Post-Film School Life Begins - Part 2

I imagined my post-graduation days to be very productive - I'd be applying for job after job every day; cleaning the apartment more often; catching up with friends; going to the movies more often; making films! Well, I thought wrong.

I've been sitting around spending most of my days in front of the television watching The Wire (I have all five seasons, all of which I stole from Kieran's collection). If I'm not at the television, I'm on the computer browsing Tumblr or Youtube, or checking my Facebook every two minutes. I want to blame it all on being ill over the last two weeks, but I've been feeling much better since a few days ago and I guess everything I say about it from now on is invalid. But here's the back flip - I did, however, go to an interview at the AAP Newscentre for an entry level position last week. Ta-da!

Yup. Such is the life of a twenty-one year old graduate with few 'clear' prospects ahead of her at the moment.

(In other pages of my life, I'm going to Melbourne for the Melbourne International Film Festival this Tuesday to see thirteen films over four days. Excitement will ensue)

Post-Film School Life Begins

Apart from keeping my internship at Titan View, I've been 'busily' applying for jobs here and there from the comfort of my couch. It's been a while since I've been able to sit around with a whole day to waste wrapped in a duvet with my laptop. The other reason for this apart from having just graduated with my Diploma in Screen is to nurse myself better from this cold that has been around since last week. So it all works out in the end - I am bedridden from this illness, so what better way to spend the day than to apply for jobs! Hah, hah.

Kieran and I had booked our flights and tickets to this year's Melbourne International Film Festival, which runs from the 22nd of July to the 8th of August. It's the first film festival I have bought a mini pass to, and the first festival or event interstate which I am indeed traveling to attend. It's a pretty exciting thought, and is in itself one of the first steps in my post-film school life.

These are the films we are going to see:

• Beeswax (dir Andrew Bujalski, USA)
• Ha Ha Ha (dir Hong Sangsoo, received the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes this year, South Korea)
• Mai Mai Miracle (dir Sunao Katabuchi, Japan)
• Boy (dir Taika Waikiki, won the Best Fiction Feature Audience Awards at this year's Sydney Film Festival, NZ)
• Four Lions (dir Chris Morris, UK)
  
• Kanikosen (dir Sabu, Japan)
• A Time To Love (dir Embrahim Forouzesh, Iran)
• Karaoke (dir Chris Chong Chan Fui, Malaysia)
• The Juche Idea (dir Jim Finn, USA)
• Cell 211 (dir Daniel Monzon, Spain/France)
• The Well (dir Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni, India)
• Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam (dir Omar Majeed, Canada)
• Small Soldiers (dir Joe Dante, USA)

I'm really looking forward to seeing Beeswax, Ha Ha Ha, a childhood 'classic' of mine Small Soldiers and the only Malaysian film featuring at this year's MIFF, Karaoke. We've planned the trip over 4 days, where we will watch 13 films. I have a feeling we will begin to turn nocturnal from sitting in the theatre all day long for the majority of our trip. After all, it could be fun being a movie owl.

That being said, now that I've spent all this money on the trip, I should really get cracking on finding that job if I want to keep living in this city.

I could be a champion of sorts

Well.

This is awkward.

My last post was about a week ago and it was only a plug. I hope you haven't been assuming the worst, as I have (honest to the blogging Gods of the interwebs) been genuinely busy with the two internships I accepted not long ago and school.

I recently just started a two week, 30 hours in total Pro Tools sound editing/mixing workshop, which has been occupying me over the weekends. I've also been busy producing my second major drama film at school, which I have yet to realise is nothing but a mistake I will regret by the end of semester. Don't get me wrong though - I do enjoy being producer, and I love the power of management. In the long run, I am aiming to develop myself into that sort of organised, managerial role.

Apart from that, I have been managing two internships, one of which is 110% more demanding than the other. At this stage, I'm unsure if I can last with this one internship. For now, I must persist.

I am currently writing my thesis (final Diploma) film now which has to be greenlit in 3 weeks (complete with treatment and/or script, actors, locations and the whole lot), which will be a huge challenge with everything else resting on my shoulders. If I can get through this next couple of months, I think I might come out a real champion of sorts.

Ten Callbacks and Four Interviews Later...

I managed to get two offers both for internship positions at two different production companies.. One is for a film distribution/production company, and the other is a film production company working on Australia's first Mobile-orientated film competition and festival. You can imagine how stoked I am about this. I wondered if there is a made-up law of Interning which questioned the idea of being an intern of two different companies. I guess only time will tell whether I can manage two different sources of work.

Also, let me tell you about the second interview I had just yesterday for one of the production companies. I was in a rush as usual in the morning, trying to get my clothes on while brushing my teeth. I couldn't find my black shoes, which I wear to interviews and jobs alike, until I remembered I'd left them in my little unpacked suitcase from my recent trip to Singapore. I thought Great!, at least looking for them wasn't much of a problem -- that was, until I put my hand into the hotel's laundry bag where I'd put my shoes in. After experiencing a short sensation of 'fluff', I pulled my hand out to discover my shoe had a very serious case of the mould! Thankfully, my sister's smaller pair of black Vans and her day off from work allowed me to borrow her pair. To make things worse though, upon arriving to the interview, I was asked if I had my CV on me and had forgotten to bring it.

So if, in the next couple of days, a new strain of the swine/bird/name of textbook animal flu arises... Well.

On a more positive note, now with the two internship opportunities before me, I imagine my networks have doubled in coverage, and for a budding film-maker and aspiring producer, this is a dream.

I start both internships next week. This couldn't have been better timing for me too, since next week the school is running a week-long course on Cinematography, which I'm not a part of and therefore have the entire week off (including the Easter weekend). Wish me more good things and I will think of you in return.

Also, for all the callbacks I received from every application I sent, I have to thank the greatness that is ScreenHub. It's a great tool for those in the Media industry who are looking for work. It works like Seek or CareerOne only dedicated to those in Media. So, check it out. You have to pay to subscribe, but so, so worth it.