Fish(er) Tales

So, I’m working on Scott’s Dead — a film written and directed by Matthew Irvine made this summer (2009) in Chicago as part of the DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media Digital School of Cinema and Interactive Media Project Bluelight. 

 (Whew, try saying that ten times fast!) 

 I’ll be doing the audio post and I thought that writing about these experiences might provide some insight into how a soundtrack comes together. This will be an on-going blog entry with several entries along the way. I hope you come along for the ride. 

 So your first question might be: what’s the film about? You’ll have to wait a bit on that one. All I can say is it is a short film, takes place in modern-day Chicago, and is dark and gritty. 

So your second question might be: how did the gig come about? That I can answer right now. 

 It started with a friend and a reputation and spiraled from there, as these things often do. It was a series of events that strung together in ways that are one part intentional and another part serendipity. 

I’d lost touch with an old friend – Brian Holmsten – with whom I’d played in a band, did some recording, and generally lived life. Marriages and the vagaries of life do that sometimes. Then we catch-up one day and meet for a dinner – a practice we now work hard to sustain several times each year. The conversation goes something like this: 

I ask, “What have you been doing?” 

 ”Teaching at a local college.” 

 ”Teaching what?” 

 ”Screenwriting and film/video production.” 

 ”Cool.” 

 ”Y’know they’re looking for an audio instructor. Interested?” 

 ”Uh, yeah, but I’ve never taught college before.” 

 ”You know your stuff. You’ll do fine. I’ll mention ya and then you call the department head.” 

 ”O.K.” 

And so, I call the department head – Jeff Curto - and schedule a meeting. I realize that I don’t really have a resume as I’ve been running my own company and wasn’t looking for a full-time job. So, I took a copy of my “Profiting From Your Music and Sound Project Studio” book to the interview. 

 We chatted. I gave him my book and said I hoped this was just as good as a resume. He said I could teach in the Spring (it was January) and by March 2002 I was teaching a class called Digital Audio I and Digital Audio II at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL. It was a piggy-back class meaning I taught a basic and advanced class at the same time to two different groups of students. It was a baptism of fire for me. 

 And I loved it! 

 Best. Thing. Ever. 

 At the end of the first quarter, a student asked me if I’d been teaching for a long time. I said to her, “If I told you this was my first class ever, would you believe it?” 

 She replied, “You should teach more.” (I’ve never forgotten this moment!) 

 And so I did. And still do. 

 I worked hard teaching my class. My philosophy was simple: Think of all the bad teachers I had during my own schooling and don’t repeat their mistakes. Do exactly the opposite of what they did. And this seemed to work as I started to build my teaching reputation. (O.K. that’s an oversimplification as there’s a lot more to teaching than just that … but that’s a subject for another post). 

 BTW: If you want to teach as an Adjunct Instructor, follow this advice. Choose a subject that’s a requirement for students to take and that is a topic few people want or know how to teach. Audio production and post-production for film/video fills both of those requirements. And so my classes continue to fill. Oh yeah, don’t forget to be a good teacher, too. 

 A couple of years in, a new department head came in, Ron Eltanal, and because of him (and Jeff Curto) they recognized my contribution (at least that’s what they told me) and I ended up earning an “Outstanding Part-time Faculty” award. About a dozen adjunct teachers earn this each year at COD, so it was very special. Little did I know that the best recognition for me was still yet to come. 

 I started teaching a few other courses here and there. In addition to the two audio courses (separate now and no longer piggy-backed), I’ve taught introduction to Film/TV, video editing, animation, lighting, career, and TV production (we made five hours of TV in 16 weeks!) courses. I consider myself quite fortunate to be able to teach these classes. 

 More to come …