Weeks 5 & 6

              I decided to combine weeks five and six because week five was relatively slow and laid back. I mostly spent it doing out first actual assignment since arriving here which was a 1,000 word paper. It was fairly easy and I didn't break my back over it because it is ungraded, mandatory, but ungraded. Last Saturday (22nd) I woke up and watched the NFL combine, as one of my good friends from high school, Richard Rodgers was a participant. He played at Cal Berkeley for 3 years but declared for the draft this year, foregoing his senior season. I was fortunate enough to get out there twice to visit and it was amazing. He didn't do too well in the 40-yd dash but looked good in the cone drill and route running. Hopefully his pro day on March 18th will help raise his draft stock but it will be fun to see where he ends up.
               Thursday, Colin and I woke up at 9:00am and walked to the train station for our 9:50 train to Glasgow, Scotland. My buddy John (the one who I went to visit in Durham) got a group together to go see the American country singer Eric Church in Glasgow. He invited me, so Colin and I jumped all over it. We got there around 12:30 and walked all over creation looking for the hotel and eventually found it. John and Karen (his girlfriend who I met over winter break back home) waited for us and took us to our room so we could drop our bags off. The four of us walked to meet up with the rest of the group at a cool little Mexican restaurant. Two of the guys we met up with, I had already met in Durham , there was another guy and 3 other girls - so 10 of us total (all American). We had a decent Mexican meal and then walked around the city a bit. It was an interesting day weather-wise, a one minute it was sunny, the next it was raining, and the next it was hailing pebble sized sleet- but we did our best to dodge all that. We went back to the room and got ready for the show. The venue was pretty close so when we went to leave, it was only about a 20 minute walk from the hotel. We got there early enough so we were able to get seats (everyone was standing) two rows back from the stage- it was awesome. The concert was probably top five i've ever been to - and i've been to a lot. Up there with Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Chesney, and Zac Brown. We all were going nuts during the show as we a few Americans in a Scottish crowd.
               The next morning we had to wake up and get a train to Newcastle at 7:00 because Colin had class early and couldn't miss it. It was a struggle getting up after a long night, but we made the train and got back to Newcastle 3 hours later.
                Saturday, we went to Tynemouth which is a small little coastal beach town which is only a 30 minute metro ride from newcastle. We saw the ruins of an ancient castle, got some good fish and chips, and walked on the beach a little bit. We were there for about two hours but it was fun to get out and do something for the day and be productive.

#locals

Week 4

               Class went well this week, and we were all anxiously awaiting out weekend trip to Edinburgh , Scotland with the entire Newcastle program. We left Friday at 6:30 pm, so during the day Colin and I went to lunch at an awesome burrito place (no Chipotle but still), and watched a lot of Prison Break. We got on the bus with the whole group (about 40 in total) and embarked on a 2.5 hour ride north. Kendall and I sat next to each other on the bus and I recommended watching Pitch Perfect so we watched it on my computer and shared the headphones. We arrived at the hostel around 9 and got situated in our rooms. Our room was: Me, Matt Marsh, Kevin Collins, Colin Teeter, Justin Thomas, and Anthony (don't know his last name), but I was pleased with the overall group. We settled in, and a lot of us went out to a pub to get food. That's all we really did friday night because we were all tired and had to be up early on Saturday.
               We woke up Saturday at around 9am and all met downstairs outside the hostel. We walked to a meeting point to meet our tour guides and broke off into 3 groups. Our tour guide was named Billy and he brought energy, enthusiasm, and humor to the tour which helped wake us up and made it interesting. We went and saw scenic things like the castle, the café where J.K. Rowling sat down to first write Harry Potter, the gravesite of Tom Riddle (the dark lord from Harry Potter), and a lot of other local landmarks of various Scottish tradition. The tour was about 2 hours in total but went by rather quickly because it was all so interesting. We had free time until 2:15 so we went to McDonalds and then went back and attempted to nap but couldn't (I'm the worst napper in the league). At 2:15 we had another tour of "Mary King's Close (Alleyway)" which is an old alleyway that ran under the buildings beneath the city of Edinburgh. Out tour guide was a little dry, so I found this tour itself less interesting but it was still cool seeing exactly how this looked in the 17th century. After this, we went back to the room and I was actually able to nap which was nice in preparation for the night. We went to this pub called Finnegan's Wake (also the title of a song by the Irish Rovers on my annual St. Patty's day playlist) which had a cover band which sang a lot of American classics so it was kind of one big sing-a-long which was awesome. When that closed we went to another place called Espionage for a little bit before heading back to the hostel for the night.
              Sunday morning we had a 9:30 wake up call in order to check out of the hostel, but were able to leave all our bags there until we left Edinburgh so we wouldn't have to carry them around all day. We had a scheduled tour of the Holyrood Palace which is "the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland." It was massive and had a lot of really cool pantings and statues, and the garden outside of it was really beautiful. This was an audio tour which allowed us to move at our own speed which I liked, so we finished in about an hour or so. After the tour, Kevin, Collin, Marsh, and myself began our voyage towards the tallest mountain in Edinburgh, King Arthur's Seat (882 feet). We got about halfway up and Marsh decided he wasn't going to make it - high winds scared him off, but the other three of us would not be denied. We got to the top and the view was breathtaking so we took many photos before heading back down. We got back to the bottom and self-proclaimed that we did it in world-record time (even though theres absolutely no chance thats true) and everyone was impressed. Tired, yet proud, we headed back to the hostel and ate lunch at the attached restaurant and waited for everyone to come back for the bus. We arrived back in Newcastle around 6:30pm and at the end of the day, it's just another country down. #locals

Photos:

Week 3: London

               Towards the middle of the week, my friend Matt Marsh asked me what I was doing this weekend. Having no plans, I told him probably nothing just sleeping. He said that he and some of our other Loyola friends had booked trains to London and that I should come. My travel-thirsty self jumped right on it and booked a round trip bus ticket for the weekend. I looked into trains which were about 120 pounds round trip and decided that 3 hours more each way would be worth saving 70 pounds. So, I woke up friday and walked to my 8:40 bus. Most people would probably be anxious about a 7 hour bus ride by themselves, but this was nothing compared to some of the bus rides i've made back in the states. I watched the Wolf of Wall Street on my computer (amazing movie) which killed 3 hours, and the next 4 hours was a combination of dozing off, looking out at the English countryside, and listening to music. Matt texted me saying that Nick Alvino was also taking an early bus and that he should be getting there around the same time as me. I texted Nick and we met up at the bus station when I arrived around 3:00 pm. We each bought a city bus ticket which would take us closer to the hostel. Nick and I checked in and waited for the arrival of the 7 others in the hostel. Everybody's trains got delayed so the next 4 people didn't get there until 6:00 and the next 3 until 7:30. My bus ended up pretty much being the same duration as their trains for a lot cheaper so I was secretly somewhat happy. Everyone got settled and then we walked downtown. We went to this really cool place called the Ministry of Sound although it was expensive everyone had a good time.
               We woke up early saturday morning after not getting much sleep, but everyone was anxious to go out and see all the sights and do all the touristy fun things. Nick, Sam B., Sam T., and Madison all left the room around 9:30, but Kevin, Matt Marsh, Kendall, Becks, and myself needed an extra hour to wake up. We left the room at around 10:30 and Kendall and Becks went to meet up with everyone else. Kevin, Matt and I went to McDonalds (so American of us), and then walked about 40 minutes towards the River Thames and the iconic Tower Bridge. We also had an awesome view of the Shard (tallest structure in the UK) and the view of the city across the river. We walked around a bit more and then stopped into a pub for lunch. There was a big rugby match on that everyone seemed to be watching. I didn't have the slightest idea what was going on, but I was rooting for Ireland because thats the homeland. We made the long walk back to the hostel and everyone went down for a nap as we were all very tired from all the walking and lack of sleep. We woke up around 7 in preparation for our pub crawl which we signed up for which started at 9. The pub crawl was fun and led us through 4 of the most famous pubs in the "Piccadilly Circus" district of London which seemed to be the hot spot for night life. We ended up going home early because Madison got her phone stolen or lost and she was all upset.
               Sunday, we had to be up and out of the hostel by 11 so we all woke up around 9:30 so everyone could shower and we could clean the place up. We packed up our bags and embarked on a looooong walk towards Harrods which is one of the most famous stores/malls in the world. It was massive. We got lost looking for their famous ice cream parlor, and when we finally found it, we turned right around when we saw that it cost 14 pounds per ice cream. It was still a cool experience. We walked pretty much back where we came from (ends of the earth) to go to Chipotle because everyone, including myself, loves it. We ate and sat there for about and hour and a half because we had nothing better to do and our legs were killing us from walking with all of our bags. I parted ways with everyone else because they were going to the train station, and I walked 2 miles to the bus station. It went by quickly though as I got to walk by Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and the London Eye, which I was glad to see as we didn't go on Saturday. If I didn't see those and just left I would have said that London was overrated, but after seeing that I would say it was magnificent. I was glad I got to experience it walking by myself, taking it all in it was pretty cool. My bus left at 4:30 and I quickly fell asleep as my lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me. I woke up and watched Pitch Perfect (my favorite movie), and then listened to music the rest of the way. I was back in my bed in Newcastle by 11:30pm. It was a long travel day, but I'm definitely glad I made the trip. #locals

Here are some pics:

Week 2

               After some confusion and adjustments I got my classes all set up and Monday was the first day. It was kind of hectic finding the different classrooms and everything but I managed to get to all of my classes and settle in. The week went by pretty quickly which was good and friday night Colin, Jenna, Alexa, LJ, Rebecca, Kendall, Madison, and myself all walked over to chinatown for dinner. The food wasn't bad but it was very expensive but I guess we were paying for the experience more than anything which was fine.
               Saturday, we had an early wakeup call for our group-wide day trip to York. The bus left Newcastle at 9:30 and we got to York around 11:30. A lot of people slept on the way there but I wasn't able to so I took in the scenery and listened to some music. We got to York and walked around the quaint city admiring things like the massive architectural masterpiece that is the cathedral. Kevin, Matt, Colin and I went off on our own and went to lunch at a pub on a road that was the inspiration for Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter movies which was really cool. We mostly walked around popping into different places and getting a feel for the city. We left York at 4:30 and I was able to nap on the bus ride home which made it go by fast.
               Sunday, I had another very early wake up call for the team bus for the Newcastle American football team's game at Durham. Will Grill - a graduate of Loyola and current grad student back at Newcastle plays on the team and told me I should come watch if I'm interested in playing. Also, I wanted to go because my friend John plays for Durham and I wanted to get to a game. We left at 8:40 and the game was at 11. I couldn't do much as I was in street clothes but while the team was warming up me and an injured player tossed the pigskin around a little bit. One of the refs asked me to be a ball spotter so I pretty much had to just follow him around and when there was an incomplete pass I would hand him the ball I was holding. The first half was close but we got blown out in the second half. Everybody knows Durham is the best team in the league so everyone was kind of expecting it. JP played well for Durham - made a lot of tackles and recovered a fumble and we got to talk a little bit after the game which was good.
               When we got back to Newcastle around 4:30 I took a long nap and woke up ready for the Super Bowl party. The football team rented a pub out for the viewing of the game so a lot of the Loyola kids came to watch. I thought the Seahawks would win but I wasn't expecting them to do it in that fashion. Blowout city. But it was fun watching it with everyone and we had some good food. Today, I had class at 1 and 5 and got my haircut in between. I was nervous how it would look but I'm pleasantly surprised. Here are some photos and potentially a video from York.

Week 1 in England

               Better late than never was the motto my passport and stamped visa used when it arrived just a few days before leaving the United States. I made sure to say my final goodbyes before leaving Worcester Sunday morning at around 9:30. The drive to Newark was a little over three hours, but a big thank you to my Dad who dropped me off and had to turn right around and go home. I got through security and sat at an airport bar all ready and amped to watch my beloved Patriots win the AFC championship - wasn't the case. A woeful performance by my favorite team meant that the six hour flight to London was going to be a long six hour flight to London. I watched White House Down and Two Guns on the flight, the former being much more entertaining. I wasn't able to fall asleep or anything so I was tired when we landed at London Heathrow International around 6:30 am local time. A 1 hour flight from London to Newcastle flew by thanks to entertaining conversation with Rebecca who was sitting next to me on the plane. Kaileigh our program director at Loyola was waiting for us at the airport where they took us to our different "accommodations." I'm living with Colin from Loyola and then 4 others but I've only met 2 of them. Elvis from Hong Kong - yes, Elvis. And J-Dog from India. I don't know how to pronounce his name so he's J Dog now. The weather has been cold and it's been about 30 everyday but could be worse. For most of the week we were doing orientation type things and going to different meetings, and just adjusting to life on this side of the pond. We did a good job, as a group, familiarizing ourselves with the city, and seeing different things and places. Yesterday, I took a train by myself to Durham to see my buddy from home, John. He's studying at Durham University getting some sort of post-graduate degree and playing american football. Just so happened that we were both going to be in England for the same 5 months which is awesome. I met a lot of his friends and they were all good people. I got back to Newcastle a little while ago and cooked up some pork chops. I think now would be a good time to google some pork chop recipes as mine were pretty horrendous. I'm gonna go do that. Will post soon. #locals

Surrealist movie

Surrealist film edited in adobe premier for surrealism and media class.

Because dreams are personal, it can be tough to portray them in a given film without distorting or ruining the images within the dreams. The best that the producer can hope for is to recreate to the best of their ability the dreams' situations and scenarios. “Local Diaries”  is a short film featuring a compilation of three dreams with different symbols complemented by a hand picked music track.

Small bits of three separate dreams of “Local Diaries” were chosen from my Surrealist Dream Diary and then were filmed and edited to create a story plot. Dropping a game winning touchdown was very vivid in my dream and is shown repeatedly throughout the short film. Struggling to play an Xbox game was certainly a central motif in another dream. And traveling to different football games with different people also came about in a few of my dreams. I tried to take bits and pieces from these specified dreams and create a story out of them, rather than try to exactly recreate just one of the dreams.

A major symbol of my film is the use of color and when it is used. Throughout the story, the main character is trying to succeed in life, but often he can’t. He goes to football games and sees great athletes excelling, but cannot be as good as them. He plays Xbox, but cannot even succeed at that. He does not have friends as he is portrayed always alone. The main character is not shown in color in this film until a turning point in his life and is shown with other people (his friends).

Two more symbols are the fish and the hampster. The fish represents the main character at the low point in his life. He has no friends, his football career is looking bleak, his fish dies and the fish somewhat recommends him dying, until there is a transition. The main character and all of his friends are shown in quick succession (in color) and then the pet hamster is shown. This represents that the main character has been reborn and put his past behind him. He has a new pet, he now has friends, and his football career finally takes off as he is shown walking in the players tunnel and a celebratory touchdown spike.

The setting of this film I feel definitely adds to the plot of this movie. The film was shot in Maryland, Massachusetts, California, and South Carolina, contributing to the somewhat sporadic nature of the film. I was fortunate enough to be allowed to film the shot from the players tunnel and at some of the big time games which created a strong parallel to the big leagues (where the character aspired to be) and where he actually was (playing alone in an open field).

I felt like the music added a strong surrealist touch with the woman’s voice on the track, and the song provided an uptempo beat which went along with the main character eventually reaching his goals.

Although they are sometimes difficult to portray in cinema, dreams are a very important and interesting part of human being. It would be impossible to show and exactly relate all of the dreams in the dream diary, but “Local Diaries” takes bits and pieces from a few of the dreams to create what I think is an interesting storyline.  

Exam Questions

1. Based on what you learned what are the three parts of the production process? Which one took you the longest to complete, and why? Why part of the production process was your favorite and why?

               The three parts of the production process are: pre-production, production, and post-production, and they are all very important pieces in the making of a successful video. In our case, for our cooking show, the post production was easily the longest and most tedious. Yes, the shooting of the video itself took a while but Ryan and myself put the video together on premier and it was pretty long and boring. Also, premier took a while to load, while rendering and exporting and it became frustrating after a while.
               Overall, my favorite part of the show was the production process itself. This was the first time that I had the chance to work in GreyComm and it was a really cool experience. Erica and I were the hosts of the show so we filmed the intro and the ending. Mike helped us get all the cameras set up in the studio. It took us a few takes because we messed up a couple of times and my phone went off once, but overall it went well and was definitely good practice for the future. I felt pretty comfortable in front of the camera and it was really fun. I loved the GreyComm experience and hope to get in there more often when I return from abroad senior year!

2. Describe the advantages of having a course co-taught by two professors with two different yet similar approaches.

The advantages of having a co-taught course are numerous, and is a technique used by many of the most prestigious institutions in the world like Cal Berkeley. First and foremost, we got different experiences and knowledge from both professors. While HJD taught us the technical side of things, Doc Chris taught us the creative side of the production process forming a symbiotic relationship essential in creating a good video or movie. HJD taught us many different lessons from lighting to audio to Adobe Premier Pro. He also introduced us to the Lynda.com tutorials which provided essential training knowledge which we could lean on our own without wasting valuable class time. Doctor Chris gave us useful knowledge not only how to be creative and effective but shared many personal stories and experiences providing us with knowledge. Doc Chris is always trying to help us broaden our horizons and make us think about different things, forcing us to think outside of the box. Jay's calm cool and collected approach combined with Doc Chris's energy and enthusiasm created a dynamic learning experience, something I had never experienced before.

3. Describe how you grew in this class in terms of what you overcame and your sense of personal satisfaction?

This class helped me mature as a video editor, and producer. I was taught to think outside of the box, and going into this, I thought video producing was very laid out and by the book. I also grew as an editor, as before this class I didn't even know what Adobe Premier was. The cooking show was great and helped me think of different scenarios for different things. This class made me get in front of the camera, and if it weren't for that, I would never have experienced the comfort in that.

4. What was the best part of this class for you and would you recommend this course to friend? How different was this class from your other communications courses and other Loyola classes? Do you feel like it prepared you more for the real world because of its strong emphasis on teamwork, flexibility and tight deadlines? Explain.

The best of this class for me was that it was co-taught. It was almost like double knowledge, but in different aspects. I feel like I learned the basics of editing and production in a way that was much more than an introductory level class. I would definitely recommend this class to a prospective communications student because in this class we learned more than any other intro video class in the nation - in a fun way. The tight deadlines taught us to manage our time wisely and efficiently which is essential in the real world, especially in this field. The teamwork aspect of this course was frustrating at times, but looking back I'm glad we did it because we will definitely need it going forward. I loved this class and both teachers.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!