Tales of the entitlement generation

[studiomprd]

an excerpt from a ten page rant by one of our students, regarding the end of term screening of student projects. (each class votes for its top 3 favorites, which go into the screening, and then the audience votes for its favorite)

This went to the department chair, who asked several of us involved in the preparation and presentation of the screening  "Could one of you guys address this? ...  I don't know what he is talking about. The full maker already wrote me a ten page letter...  "

In compiling the screenings, I created the Blu-ray DVD's we actually played at the screenings, and our HD projection system (Barko) is calibrated and meticulously maintained by our professional projectionist. (note, I added the underlining!)

 

I just wanted to let you know how disappointing it was to see the video I shot, "Man in the Desert" directed by J A, in the selected student films for spring 2013.  The original footage was shot HD on my iPad mini and is sharp and detailed, as HD should be.  The uncalibrated SD projection at the LACC screening however was the absolute opposite - fuzzy and blown out.  It was embarrassing to be "honored" as a group while the results of our labors looked less than amateur.  One has to wonder about the double-standard represented in the hallway when the "best" of current LACC student work looks like any kindergartener could do it.

 

This brings another point that the "winner" in the Cinema 2 category seemingly takes the crowd's "award" a new low - plagiarism. The fact that no-one is responsible except the lowest common denominator of the crowd vote does not represent a high standard to begin with, but with the lines of cinema skills being blurred by anyone with a camera and an ugly dog sniffing junk food in the name of food criticism without the crowd recognizing the stupidity of the moment, blinded by the familiarity of YouTube videos.  The example this shows in any arena is appalling, but in an educational environment, the student should be reprimanded not honored.  Maybe it't time to put LACC on the map by having an award decided by someone in our industry, someone to put the whole award idea on the map.  Think large.

[John Blankenship]

Next time you could screen everything on an iPhone and it'll look even sharper.

[Henchman]

Oh my god. Shot on an iPad mini.

[Eric Toline]

Well blowing 8mm up to 70mm does create some minor issues I would think.

Eric

[studiomprd]

" Shot on an iPad mini. "

But shot in HD...

 

As for the content,  I thought it was pretty much a POS, too long (it was 7.5 minutes, the assignment was for a 5 minute short), and top dull (boring!), the story was too obtuse and the style (if you could call it that) was artsy-fartsy, and the continuity and compositions sucked!  the sound was music and VO....

[Henchman]

And I bet it was the type of student who was always late, because he felt he was too good for the class.

[dfisk]

in my college classes, if someone wrote a letter like this to a prof or the dean of the department, it would then be presented to the proper profs and shown to students as an example of what NOT to do and how film makers should not act. It would also be used as an example of how the person does not understand what they are talking about. 

[Joshua Anderson]

As a film school (undergrad) graduate, I can safely say this is just typically film school student outlook. A combo of balls and ignorance - it will either be driven out of the student once entering (or trying to enter) the work force or the student will probably languish. No one wants the ignorance, but youth and confidence are treasured in this field, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes not. 

 

But...if I were the student, or any student, I don't think I'd feel too good about my comments, however anonymous they may be, being published online as an example of poor thinking/judgement/academic work. I don't think this is the forum for that sort of quote. I think you know the sort of answer to tell the student - one that hopefully enlightens, but it may be an impossible task - and I don't think any of our answers will help you formulate that. This is just an invitation for embarrassment for all of us. 

 

Just my gut reaction,

Josh

[Tim M]

Gosh hope the student doesn't read this and then report you! Oh no! but seriously...

[Marc Wielage]

As a film school (undergrad) graduate, I can safely say this is just typically film school student outlook. A combo of balls and ignorance - it will either be driven out of the student once entering (or trying to enter) the work force or the student will probably languish.

 

A friend of mine back in the 1980s used to say: "you can fight arrogance, and you can fight stupidity, but there's no way to fight against arrogant stupidity." That's never more true than with a film student.

 

Do these F'in' morons not understand that an iPad is not calibrated, nor can it be? Of course it's going to look different in projection! What filmmaker would possibly allow their work to be shown in an unfamiliar screening room and not look at it first? It only takes a couple of minutes to check it and say, "OK, it looks fine," or "whoa! Something's wrong!" If they have no clue about why a 7.7" x 5.6" LCD screen looks different than a 15' projector, then there's no hope. Color-correction is an essential part of filmmaking, just as much as the final mix, titles, visual effects, and editing.

 

I also think it's extraordinarily unprofessional and low-class to criticize somebody else who won a contest you entered. It's one thing to grumble to your friends, but quite another to put it in writing to the department head. Tell him that ain't gonna fly if he or she is ever lucky enough to work for a studio or network (like that'll ever happen in the real world).

[Jay Rose]

It's not just the current generation.

 

Ten years ago I was in a community theater production. The 40-something director (this was the peak of her career, by the way) set up a locked camera with built-in mic to record the first night's performance. About 15' back from the apron, to show the whole stage.

 

I volunteered my living room for the party where we'd get to see the video. 

 

Also needless to say, it sounded horrible on my JBL 4410 mains. No level, and plenty of hiss from the camera's AGC maxed out the whole time.

 

She complained: "There wasn't any hiss when I listened on my laptop."

[Eric Toline]

A long time ago a very good person said: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" seems to apply here. OTOH my favorite is: "They don't know enough to know they don't know enough."

Eric

[chriskellett]

I am sure that having his instructor mocking him in a public forum is really going to show him the "high road" that he should have taken, classy.  

[John Blankenship]

A long time ago a very good person said: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" seems to apply here. OTOH my favorite is: "They don't know enough to know they don't know enough."

Eric

+1

[studiomprd]

" I am sure that having his instructor mocking him in a public forum is really going to show him the "high road" that he should have taken, classy.  "

This student is not in any of my classes (so far, thank goodness) and so far this POS does not appear to be findable via major search engines (I tried, so I could include the link !), but I considered this concern (mentioned by several folks here), but as the source has been strenuously complaining vocally in "public" on campus, I feel no obligation beyond not naming the individual...

As I was asked by the chair for assistance in responding, I appreciate some of the points brought up, and have passed them on, also anonymously...Thanks...

Any more ?

[OmahaAudio]

One might ask why the child in question believed that shooting in HD on his (or her) iPad Mini wouldn't suck. That's bad teaching. If a surgical resident wanted to cut someone open using an old box cutter not only would the student get in trouble but his (or her) instructors would be in trouble too.

[Rick Reineke]

Could be a graduate of  "Feel good math" where there aren't any 'wrong' answers.

[Marc Wielage]

OTOH my favorite is: "They don't know enough to know they don't know enough."

 

My sad experience in life has been, "it took me forty years to realize the vast amount of things on which I don't know!" 

 

I would also criticize the student and say, "you should have condensed your objections down to 10 lines. 10 pages of this crap is unforgivable." 

 

In fairness to the student, I have been to actual professional Hollywood screenings where the DP was livid because the projector was not calibrated, or at least the projector looked vastly different from what he expected. In one case, he and I checked it out 10 minutes prior to the audience coming in, we made two tweaks -- small ones -- and the image looked stellar. He was totally jazzed that he could control the digital projector, since at the time this was not possible with a film projector.

 

Then there's the whole problem of the idiot student actually shooting a short on an iPad. Why? Jesus, even the GoPro would do a better job than that. I think the camera portion of an iPad cost maybe $25, if that. Are the teachers so dense that they let their students go out and shoot on anything?

 

Having said that: I saw pieces of a new ABC "consumer expose" show, The Lookout, which is largely shot on iPhones and other "undercover" video cameras. The video quality on that goes all over the place, but they clearly put a ton of time and money into post, plus it's cut extremely well and the audio is very clean. So this kind of slap-dash camerawork can be forgiven under some conditions. 

[atheisticmystic]

One might ask why the child in question believed that shooting in HD on his (or her) iPad Mini wouldn't suck. That's bad teaching. If a surgical resident wanted to cut someone open using an old box cutter not only would the student get in trouble but his (or her) instructors would be in trouble too.

They frequently and stubbornly refuse to listen to the guidance, Jim. Two students asked my opinion about them using their personal Canon 5D to shoot a short doc, and I encouraged, pleaded, then ranted about them using something different for the sound quality. They promised to do double-system with the "zoom mic" as they all call it despite my trichotillomanic ravings.

Frequently, and sometimes exclusively, their real-world failures teach them more than any lecture could, as the above students realized when their peers lambasted their poor sound (forgot the "zoom mic" and subjected viewers to ten whole minutes of 5D handling noise, poor SNR, and AGC).

best

[rcoronado]

Agreed with others who say this isn't the forum for calling out students.  Entirely unprofessional as an educator IMO.   There's more than one teachable moment here.

[George Tsai]

he's not calling out students when no student was actually named.... it's kinda like saying i'm calling out an actor if all I posted was "some actor tried to get me fired because I would not let him throw my mic on the ground". This is just some student.

[rcoronado]

he posted a direct quote from the a document that the student wrote.  that student would surely know exactly who he was talking about if he saw this thread.  This thread is pretty easily indexed on google.

 

I did an 30 minutes on this type of thing on the last tonebenders podcast we produced.

[studiomprd]

" this isn't the forum for calling out students. "

I'm not...

I'm seeking, and getting responses to my chair's request: "how do I respond?"

 

and our professional projectionist is particularly finicky about calibrating and tweaking "his" projectors!

[old school]

As Bill whatz his nutz said, "Much to do about nothing".... I can't see how Mike is out of line posting this. Reading the kids rant is funny and sad. I hope time teaches the letter writer something.

CrewC

[rcoronado]

Don't get all pious on my now Mike. 

 

The title of this thread is "Tales of the entitlement generation"  It's certainly not "how can I help this kid?"

 

Your second post is this:

As for the content,  I thought it was pretty much a POS, too long (it was 7.5 minutes, the assignment was for a 5 minute short), and top dull (boring!), the story was too obtuse and the style (if you could call it that) was artsy-fartsy, and the continuity and compositions sucked!  the sound was music and VO....

 

You're doing everything you can to trash this kid, not help him.  I'm certainly not going to defend his work or his actions in this case, but then I wouldn't defend yours either.