In September we began learning the basics of DaVinci Resolve while working at getting acquainted with the Canon c200 camera. This was a huge departure from my film comfort zone in front of the camera. Acting in a few short films had given me the basic rundown on film shoot etiquette and terminology, but could not prepare me for the pressures of directing or being fully in charge of my own film project. Framing shots in a directorial way requires a candor and a desire to defend your artistic choices that I had not cultivated or had an audience for recently. However, DaVinci Resolve was an empowering partner in realizing those nascent directorial fantasies. I was shocked at the speed and diversity of motion within the application. DaVinci’s impressive traits included running at high speeds with heavy footage, supporting diverse formats of video footage, and incorporating extremely professional color grading tools in a user-friendly manner. Coming to it as a novice, you instantly feel like the height of your creative dreams have become very real and achievable. I’m still working on the finer points of color grading and have a long way to go in learning how to edit footage efficiently, but DaVince lends the process an ease that is reassuring.

“If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food, it’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind, get up off the couch, move.”

Since arriving in Japan I’ve been faced with the inevitability of getting fully lost in ways that I haven’t had to think about since being a child. As often as it is frustrating to be limited in conversation or cultural awareness, the challenge of Tokyo has helped me shed long ingrained desires to do or say or eat anything familiar. As the idea of the mundane has disappeared, activities as mindless as doing laundry have become adventures with endless potential. The late great Anthony Bourdain might back me up in reassuring myself that digesting an overwhelming amount of info all at once adds sharp curves and twists to a brain that might otherwise be flatlining in lukewarm water. As he put it, “If I’m an advocate for anything, it’s to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean, or simply across the river. The extent to which you can walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food, it’s a plus for everybody. Open your mind. Get off the couch. move.” I hear this pep talk from him when I’m too overwhelmed, or lost, or feeling awkward in conversations where all I can do is smile and nod. I’m lucky to be in a place where I can learn so much so fast. Learning under duress is, of course, easier with an overwhelming amount of support from the team you work with; something that Media For You has generously provided me and Dugan. Mostly, I’m very grateful and looking forward to creating in a new medium.