In order to study any specific art major, students at my university had to complete an art foundations course. In 2005 I began two arduous semesters of drawing, color theory, composition, studio, and art history classes. After that, one submits their portfolio to the department of their choosing to get admitted to the program. It was a giant folding piece of cardboard full of work with your name and GPA written right on the front. That day sucked. That morning I got a call from my dad telling me my mom had breast cancer. So I found myself sitting in line for hours with all the other art hopefuls, anxiously contemplating our futures. After getting rejected from the film department, (and somehow accepted to the best sculpture program in the country?) my exquisite studio teacher declared I was robbed. At that point I had two films accepted into two separate student shows, and one had even been awarded. “They probably didn’t even open your portfolio because of your (shockingly terrible) GPA,” she said. So I confronted the film department director in his office, made a Pretty Woman-type scene of ‘big mistake, big, HUGE’, and stormed off to study Kinetic Imaging instead. And it’s a good thing I did.
Where the film department was committed to teaching antiquated formats like literal kodak cellulose acetate, Kinetic Imaging had the autonomy to work in many mediums, i.e. film vs. video. One could refer to it as ‘video art’. We studied animation, sound art, experimental film, and artists like Nam June Paik and John Cage. I created a lot. In spring of 2007 I made my crown jewel, my fourteen minute mockumentary about dumpster divers, as my final project. While there was a lot of artistic freedom encouraged, I couldn’t help but wonder what I was missing from a traditional film school education. How do you convince people to give you money to make your movie? Where does a producer have power over the director? What is the decision making process like at a big budget company like Disney? I spent two semesters in the program before I dropped out and decided to move west.
Flash forward to 2012, I found myself having spent five years working away without any more schooling. I was married, and about to fall pregnant with my first kid. I felt incomplete without more education. I spent two semesters essentially starting over at my new school. After decidedly unliking Thelma and Louise, proposing the director of (the highly racist) Birth of a Nation was simply a troll, learning that young children are actually aware of what commercials do, and giving birth to my daughter, I finally closed the schooling chapter of my life.
So here I am! Desperate to have my many questions answered.
Isn’t it weird to see toilet paper commercials only ever filmed in bathrooms suspiciously large enough to film a toilet paper commercial in?
Why are all the moms in TV ads dressed so dowdy and similarly?
How are the props in hollywood stored and used? Is there a giant warehouse where prop masters inventory and rent out various stuff?
What is the conversation like between the person who designed Daenerys’ three-headed-dragon pin and the fabricator who created it?
Where is the line between friend and boss for producers on The Real Housewives?
Who ultimately makes the decisions on which shows get a green light at the upfronts?
Are there contracts between movie theaters and distribution companies?
How exactly do art and commerce blend this harmoniously to create? Or do they?
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