Lyric weiss

The words I’d use to describe the Petcube would be sleek, minimalist, modern, and efficient. These words became the main driver behind my choice in images for my mood board. Because I consider this a lifestyle item, I chose to include home environments I felt fit the words I’d use to describe the product itself. Since this product is for pet owners, I thought it would help to add photos of pets interacting with home environments that reflect the chosen descriptors. Because the Petcube is described as a luxury item as well, I tried to chose living spaces that reflected this characteristic.

With the first of this two year program coming to a close, I’ve questioned whether or not one more year will be enough for me to have everything I need to begin creating the career I want outside of this program. With growing levels of self doubt and a sense of time flying by this past quarter, the world has felt extra heavy with uncertainty. Before the start of the current quarter, I could start to feel myself slipping into a familiar headspace indicative of a depressive episode. While there are a myriad of reasons why this could be, this is a familiar pattern I’ve experienced in my mental health, and part of me is grateful for this experience at such a critical time, because of the opportunity it provides.

While I’ve had many moments like this one, I can recall a specific moment sitting on the porch of my apartment building this past weekend, sipping green tea from a steel camping mug. The sun was shining on little spherical prisms a neighbor friend had hung along the porch, revealing little rainbow lights dotting the floorboards below. I can feel the solid weight in my gut telling me there’s work to be done. But the feeling that quickly follows gets stuck in my throat, and I know that I have a long day ahead. Procrastination has always been an issue for me in times of intense emotional lows, and the opportunity I see presented in these moments, is trying to find ways to stay productive and optimistic in these moments of internal struggle. More than just being productive, this feels like an opportunity to transmute these moments into my work and in to something I can be proud of.

As an aspiring writer/director, I’ve noticed myself diving more than ever into my screenplay class. I’ve written more than I have in a long time, and the inspiration I feel I think lies within the characters I’m creating. In my current screenwriting class, I’m writing a story about a main character named Mel. Mel is in a lot of ways, a character I aspire to be; She’s not only ambitious, but she’s completely unafraid to mercilessly execute proper steps to propel herself in her career. In the opening of the story, she has already obtained a significant degree of success as an independent journalist with her own media company, where she fights to create a platform where important stories are told objectively in the midst of a sea of different sensationalist corporate media. Mel’s character, though not without her own flaws, has been an spiring force that I can channel in my writings that allows me to alleviate some of the weight I’ve been feeling, and I owe her creation in huge part, to the struggles I’ve been facing.

What I understand to be the major differences between Freelance, Part-Time, Contract/Agency and Full-Time is flexibility and security. In my search for full time gigs in the film industry, at first glance there seems to be little to no opportunities for hiring a full-time film director – at least they don’t present that way. The terminology ads tend to use are along the lines of a “producer” instead of a director.

One of the rather deflating trends I’ve found in my research is the ratio between required capabilities and benefits for film work, especially when it comes to overtime. But Freelance will always require creating contracts for each project and client assignment, and each different kind of work will require a different tax form.

Ideally, fresh out of school I would find full-time work while I work independently on starting my own business and moving to full time freelance.

https://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/moriassociates/job/oXL6mfwU?__jvst=Job%20Board&__jvsd=Indeed,IndeedSponsored

https://www.sonypicturesjobs.com/job/-/-/22978/42581160816

https://jobs.jobvite.com/careers/run-studios/job/oDB9nfwu?__jvst=Job%20Board&__jvsd=Indeed

When it comes to visual inspiration, the four elements I’m most drawn to are perspective, color, liminal space, and natural lighting patterns. Finding a unique perspective of the mundane and turning it into something that looks new and strange is one of my biggest creative pulls as an artist.

My name is Lyric Weiss, and I’m a writer / director. My mission in life is to reflect life and the human experience in my work through an empathetic lens. The purpose of this work is to give back what watching my favorite films has given me; a sense of comfort and an inspired sense of understanding for the human condition. The primary reason for this, is that I believe us as human beings are wired for connection, and it is my core belief that the more connected we feel to each other and the world around us, the more inspired and driven we are to take care of our world and each other. While there are forces that drive us to greed and vilification, I feel it is my calling in this world to counterbalance these forces and inspire others to be their best selves. A major way I strive to do this in my work is to build and recite my understandings of human emotion and their individual experiences in my work.

I hope to make films and send them to international film festival circuits to compete for awards, not for the sake of winning, but for the sake of the game. It would be my honor some day to travel around the world making this goal a reality, and meet like-minded artists in the process. If I could chose one consistent message throughout the work I plan to make in my lifetime, it would be to encourage others to turn inward despite your fears, and understand yourself and all your flaws, and there you will find the life you desire. To echo a famous quote,” everything you want is just on the other side of fear.”

Reference videos –

• Fear Pong; Strangers edition
• One Word “Police”
• On Killing; Veterans Describe Killing During Wartime
• Around The World; What’s Taboo In Your Country?
• Keep It 100; 100 People Seductively Eat A Banana

Here’s the pitch : A selection of interested students share their favorite party trick, at which the fan favorite judged by peers and / or staff members take a vote to select their favorite one. The winner receives the award of being exempt from their blog assignment OR wins a free lunch from the school cafe of any one food item and drink of their choice that day.

All students interested in competing will take center stage amidst an audience of their peers in a school-talent-show type setting. If we decide that staff members will be judges, we could have a panel of three staff with small white boards that write their rating as a 1-10 scale, 1 being not very awesome to 10 being super freaking cool. Or to make things more democratic, we can be judged by our peers through a ballot box system with the names of every contestant typed on a piece of paper next to a check box. We could also have multiple winners placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd with the same or various different prizes….

When I was 17, an internship position at a local production house in Seattle known as B47 Studios turned into an unexpected opportunity I was vastly unprepared for. I had graduated high school early, and wanted to take a gap year to work before entering college. One day while I was filing paperwork, the owner of the company, Kevin, walked in with a very professional and color-coordinated fellow. With bright blue eyes, a blue pin-stripe button down shirt and navy blue slacks, I came to know this man as “Bob from Microsoft.” Kevin and Bob seemed deep into a serious business conversation, so I didn’t expect either of them to pay attention to me. I returned to my paperwork, only to look up a couple moments later with both men standing two feet in front of me. Bob From Microsoft’s eyes beamed at me, and almost yelling, he exclaimed “You’re perfect!” Kevin introduced me and mentioned their idea to team up and create a news company that would be hosted out of B47 Studios, that later came to be known as Penta Tech (Or Penta News on Youtube.)

Bob mentioned that they were both looking for four young on-camera journalists to embark on this adventure with them, and I jumped at the opportunity. I felt like I’d caught a “big break” of some kind, but I had almost no work to show and my only credential was a single journalism class I’d taken in high school. I could give you a vague explanation of the “information triangle” but that was about it. My position included producing and completing three to five stories per day, all of varying subjects and lengths. I would brainstorm and get stories approved by Kevin, write them, report them in front of the camera, then go directly in to post production to edit them all myself (our assistant editor did most of the organizing and audio sync, the journalists did the rest).

The advantage of working in a start-up news company that didn’t know what it wanted to be was that we got to try everything. Once Bob and Kevin hired three other journalists – all older college graduates with writing and journalism degrees – we learned that the leaders of the company had more of a scatter-shot approach, where we reported everything from social media friendly app reviews to tech company drama, to VR/AR and more “hard news” subjects. I was the only journalist interested in covering the hard news. I went undercover on Facebook to report on illegal gun sales, I interviewed a medical professor and doctor from UCLA on emerging technology for brain health, and interviewed the app developer company that shared our building on the (at the time) very first version of the Oculus – and even got to try it for myself.

The story I spent the most time on, was this undercover gun sales project. At the frustration of my employer, it was taking too long, so when I finally rushed into the studio to shoot it, for some reason it didn’t feel finished. I asked our DP his opinion, and I was lucky at how blunt he was. He mentioned as someone who had served in the army and was somewhat pro-gun, that my story had come off extremely pointed, which was my first time hearing that term. I was embarrassed and hurt, but I understood what he said once I read back through my script. It was a valuable ego check, and I thanked him for it and immediately went back to re-write. Once I re-shot with our DP in the studio he did mention it was a bit better. For the sake of time and not to further anger our employer, I went along and posted the final story. This experience made me realize just how important it was to find people I trusted to tell me the hard truths about my work, regardless of my identity or the potential to hurt my feelings.

I learned that among many other things in the six months before the company went bankrupt. We hadn’t heard from Bob in weeks and it was clear he was abandoning his love child, and the money seemed to follow. Looking back on this experience, it was an invaluable way to spend my time, and I’m extremely grateful for all the hard lessons along the way.

My list of three hard and soft skills I possess are as follows –

Hard Skills include –

• Production Assisting – a job I will argue falls under the umbrella industry ‘hospitality.’
• Script Supervision
• Direction / Storytelling

Soft Skills include –

• Adaptability
• Accountability
• Conflict Resolution

Before I ever landed my first gig as a production assistant for a feature film, I’d been working in restaurants since I was 16. I’m now 26, and have accumulated 10 years of working in the service industry in the kitchen, on the floor, and as an executive assistant. Constantly, I’m reminded how similar PA work is to work in the food service industry. Balancing multiple tasks under pressure in a busy environment is only half the gig, and the other half, is what I believe the defining difference between service and hospitality to be. Service is what is defined in your job description whether its getting coffee or holding a boom pole, but hospitality, is the extra spark of humanity that makes a dining, or work experience with another person memorable. Being a positive light and smiling face that does their job with enthusiasm and joy is contagious, and something invaluable in both a film set or restaurant environment. Especially when working long hours is often necessary. I thrive in teamwork environments where I can enforce a positive, willing-to-take-on-the-world attitude, and what I love the most about this skill, is just how contagious it can be.

Script supervision is where my attention to detail and OCD tendencies have their field day. I know how to stick to a method and stay consistent, and its lead to me gaining script supervision experience on feature film sets. Direction and storytelling are my main passion, and something I’ve dreamed of pursuing since I was in middle school. My first writing mentor was my middle school social studies and drama teacher, who taught his classes through teaching his students to write stories in a screenplay format. This was a defining moment in my childhood that led me to where I am now, and a big reason to why I’ve continues developing these skills ever since. Out of these three hard skills, Direction and Storytelling are the two I’d like to develop the most because it’s where my passion lies, and what I hope to make a career out of .

In my experience producing short films, adaptability and accountability are two critical assets that have served me well. Especially when it comes to having little to no budget and balancing the schedules of others who are doing this work for free, it’s been important to plan enough that you can abandon the plan when needed and still land on your feet. For example, if actors run late, there should be something the team is prepared to shoot or do in the meantime, so people are standing around as little as possible. I’ve also had to adapt to equipment / money limitations by building my own dolly out of plywood, cvc pipe and roller skate wheels. This is one of my favorite aspects about independent film.

Conflict resolution has been something I haven’t had very much difficulty with though my experience has been limited thus far. More often than not, I feel like casting for both the talent and crew is one of the first steps in conflict resolution. Working long hours in a team environment requires a certain temperament, and knowing how to vet for it is a skill I’m looking forward to continue growing in this program. Other than preemptive measures, I believe I can strongly empathize and listen to those that need it, and know how to kindly remind team members to re-focus on the larger tasks at hand.

All of these traits I’ve chosen to highlight are skills that I believe will take me far in my career, and are a continuous focus for self growth and improvement as I continue this program at SCCA.