This is the first minute and a half of a film I’ve been working on for the better part of a year – writing, filming, and editing.
The film was shot at my school, Vassar College, the actors are Vassar students, and the music (for the teaser) is my own composition. Here it is:
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Well, due to -PCs- my last attempt to upload pictures from the trip resulted in me losing all of my pictures so far. SO that´s kind of a big bummer, but luckily others have been taking photos along the way as well, so I have here a few more moments from our trip so far… courtesy of Jordi.
Hey all! Have had a fantastic first week and a half here in Ecuador. We started off in a small retreat/paradise where we all got to know each other. The highlight was definitely the mud fest — where we went up a river and stopped off on a small island that was just complete mud. We basically just dove in and got completely covered, but it felt soo great! We explored the island looking like some crazyed aboriginal peoples.
Anyway, right now we are in transit from Rio Muchacho where we´ve spent the past week and a half farming. It´s been a pretty constant flow of classroom and farm work – waking up at 5.30 every morning to shovel cow shit, then head out to the fields with machetes. Muy divertido! Now we´re off to the language school and our first home stay. It´s gonna be a 10 hour day of travel tomorrow, so no fun there, but right now it´s beautiful out and we´re right along the beach. So actually I´m going to go swim, but more to come soon!
–Update– Added a bunch new pics! Kinda crazy how much we’ve done in these past two weeks.. read up on the group’s blog here: http://carpediemeducation-sam.blogspot.com/
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Thr first blog post of my trip! I’m in L.A. right now, waiting till this evening to meet my group and fly out to Ecuador! I was actually pretty lucky to get here, as I just missed the second blizzard that hit the East Coast. This was me two nights ago:
For those wondering why I decided to take time off and do this trip, here is part of my application, giving some of my reasons for going:
What is your inspiration for going on this program? What do you hope to gain from taking part?
Can you be inspired by alternative, the idea of something different? For me, it’s a revitalizing thought.
My first year in college was great. I made new friends, took some exciting classes and it felt like a very natural progression from high school, even if some of my professors were—in some respects—worse than my previous teachers. Exciting things happen on a college campus, you join clubs, listen to lectures, hang out with friends, take road trips… but when you take a step back for a bit, go home over winter break, then summer vacation, you realize there’s something wrong. “How’s college, Alex?” “Oh, it’s great, everything I thought it would be.” And it is! But that’s the problem.
I went through elementary school because I was told to, middle school because I was forced to, high school because I needed to, and now college… There seems to be a formula to it. Why are all my friends in college, why am I in college? I need to spend time away to really know.
The more I consider my future, college and the ever after, the more I confront that relentlessly persistent question: ¿What do I want? Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know what major I want to be, I don’t know what career path I want to take, and I don’t really know what I hope to gain from going to Peru. But that’s the whole idea. Live and discover. Maybe in Peru I’ll form a new concept of my place in the world—I’ve not experienced very much outside my society—but then again maybe I won’t. I would like to try and find out.
My farewell to the states 
Hasta luego!
So, I got my first gig, and it was a really exciting one! About two months ago, I was contacted by the Nation Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, an arts competition I participated in during my senior year in high-school, and they asked me to do a short two minute clip for them. The actress Liv Ullmann, famous for her work with Ingmar Bergman, held a masterclass for NFAA and in thanks, the foundation planned to give her it’s Arison Award. At the Gala where they would present her the award, they wanted to have a two minute expo on her achievements as well as a few moments showing what she did for NFAA… and they asked me to do it! Check it out:
I was given a bunch of footage to edit and I even got to interview Liv Ullmann – which is kind of amazing! Anyway, the footage in the clip was actually from documentary filmmakers Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman, so credit goes to them for all their amazing work. And the music was composed by Jan Morgenstern, used without his permission – I really need to get better at that – but thanks Jan for the epic music! Also a shout-out thank you to Kimberley Browning - it was great working with her as she helped out a lot with this project. Good fun!
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Three friends joined me up to New Hampshire for a couple days to relax in the woods! Here are some pictures of our various adventures:
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After two grueling weeks of staring at code and falling asleep on the keyboard, I’m finally done! The Official Release of my new Online Portfolio: This new layout includes a photo gallery, some new films, an art gallery, visual effects shots, and a blog!
Please take a look around and explore the site, then leave a comment on the blog! I’d love to hear what you think.
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