My sword is out today...
One of the challenging parts of working in an online program is the online communication. It's very easy to miscommunicate intent and meaning. Best to document everything and be crystal clear in communication.
Another challenge is that the course outlines are, at times, remedial and don't match up with the production schedule and needs that the project requires. This is easily remedied and I've found, with a few exceptions, that the facilitators understand this challenge and are flexible and supportive.
The best facilitators in the MIU online program have significant experience in production. They are masters of their craft and are able to offer powerful insights into process and artistic endeavor. The weakest facilitators, thankfully a minority, are inexperienced and have little or no production experience. They try very hard and deserve our kindness and support...but usually provide very little in the way of useful information or insight. Very much like academia in general I think.
My intention in earning a Masters degree is to qualify for a teaching position at the University level. The fact that I have near 30 years experience in 2 career fields, Industrial Design and Entertainment, yet lack that piece of paper (the terminal degree) has become, for me, a sadly humorous indictment of how teachers are valued or not valued in our countries education system. Even with the diploma I don't care about tenure, position or fame in the world of academia. I care about artistic endeavor, the soul of the artist, mentoring great students and living my mission as an artist.
This attitude will probably make me a threat to my future colleagues as I was in the past with tenured design professors who couldn't do the work they were "professing". Several at Cal State Long Beach were in that category. One in particular who taught product rendering was in the class of what I call "silver pencil artists". Those who think that coloring something with a silver prismacolor pencil is sufficient to render an image to look like chrome. Ooof. This is the "those who can't do - teach" problem. Fortunately my experience in the MIU program is that the facilitators, even the inexperienced ones, are actively engaged in work or have massive experience to inform their teaching. Some of them simply don't have the relevant experience required at times to facilitate the class or the students they are working with.
What I think: having a masters degree does not make you a good teacher or an excellent artist - pursuing a masters and attaining it simply affords the opportunity to explore the depth of artistic talent. What a student does with the opportunity is the core of the matter. As with all conflict - the outcome will hold some truth to be learned. My truth now is that I have 3 quarters (after this one) to make my thesis film. Those around me in the program can either help me, watch me do it, or get out of the way. No time for philosophizing. No patience for foolishness or laziness. No more smiley faces with winks or tongues sticking out. Hate that stuff. This is the thesis phase.
REQUIEM this week: I have been reading Bruce Block's book: The Visual Story. So far I find some pieces interesting but the content is sometimes a bit contrived. Although the concepts are not all that different from the universal principles of art and design...the practical application of the principles he describes in the book are worth embracing. The most interesting thing I find is that while I am reading the book many new and interesting ideas about the cinematography for REQUIEM are popping into my head...which I hope will make REQUIEM more powerful in it's visual story telling. The use of color to differentiate between the real world and the old man's memory world and visual progression for example.
that's all for this week.
D_
