Updates and debates

Nearly a month, and as crazy as it sounds I can actually say it feels like a month has passed for me. By the last post I had just started classes, which have been occupying more time that I am alloting for them. On top of that my hours at work seem to be increasing, which is strange because it is no longer the busy season for kitchen utensils. And the wedding planning is speeding up due to my questionable move to New York this Fall.
All in all I am pretty exhausted to say the least, and what makes things even worse is that I can't remember the last film I saw in a theater let alone the last film I saw from begining to end in one sitting. It is strange for me to go on like this, but I am slowly getting a taste of the filmmaker's lifestyle. In short I can tell you that it entails a lot of time and scheduling, then tripple the time you estimated and rewrite your schedule to accomodate it. I can't say I am frustrated with what is coming out of this all, but I yearn for those days when I could lounge around the house watching movies while I cleaned or just walking to a coffee shop and sitting down with a book or y computer for a few hours to relax. I can't even find the time to work out lately, which is bad since Spring break is coming up in a month. All of this is on top of planing a move back to my parent's house for a month to save money before I head to China in May.
It feels overwhelming when I try to break it all down like that in bullet-point form, and I'm sure I forgot a thing or two in there but you get the idea.
Complaining aside, what I want to talk about today is my intro to film class. Every day I come very prepared and excited to show what I have learned only to leave feeling like I failed and have a lot of catching up to do. It all started when we actually had to turn what we were working on, coincidence? I guess talking about a project and filming a project are two different things, at least to the instructor.
Don't get me wrong, he is a greta guy and really understands filmmaking, along with the teaching assistants. The only problem is that he has a mindset of what making a film is suppose to look and feel like, and sadly nobody in the class has taken this for more than a lesson. Sure, we all take notes and come prepared to learn, but something is getting lost in translation from what he knows and what we should know. Granted, everyone learns how to do something their own way, but I really think that this clas is very unprepared for what's in store. However, at this moment I plan on changing my perspective to make what he is looking for instead of what I feel will get the point across because he has continually viewed my work and heard my ideas only to lower their potential. Thats not to say they are not creative, just not realistic for this class.
My problem has been my plan of attack, I always view the filmmaking process as a day-to-day thing. I may have a pitch, or storyboards, and I may not. Thats not to say I don't know what I want or when I will film it, it's just that I can't seem to find a way to express the ideas beforehand and I don't support them afterwards. This is all coming at a time when I am in the middle of a project that I don't know how to end, so I may take a hit on my first real grade for the class. But I plan on listening more that writing, asking questions, using office hours, and putting in the right amount of time a project requires. I only hope the rest of the class goes this route soon, because I fear for the grades of others that continue in their current ways.
The one thing that did work out in my favor is that I pitched an idea which he didn't particularly care for, and I showed a rough cut of the footage which he still tore apart, yet I finished the project and he laughed. Not just that, he clapped and said 'I like it' with no mention of what he didn't originally approve of. I guess it goes to show that when your heart is in the piece from the very begining it will show by the end. Or as Fritz Lang put it in Jean Luc Goddard's 'Contempt' "Always finish what you start" as he prepares to film Ulysses' return to Ithiaca.