Digital Transition

I didn’t actually change my major, but I did change my “specialization.” I was accepted to Emerson College as a Media Production: Film major and last year I switched it to Media Production: Interactive Media.

So what the heck is Interactive Media?

You know, I don’t have a clear definition of what it is so I usually adjust my answer depending upon the circumstance I find myself in. It’s sort of like having a degree in “liberal arts.” According to my school’s website:

The specialization in Interactive Media provides students with the opportunity to produce creative and professional-quality interactive works. While the emphasis in the specialization will be on production, the student will encounter various concepts of digital interactive media. Introducing Web design, non-linear narrative structure, databases, and user-defined functions, students make innovative, artistic pieces for DVD, CD-ROM and the Web.

I was taught in elementary school never to define a word with the word, but I guess college-level academia is excused from that kind of minutiae. But whatever “interactive media” really is, it is something I’m really interested in and it sure sounds cool.

Why the sudden shift?

1) Changing interests. To keep it simple, I started becoming increasingly interested in so-called “new media” as in blogs, social networks, user-generated content, etc. and I ultimately realized I preferred being on the computer more than being behind the camera.

2) Breaking the mold. Emerson’s VMA (Visual & Media Arts) program is huge. Almost half of the students here are film majors. While the program itself is fantastic, it is also very cookie-cutter. The school’s curriculum is practically designed around teaching student’s narrative structure. Students are expected to take the same “film” classes (see #4) as all the other film majors and then they fill the same Hollywood internships that the recent grads did. I just felt as though I was being stifled of my individuality in choosing a career path.

3) Spanning worlds. Interactive Media is in-between video and new media so I’m not technically in the New Media department, although most of my junior and senior-level classes are with the New Media majors. Many of the film majors (but not all) are very egotistical. They believe they are going to be the next Steven Spielberg or Stanley Kubrick. (I wonder how long it will take for reality to sink in…) Although the New Media kids tend to be more artsy (which can also be irksome at times), they are definitely more laid-back.

4) Digital transition. The reason I tell most people who ask me why I switched my major, I say (truthfully) that I didn’t want to take any of the film classes that are required of a Film major. How does that make any sense? Well it makes sense when I say that the mandatory film classes (Film Production I and Film Production II) require the use of Bolex cameras, 16mm film, Steenbeck editors, and the like and I really didn’t feel like bothering with vintage technology. The new movement in Hollywood is digital and HD. Sure, there are still “film purists” out there, but the practicality of shooting on celluloid filmstock is rapidly diminishing. The reality of the business is that you must adapt to new technologies and shooting on a Bolex is a step backward. I’d rather go forward than back.

That’s probably more about my major than you ever needed to know.



- extraordinarIAN

Making a Comeback

So I haven’t blogged on here in almost seven months. That is bad because I really like this blog (well the vision of what it could be). My problem with writing posts is twofold: 1) I’m really anal-retentive about my blog posts. I like for them to be “perfect” before publishing. It’s great when I can have posts exactly the way I want (with quotes and sources), but it’s also very tiresome. 2) With Twitter, Tumblr, and my other blog, it’s a lot of posting. Blogging takes time, which I don’t have much of because I have a life (heh).

Excuses, excuses, I know.

So what I’ve decided to do is to change the way I approach writing this blog. I’m going to do more (less than perfect) posts and I’m just going to crank them out (as opposed to over-analyzing every word). This should help curb my fastidiousness: making blogging less time-consuming and more enjoyable overall. I’m excited to get this started, but it’s also going to be a big change for me.

I hope you enjoy the (revised) blog as much as I do.



- extraordinarIAN

One More Year…

Just this past week, I celebrated my 20th birthday. The way I see things, I have one more year to go. One more year until I’m 21; one more year until I can legally drink; one more year until my last year of school. People are always telling me that I need to slow down and enjoy the time that I’m young, but I can’t. I have always been on the move and have always wanted change from the status quo. It’s not that I’m unhappy, but I just think I will be happier once I’m 21. It might have something to do with the fact that I am the youngest child in my family and the youngest employee at work. I am an ‘old soul’ trapped in a young person’s body and I just want to get out.

Happy birthday to me.



QOD: “You have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by. Yes, but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by.”
- James Barrie

Senior Year

Senior year was awesome, but it was nothing like you might expect. Half my class (the part I was in) wasn’t at the AVPA campus or even the MCST campus at all. The ones of us who had at least a 3.0 GPA took all our classes at the local community college. We were also required to do an internship, which would give us enough credits to officially graduate high school. Being at CCM was incredible. There was so much freedom; I got to choose all of my classes, drive to school, and go wherever I wanted for lunch. And more than that, I was with mature college students. CCM offered such a diverse environment and I met people of all ages and backgrounds; I even befriended a 30-year-old woman in one my night classes.

Going to CCM really changed my perspective on a lot of things. Despite attending a “different” school by going to AVPA, I had felt incredibly sheltered and cut off from the rest of the world. The opportunity to go to college my senior year (I am aware it was just a “community” college) helped me realize there was more to life than just the things within my comfort zone. Not only did I get this remarkable experience, but I also got 20 credits which would transfer to a four-year college.

Leaving Our Mark

News came to AVPA in January 2005 that the school would be moving back to the mothership. We would no longer be part of BHS, but we would instead join the other Academies in the larger vocational school that Fall. This was great news for some, and distressing news for others. I was somewhere in the middle. I didn’t like BHS, but I knew going to a totally different school would require more adaption. One positive thing about the move for me was that the new location was much closer to my hometown. One negative thing was that we would no longer be “those f*cking Academy kids” because everyone in the school would be an Academy kid (the only difference being the field we were studying). On the whole, I was more excited than anything for a change of the scenery.

The news roused a lot of debate between kids, parents, teachers, and the school board. Some tried their earnest to protest the move, but their efforts failed in the end. The last month of my sophomore year was spent helping to pack up boxes and prepare for the great migration. One memorable thing we did as a class was to write all over a white board. We signed signatures, quotes quips, and jotted jokes in the name of saying goodbye to the old ways and hello to a new adventure.

QOD: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney