Travel Tuesdays: NYC Memorial Day Wknd Visit

Rhonda and I took a short trip to NYC over Memorial Day Weekend to take the workshop Directing the Camera with Instructor Ela Thier, at The Independent Film School.  This was our third workshop with her, and it was the most enlightening of them all.  It tied the previous two workshops (Producing in Jan 2010 & Screenwriting in Sept 2012) together, and set us up to improve an area of filmmaking we were limited in know-how.  It's not easy to pick up a camera, shoot, direct actors, and get the type of shot necessary to make a compelling film or video.  It takes direction (Director), action (Actors), and composition (Videographer).  

In addition to our attendance at the workshop, we were able to fit in time to play in NYC.  We walked around our cousin's neighborhood, and took a different direction than the previous visit by walking to our lil cousin's school 2 blocks away.  Sharee raced her cousin around the playground, and Rhonda challenged her at the swings as to who can go higher. Such fun!! 

We also spent quite a bit of time in NYC's infamous Bryant's Park.  We conducted workshop shooting exercises in the park, and spent our lunch hour with a new friend, South Carolina actress Juanita Frederick.

Check-out some highlights of our visit and two of our favorite shooting exercises videos.

Sharee, Rhonda, Juanita F

"the hand-off"

                                            "the search"

MatadorU- First Impressions!!

I attended the MatadorU orientation this past Monday.  It lasted about 50 min. and other than the host, Kat, it included seven other individuals from the US and international locations.  However,  I came into the Skype session a few minutes late and missed most of the introductions.  The most important point that came from the orientation was that in addition to completing the chapter assignments, I need to take advantage of the expertise of the various faculty on board, and build relationships with my fellow students. This especially holds true for the filmmaking course, as it's fairly new. The open forums on various topics and faculty feedback within 24-48 hours makes it possible.

The hardest part of the course was the pre-course assignment to set up a blog.  I'm very green to Word Press, and I've heard so many horror stories.  I had similar trouble with my set-up until I learned that certain features were not available.  I had a basic version, and needed to stick with the simple design templates.  I was cool with that, but had to dig into the forum topics to figure this out.

The readings have been interesting, thus far. The terminology section was helpful in the beginning, and then a history lesson ensued.  This held true for both the writing and filmmaking courses.  Knowledge is power, and some of the interesting facts learned about the revolution of travel journalism as a writer and filmmaker became relatively clear. There are also a list at the end of each chapter of recommended readings offline (ie..books) and online.

I finished my first writing assignment with relative ease, but have not posted the assignment. It's advised to sit at least 24 hours and then go back to refine before posting.  I anticipate posting by tomorrow.  The video assignment will be completed by Sunday.  You can follow my assignment postings on my MatadorU blogsite.

I'm enjoying myself so far. I hope to improve my writing and visual storytelling, and from what I've learned so far, I know these courses will set me apart from other travel bloggers. I definitely recommend MatadorU for anyone SERIOUSLY considering travel journalism of any kind- photography, writing, and/or filmmaking.   

MatadorU

Reading a blog from April of The Absolute Travel Addict, I came across an advertisement from MatadorU, an online new media school for travel journalist.  They have three programs with enrollment costs of $350 each- photography, writing, and filmmaking.  However, if you take more than one course they offer a nice discount.  You can also take advantage of a 7-day trial offer for just $10 for each course.   I decided to Take A Leap and signed up for two courses, writing and filmmaking.  The best part about the program is that the 12 week curriculum for each course can be conducted at my own pace, and it's available for life, no expiration.  Therefore, any changes to the curriculum made years from now is accessible.

Another great feature is the access to their job lead center.  Many of the job leads make it possible to travel domestically and internationally with all-expense paid trips.  Work assignments include writing articles or creating travel videos on their Matador Network website or for their affiliates, including National Geographic or AOL Travel, amongst others.  This can lead to additional writing and video assignments in the travel industry and more all-expense paid trips.  How wonderful!!  Rhonda and I are already looking at a few leads, and see the trips as a way to obtain short-term paid work assignments that can fit within our current full-time work.  Not to mention, the international trips are a perfect fit to continuously expand our Take A Leap webshow.

Now technically I'm registered for the two courses, and will be sharing the class assignments with my sister.  Isn't that the twin thing to do :).  Hee, hee!!  However, some of the job leads are only for students and alumni.  Therefore, my sister plans to take the photography course after the New Year after we both save more money.

We spent quite a bit of time searching reviews on MatadorU,  and couldn't find a bad thing said about the school or the courses.  Many of the top travel bloggers have taken the courses, and are currently working full-time in the travel journalism industry.  I can see how all three areas will be useful in making a full-time career in travel journalism, and the fact that they recently added filmmaking a few months ago is awesome!! In fact one assignment from a lead that Rhonda and I plan to apply to is a travel film scholarship for an all-expense paid trip for two to create 3-5 three minute videos surrounding Brazil's cultural festival--Carnival.  Exciting!!

Have you heard of MatadorU? Have you taken a course? And if so, what has been your experience?

Take A Leap...of Int'l Travel!!

We have been contracted as producers on a number of other people's projects, and in doing so, we have neglected to craft any personal new projects. Should we film another short? How about our first feature? What about the new rage of webisodes? And as alluring as those options could each be as our future project, the one that kept us truly passionate about was the thought of international travel. We went to Rome, Florence, and the French Riviera in May 2009, and our lives have never been the same. We still enjoy our vacations to Myrtle Beach or Hilton Head, and traveling to the big cities of NYC, Chicago, and LA.  But the thought of leaving our typical American life to enter another country's culture is so exhilarating.  What maybe shocking is that we are African-American females. How could we possibly identify ourselves in the mostly white population of Europe, and our interest to step foot into every continent in the world?

The historical presence of Rome in relation to modern day Christianity was very appealing. If I wasn't of a Protestant faith, I'm sure I would be Catholic. I fell in love with Rome with every images of the Virgin Mary with baby Jesus on her lap.  I fell in love with Florence for their beautiful hillside landscape and the Renaissance inspired statute of David.  The country with so much history in a backdrop of ruins was a wonderful place of peace.  I could live here I've said over and over. Or anywhere outside of America.  But can I really?!

I've tried to answer that question over the last three years, and even looked into jobs overseas. But without a sponsored work visa or going back to school on a student visa (learning a foreign language qualifies), I found it to be difficult.  So as the thoughts consumed my mind as to how can I combine my love of travel and filmmaking (within an educator by day salary), a concept took root after reading a number of blogs of African-Americans living overseas and viewing numerous episodes of House Hunter International.  Why not document the stories of African-Americans living abroad? Thereafter..."Take A Leap" was born!!

Sharee Washington

We Connected Productions, LLC Co-Owner