A Couple Big Things...

So a few things have changed since the last time I wrote. For starters, the film school that we were going to run has gone from being a classroom intensive program to an apprenticeship where the students can learn by doing. This fits our style so much more and allows us a little more freedom to teach them how we make films. We will have 4 or 5 students rather than the school of 20, which obviously will allow more time for them to actually get their hands on the equipment and allow them a little more creative freedom as well. We have officially accepted one student and 2 others unofficially. We are all really excited about this new venture and know that this is the right direction for our department.

As the organizer in the department, I am working on scheduling the speakers for seminars once a week as well as making a basic plan on deadlines for the individual films that they will be producing. In addition to that, I am waiting on final scripts from 2 people in my department so that I can prep for filming. We are hoping to have one done completely before the apprenticeship starts on March 20 and the second one almost ready so that the students can work with us. Each year, our films take on a new level of complexity, which shows that we are growing. And it also means that I am being stretched a great deal because I have to figure out how to make these grandiose ideas that they come up with. I am always learning something new, which I appreciate.

The apprenticeship will run from March 20 to May 13. I, however, will only be here in LA for the first 2 weeks of it. On April 1 (or somewhere right around there), I will be traveling to South Africa for two months. I am going as a co-leader/nanny with the Discipleship Training School Outreach team. The main leaders, Wayne and Karyn, were actually the ones that I went to South Africa with the first time 3 years ago. We will be traveling to some of the same locations to see the progress that has come from soem of the things that we started or worked on back then. I am really very excited about this trip! I realize this is a big piece of news and very little detail, but more is to come.