Follow This Blog! Please?

I just added the 'follow this blog' widget and now I feel so alone. I'm sure a bunch of you already know the deal with this, but if you use Blogger it's an easy way to keep tabs of the updates on various blogs by just looking at your blogspot dashboard. Plus, it's a free link to you via my blog.

So, if you find yourself surfing over here from time to time on Blogexplosion, Entrecard, Facebook, etc. why not click the link 'follow this blog' under Followers and add your face to the mix. I've finally just started searching out and adding my favs to my dashboard. So many blogs folks, but if you add your face to mine you can be sure that I'll click over to check yours out. Thanks!

Editing Luke in 2008

I have a lot to be grateful for, and in looking back at the last year I can't help but feel happy for all of the things that I was able to experience and do. With each new year we're reminded to take inventory of what we have, who we have, how are lives have changed and what we plan to do about it, good or bad. 2008 proved to be a very significant and challenging year for me, both personally and professionally, and I'd like to take this opportunity to share with you a few of the moments that made this passing year one that I won't soon forget.

January 4, 2008 - In my first blog post of the new year I vowed that, "by this time next year i'll have either concluded my lengthy and overdrawn stay at university with a degree, or I'll have just moved on from this experience altogether to take my shot in film without that piece of paper".  Turns out the degree wasn't in the cards.

January 13, 2008 - I made a random video on a trip to the Saskatchewan Science Centre with my friend Tyler. Thanks to a private tour from a new friend, Daya, it proved to be more exciting than I thought it would be and a nice break from the dead of winter.

February 19, 2008 - After several months of votes, views and messages I went to Sasktel to pick up my cheque for winning a total of $3700 in their Cell-ebrities Video Competition. The Gizmo Tree won 2nd ($3500), and my short Give it Time was in the Top 10 ($200).

March 22, 2008 - After months of deliberating, it was with this blog post that I made my peace with film school.

March 31, 2008 - In addition to turning 24 on this day, it was also when I uploaded my final and favourite episode of the Buick to the Future series.

April 22, 2008 - On this day I drove away from the University of Regina and the dorms for the last time. Deciding to leave was a tough decision, but it was also one of the smartest things I did in 2008.



May 31, 2008 - My blog, Editing Luke became a year old, and with that came a new found excitement and energy about what my blog/promotion could really do.

June 1, 2008 - In my first post-university job I started work at Stream Media Inc. as a corporate videographer and editor.  One of the initial highlights was getting to shoot aerial photography of Medicine Hat from a helicopter.  

June 3, 2008 - I started my Chico Bandito series (despite revamping and re-promoting it all again in December). 

June 28, 2008 - I received a message via my YouTube account about broadcasting my shorts Keys to Existence and A Chill in the Air on a short cinema showcase called Short Cuts in the USA.

July 17, 2008 - A visit from my sister lead to a new short film, Siblings.

July 19, 2008 - After a few new edits, Give it Time was accepted into the 2008 Youngcuts International Festival in Montreal and was nominated for Best Short Short - Movie under 3 minutes.

August 22, 2008 - Keys to Existence played numerous times over the weekend at Aeon 2008, a giant outdoor multi-media concert in the UK.

August 25, 2008 - I released a brand new short film, Day Dream Day.

October 15, 2008 - After a year and 4 months I finally hit 100,000 total video views.

November 15, 2008 - My animated shorts Clumsy Claus and Sitting Bull were revamped and uploaded after over 5 years without being seen.

November 22, 2008 - After a lengthy build up, I left for Las Vegas for a second time, and what a time it was!

Decemeber 21, 2008 - My movie The Gizmo Tree wins the top vote for week 17 of the YOBI.tv Filmmaking Contest and becomes a semi-finalist. The final vote will begin in March 2009.

What a year it was. Thank you all for sharing it with me, and here's to all of our continued efforts and success in 2009! Happy New Year!

Is Film School Worth It?

When I left film school in April 2008, I'd been there for 6 years, straight out of high school, had just a couple of classes remaining and decided that I could do without the degree. It wasn't an easy decision to leave, but the cost was outweighing the benefits by that point. Student life had provided me with the time and means of pursuing my film aspirations predominantly on my own terms. It felt like I was buying time to continue developing my work and skill, but only in the bubble of post secondary hypotheticals.

To be clear, my battle with film school was always the clash between my drive outside of the classroom and the redundant and occasionally time wasting lessons in it. I was more eager to shoot a short than write a paper, build on my experience to complete a project instead of following the lessons intended for those who'd never held a camera, and take a hit on a grade if it meant making a film that was better for my portfolio.

I'd educated myself on film history as a teenager using a book on Academy Award nominees as a jumping off point to watch the so-called 'classics'. I saved what little money I had as a kid and spent $125 on a used camcorder a the age of 12 to shoot my own short films. Without even realizing it, I was teaching myself about framing, composition, camera angles, and how to manipulate my footage. In retrospect, it's surprising how much I was trying to prepare myself.

I wasn't in film school because I thought it was easy, I was there because I was, and am, passionate about making movies. I wanted to be challenged, and I wanted to find a way into the film industry. There was no second guessing for me, I'd known what I wanted to do for as long as I was asked 'what do you want to be when you grow up?'. At 18 film school seemed like the only realistic option, and without growing up in Hollywood or having a family member to follow in the footsteps of, I did what felt right for me.



Still transitioning out my university haze I'm now working as a corporate editor and videographer. I've got numerous festival credits to my name, a diverse portfolio, and a strong foundation to build on. However, I don't think that the answers to achieving the goals that any of us would consider significant are easy to find. Despite my successes I'm still pushing myself to grow, to make new shorts, and to save the money needed to move and make the leap to narrative filmmaking. If you want to work, if you want to put yourself ahead of the curve, and if you want to know 'is film school worth it?' you really need to figure out what it is you want most.  

At best, you'll just have to make an educated guess.  The truth is that you won't know if it was or wasn't worth it until you experience a big enough success or failure on either end of the spectrum to make you justify your decision.  However, if you really just want to know if there's value in a film school education?  Yes, there is.