On set at a music video shot over break

So how does a graduate student spend their break? It might be weird getting almost two months off of school right in the middle of all the action, but for me, the break was a welcome one. Sure, I took a couple days to myself and vegged out on the couch with a good book. But what happens after the down town, when all the holiday cheer has died down, and school starting up again looms on the horizon? Well, staying active is key to keeping in the mindset of attending school. Staying active is also just a positive way to keep yourself focused on career goals and projects that are fast approaching. Take a look to see how I spent my break!

I was able to fly home to the east coast and stay there for the whole month and a half that we had off from school. This was great for a couple of reasons, those being time to spend with my family and friends from back home, but also catching up with some of my professional acquaintances and discussing upcoming projects that I am going to be involved in in the years to come. Something I learned from my first semester at Columbia is that staying active in the field is one of the most beneficial things to your career. Even though I won’t permanently be back on the east coast for at least another year and a half, it’s important to continue networking and forging bonds, even if that is happening during a school break. Just because you are on a “break” doesn’t mean the work flow has to come to a halt.

In fact, keeping busy is probably one of the healthier things I’ve done. Sure, everyone likes a day or two of doing nothing after a long semester, but keeping my mind focused towards and end goal or a specific project has helped my creativity.

So what did I work on while I spent my break on the east coast? First and foremost, I have two upcoming films shooting in the spring. One film will shoot at the end of February and the other in the middle of April. I have tirelessly been working on draft after draft of the scripts for each project, and meeting via Skype with each project’s respective producer. The film shooting in February is deep into development now, and the first week of the semester will be casting calls and location scouting. The film shooting in April has a little more time to breath, but my producer is tirelessly working towards securing the perfect location, as well as countless other things to make the film come to life.

The crew on set of the music video, glide cam and slider in hand.

Aside from projects for school, I worked on an independently shot music video, which was shot in an incredible abandoned warehouse, dubbed “England” by the locals. I was also involved in an interview project for my undergraduate university to help raise money for the new studio they will be building in the summer.

A sword I helped make over break

As a side note, just because I spent a lot of time working on projects doesn’t mean I didn’t do a lot of fun, non-film-related things! I went to a Flyers hockey game (yes! I am a Flyers fan! Sorry, Blackhawks). I helped make a wooden sword for my boyfriend’s god son. I got to hang out with the two most adorable dogs! I got a new tattoo! And I ate a lot of really, really amazing food. I even threw a Wolf of Wall Street themed New Years Eve party. So it wasn’t necessarily all work and no play (although I’d say my work is fun regardless).