was just fun to see something American. Even though the Phillies lost.

So, that's about it thus far. The weekend has just started and thus far, Kris and I have been working on our projects today. We met with Pavel Marek to discuss our storyboard, which needs some work...but, we are working and getting stuff done. And later, hopefully, we will get to go see a movie. I haven't been to the movies since I left home and I do miss that.

So, don't move. Excitement, outrage...and at minimum another update are on the way!

The Arrival of Fall

I really feel that this is an appropriate comic to post in my blog for now. Here in the Czech Republic, we've actually been experiencing fall or autumn...as opposed to Maryland where the weather goes from summer to winter in a total of about two weeks. This is of course excluding the last few days where it has been rather rainy. But, this is the same sort of feeling I get when I'm looking out the windows of my classroom at FAMU..."oh the leaves are gorgeous. The hillside is beautiful....wait, I should be paying attention...but, it's sooooo pretty..." You get the idea.

But enough talk of how much I love the fall here. The end of last week turned out to be another interesting week. Wednesday and Thursday were rather normal by all accounts. I did manage to get lost in Old Town on Thursday though. I went looking for the books I needed for my history class and I first tried the Globe Bookstore that my professor suggested, but they did not have the books, so I thought I would try the other English bookstore, Anagram.

I've heard it said that you can only get lost in Prague if you are actually looking for something and it's very true. Trying to find Anagram books took about 4 hours...and I never actually found the store. I wandered the same block, unintentionally, for at least an hour. I also managed to end up in the Jewish Quarter. Eventually, I did find my way back to Old Town Square, but I had given up on finding the bookstore at this point. There was a what looked to be a school band playing in the square outside of St. Nicholas' Church, which is what the picture to the left is of. They were pretty good and were playing the "Can-Can" song, so I enjoyed that.

Not long after this fiasco, I met Kris and we went for "horka čokoláda" aka hot chocolate at the Cubist cafe. It was really good. When we ordered, the waiter was extremely impressed as we proceeded to order in Czech. He was so amused that he went from having very little smile to be all smiles every time he came over to the table. It was a really relaxing time before I had to go class and Kris had to return to writing her paper. Well, as I was leaving I grabbed my jacket off my chair and the waiter insisted on holding it for me as I put it on. I take this as a sign that not many people come in with the intent to speak Czech there.

Class went well, as did Friday's class. Friday night I spent part of my night hanging out with Shayna and Steph. They were a lot of fun. I then met Lisa and Rebecca at Friends for American Pop Dance Party night. I really enjoyed dancing and just hanging out with them.

Saturday during the day Kris, Lisa and I went shopping around...or more like pricing around for souvenirs. I actually wandered into the Tesco's other floors, which were actually really neat. It reminded me very much of an American department store. We stopped in Old Town Square for roasted almonds and actually found Anagram books this time around. I wasn't looking for it this time obviously. (Especially since I had already taken the books out of the CET library...). We then wandered for Chinese food, which was only ok. I think the place could have been better, but you know...it was an experience. I really do need to find a sushi place though. If there is one food I really miss from home its the sushi.

When I got home later in the evening, I found that Steph, Shayna and Tarek were watching I Love You, Man. I watched the last bit of it and then we all proceeded to make chicken schnitzel. It was absolutely delicious! That's what the following pictures are from.

Later that evening, Kris, Lisa, Marek, one of Marek's friends and I attempted to go to a jazz club that we received an e-mail about, but we arrived half-way through the set and decided that the cover of 200 crowns was too much for only seeing half of the show. We wandered looking for another bar for a bit and eventually ended back at the same bar where I got a really good drink called a "Swimming Pool"...it was really good. Kris got a "Zombie", which is the picture to the left...it was cool to look at so I had to post a picture of it. After we finished drinks, we headed back home.

Sunday was a day of cleaning. I cleaned the entire apartment and it made me extremely happy once it was all done. I then wandered over to the boy's apartment for eggs and then out to coffee with Steph and Shayna. Sunday was rather relaxing and culminated in me making eggplant parmesan which was absolutely delicious.

And now it is Tuesday. Monday was a typical Monday complete with classes and rain. And today we saw snow...but beyond that...typical Tuesday with classes. I'll update later in the week as we have to pitch our ideas to production managers on Thursday. That will be fun. But, look for more excitement in the coming entries. The semester is becoming a film making semester. Cheers!

The Ins and Outs of FAMU

This last week has been busy and this week looks even busier. I do enjoy getting into a regular routine though. That's when things start to feel more like home and less...touristy.

So, after returning from Cesky Krumlov, which was AMAZING as I have already pointed out and will continue to point out, I (along with all of the others in the film program) began classes at FAMU. We started off on Tuesday with Script and Directing with Pavel Marek, then we had Camera Works and Screenplay Writing. It was here that we started pitching the ideas for our final movies. This took me a bit by surprise as we had just started classes and we were already working on that final project. But, as I'm realizing time moves really fast and before I know it, it will be December and I'll be on my way back to the States.

Wednesday rolled around and we had more Czech class, which I absolutely adore. I know I've said it a million times, but I really love Czech and the way we are learning the language. Later that evening we began the Czech New Wave Film Series screenings. But, I go into that a little bit later.

Thursday consisted of Actor Studio, which I think is going to turn out to be my favorite class. Dasha Blahova is absolutely incredible. She knows what she's doing to make the class fun and interesting, while letting those of us who generally like to sit behind the camera understand what goes on in front of the camera. Take for instance the improv game she had us play at the very beginning of class. One of us was the parent, while the other was the child who wanted to borrow the car. The only stipulation here was that the only word the parent could say was "No". Let's just say you end up with quite a few different scenarios of how this scene plays out. But, it was so much fun. After Actor Studio, there was a long break before we once again had the Czech New Wave Film Series.

Friday came much faster than I expected and consisted of three classes, Script and Directing, Film Language and then the Czech New Wave Film Series. By this point, I still didn't have an idea for a movie.

And now, that you all have been waiting for so long to hear about...THE CZECH NEW WAVE FILM SERIES!!!!

Pretty much, over the course of three days, we watched five films that were made just before the Soviets came into what was then Czechoslovakia and censored everything. The five films on the list were A Shop on Main Street, Diamonds of the Night, Closely Watched Trains, Daises, and last but not least The Loves of a Blonde. They were all very good films and I would never have thought about watching them if it wasn't for the Czech New Wave Film Series. I would have missed out on these really important films. My favorite of which would be Closely Watched Trains. I thought that the story was easy to relate to and overall the movie was just entertaining...especially considering it is set during WWII.

The screening of these films was often followed the next day with a quick analysis/opinion/history lesson about the films we saw and the films we were going to see. I think it was structured well, and I really understand these films in their entirety. I highly recommend watching them if you ever get the chance. They are brilliant. Even the ones I wasn't so fond of.

The weekend came and went and it wasn't anything really spectacular. I did wander through the back roads of Old Town and bought the rest of my sisters birthday gift. I would tell what it is/post a picture, but I'm afraid she may be reading this and I don't want to spoil it for her. I think she'll like it though. I pretty much used the weekend as time to catch up with me time. Instead of spending it with a lot of people, I did things like update my online portfolio and things like that. On Sunday, though after going out for pizza with Steph, Shayna, Drew and Dave, I got to try homemade holushky ( I definitely spelled that wrong, but I did my best to sound it out). It was made by a Slovak friend that Liza had made and it was absolutely delicious. I only wish I could have had more, but pizza took up a lot of room.

So, this week starts class shopping. What I mean by that is picking out the classes I want to take as electives by sitting in on a lot of them and then making my decision. Yesterday (Monday), in addition to my regular classes, I sat in on History of Animation and Directing 1. I definitely think I'm going to take History of Animation...not so sure about Directing as it seemed to be a repeat of a class I am already taking with the same professor. On today's agenda (Tuesday), I am taking Central European Cinema, Acting Theories and Visual Theory 1. Don't know if I'll take any of them, but we'll see.

Here ends my post. I'll write more as the week progresses, probably about my decision on classes and such. I'm also going to try and update more frequently. Long posts are hard to write. So, don't touch that mouse blog readers, there's more on the way!

The Way to Start Film School

Today was our orientation at FAMU. We all got stuck in the elevator...including our professor Pavel Marek. Way to go us.

I think I'm going to stay away from elevators for a while.