4 posts tagged “water”

So why have I been posting strange little YouTube videos for the last couple of years?
I’ve been practising.

I’m planning on ‘chucking’ full time employ, and doing a film coarse next year.
The mid-year intake Open Days are currently being run so last weekend I attended the Sydney Film School Open Day to check out a potential option.

The school fills out a converted old ware house in the middle of the city.
I could see students cutting up strips of film on editing desks as I entered the common area.
The building didn’t seem overbearing or pretentious and I instantly felt comfortable.

Documentary and drama production are taught. The school has the belief that good films are made by good teams

Drama students start with film, and then move them onto digital. The school reckons that learning with (old fashion :-) film builds good discipline.
Doco students are digital all the way through.

It’s a private school, and the only entrance criteria are that students pay the tuition and that their personalities ‘fit’ with the place. That entails and interview with the staff.
Last year a hundred student short films were produced, and in four years forty three films have screened in film festivals round the world.
They believe in a broad training in a variety of disciplines rather then train specialist directors or sound guys.
Strong affiliations with international schools.

I liked the vibe of the place. Vibes are important. It’s your sub-conscious elbowing you in the ribs and wiggling its eyebrows.
I really liked their emphasis on collaboration, and they are actively trying to build a larger film community in Oz. This is important to me as unlike a doctor or a teacher, I don’t NEED to go to school to get in the industry, but I’m looking to find a community to slot into.
If there is one thing I’ve learnt in life, it’s that connections are more important then qualifications or talent.

Get yourself a cuppa, light some incense, and chill out with the ducks...

This is a follow up to the photos I posted last week….

library/post/bondi-to-bronte-swimming-race-07

It’s taken me a week to get the videos cut up (filling in the spaces in-between bursts of gainful employment.)

This event was held on Sunday off Sydney’s Eastern beaches.
The course is drawn between the first two Surf Life Saving clubs in the world.
Starting in front of Bondi Surf Club, it runs out from Bondi, around McKenzies point and down the coast into Bronte Beach. A distance of 2.2 - 2.5km (depending on the positioning of the buoy off McKenzies point).

I was pretty impressed watching this mass of people swim out of the bay, down the coast, and then back in to shore.
There were young ones, oldies, chunky and thin.
They were carefully watched the whole time by the ‘water safety’ folks.

The embedded map has the coarse drawn on it, and clicking on the pins opens a video up.

Use the controls to zoom in and out, and drag to reposition the map.

Here are some photos and I’ll post a more detailed entry with videos later.

This event was held on Sunday off Sydney’s Eastern beaches.