Being an aspiring filmmaker attending film school at SIU, it is safe to say that I watch a lot of movies. This summer, it seemed like I went to the most movies in theaters in a long time. This was mainly due to the fact that my internship paid me well, and I had the luxury of being able to go see movies. No matter how much Netflix, or any streaming device advances, nothing will ever beat the real cinema experience. I will stand by that, and I hope more people realize the experience that can be had in the cinema. With all the heavily anticipated summer blockbusters out, their was only one that I was very excited about, The Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life is unlike any film I have ever seen. It is deeply spiritual and flows like a soft prayer. It is a film by Terrance Malick, a reclusive auteur filmmaker who has only made five films in over forty years! He takes his time and makes sure every film is precise and a work of art. The Tree of Life, in my opinion is the culmination of his work. All his films were leading to this particular film. It asks life’s biggest questions from a vast cosmic scope, to the innocent boys of a small town family in the 50′s. Brad Pitt plays an overbearing father who shows the true nature of the world, while Jessica Chastain plays the mother her embodies grace and love. The three boys are torn between the parents ways, particularly the eldest son played later in life by Sean Penn. We see this son troubled, and trying to understand life and who he will become, and we see him still troubled as an adult. This film jumps from the beginning of time, to the end of time. This is the short summary of the film, there is no way that I could ever explain it, because of the grandiose scale of the film.

Out of all the summer blockbusters and superhero movies that came out this summer, this is the best one. It is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. The camera work and cinematography is astounding, organic and euphoric. Going against mainstream Hollywood cinema, The Tree of Life is much more experimental and sometimes hard to watch, but that is what makes it so important. It resonated with me, and made me think differently of cinema. It has inspired me to challenge the art of film-making, especially in film school. The aura of raw beauty the is placed perfectly in this film intrigues me, and inspires me to create better work, and further my artistic side of things. Terrance Malick is a visionary and a true artist. He has aneye for beauty and the innocence of humanity that many overlook. he expresses the true nature of the world and does not hide from it.

I want to do this, I want to challenge people to think, and experience my films, rather than just sit and have their brains turned off for two hours. I want to show truth and grace. There is so much in this world that we overlook, so much beauty that I want to show. I hope I can achieve this in time. That is my goal, and I will challenge myself to do so. If The Tree of Life is playing anywhere around you, and I know it is playing in Carbondale right now, I encourage you to experience this great work of art.

Here is a look at the film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVUXDn6hCY4

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Grace and Peace,

Austin Wood

Hello All,

I am sorry for my absence, I have gotten extremely busy with work at my internship, along with side jobs I have been doing. With that being the case, it is all winding down now, for my internship is done next Thursday. I was thinking about this ending and what I have learned over the summer, and I think it will be beneficial for you in anything you do.

For those who do not know, my internship is in Phoenix, Arizona. I work as a video programming intern at Christ’s Church of the Valley. The first thing I learned was that this was not your average church. It is a non denominational christian church that has two campuses. It has around 20,000 people attending each weekend! That is extraordinary. The first thing many people think when they here that, is that has to be a cult or something weird. I promise you that it is not anywhere near that. This church is larger than anyone I have ever seen, so coming to work here was a big learning experience. I have never heard of a church having its own video team, and using it so much. I learned how much work can go into this job, and how to work on a deadline schedule. It taught me to get things done when they need to be done and with quality. The team I worked with never jeopardized quality to rush a project. They stayed within deadlines, and make them look great.

The next thing I learned was to never complain, even if you are joking. This is something I honestly probably struggled with the most. I would joke about it, not knowing that the people I work for were more than likely taking it seriously. In any job you should do, whether it be something you love or hate, you should do it with your best and your all. It is a fairly simple concept and it is way easier said than done. I very much believe it says everything about you in your job if you put  your head to the project and get it done. With that being said, I do believe it is important to speak up when it is s task you cannot achieve on your own. You need to be  decisive and understanding of your abilities and use them.

Another simple thing I learned that speaks greatly about character, is not asking too many questions. We usually learn that there are no stupid questions. This is true and false. There are stupid questions when you can figure them out on your own. If you ask how to do something every time, you will always be told, and never learn how. I did this far too often with this internship. I believe I did this because I was the intern, and I did not want to screw up. So instead of doing it on my own and risking making a mistake, I asked too many questions. You will impress your employer if you are given a job, and then you deliver. Ask only the necessary questions to get the job done, but make yourself work through it and learn from it.

I think the last thing I learned, was to serve. The team I worked for, showed me to simply serve and care for people. Whether it be a small gesture as refilling someone’s drink, or going to a food bank and volunteering to gather food for homeless, serving people is one of the most amazing feelings. I encourage everyone to do one thing for someone they know. Just call a old friend, or pay for someone’s dinner. The smallest acts make a difference and they will remember. It is a lost idea in today’s culture, and I am very guilty of it. We think of ourselves first, and only sometimes on special occasions we think of others. This could be the most important thing you could incorporate in your lives. i am trying to do it more on a daily basis and I hope you can as well.

If you have any other questions about internships or anything, just let me know! Also, I got hired as the DE videographer so I will be posting work from time to time on here. And one last thing, If you could check out my kickstarter for Red Creek. I am trying to raise money for the rest of my film. SO please check out this link and post it to friends! We need to make the goal amount in 35 days!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1938090297/red-creek-a-short-western-film

Until next time,

Grace and Peace

Austin Wood

Hey all!

I thought in this blog I could do some shameful self promoting in a way. During the spring semester of 2011, I decided to embark on making a short film. I did this with a group that some other film students and I formed. We all want to make movies, and not just for school. We want to make films anytime we can, and make them as professional as possible. That is the purpose of our group and that is what we wanted to do for our next project. We all submitted scripts and chose the one we wanted to make. Mine was called Red Creek, a western about a sheriff and deputy as they come across a ruthless outlaw. I knew it would be very hard to make, I mean, we needed horses, guns, costumes, and good actors. It was a lot to try and do, but I was determined.

It started with the script in January, then went into pre-production. For those of you who do not know, pre-production is the assembling of crew, cast, and getting everything ready for the film shoot. This is when we came into a big problem with the guns and costumes. We could not find the period style revolvers we wanted, and could not get period style costumes. We looked everywhere and after a week or two finally came into contact with a few people that could help us out. We randomly got some one to lend us replica guns, and found someone we could rent live guns from. We also got great access to the costume shop at school and got great costumes!

After our speed bump, we were on our way to making a western. We started day 1 great. We had a 15 person crew and everyone did an amazing job. From there, we had to film with horses and the guns.  The next speed bump came into play during our most essential scenes. It rained, and rained a lot. It rained almost everyday from April until we left school. We had to push back our filming dates and really came close to stopping. I had to have a few serious conversations with the crew at whether or not we would actually finish the movie. We were filming on top of all our school work, since this movie was outside of classes. I wanted to really try and finish so we just kept going. We had some days that were sunny and we took advantage of them. We filmed all the way into finals week and finished the movie the last Tuesday of school. It was an experience I will never forget.

Now we are onto post production, where we are editing the final product and making it all come together. My hope is to have it done when I come back in August, and have a premiere night as well. I want everyone to see the hard work everyone put into this movie. We are also working on a mini series of behind the scenes videos to put out on the dvd. I want tho share this with everyone we can and let everyone see it. I will keep you up to date on the status of the movie and when the premiere will be.

Thank you for bearing with my self promoting. Here is the trailer to the film for you check out.

Take care,

Grace and Peace,

Austin

Here is some background about what I am doing this summer. I am interning at a church in Phoenix, Arizona, working on the video production team. This may sound boring or not much experience, but I am on video shoots and editing all the time. It is a great learning opportunity to hone my skills and learn new ones. I have been in Arizona since May 30th, and was planning on making a trip to LA at some point. Usually my plans fall through because I do not act on them, or the lack of money.This time, I made a spontaneous decision to drive to LA late Friday night. It was a 5 hour drive that seemed like 2. I was so excited. I stayed with a good friend Nick Brightwell, as well as other SIUC cinema students who are interning there this summer.

I have never been out west really, or remember very well, so this was an exciting trip. I saw where the interns stay, which is a very nice apartment complex in Burbank, right across the street from Warner Bros. studios! I felt like a kid again, seeing those big WB leter on the warehouses and water tower. LA was a whole different world. We saw the walk of fame, the Kodak theatre, and the Chinese theatre. We went to Venice beach and Zuma beach. We even saw an actor from The Sandlot.  After all the tourist attractions, we decided to go see Conan O’Brien’s show. We went to get tickets at 8:15 am on Monday. We waited for 2 hours and got tickets. We had to then go through a process of waiting to finally go into Warner Bros. and see Conan. Walking through Warner Bros. was amazing. We did not see much, but even the presence of it was outstanding. We walked into a studio and up some stairs, then finally onto the set. It was very interesting to see all the behind the scenes, and the inner workings of the show. It was great from my stand point as well, because I am now understanding everything they do on a set now. The show then  started after the preparations and we had a great time laughing and being entertained.

I left LA and came back to work today. I left the excitement and look forward to when I can do that internship. I am really learning a lot in my internship here, and I cannot wait to see how I can incorporate it in school this year. Internships are a great thing to really boost your skill and talent. I suggest everyone take them. You will grow and learn more than in the classroom. It is a practical way to take your classwork and use them in your field. It also really lets you know if this can be a job for you in the future. Internships are a worthwhile experience and career starter. SIU offers a lot of them, so I greatly encourage you to take one with any field. I plan on taking the internship in LA through SIU next summer as well. I believe they can do hug things for your character, and your career.

That is my little bit on LA and internships, I am sure I will update you more on mine as time passes. Until then,

Grace and Peace,

Austin Wood

I guess this is where I tell you…about me. Not sure what to say but Hi, my name is Austin Wood. I am currently a junior at SIUC, and I am majoring in Cinema. I am the youngest of four children and they have all grown up and are moving away. I am from Springfield, Illinois, the land of everything that is Abraham LIncoln. Oh, and Horseshoes. Look it up, they are delicious! I always played music in high school and wanted to tour all the time and make it big. It seemed as if those dreams were not going to happen.

All my life, I have been a dreamer. I was going to be the next Michael Jordan, a wide receiver, a professional skateboarder, and a Major league pitcher. We have all had big dreams, but soon come to real life and decide accordingly. Not I. I would simply trade one dream out for another in the hopes that it would take me somewhere. This proved to be difficult when choosing colleges, and majors. I applied to two schools and only got into SIU, so I just went there. My sister went and she liked it, so I just decided to go as well. I first went for art, but not really knowing what it was I wanted to do. I took my general classes and met some people in the cinema program. I had previously taken a cinema class at a community college, and loved it. My professor not only taught us about film, but got me excited about the making of films. I thought back to when I was a kid and I always made movies with my next door neighbor. At the time, I thought he would be the director, not me. I quickly decided that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to make this my new dream, and follow it wherever it takes me.

Since going to film school at SIU I have noticed the great program we have. The professors and students are great and I am learning more than I could have thought. I have made around 10 short films, and am in the editing process of the biggest one yet, a western short film called, Red Creek.

I have learned that you should always dream. Life will throw you extreme curveballs, but if you hang onto your dream, you can make anything happen. I believe pursuing a dream is the most rewarding thing in life. Cinema is that dream, I see beauty the world, and making a film allows me to capture that beauty. Most people see the beauty and just pass by, my intention is to make people look at it, I mean really look, and see what is all around us. If I can achieve this, I will have made my dream come true. I challenge everyone in school to take risks and find your dream. This is the time to fins it and take hold of it. You are free to find the beauty in your dream and achieve it. I will update you on my dream, and I hope to hear about yours.

Until next time, Austin Wood