Another visit to Korea logged and tagged

I returned from Korea last Friday with a much clearer vision for this film, at long last. I've struggled with what I really want to do with it, what I really want to communicate. I know it may seem to you, the reader, that I've just kept kicking this project to the curb. Au contraire! I've had three main problems keeping this film from being made:

1. What is it about? This may seem like a "well duh" question, but it's an essential one to answer. I've seen too many films where it's obvious the filmmaker didn't really know what the film was about, and in fact, my first documentary film fell into this category. Oh, it was lyrical and magical and mesmerizing, but no one knew a damned thing about what I was trying to communicate. I shall not make the mistake twice. Too much work goes into editing to have to re-do the entire thing when the finished product makes people go "huh?"

2. What does this button do? I had to admit I was afraid of the editing software, which I've never been trained on. I could muddle through perhaps, but already I'd experienced a great amount of hair-pulling and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I recognize that this is one of my limitations, not to say it can't be overcome, but it does need to be dealt with. Thankfully, one of my colleagues at Ithaca College is a filmmaker specializing in production and post, and he has offered to exchange a workshop in FinalCut Pro for dinner and a small stipend. This will be an immense gift to me - knowledge is power.

3. What did I do to deserve this? Feeling guilty that some of the interviews from '07 are unusable. Somehow I let that become a stumbling block. It doesn't need to be, and in fact, I also grabbed some amazing footage while visiting my old hakwon during my visit to Ulsan at the end of my time in Korea. I've got an interview with my old director and one of the foreign teachers - actually them having a conversation about what the most difficult parts of being a foreign teacher are. Gold! Pure GOLD!

My time in Korea was exceptional - the program at Hanyang University was intense but I was prepared and my classes went smoothly. I had some fine students, as well, which always make the job more pleasant. I got to see more of Seoul this time around than ever before, including Jogyesa Temple, Itaewon, the Han River, and other locales. I hit the sauna twice (should've been more - I wimped out on going alone one weekend and missed the chance to make it three times). I also visited Ulsan, of course, where I lived from '02-'03. That area has a special place in my heart - I actually enjoy it more than Seoul in many ways (not the least of which is the beach!).

Now it's time to get down to work with my new hard drive and footage. With two weeks before work starts for the fall semester, I'm pretty psyched to get this thing off the ground finally. I know what I'm doing, thematically, and soon will know what I'm doing, technologically. Chunbe!