A Return To High School

A few weeks ago I mentioned speaking about Sound Design for a film class at a local high school. A former teacher of mine teaches said film class, and I have to say, I'm quite impressed with the program. I'm not sure how old it is, but they've had at least 5 film festivals (one each year), and for my hometown area, seriously...that's as impressive as anything! Goodness knows how things would have turned out for me if they'd had a class like that when I was in high school. Of course, I really wouldn't change my path to where I'm at for anything. And yes, that's a really convenient viewpoint to hold, but c'mon now, why waste time with the coulda-woulda-shoulda's?

Anyway, my speech, if you will, was certainly not what I expected. I can't say I had a real plan though, so what did I exactly expect? You'll twist your brain in knots dwelling on that one, so I won't. Things did go well. I spoke about some of my experiences at film school, and I actually got more technical than I'd planned. To me, that was a great sign of the quality of work here...that the students actually understood more than I ever would have expected. Of course, some of the students did sort of fall asleep on me. No, I wasn't offended! I mean, it was a 8am class and even if they all chose this class, there certainly didn't all choose to focus on sound design. Really that part just made me laugh. Especially because I always wondered what it would be like to be teaching and SEE students sleeping on you. As I expected, I didn't really care. Perhaps if I was a full time teacher I would...but eh...their loss really.

I'm generally of the mindset that you get what you want to out of things, and I generally don't hand hold people through things (probably why I'm not a teacher). That as certainly something I observed up at VFS. We had students ranging in age from 21 - 34 in my class and some of the guys...boy could they be a bunch of whiners! The program is not for those who will not dedicate themselves to hard work. And the school is expensive...why would you go if you're not going to work hard and learn? Some of the guys would whine that the teachers weren't there enough or didn't explain things enough. I never had a problem with this because if you sought them out, you could get exactly the help you needed. Perhaps when paying for school, the teachers should come to you, but I just don't see that, at least all the time. If I had problems accessing the teachers, then I wouldn't have been ok with it. Some were tricky to get, yes, but sometimes they were trickier if you didn't show up for class in the first place or pay attention then. This was also a problem with our whiners. They missed regular class then lamented the lack of teacher assistance later on. Uh yeah...you made your own bed their boys. As another classmate of mine put it (a fellow hard worker), they just wanted to be baby-sat and have their hands held when it suited their needs. It's beyond me...but it happens.

Ok...that was a tangent..but you can see why people sleeping doesn't phase me. Perhaps my speech was boring, but I had several questions on sound design, so I doubt it. It just appeals to some people and not others. It's a little strange in that sense because all movies these days need sound...why is it an afterthought? It's the same feeling I get when people give graphic design work to secretaries instead of hiring a graphic designer. No offense to secretaries but they don't have all the training us designers have had...so they just don't focus properly on things. And that's why you get webpages with neon green backgrounds and hot pink fonts! Hello, if you can't read it, you are NOT getting your message across....and clearly, that bugs the bejeezus out of me! Anyway, the saying "you get what you pay for" comes across clearly in these "afterthought" types of jobs.

Sound design and graphic design are both set up that way...which explains why it's harder to get jobs, but also explains why when you bother to pay attention to it...you get some stellar work out of it. Try taking the sound out of your favorite movie and you'll see what I mean. Or do you ever wonder why a home movie doesn't sound as good as something done as a documentary? It looks roughly the same; shouldn't it sound the same? Why doesn't the documentary have all those bumps and clicks cuz your dog ran into you while filming or the sound of a train that went by when filming a street scene? oh wait...the documentary still put thought into sound, and there are probably a million tricks to get it to seem like it was done off the cuff, when in fact, it was quite planned. Apply that thought to any reality show you might watch..it might change your opinion of things. So yes, it costs more to put thought into sound, but if you really want to get your message across, you're going to at least have to put in the extra effort.

So yes, the students asked about some tricks to recording good sound, and some tricks for making it sound better once you were editing the movie together. I was happy I could offer a few, but since I wasn't planning on the talk being that detailed, I have to say...I know I didn't always have the best responses. The good news is that if I talk to this class again some day, I'll know they absolutely have the background to get deeper into the subject matter. That makes me feel really good! And hooray for school systems willing to invest in programs like this. Even if they don't all become filmmakers, you know what will make me really happy? Knowing that people have a basic knowledge of films and effective a/v communications, because the world is growing around these fields. Cell phones, blogs, home videos, etc...wouldn't it be nice if people knew how to handle a camera so that when you're forced watch their home movies, it doesn't give you motion sickness? or when they film big moments like graduations and weddings, the big moments aren't missed due to operator error?

Yes, we used to live in a world where we didn't need to be in touch all the time or have to video every moment, but these things exist and aren't going away. And if we can't all pay the professionals to do it, at least we can communicate to each other effectively. One student asked me what to do when you have music in a scene and dialogue...and well, everything else. How do you hear it all? I said that no matter how important the song, or how important the setting, if you can't hear what people are saying, forget it. Clearly we can get the message from other cues, but IF there is dialogue, then we are meant to hear it, and if we can't, we are frustrated! And for all of the tools and technology we have in this day and age, if we aren't communicating effectively, we are just like neon pink and green web pages or clanging cymbals without any clarity or purpose. It might be a bit overstated, especially as I'm just writing on a blog that could be adding to the communication clutter out there, but hey, we have to try and cut through the noise somehow. Make a statement, make it clearly, and by all means, go after it with everything you've got! Kudos to the students in the film classes here that are doing just that. I'm glad they let me be a part of that process and I hope I had a few clear messages of my own that helped one or two of them with...whatever, really.

And you know what, it was MUCH nicer being on this side of the high school desk than the first time around. No pressure to stay awake! hahaha...