In first grade our teacher asked us the questions what did we want to be when we grew up. We were given a sheet of paper with "When I grow up..." already printed, and we were supposed to finish the sentence and the draw a picture of our future selves. I wrote in, "I want to jroll". Of course what I meant was that I wanted to "draw" but years of mangled Southern dialect rendered me incapable of "sounding out" the words I didn't know how to spell. Anyone may have look at that sentence thought, "Man, this kid is dumb as a rock", but I'll be damned if the picture wasn't spot on. Fastforward 14 years...
Hmmm. What do I want to do? I want to work in film as a cinematographer for stories that I'm passionate about. I want to work in commercials. There's so much potential for beauty, inspiration, and creativity in the micro short form. They're so immediate and visceral. Surely we can use the form to a more worthy goal than hawking for people to by boner pills.
Those are the things I would like to do. Here's the more complicated answer about what I will do.
Whenever I ride in cars, particularly on longer trips, I look out the window the most of the time, and if I'm lucky enough, I do so with the windows down. I could drive for hours just looking at the land and listening to the sound of wind. After returning from a trip, people always ask one thing, "What was your favorite part?" A normal response to that may be something a long the lines of a concert, a restaurant, or some kind of destination/ activity/ event. Mine is normlly something like "It was really foggy one day, but the sun started to shine and everything looked really cool." I'm constantly in awe of the complete beauty of the earth and the juxtaposition of the ugliness that often exists in it. It's bittersweet. I experience and understand the world visually, and I want to share it that way as well.
This could, and does, mean a lot of things for my future. But I think accepting this as my understanding of the world and as the catalyst behind what makes me tick a little bit more prepared for the future. I feel more flexible to share this passion in a lot of different capacities.
Cinematography is the most passionate way that I share my understanding of things. I do it other ways too: painting, photography (mostly bad photography), and other hobbies, but cinematography drives me. I like to do it because I feel like that's what I'm supposed to do.
But a man has to eat right? Touche'. I don't want to sit around forever waiting on a golden opportunity to do exactly the thing I want to do. That's dellusional, but it seems to be the shared dellusion of a lot of people, particularly in film. I'll go where I'm needed. Collaboration can be such a disasterous enterprise, usually ending in group apathy or individual domination. I never thought that collaboration would be a strength of mine, but I think over time, that skill set is starting to shape up. I've been blessed with a strong work ethic, and hard workers will never be in short supply. I have no idea where that will take me, but I can only hope and try my best to pursue my passions.
So where does all this hippie mumbo-jumbo fit into our class? Well...
I want to get my hands dirty in 312. It's sad that a discipline as experience oriented as film, our department has really done a pour job of fostering hands-on opportunities for students in the past. I can't wait to get my hands on everything we have. I 5d's, 7d's, Ex3's, Redrocks, Zeiss Primes, flex dolly tracks - it's an exciting time. Even though the tools of film are constantly changing, and learning the specifics of each one is really only usefull from a (relatively) short term viewpoint. Heck, we'll probably be shooting with moon lasers in like two years. The point is, trends come and go, but the field experience and the language we create with the tools (whatever they may be) are essential. They're enduring and invaluable. I feel like 312 can offer me some of those outcomes.
From a more idealistic perspective, there's a really great group of smart, talented, and hard-working people at the heart of the TCF department. Had it not been for students like the ones we have and some equally passionate, hard-working faculty, this department was one jelly donut away from keeling over and dying a horrible, sweaty, bowel empyting death. But it didn't. There's life here yet again, and it's very inspiring. I know one of my goals for the year has been to mobillize the talent outside of class. We're talking, we're sharing, and hopefully we'll start producing some really great stuff outside of class, as well as in it.
I hope that TCF 312 will be an extension of that goal. I want to grab all of the opportunities we have in this class - the equipment, the readings, the instruction, and the people - and do something awesome with them. In addition to the things we do in here, this class can be launching pad for other projects. I think about 312 as a taste of other things. I don't mean that to undermine the class; I'm certainly going to pour myself into, and I know there will be plently of late nights in Reese Phifer. But I think the best kind of class is the one that inspires you to do it on your own, and I have a good feeling that this class will do that for many.
In other news, here's a short promo Carly and I put together over the weekend for Creative Campus. Take a look and check on their website http://www.creativecampus.ua.edu/
Creative Campus Promo from Henry Busby on Vimeo.
I'll leave you with a song off of Nick Cave's soundtrack for "The Proposition". I've been listening to it a lot the past week. Maybe you'll like it.
Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Goodnight everyone.
-Henry
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