Today was a REALLY awesome day at the office. I had been doing research on my own for a project about _______ (well, I can't yet say), and today was the first day I really got to work collaboratively on the project. Jason and I sat down for a few hours and tried to parse out and piece together a coherent structure for how the ideas (in the song, since it will be sung!) should take shape. It's supposed to be a debate between two different view points, but first we have to figure out exactly what those two viewpoints will be! I wish I could talk more in detail about the project, but what I really want to share with you is the thrill of the process. Working with Jason today felt very much like a Shimer class. It was intense and rigorous and sometimes we trailed off on tangents (interesting though they were). I had been craving collaboration for a over a week since everyone else in the office has been super busy wrapping up the last project, getting in those last final late-night edits and such. (It was cool, I got to go to the color correctionist's office and watch John, Josh, and the colorist Nick figure out exactly what tones and shade were appropriate were every shot. It's crazy how much detail goes into this stage of post production! For this piece, they wanted it to feel cold and hostile, so they gave the shots a bluish tint, but then had to adjust for the skin tones, so the actors lips didn't look purple and zombie-ish. It took two days, for a 5 minute piece!)
Last week I worked on my own song that I'll be directing a music video for in the next couple of weeks. I got a grant from the Moving Pictures Institute to do this video and John and the rest of Emergent Order are going to help oversee the process and have already offered awesome feedback on my song lyrics and ideas for the video! Working alone all week made me realize how much I thrive on input from others and how used to that I've gotten at Shimer.
Later in the afternoon, a writer came by the office to discuss ideas for another project (for such a small company, it sure seems like there are a lot of projects going on at once!) and John asked me and the other intern, Jose, if we would join the meeting. At first I was a little intimated, and expected that I would just be there to watch, listen, and learn quietly (as I have been doing a lot of). By the end of the evening it was just John, another collaborator, Max, and I talking about the vision, the aesthetic, and the message of the proposed piece, and I felt like one of the team! The bouncing back and forth of ideas was exciting and felt natural and I wanted to stay to do it longer though it was already late. It's nice because, like I said, I feel like I've been relatively quiet thus far in the office, a little intimidated by the awesomeness, but also focusing on listening and soaking it all in, but today I really felt like I got to show more of myself, my natural exuberance and whatnot in conversation and in working through ideas collaboratively.
It's funny, because whenever I mention to someone here that I have two years of school left, John kind of jokes (but also kind of seriously says) that he wants me to drop out of school and come work for them, but I think that through our creative sessions, I'm beginning to prove that what I've gained at my school at least, really is worth something!
At my desk at the Emergent Order office in downtown Austin, Texas. (Austin is really cool, by the way).
Comments