I
am trying to prepare my mind for school. Trying to dust off the cobwebs of
writing skills that have gone ignored the cobwebs of a body that has sat still
for too long. It is time to wake up from the haze of depression that constantly
plagues my life and try to maintain some sort of positive habits. It is time to
fight the rebel inside that resists change and wants to remain stagnant. Fuck
man, I have got to make some goals for myself.
Here
is a short list of things I should probably get off my ass and do.
-Write
more.
-Stay
organized, be on time, and study hard for school.
-Do
Jiu Jitsu.
-Find
a way to work in mass communications.
-Maintain
friendships better.
-Maintain
mental health and diabetes.
-Start
a podcast.
-Create
art.
-Kill
Hitler (Danger 5, watch it)
Okay,
now that I am done talking about goals and shit, here is what I have been up
to.
This
summer I took a motion picture production class at Rock Valley College and got
to make movies. It was a great program and I was able to get hands on in many
aspects of the movie making process.
 |
| Taylor Hopkins, Jack Clark, James Hogan, Nichole Gilkerson |
On
the first day of class every student had to bring in a screenplay. We read all
of the screenplays then voted on one script to make into an all class movie. We
then split into groups of three to make a short film that would screen with the
class project for our final. My script Bed
Time was picked for the small group project. I wrote and directed the film,
Jack Clark did cinematography, and Nate Talan edited and did sound. I was the
oldest on the team by 20 years which felt a little weird but we worked well as
a team and did a great job. As director, I just stuck with the film from
preproduction to post. I filmed, filed and named scenes, collected sound
effects, and sat in on ProTools sessions. My team worked very hard to create
our film. I am proud of Bed Time and
all of my cast and crew, we kind of kicked ass on our first short film.
 |
| https://vimeo.com/177589700 |
The
class was a success for me. I felt that I had a purpose and was doing something
that I loved. I learned to record sound, I operated the boom mic, and was able
to learn some new stuff on ProTools and Premier. I tried to dirty my hands on
all the film sets by volunteering to help whenever possible. I even got to act
by playing a murder victim in Jaime Perez’s short film Jonathan. It was a great experience and it made me happier than I
have been in a long time.
 |
| Dead bodies everywhere. |
I
am bummed that the class is over but I learned a lot. Now I have to move on to
new studies and keep learning. Life, school, Jiu Jitsu, writing, marriage, all
of it is learning and improving. The hardest part for me is fighting through depression
to stay focused long enough to take this knowledge in and improve. I am going
to try to stay positive and try to make the life that I want. I know it cliché
but we only live once and need to make the most out of our time alive.
I
will go back to school, try to stay focused, and achieve my goals listed above.
This year includes psychology, ethnic relations, math, and advanced post
production. On the side, I hope to have the Hogan’s Horror podcast up and
running sometime before the New Year.
Thank
you, good reader. Hopefully my next writings will be less about me. I will try
to post something along the lines of movies, comics, or maybe even a new short
story. For now, here is a link to Bed Time.
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