When signing up for this class, I had no idea really what to expect. Last year, I had taken a class with the same professor, Katerina Zacharia, and so I at least knew who the teacher was and what she expected in a student. The syllabus looked intimidating, but the fact that this was a once a week class helped out. I had heard through the grapevine that there was a somewhat strict deciding process on who got to be in this course, which was also quite daunting because it meant that Professor Zacharia chose us with high expectations in mind. The fact that there was an internship part of the class also did not help because I equated “internship” with “a lot of work” in my mind. This wasn’t necessarily the case.
We didn’t start the internship until a few weeks into the class. This was because we needed to get the basis of what concepts we would be dealing with throughout the semester, and find out what exactly was expected of us with regards to our assignments. On the first day the class was split into four groups based on our interests. The group I was a part of contained me and three other students. We were the “Theatre & Film” group. This meant that when the film submissions for the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival came in, our group would receive the ones that related most to theater and film. This typically meant that we watched the obscure, artsy, well-shot films.
Our main textbook was Representation by Stuart Hall, which compiled chapters from multiple authors on different social topics such as: discourse, “masculinity”, stereotyping other cultures, etc. We were assigned a chapter each week until we finished the book. After the first few chapters/weeks was when we started being assigned films that were submitted to the film festival. We were asked to relate the films we had received each week to the designated Representation chapter in a 1000 word essay, which was sometimes challenging because the films were not made to correlate with what we were reading. I remember we got the first batch of films when we were reading about the concept of masculinity, and so the entire time I was watching the films I kept my eyes peeled for any small example of someone exhibiting “masculine” behavior. This was cool, though, because it gave me a different lens to view the films from.
After we finished Representation, we were only asked to review the films. This is something we had been doing since the first ones were assigned to us. In my film reviews I gave a short summary of what I had watched, and then I would give a grade and justify my grade in a sentence or two after the summary. Grading was on a scale of 1-5, and anything with a 2.5 or above meant that it would be considered to be in the festival. There were some films that were kind of hard to get through because they were either not interesting, filmed terribly, had bad sound, had bad lighting, had awful acting, or all of the above; however, I felt bad giving anyone less than a 2.5. Even through all of the not-so-great qualities of some of these films, I could see all the hard work that went into its creation. I didn’t want to deny someone a chance at being in a film festival just because they didn’t have the means, or perhaps knowledge, to better the quality of their movies.
After watching 111-216 minutes of submissions each week for five weeks, as well as watching other films related to our final projects (these blogs), it was time to help decide which ones got chosen to be in the actual film festival. Every class we would sit and discuss all of the films assigned, going group to group. Each group would tell the others short synopses about the films watched, what was thought about them, and then show a snippet from a submission or two to show the class. In this way, when it came down to deciding the final films, we were all somewhat acquainted with each others’ films. This also allowed us to see which other movies from other groups could be pertinent to our final projects. In the final decision making process (which was also judged by other older and more experienced film festival personnel), we divided the submissions up by type. First we went through the short films and each group listed the short films they watched that they would like to see in the final. Next we did feature films, and then last we did documentaries. Some films that students really wanted to be in the final cut did not make it, and some we did not really care about made it. This all just made the internship more interesting, though.
After the final cut was made, we began focusing on our final projects. I watched five extra films for my project and had originally expected that I was going to write on masculinity and honor in at least four films watched this semester. Lines was one of these movies, and I started writing on it first because it was the last film I had watched and so it was fresh in my mind. Suddenly I was past the recommended page count, and so I knew I shouldn’t write about any other films because that would just make my paper the length of a dictionary. I then began to focus on the concepts I was bringing up with regards to Lines, and tried to hone in on my argument to the best of my abilities. I am still not sure if I did this, but hey I tried!!!
This past week was the last week of school, and this is when we were asked to do our specific tasks for the film festival. I was a part of the outreach team, which involved calling or emailing ten organizations and offering them tickets to the festival to help spread the word. Four of the organizations that I had to contact were collected from students last year. I thought this would make it easy to get in touch with them, except three of the organizations did not have voice mailboxes set up for nonspecific calls. Because of this, I had to either leave voicemails on random voicemailboxes they offered (I chose an HR office), find their emails online, or contact them via social media. The other six organizations I found on my own, and they all had correct contact information. I surmised that the people who would want to go see a film festival most are people who are in film organizations. Using this assumption, I found two film clubs from USC, two high school film clubs, a film club in an inner city near my school, and a random fruit organization because we have a fruit film in the festival. I figured the high school film clubs would be interested in attending the festival because they could get inspiration and make connections that could land them in good film schools. So far the only organization that has replied is the fruit one, which I appreciate.
This internship has been a very engaging experience that I quite enjoyed. It was fun watching all of the films, good and bad, and getting to play a part in the decision making process. At first I was taken aback by how many minutes we had to watch each week, but it shortly became something I looked forward to. I would find myself excited to sit back and relax watching a film submission after a long day of studying. I liked the fact that I had no expectations while watching the films, and so the plots would take me by surprise. I also learned a lot about the events happening in Greece currently and all of the effects it has on people. Before I honestly didn’t really have a clue what was going on with the financial crisis and the refugee crisis and everything else. Now I feel like I have a more global understanding, and insights into how Greeks see these crises. The majority of the films were also in Greek, and so they had subtitles. Because of this, I picked up on a few Greek phrases because they were said so many times.
Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be a filmmaker. I have since given up that dream for something more practical for me (even though I still have no idea what I want to do with a psychology degree). This internship experience was a great way to see what happens at a festival behind-the-scenes, in case I ever try to make a film and submit it somewhere when I’m old and gray. I now have a sense of how people choose which films get to make the cut, and what it is that judges are looking for. It was also neat to be a part of the outreach team, because I never really gave much thought into how people hear about film festivals or how films get recognition. It is cool to know that there is a whole group of people actively working to get the word out about the films and the festival.
Now that the class has come to a close, I can say that it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. I don’t mean “bad” in a “wow that sounds so boring” type of way, but more in a “this is going to be so hard” type of way. I will say that it was very time consuming and there was a LOT of work, except this honestly just made the class feel more rewarding. After getting everything done, a sense of accomplishment is felt that isn’t felt in most classes. Every student was forced to do their absolute best work, which helped solidify writing and learning skills. The subject matters were extremely intriguing to me, and it made me think of certain things in new ways and see things in new lights. I’m glad that I took this course and that I was one of the 16 that were accepted to be in it!
We didn’t start the internship until a few weeks into the class. This was because we needed to get the basis of what concepts we would be dealing with throughout the semester, and find out what exactly was expected of us with regards to our assignments. On the first day the class was split into four groups based on our interests. The group I was a part of contained me and three other students. We were the “Theatre & Film” group. This meant that when the film submissions for the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival came in, our group would receive the ones that related most to theater and film. This typically meant that we watched the obscure, artsy, well-shot films.
Our main textbook was Representation by Stuart Hall, which compiled chapters from multiple authors on different social topics such as: discourse, “masculinity”, stereotyping other cultures, etc. We were assigned a chapter each week until we finished the book. After the first few chapters/weeks was when we started being assigned films that were submitted to the film festival. We were asked to relate the films we had received each week to the designated Representation chapter in a 1000 word essay, which was sometimes challenging because the films were not made to correlate with what we were reading. I remember we got the first batch of films when we were reading about the concept of masculinity, and so the entire time I was watching the films I kept my eyes peeled for any small example of someone exhibiting “masculine” behavior. This was cool, though, because it gave me a different lens to view the films from.
After we finished Representation, we were only asked to review the films. This is something we had been doing since the first ones were assigned to us. In my film reviews I gave a short summary of what I had watched, and then I would give a grade and justify my grade in a sentence or two after the summary. Grading was on a scale of 1-5, and anything with a 2.5 or above meant that it would be considered to be in the festival. There were some films that were kind of hard to get through because they were either not interesting, filmed terribly, had bad sound, had bad lighting, had awful acting, or all of the above; however, I felt bad giving anyone less than a 2.5. Even through all of the not-so-great qualities of some of these films, I could see all the hard work that went into its creation. I didn’t want to deny someone a chance at being in a film festival just because they didn’t have the means, or perhaps knowledge, to better the quality of their movies.
After watching 111-216 minutes of submissions each week for five weeks, as well as watching other films related to our final projects (these blogs), it was time to help decide which ones got chosen to be in the actual film festival. Every class we would sit and discuss all of the films assigned, going group to group. Each group would tell the others short synopses about the films watched, what was thought about them, and then show a snippet from a submission or two to show the class. In this way, when it came down to deciding the final films, we were all somewhat acquainted with each others’ films. This also allowed us to see which other movies from other groups could be pertinent to our final projects. In the final decision making process (which was also judged by other older and more experienced film festival personnel), we divided the submissions up by type. First we went through the short films and each group listed the short films they watched that they would like to see in the final. Next we did feature films, and then last we did documentaries. Some films that students really wanted to be in the final cut did not make it, and some we did not really care about made it. This all just made the internship more interesting, though.
After the final cut was made, we began focusing on our final projects. I watched five extra films for my project and had originally expected that I was going to write on masculinity and honor in at least four films watched this semester. Lines was one of these movies, and I started writing on it first because it was the last film I had watched and so it was fresh in my mind. Suddenly I was past the recommended page count, and so I knew I shouldn’t write about any other films because that would just make my paper the length of a dictionary. I then began to focus on the concepts I was bringing up with regards to Lines, and tried to hone in on my argument to the best of my abilities. I am still not sure if I did this, but hey I tried!!!
This past week was the last week of school, and this is when we were asked to do our specific tasks for the film festival. I was a part of the outreach team, which involved calling or emailing ten organizations and offering them tickets to the festival to help spread the word. Four of the organizations that I had to contact were collected from students last year. I thought this would make it easy to get in touch with them, except three of the organizations did not have voice mailboxes set up for nonspecific calls. Because of this, I had to either leave voicemails on random voicemailboxes they offered (I chose an HR office), find their emails online, or contact them via social media. The other six organizations I found on my own, and they all had correct contact information. I surmised that the people who would want to go see a film festival most are people who are in film organizations. Using this assumption, I found two film clubs from USC, two high school film clubs, a film club in an inner city near my school, and a random fruit organization because we have a fruit film in the festival. I figured the high school film clubs would be interested in attending the festival because they could get inspiration and make connections that could land them in good film schools. So far the only organization that has replied is the fruit one, which I appreciate.
This internship has been a very engaging experience that I quite enjoyed. It was fun watching all of the films, good and bad, and getting to play a part in the decision making process. At first I was taken aback by how many minutes we had to watch each week, but it shortly became something I looked forward to. I would find myself excited to sit back and relax watching a film submission after a long day of studying. I liked the fact that I had no expectations while watching the films, and so the plots would take me by surprise. I also learned a lot about the events happening in Greece currently and all of the effects it has on people. Before I honestly didn’t really have a clue what was going on with the financial crisis and the refugee crisis and everything else. Now I feel like I have a more global understanding, and insights into how Greeks see these crises. The majority of the films were also in Greek, and so they had subtitles. Because of this, I picked up on a few Greek phrases because they were said so many times.
Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be a filmmaker. I have since given up that dream for something more practical for me (even though I still have no idea what I want to do with a psychology degree). This internship experience was a great way to see what happens at a festival behind-the-scenes, in case I ever try to make a film and submit it somewhere when I’m old and gray. I now have a sense of how people choose which films get to make the cut, and what it is that judges are looking for. It was also neat to be a part of the outreach team, because I never really gave much thought into how people hear about film festivals or how films get recognition. It is cool to know that there is a whole group of people actively working to get the word out about the films and the festival.
Now that the class has come to a close, I can say that it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. I don’t mean “bad” in a “wow that sounds so boring” type of way, but more in a “this is going to be so hard” type of way. I will say that it was very time consuming and there was a LOT of work, except this honestly just made the class feel more rewarding. After getting everything done, a sense of accomplishment is felt that isn’t felt in most classes. Every student was forced to do their absolute best work, which helped solidify writing and learning skills. The subject matters were extremely intriguing to me, and it made me think of certain things in new ways and see things in new lights. I’m glad that I took this course and that I was one of the 16 that were accepted to be in it!