Finish Line

It's only fair I update this blog on the night of the Academy Awards.

I am nearing the finish line; I have completed my essays for Chapman University and will be working on my two-minute introductory film this week. My plan is to capture all the necessary images by mid-week to edit and complete the film by Friday.

I am days away from sitting back in my chair and taking a breather. Am I anxious? Am I terrified? Yes to both. I've realized I shouldn't put all my hopes, or any hope, on these applications. I can't wait to be done with this all to finally go back to writing and, possibly, directing. I have so many ideas I haven't had the chance to expand, this will finally give me the opportunity.

Chapman. Five days away. Let's do this.

USC / BLU

I have officially submitted my application for USC School of Cinematic Arts. Yes, the insanity is over. I drove down to the school last Friday with Mary. It was a beautiful campus, obviously, with some great buildings. I was in and out as fast as possible; I didn't want to become too captivated.

Aside from that, I have officially crossed over to Blu-ray. I haven't made a purchase of a Blu-ray player but I have come across three titles: Goodfellas, Full Metal Jacket and Blood Diamond. What an interesting purchase; two of my favorite directors (Martin Scorsese and Stanley Kubrick) including some of my favorite actors (Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Ray Liotta, Leonardo DiCaprio).

I have also decided on a Blu-ray player: the Sony BDP-S550. I can't wait until I have my personal home theatre. Nobody's gonna wanna leave.

Now, I'm just crossing fingers for USC while starting on Chapman. Good luck, Armen.

100 Hours

In roughly 100 hours, I should completely be finished with the USC application and have submitted it. How freaked out should I be?

It all started with a dream, remember? I was very confused when I started this blog and although I haven't updated it as often as I hoped, I'm still here. Not so much confused but very scared.

In 4 days, I will be driving to USC to personally submit my supplemental application. I keep rewriting my essays, trying to polish them to perfection. I keep reading about students who have transfered and can't help but notice how great their GPAs are compared to mine. I keep thinking to myself, "No matter how great my essay is, it can always be better." In just a few days, everything will come to an end. Sure, I still have to finish my application for Chapman and New York University but USC's was the most time consuming. I've been treating each application as if it's my first choice and for once, I feel as if USC truly is. I'll be faced with quite a dilemma if I am accepted to both USC and Chapman.

In the end, I am truly terrified. I feel like my application is going to get lost in a pool of better educated invididuals. Did I use enough "big" words? Is my essay descriptive enough? The real question is: Does it matter? I am a student who wants to go to school and study. I am willing to pay and I am promising to be a good boy! Yet, hundreds of students are rejected every year. Is it fair? I want to get accepted as badly as everybody else and I think, ultimately, your writing has to show that.

Maybe if you want it bad enough, they'll let you slide. I mean, come on. Who cares what my favorite food is? I want to get an education; I'm not hungry!

Giving In

As the deadline for the application nears, I am trying my best to keep calm.

I plan on submitting the School of Cinematic Arts application in person, next week. I have completed first drafts of all my essays and continue to polish them every day. I have loads of paper waiting to be reviewed; letters of recommendation, transcripts, evaluations, etc.

I didn't realize how difficult it would be to write a personal statement or essay. It's not difficult in the sense that I don't know how to write well, the problem is telling both an appealing story yet making it sound good for them.

There's roughly a week left until I feel that huge sigh of relief. I can't help but feel like Jon Favreau -- Obama's senior speechwriter -- who spends his time working from a Starbucks. In my case, I'm constantly revising my writing in a library which used to be a church. I'm here nearly every day and have grown a beard since I started.

Yet I remain confident.

Library

I've decided to work on my applications for school at Woodbury's library. It's farily quiet and I have an entire table at the far end of the library to work. Nobody around me... and I feel like I'm all alone.

This library used to be a church so it's got a bit of a feel to it. Tomorrow, I'll be working out of the library at Los Angeles City College. I've made some progress but I'm scaring myself by looking at the calendar every day. I'm going to put in a request for my high school and college transcripts tomorrow.

Back to work.

State of Worry

Both of my films for the cinema course I took this past semester were nominated by students for the end-of-semester screening. Since then, I've been sick plenty and the due dates for my applications near. USC's application is due February 1 and I am officially underway.

I admit, I am very terrified because of the pressures from these applications. Mary started classes at Woodbury today, so I am technically the only one without school. I am anxious to send these in but I don't think I'll have a big relief when they're done. Instead, I'll be panicking in case something goes wrong and I have nowhere to go in Fall.

This is literally the worst activity I could engage in. It's all or nothing.

The Agency

I've been too busy (read: too lazy) to update this blog as often as I would like.

We completed the "Chase" film for my cinema class and it was screened on November 6. It was a pretty great experience seeing one of my films on the big screen. The professor was impressed and commented on my cinematography and editing. I received a perfect score, 120/120, for the assignment. I've been somewhat overwhelmed by my upcoming tasks. I have another film to complete for the class which is due in two weeks. School work, new projects and school applications are piling up.

Here's some interesting talk; I e-mailed Shervin yesterday to talk to him about an idea I had for YouTube videos. He said he wanted to meet with me so I went over to his office and met him and Danny. Turns out, they want me to rewrite "The Agency" and want us to film certain scenes from the first episode. Basically, they want to put together a small package and pitch the show to several networks; VH1, HBO, etc.

I love the idea and don't mind rewriting the script(s). I'm going to have to redo the original outlines and structure the story in a more professional way. I can do this on my spare time and it won't overload with my other work. If it ends up selling, they want to make me head writer. I wouldn't mind writing for television at all.