What is everybody up to this year?

[nikolas1977]

He!

Let me be the first to post here! And I have nothing to do with CG! Not really...

Well... I'm a music composer.

Trying to do with my life: Raise two kids. Finish my PhD (in another two years). Find a way to go back to my homecountry (Greece), rich and able to feed my family.

Trying to achieve my dream: Hell yes! This is why I'm in London. This is why I'm in these forums.

Already there? Not yet.
Given up? No way!

Aspects of filmmaking: Well... the music part of films. To write music for films (and actually computer games as well... which I'm already doing...)

Hobby? Nope! I'll spend all my life as a composer. No hobby!

Well... Hi! Nice to meet you all! Can you really consider my post off-topic? :D

[Tagger]

all those deep questions ...

Well, what i want to do with my life... make something out of it i guess :)

Achieving my dream in filmmaking (combining two questions ;) ): I'm going to filmschool now for my 3rd year and i think i'm realy in my place here, i study audiovisual techniques and i love the combination between the technical side and the creative side.

am i already there? far from it :) Have i given up? far from it :)

What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally? At school this year we "had" to choose between camerawork, soundwork or editing and i choise for what i like the most, editing, but by far that this is the only thing i want to do all my life. I'm interested in most technical work that comes with it.

Just a hobby? at this point yes i guess (havnt seen much money come from it, seen a lot of money beeing spend ;) ), even though as a student i do take it very serious and i try to get as much experience as i can.

Doing this year? ... the same as any year, getting experience both at school and projects i'm involved with next to that.

[ZaKKoS]

Here we are:

What do you guys want to do with your life?
Become "famous" in the biz, have my own family

Are you trying to achieve your dream?
Yep!

Are you already there?
Not yet, but i'm working on it.

Have you given up?
No way!

What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally?
Cinematography

Is it just a hobby?
Not "just" but "also" an hobby (of course i have also other things to relax)

And what are you doing this year to get closer to your dream job?
I hope to move to a city where i'll do a sort of internship


And you mat?

[Matty2Phatty]

What do you guys want to do with your life?
Filmmaking is my passion, and I would love to be able to continue doing it forever. On my last shoot i was working 18 hour days (I was co-director), waking up at 6am, arriving on set at 7:30, shooting between 9am and 5pm, and then going through the following days shoot until about 8pm then working out the days footage until midnight.

On the last day of shooting, I had barely slept for 4 days, had a splitting headache, had no energy at all, and people often had to ask me things twice or even three times before i would click that they asked me something. But, I would GLADLY do it all over again. It's the only thing that I feel so passionately about.

Are you trying to achieve your dream?
Certainly, though i'm getting married at the end of this year so it's on hold while i plan my wedding.

Are you already there? Have you given up?
My most marketable script ironically is also the one i would most like to direct, and the interest in purchasing the script FAR outweighs the interest in letting me direct it. I can direct it, but the budget will be much smaller, and i'm beginning to wonder if i should just let it go and take the money.

What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally?
At the moment i've been co-writer/director on all my projects except one that was written by somebody else. I'm not passionate about writing, but usually I just have an idea that i'd love to do so i write it myself. Directing is my interest though, not writing.

Is it just a hobby?
It started out that way, with my parents video camera. But now it's actually a job which is fantastic. It's not a regular job though, but luckily the production company is also a graphic design studio.

And what are you doing this year to get closer to your dream job?
With my wedding on the cards this year it's been pretty sporadic. But, i've been talking to private investors and government funding bodies about 7 projects that are all floating around here.

[bblackbourn]

What do you guys want to do with your life?
Find a balance between my wonderful family, creatively satisfying work, travelling the world & paying the bills. :)

Are you trying to achieve your dream?
Yeah baby! Every day I try to improve the balance, question if there's something I could be doing better, smarter.

Are you already there?
Pretty close. I've had the good fortune of working with lots of wonderfully creative people on great commercially successful projects and the last few years supervising the cinematography & pre-vis here at Dreamworks Animation has been a blast. Since last working back in Melbourne, Australia during the last 10 years I've had the pleasure of working & living in Malaysia, Germany, UK, Italy & the USA. Having helped get other's visions on the screen for the last few years, I'm trying to focus on getting back to more directing myself - but at the same time balance that with spending as much time as possible with my two little kids. I never had that "film school" or "independent film-maker" period to make little films & experiment with crazy or off-beat ideas. Pretty much from the word go I was working on very expensive, commercially-focussed projects that were costing someone a lot of money. The challenge right now is how to support a family & still get to explore some of those more off-beat, non-mainstream stories & find a way to get them on-screen.

Have you given up?
Never!!!

What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally?
The whole thing. "Visual" storytelling. What could be better than that?! Finding & exploring all of the visual elements that help to better convey, deepen, enrich & make more the compelling the story being told. The acting nuances, the colours, the use of light & shade, the framing, the camera movement, teh cuts....all those wonderful facets of visually enhancing the story. It's a great time we live in that all of these tools are accessable to so many people.

Is it just a hobby?
Not according to my tax advisor. ;)

And what are you doing this year to get closer to your dream job?
Constantly working to enhance my understanding of storytelling & especially visual storytelling: watching as many wonderful movies as possible from all genres, cultures & eras, reading great plays & books, listening to human interest stories on radio, reading the newspaper, re-reading my copies of American Cinematographer (they're brilliant tech/creative insights into filmakers' visions and the execution of them - subscribe today!!). Indentifying interesting ideas & developing them in the few moments between work & playing with the kids (Actually, they are huge inspirations too).


Good luck to everyone else on the journey - I look forward to seeing your films!

[AstroSanchezz]

kind of craming everything into one short mess...
this year i'm closer to getting where i'd like to be, having my own production company, directing musicvideos and ads also have a film i'm working on to put around in festivals
i've been into everything filmmaking since i was 10.. now almost 23 (bday next saturday wooo) and just got some new equipment.. things are all good :buttrock:

i'd love to see some short films and stuff showing up on here from everybody, and cant wait til the 2min film challenge gets going again!

[michela]

What do you guys want to do with your life?

I want to keep trying new approaches to story-telling in various media. I started out doing stuff online and it's getting quite exciting now what the possibilities are. Still focused on getting as much of my stuff on big screens though.

Are you trying to achieve your dream?

Absolutely.

Are you already there? Have you given up?

No. Not there yet. I'm in the midst of my dream project but it's taking a LONG time. The journey is amazing though and continually meeting new sources of inspiration which makes it all worthwhile. Not giving up.

What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally?

Directing.

Is it just a hobby?

No. It went past that point a few years ago - this is vocational, whatever that means!

And what are you doing this year to get closer to your dream job?

I'm in VFX post on my first 35mm project, a purpose-built re-mixable short film called Sanctuary shot last year and recently conformed to HD. I'm the writer/director/producer but given the HUGE funding pool for short films I'm currently scratching my head against Boujou and playing around in Maya as well.
http://modfilms.com/sanctuary

This was my cunning plan to get to direct a particular feature idea I've been developing for years. But that was years ago! And in case you're wondering I'd love to involve more CG soc folk but can't get my post into the Collaborations forum as yet (being a newbie and thus standing accused of being one of those nasty Fisherpeople).

If anyone is going to Cannes Film Festival, drop me a line as I'm looking to hook up with more CG folk out there

[DAZZAN]

Hey everyone. This forum has gone a little dead lately, so i thought i might start up a thread to find out what kind of people view the forums...

What do you guys want to do with your life?
Are you trying to achieve your dream?
Are you already there? Have you given up?
What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally?
Is it just a hobby?

And what are you doing this year to get closer to your dream job?


Question 1 answer: To Finish a live action Hi8 Semi -Pro camera movie i shot in 1994,im about half way through its called TINNMAN a childrens charity film.

Question 2 answer: Well i was let down badley by a company in Cornwall England who i was working with for about 9 months discussing the fx before i shot the film,i shot it then they said no......its a long story,but the result is that the decision i made was to learn all aspects of film design to finish the film myself,at the time there was no one to talk to ,i loved makeing films and 3d,and i would put my directing aspirations aside to make this film.

Question 3: No im about half way through,but ive finished the learning phase enough to start the live action 3d intergration.Thats an interesting question giving up....we all want to make a blockbuster on our own equipment,and blow people away with it,the kid who made it in 1994,was allways a loner,makeing special fx make up and heads and monsters in his shed down the garden,wanting to write horror films,he made his first effort in 1992 and won a big national amatuer filmmaking magazine award in the uk,and it included best visual effects,lighting and make up,and then he wanted to do at least a hour rather than ten minutes,if i looked back now and met the kid,i would shake his hand then punch him hard in the face, making sure he bled well.So i kind of went off in loner mode......its more of a mental thing,its in the head,youve got to be strong mentally and made of thick rhino skin.

Question 4 :Not professional, but i think if you learn as an amatuer and have enough heart and love for what you really want,your working effort will just have the edge over some one who is a working pro doing the same thing.

Question 5 :Yes this Project TINNMAN is a amatuer production through and through,and any money raised from the film when finished will go to the charity who let me film in their 16 million pound hospital, I used to work with chlidren with learning difficulties at the hospital,and these kids need all the help the can get,and a promise is a promise,and i am still in touch with the people at the hopital,and they still know that im still working on it,(they do laugh at me and with me)and i still meet the kids,some have left and i keep in touch with some and they are still trying to raise money,to give them a better life.

And so am I.

[igorsandman]

Hey
It's been a long time since I last came by this part of the forum ^^'
Nice initiative Matty and it's good to here your stories fellows.
Here is mine:

- What do you guys want to do with your life?
I'd like to make feature films. I'd like to write and direct sci-fi/fantasy films. My goal is to be able to express myself through my films. I don't care much about fame, money and awards.

- Are you trying to achieve your dream?
Yup. I'm on it for over 6 years now. I'm currently taking a trainee as assitant director. Hopefully it will help me make new friends in the buziness (and accidentaly, I need money to live XD). I spent last year trying to find a producer in France. I'll spend this year doing the same plus infiltrating the circle as assitant director. I'll try to gather funds on my own I think, rather than waiting for a producer to do all the dirty work for me.

- Are you already there? Have you given up?
Not there yet. I expect to be there in a year or two.

- What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally?
Scriptwriting and directing mainly because I like to create worlds. I also love cinematography, but I'm not qualified for that job. I just admire it.

- Is it just a hobby?
Defenetly not! I want to earn my living from it.

Good luck to you all.
Oh yeah and... see you there!
;-)

Take care.
-IS-

[Rickmeister]

This is a pretty dead place... hopefully this will chance in the future.

What i want...
I'm not totaly sure what I want to do in the future, but surely something in the film/animation bissiness. I just graduated from my school (yesterday) so now i have plenty of time figuring out some things.

Am i achieving it?
Well... i'm on my way. In august i'm going to shoot my first short film... It's not much, i know, but it is a start :)

Am I allready there?
Not quite... i'm more at the beginning. But what the hell... i'm still young

What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally?
Directing is my passion at the moment, but as i said I still have to shoot my first reel picture...

A hobby?
Hmm... at the moment it is a hobby. But I hope this is going to change very quick ;)

[AstroSanchezz]

little bit offtopic but
Rickmeister - you should make a thread for progress on the short film or something!

it is pretty dead around this section of cgtalk, wish the film challenge would get going again
anybody doing that 48hour film project thing? www.48hourfilm.com if it comes to your city that is, it's coming to louisville ky this month and i've signed up so should be fun!

[davezak]

MUSIC VIDEO PROJECT (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=376353)

this is what I'm dedicating my life to over the next year. I need some input!

threading the progress of my first video contract and my final year animation project. :scream:


notes for above...> get paid to do your hobby? ideal!

[Velk]

My next couple months are going to be spent working on (among other things) the 12th FXWars challenge (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=373235). We'll see how things are going after that.

[Bsmith]

What do you guys want to do with your life?

Become a successful art director for an ad agency, have a family, and stay involved with independent filmmaking. I don't want to live in a city either

Are you trying to achieve your dream?

ah I'm going to school for advertising after spending two years immersed in 3d animation and digital design. And I write whenever I can. I have a short comedy I'm shooting this summer which will be fun. After I'm done with the university, I will either travel or go to school at the miami ad school...depends on the money I have.

Are you already there? Have you given up?

no and no
What aspect of filmmaking are you interested in professionally?

Writing and directing. However I just loved doing it. If my friend has a stupid idea, I say ok lets do it, you have all creative control, I'll bring my camera. Everyone gets involved with me.
Is it just a hobby?

For now, even tho its kinda a serious hobby. Obviously, I would like to become successful in it. But I also want to experiment with various forms of filmmaking which is what advertising will hopefully allow me to do.

And what are you doing this year to get closer to your dream job?

going to school and developing ideas

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