Friday, September 16, 2011

( Orientation Week - Day 4 | Sept 9th )

Okay, so Friday was a pretty amazing day. There was a Theater portfolio display for all design and production students and faculty, so I was able to look at some really amazing sets that some of the theater students did !!



I spoke to a really nice guy named Drew Foster who's a theater student who also built an unbelievably amazing set, and they also have lights built in it !!!! So here are some photos of the sets he did ! ( All credits goes to Drew Foster for allowing me to take pictures of his amazing sets. Thanks, Drew ! )







I was really excited at the gallery because I've always been a huge fan of broadway shows and theaters and I really value the rich storytelling, colors and set designs they have in most of them, at least the popular ones. I've always wanted to see the making of their shows backstage but I've never had the chance ! So this is the closest that I've been to so far ! It's really amazing how these were all done, alone.

Anyway, I was so caught up with all the amazing works the theater students put up and I forgotten about the International Student group activity that Penelope Weston, our International Student Advisor had planned out ! I went to the restroom and shortly after I came out I bumped into a few other international students who were playing some treasure hunt game so I tagged along with them. Didn't really know what they're looking for though, but it seemed like they were having lots of fun so yeah, I just went along with them. Our team lost in the end but everybody got a CalArts pencil which is really cool. This is probably gonna sound weird, but CalArts is pretty much like a BRAND to me now. Just seeing the word 'CalArts' makes me excited! I'm even planning to get my CalArts mug, sweater, jacket, water bottle and some other stuff. I guess the excitement since the day I received my acceptance letter hasn't quite settle down yet.

The rest of the day went pretty well. Everybody had free pizzas at 7 pm at Mom's cafe, which is located on the ground floor at Chouinard Hall. Shortly after the pizza, me and most of the character animation BFA-1 students headed to the Bijou theater for the Edwards Scissorhands screening which started at 8 pm. It's pretty amazing how they value old movies here and most of the students who went for the movie were film and video students ! There are a lot of Tim Burton fans over here at CalArts and everyone here knows what a CalArts legend he is. Anyway, I had some classmates who even went into the theater with makeups on and had plastic knives and forks taped to their fingers. Here are some photos from the screening !


CalArts's very own movie theater !


Some of the girls from my class, pretty cool.


The movie starts !!

Watching Edward Scissorhands again really reminded me of why I wanted to make films so much. It was the moment when Kim (Winona Ryder) danced under the snow with Danny Elfman's "Ice Dance" music playing in the background. It was that beautiful, magical moment that really informed me of how a movie can take control of your emotions and affect you as a person ! Oh, the power of storytelling ! It really makes me wanna cry watching it. At the end of the show, everybody clapped and cheered and again commended the film. Some of the students stayed for Sleepy Hollow though, which started about 10 or 15 minutes later, but I went right back to my dorm because Edward Scissorhands was a lot to take in emotionally, and I wanted to keep that last thought I had from the movie till I go to bed.

So yeah, that was my Friday night. The last day of the weekday before class starts on Monday !

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