Day 17- 01/22/2020

Well, I guess you've heard the saying all fun things must come to an end, well today is that day. While being out in California I learned so much and met so many new people and connections! I would like to thank everyone who allowed us to tour their studios and sets, and for all of the people who have taken time out of their busy schedules to teach us things we didn't know before this trip! I am so thankful for being able to experience something as amazing as this trip was and it truly did help me to push myself further into this industry and make all of the connections possible! Thank you to everyone following me on this journey and I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences just as much as I liked being able to make them my memories! Lastly, I would like to thank Chris and Melonie for asking me to come on this trip and for pushing me to be the best person I can be both academically and personally! Here are some more of the pictures that haven't made it into the rest of the blogs!

   

 

 

 

Day 16- 01/21/2020

Even though today was our last day of meeting connections and learning more about the industry, I personally loved what we got to do today! For our morning we headed to the set of NCIS and boy was I excited. I love watching crime shows and to be on a set of one was an absolute dream! I would like to thank Scott Williams who took quite a bit of time out of his day to give us a tour of the set, and for lunch and even giving us scripts from the show! As someone who is into interior design, I found it interesting that each room had its own uniqueness and feel to it as though you were in different places when in reality you were on the same lot, and walking from set to set, one example of this is of the character Gibbs. Gibbs' office setting versus his basement setting has two separate looks! His office looks very clean and precisely organized, whereas his basement is quite messy and looks like an older man's basement full of tools, wood and even has a water heater! The lighting is also different wherein the office the lighting is very good, but then once you are in the basement it is very dark and dimmed down. The technique of finding the perfect lighting and design of each individual set is very fascinating and I think that this is something that interests me and would love to do in the future! This will play a roll in the broadcasting television major because it helps to show that the smallest detail can be shown in something so if one thing is off, it could mess up the whole production!

 

Lastly, we went to Encore courtesy of Asa Fox, a former student of Tompkins Cortland, and now colorist! We learned quite a bit of information at Encore and got to meet a few different people that each has different jobs. Josh is an Avid Editor which means he works on the Avid software program whereas Jason who is a Flame editor which does about the same things but through the Flame program. These editors use the programs to match timeline references, make sure that that there is nothing in the shot that shouldn't be there like boom mics, body parts, etc.. They also do stuff with green screens and some special effects! Then after we got done with the editing we went to Asa's colorist room. He taught us quite a bit about becoming a colorist, for instance how to work with your clients and realizing you work with what your clients want. Asa also shared some information about how in this industry you're not really going to make it on the first try of getting what you want, and possibly starting small or maybe even go back a step to help develop skills and that will eventually help to push you that one step further than where you were at before and he stated, "What happens is what you make happen." This relates to this major because it's real and shows that this industry is tough and if you want to succeed you might have to take that step back to realize you will better yourself by taking the time to go up the stairs and learn a lot more rather than trying to wait for an elevator to take you to the top when the elevator could potentially get stuck.

Day 15- 01/20/2020

Today was one of the most interesting days of this trip in my opinion. To start our day we went to Creative Character Engineering (CCE)! CCE is a business that does special effects makeup and they create wardrobes for movies and television shows. Established in 1991 by Andrew Clement, he shared with us that people who are involved in the production of making these costumes and coming up with makeup concepts come from a background of making and creating things. I found the makeup process a little more interesting because I enjoy normal makeup but when you can create something as crazy as Deadpool and Freddy Krueger looks, this just amazes me! The process behind the tattoos is fascinating to me as well. The way that they can take a blank canvas and then place a piece of work on the person getting the tattoo and make it look so realistic is surreal! I think that if the route I want to go down now is not the route for me, I can definitely see myself becoming an SFX makeup artist because I love art and creating things and I believe this would be a nice fit for me!

After we finished up with the nice people at CCE we got to go to the movies and watch the new war movie 1917! This was one of the best war movies I have ever seen! Once you have seen a lot of behind the scenes work of production, it opens your eyes to what really is being put together on the big screen. I found it extremely difficult to not see some of the stuff that I have learned while on my visits from each studio, but it gave me a true appreciation for the credits at the end of the movie! The single-shot format that the director had for the film was so unique and cool because it is so against the usual cuts between characters and really opened up to new tricks and ideas for future films!

To end the night we headed up to an exclusive view of the Hollywood sign with Sargent Bob! Although it was quite a twisty, curvy road we made it to the top and boy was the view worth the drive up! This was an experience that most people don't get to do so I want to thank Sargent Bob for being so nice and offering us this opportunity!

 

Day 14- 01/19/2020

It was on this day we had free reign to do whatever we wanted at Disneyland! Although it was a fun-filled day, I still was able to look around the park and see some things that pertained to my broadcasting degree. Just like in the industry people who worked at the park had to be very good at communicating and had to have good people skills. I also noticed that each of them, no matter where they were used a walkie talkie to connect with people who are a distance away from each other, just like P.A.'s do! And much like studio design, each piece of the park needs to be designed to match a certain theme that they have going on. For one instance I was looking around the Star Wars piece of the park and while observing I noticed that the theme carried from the buildings/structures down to the concession and garbage cans! This is important because it not only goes with the rest of the theme but it makes the people that are fans of these films feel as though they are actually walking through the Star Wars Universe of Galaxy's Edge! 

   

While learning/ observing I also had a lot of fun with my classmates and professors! We got to ride a ton of rides and even got soaking wet on some of them, well Lucas and I did anyway! It was an experience I will never forget and I am so grateful I was asked to even go on this trip in the first place!

    

Day 13: 01/18/2020

Today we started with a full day planned! To start we headed to the California Eatery to have brunch with Michael Kehoe who is a director/ writer! As of right now he is working on the Disney+ streamed show, The Mandalorian and informed us on a lot of the technological side of shooting. He explained that technology has helped out in so many ways and now these actors have the advantage of being able to use an LED Screen that can change depending on what scene they are in to get a feel of what they're acting against instead of being in front of a blank wall. I found this interesting because I always hear of these actors having to use a tennis ball or having to just think that whatever they're shooting with is around them, but now that technology has been improving, its cool to see how successful these new things are working.

After finishing up with Michael Kehoe we then headed to our Paramount Tour! I learned quite a lot while on this tour thanks to our tour guides' Devonte and Nina! One of the many things I found interesting was the blue parking lot. This was interesting to me because they use this parking lot at a water tank to use when they are filming ocean or beach scenes! This tank takes up to 950,000 gallons of water to fill and takes 24 hours to fill and another 24 to pump out the water. This was cool to learn because there are always rumors going around that movies that deal with water are filmed in giant pools like the Titanic but in reality, they built a parking lot just for the movie to fit a life-size titanic boat in it!

Another piece that I really enjoyed from the Paramount Studio Tour was the New York Backlot! The way that it looks made it seem like you were actually walking down the streets of New York. The purpose of this was instead of going to New York every time they were filming something that had to do with the city, they built up their own city in their backyard you could say to fill the void of having to travel back and forth, and it saves them money as well. The detailing of the city was quite fascinating to me! Although it looked as though there were brick buildings filling the streets, it was actually fiberglass sheets that were made and painted to look like bricks. The streets also had that city look as well with the cracking and the dingy looking sidewalks, and the cars during filming also could drive around the streets of this lot because they made such a large set that it makes it look more realistic when they drive around the corners. Lastly, on this tour, I found it cool that in the New York Backlot they made subway stations but at the bottom of the stairs of the station there would be changing spots so that when backgrounds walk down the stairs, they can walk back up them looking like completely different people and it would cost less on the production team!

    

To end the night we went to a Charlie Chaplin silent film called The Gold Rush! The film was very funny and I would highly recommend to anyone who has not seen this type of film before! After having visited a colorist I focused on the contrasts of the picture and noticed that's truly what the creators had to go off of since it was a black and white film. When the film was over we had the opportunity to go up to the control room of the theater and see how they made this showing possible. They used these very large film cameras that had to have the film on a wheel and placed on the wheel, and after a certain amount of minutes they had to be quick and switch over the film to make the film seem continuous even though it was into different strips. 

   

Day 12- 01/17/2020

Today was quite a fun learning experience! To begin our day we headed to Universal Studios to go on the Studios Backlot Tour! I learned a lot while on this tour and even before we got on the tour. When we walked into the park we got to see a hot set, which means they are filming something. There were many spots throughout the park that had this type of set and made sure that nobody that didn't belong in the shot was there.

 

The tour itself was very interesting! On the stage tour, I noticed that not many people were walking from place to place, rather they were using golf carts and moving to where they need to be a lot faster so they're available. I learned that a lot of the town and city sets are reused in different shows so they don't have to keep recreating these buildings! I also found it quite interesting that instead of having two houses right next to each other when the shot is only of one house, they create a siding of a house to make it look as though there is a second house there. My favorite thing from this tour; however, was learning how they create rain. I have always wondered how they create rain in a scene and I learned that they have an overhead sprinkler system that is above the actors' heads out of shot to make it look as though it is raining in the shot.
 

  

To start off I would like to give a huge thank you to Caleb Bomysoad for getting us into this part of Sony! After getting done at Universal Studios, we made our way to Sony Animation! This at first was a little confusing to me because I've always found animation exciting and cool, but the process of it was never something I thought about. I learned that a lot of storyboarding has to go into working on one of these projects and a lot of the time the writing process correlates with the story-boarders. We were told to always put down the ideas that you may have for a movie or show even if it is bad because a bad idea is still an idea and you never know when a spark of creativity can come from that. An animator does a lot of research and exploring to find the right look for the characters! I also learned that each animator gets a clip from the movie and works on the whole scene until its finally complete, then those are all put together to get the final sequence.

 

To end the day we went to Olive Garden and had dinner with a TC3 Alumni, Andrew Inglin. Andrew is a director who is known for his FabFitFun commercials and being a photographer. During dinner, we got to ask him questions on what it is like for him to be a director and what advice he can give to all of us aspiring to become something in this industry. To begin, he told us when and wherever we start as a P.A. to always be hardworking and do anything we can do on set to stand out. He also showed us what the true struggle of this industry is like and even though a lot of people in this industry do fall to always remember what we started doing this for and to keep pushing for what we want! He also shared with us that as a director you kind of get all the control of what you're working on so everything is a little more lenient, which is such a perk, but only if you work hard!

Day 11- 01/16/2020

Today was a very important and eye-opening experience for me! To start the day we headed to Malibu to meet Kathy and Amy Eldon the founders of Creative Visions. This all started when Kathy’s son and Amy’s brother, Dan got stoned to death while on the job in Somalia at the young age of 22. Dan Eldon was a photojournalist who was an adventurous and outgoing young man who only saw the good in the world! After his passing, his mother Kathy and sister Amy wanted to share his story so they started some passion projects, including Dying to Tell the Story and The Journey is the Destination. 

  

Kathy stated that if we were going to go into this field of work, and really want to motivate and make some true change you as an individual need to dive deeper into the issue at hand and by going deeper and getting the better understanding, this allows for you to then be able to expand wider and make more of an impact. When watching her documentaries on Dan it was very eye-opening and she also stated that in anything you do you need to be in the now and allow yourself to experience all that life has to offer! Dan also showed this through his work and journals! This relates to broadcasting in so many ways but the major one is because it is such a demanding industry, you can sometimes get too focused on a job that you forget what you're doing the work for in the first place. Don't forget to take a step back and look at what you're doing it for and see the beauty in all that you're doing!

 

After going and visiting Creative Visions we headed to the taping of Carol's Second Act produced by Pamela Fryman. I focused in on the sound during this taping. I found it interesting that the boom mics were on these crane-like things and how the people controlling them use the mics. I noticed that the person controlling the boom mics were always moving it back and forth to be placed over each of the characters heads and had a lever to move left and right when the rest of the crane was still so that each character sounds the same and not like one is further away. This is important to notice because you never know when you're going to need to be able to work one of these machines for a production that is being filmed or any other boom mic for that matter and you need to be able to know how to get the best sounds.