You Are What You Eat

Have you ever heard the story of how Robin Williams was locked in the sound booth while recording Disney's Alladin, and told to improvise? Well, he went on for hours and hours and they ended up using a few minutes in the actual movie!

While filming "You Are What You Eat," we asked Andrew Nealis to do something similar...and THIS is the result!

A huge thank you goes out to everyone who supported me in the production of this project, from my crew members who handled the heavy work, to the zombies who woke up early to go through make-up, and everyone who provided encouragement throughout the process - without your help, "You Are What You Eat" would never have become the project that it is, and certainly would not have been selected to be shown among the 18 wonderful films that will be screened at Cinefest on May 3rd!

Thank you and congratulations to everyone involved! If you would like to be present at the premiere for "You Are What You Eat" (as well as 17 other fantastic student films), be sure to stop by Cinefest!

Entries for Fairfield University's annual student film festival are due tomorrow (today), Monday April 22nd at noon. This means that a whole bunch of dedicated film and television students have been congregating at the Media Center since the wee early hours of the morning, putting the final touches on their projects.

Photo credit: Mike Henaghan's iPhone

I got here at 12:30, since I had to do laundry to even leave my apartment! I had a mini-freak-out around 1:45, when I realized that DVD Studio Pro does not open on the computers in our big RCADE lab - unlike many of my classmates, I will be submitting my capstone in DVD format due to it's interactive nature. Luckily, DVD Studio Pro functions in the editing lab.

At 3:00 PM, I left to manage equipment at the Levee for a townhouse band showcase - in other words, got paid to sit at my laptop behind the bar, eat free pizza, and work on my capstone! The bands were decent, too - started with Jeremy Downer (what a name for an entertainer!), then Disable Time, and Fairfield favorite Chasing Carmen.

8:30 PM: I have found an empty computer in the editing lab, which sadly is very far away from my hard-working but funny friends in the RCADE. My task right now is to finish the credits for my film: I completed a rough cut during Disable Time's set, but I just can't make all the words go at the same pace...I am currently searching the Interwebs for credit roll templates

9:45 PM: I have found a number of credit roll templates, but unfortunately none of them actually work...One of them, in After Effects, looks promising, but I have absolutely no idea how to export it!

10:10 PM: Erik Fong exported my credit roll in about 3.5 second flat. This is why he is first in my "special thanks" list!
10:40 PM: Finishing up the last sequences and sending everything through Compressor. Almost ready to complete the DVD (the file of which, thinking ahead, I have already built!)

11:45 PM: Well, that took longer than expected. Now I just have to add some buttons and my DVD will be ready to burn!

1:00 AM: The DVD is burning!!!! Writing files, that is...no smoke pouring from the computers yet!

1:37 AM: The DVD is finished burning...but it doesn't work. Whomp.

1:46 AM: Dennis to the rescue! I'm going to have to re-build the DVD, but we're good to go.

2:50 AM: The new DVD is built, all the assets are imported, and we're going to try it again! Good thing I brought a few extra DVDs...

3:30 AM: So far, 3 students have tried my DVD and love it!

3:49 AM: The lovely Audra Martin just tried my DVD and we discovered that half of the tree branches have fallen off (that's a metaphor, by the way). Sadly, I am out of DVDs...
4:00 AM: On my way back to the apartment to pick up DVDs!
4:07 AM: Back at the Media Center. Luckily, the source of the problem is very evident: lack of oxygen to my sleep-deprived brain because it's 4 O'CLOCK IN THE FREAKIN MORNING (a.k.a. very stupid mistakes)

4:30 AM: Well, if I'm up, and I have the DVDs, I might as well fix the problems with the menus...

5:35 AM: Burned a DVD. Watched it. Problem's not actually fixed...

6:02 AM: Tried again. It looks like this one might actually work. I also got a chance to see Johnny Rosito's project, which is AWESOME

6:07 AM: Just got the word to move cars out of the Prep parking lot. Also, apparently, it's light outside...

6:19 AM: QC'd the DVD...minor issues but hopefully nothing that will sway the Cinefest committee against me...that is, if they're even accepting DVD submissions this year!

7:00 AM: I'm out of here as soon as my DVD hits Jim's desk. To those of you who are still at the MC, I wish you the best of luck - there is so much talent in our grade and I am so excited to see what everyone produces! Keeping my fingers crossed for everyone.