Practical Advice from Sua
Congratulations: You’ve arrived at college, a place where academia and people come together to challenge you one last time before you hit the proverbial real world. Can you walk the walk? Maybe so, but at BU you’ll find the question quickly becomes: can you walk it with swagger? To succeed here at BU, or at any college, you’ll need to learn a lot more than physics, history,... Read More
“It’s All Part of the Fun” – On Mopeds and Good Bad Days
Machines break. Some more than others. For those of us who ride mopeds, our machines fall into the “more often than others” category. Although it limits the reliability of mopeds, fixing a broken moped is half the fun of owning one. I should be clear: when I say moped, I’m not talking about those shiny Vespas some folks buy up at Herb Chambers on Brighton Ave –... Read More
Black Wrap
Incandescent film lights can get hot. So hot in fact that I have heard stories about filmmakers throwing a frying pan on top of one to fry up an egg. And I believe that. Because film lights, they get hot. While we sometimes use our lights to replace kitchen appliances, we sometimes use kitchen tools to work with our lights. I’m talking about one of the most useful film tools... Read More
Trainspotting
Although a great location can’t make a great movie on its own, it definitely helps. Locations are full of what BU film professor Mary Jane Doherty calls “compositional gifts” – the little nuances of a space that can be arranged in the frame in a pleasing, interesting, or dynamic way. Great shooting locations therefore lend themselves to some creative cinematography... Read More
Standing In
Night shoots. They’re the most fun, often the most challenging, and always the most tiring of film shoots. Last Tuesday night, all three proved true. From 10pm to 6am, a truckload of BU filmmakers (myself included) headed out to the suburbs to shoot a car crash scene for COM Graduate student Padrick Ritch’s MFA thesis film “Limbus.” We had a whole street... Read More
Bruins Fans Celebrate
I’m not the biggest sports guy, but even I can appreciate how cool it is that for the first time since 1972, the Bruins are bringing the Stanley Cup home to Boston. So last night I hopped on my moped (conveniently colored black and yellow) and cruised into the city to watch the game, but more-so, to watch the celebrations. This is what I saw: I’m a few months shy of... Read More
On Biking
Sharing the road is not always a harmonious endeavor when it comes to bikes and cars. Lucky for Bostonians, Mayor Menino has been a major advocate for bicycle safety, awareness and participation. In the past three years that I’ve lived in Boston I’ve seen new bike lanes created in areas where they are desperately needed and increased awareness of cyclists on the... Read More
LED Lights & Changing Technology
In my post on the difference between film and video, I discussed the differences between film, the tried and true medium of the past 100 years, and digital video, the squeaky-clean, super-cheap choice of the twenty-first century. There is something uncomfortable about being part of the generation of filmmakers that will undo the technological traditions of generations past.... Read More
Orientation BBQ Photos
Welcome incoming BU freshmen, class of 2015! Today I had the pleasure of meeting some of you at today’s orientation BBQ. Today’s BBQ may have been indoors because of the rain but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a ton of fun. Check out these photos we snapped today! #gallery-3 { margin: auto; } #gallery-3 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top:... Read More
Biking Boston
I was born in Boston and grew up less than an hour away, so by the time I came to BU, I was already pretty familiar with the city. I could easily get from Copley to Government Center, from the North End to Southie, from BU to Emerson, but I could only get from place to place underground. Before I lived in Boston, I relied almost exclusively on the subway to get around, never... Read More
