October 30, 2013

Attention! The perks of studying abroad in Bonn


Going to film school has it’s perks, the longer we attend, the more these perks reveal themselves. The last perk our class here in Bonn got to experience, was on our excursion to the great and troubled city of Berlin. Using their vast network of contacts, the AIB was able to organize a private, behind the scenes tour of the Studio Babelsberg, the site on which films from Fritz Lang’s ‘Metropolis’ all the way to Tarantino’s ‘Inglourious Basterds’ have been filmed. The tour was an amazing experience for all of us filmmaking hopefuls, the studio is one of the last remaining lots that has the ability to cover the entire filmmaking process. We stepped into the construction house, where we saw men hard at work, creating and designing the set pieces for the numerous films in production and set to shoot in the near future. We walked through a very new and modern room, containing a state of the art, ‘hot wire’ foam sculptor for set pieces and decoration. We adventured through two large warehouses full of timeless set dressing and props, wondering through hallways of lamps, newspapers, typewriters, and weaponry, as well as stepping into a perfect replica of an eastern German home. For some of us it was awe-inspiring to step into the same sound stage that such incredible movies had been filmed and soak in the sheer vastness of the film making world.
The highlight for me, and I won’t speak for everyone, was our tour of the outdoor permanent set in the back lot of the studio. The designers were hard at work preparing for a night shoot for a new film with Vince Vaughn called ‘The Business Trip.‘ This would have been interesting in itself, but this particular shoot made the experience that much more memorable, for it wasn’t a regular scene on a Berlin street. The posters strung from building to building bore strange pictures of men’s crotches in tight leather, this was the first tip that this was no normal setting. We then walked past the windows, covered with large posters of strangely sexual scenes, bars with large amounts of beer, and finally the kicker, a small shopping stand selling whips and chokers. This was not to be a normal Berlin night on this street, in fact Vince Vaughn and his co-star were about to accidentally wander into a gay S&M street festival. We all joked that we wanted to be extras in the scene, that was supposed to shoot that night, but in reality we all secretly wished we could. To say the least, when the release of this new movie comes around, I think a group reunion will have to take place and we will all go see the midnight premiere.
The rest of our experience at the studio, I spent imagining what it might be like to come back one day to shoot my own film, as I am sure many of us did. Standing at the sight where such amazing films had been shot, was almost too much to handle as I became caught up in dreams and suffered the consequences of returning to reality. With the tax incentives, the experience of the Studio Babelsberg, and the wonderful atmosphere and energy of Berlin and Germany as a whole, I doubt any of us would deny the chance to work there in Potsdam, it may even be a new goal.
Written by Maxx Grummer

October 18, 2013

PSU Landscape Architecture: Phase I Analysis & Design


On October 4, the 23 Penn State Landscape architecture students presented their site designs concluding phase one of their studio work at the AIB.
Eight groups of two to three students analyzed and designed different signature sites located along/around Bonner Straße in Cologne under the pretense of a big event, along the lines of the famous Cologne Karneval, taking place there: „What if it was Karneval?“
Check out the student presentations and their many creative and innivative ideas!
01-499B-Fall2013-KhajehNoeTarullo-presentation.pdf
02-499B-Fall2013-Hackett_Harold_Lauro-Light of the World.pdf
03-Larch499B_Fall2013_Bonnell+Hewitt+Parisi_EventPresentation.pdf
04-Larch499B_Fall2013_Gray_Marchinski_Sell_SystemPres.pdf
05-499B_Fall2013Waidmarkt.pdf
06-Kelly_Kyd_Swantz_Programing_Presentation.pdf

October 11, 2013

Casting


Actors are what make films interesting, inspiring and time worthy. If I found myself in a museum of the finest art and looked over to see a man or woman weeping in front a particular painting I would find it quite unsettling. If I found myself in a run down, crumbling Movie Theater watching a particularly touching performance, my own teary eyes would find no discomfort in looking across the row and seeing another viewer barely holding himself together. Without acting, films are just a bunch of pretty pictures; acting is what makes the artwork real. This means that casting the correct actor for a part is enormously important! With that said though, casting does not always have to be intense or stressful and when it came to our five minute narrative projects, casting was an enjoyable and easygoing gathering of like minded creatives from two very, but in many ways not so different cultures. Over two long nights, our groups split up into rooms and met the numerous actors that had come down from Cologne to try their hand at acting for one of our films. Though we could only cast a select few from the large group, it was a great learning experience for all of us, in front and behind the camera. From how to make the actors comfortable before they open up in front of strangers, to giving productive feedback and direction in order to discover the actors range and ability to adapt, we had a lot to wrap our heads around. As I was only part of one group, I can only describe one case of development through the two night mad house. Our first night, we were rushing, we spoke fast, rolled through direction without much discussion with the actors, and became a bit disorganized and flustered. By the end of the first night we had calmed down a bit and found a few pieces of direction that we really thought helpful. On the second day however, we really found our groove and started to see a lot more out of the actors because of it. Our direction became less about the end feeling and more about the process of getting to that feeling, and our opening night nerves were done away with.

What really wrapped the experience up as an inspiring and helpful one, were our last pair readings with those who would become the actors we casted in the film. We had played with opposing motivations a couple times before, but this time we left the girls in the room to decide why the girl in the script had to leave the house at all costs, and us boys went out into the hall to decide why the guy had to stay in the house. We walked in and the energy was already at an excellent level for the scene. What made it even more exciting was that the actors were speaking in German, so our entire understanding of what was going on was based on vocal tonality, expression, action and of course our German translator Maren's reactions. The scene took on levels that we were not prepared for and show cased a level of improvisational skill that almost convinced us all to forget about the script and let the actors take care of everything. The actors guided us from excited battling with regret, to honesty battling with forgiveness seamlessly and emotionally, ending with the two holding one another with their eyes centimeters apart. What were the motivations? The man had just lost his job and in a drunken sorrow slept with his girlfriends sister, and the girl had arranged an elaborate performance with all of her friends to propose to her boyfriend. Through the two nights, we discovered what worked and what didn't. I heard from a couple of the other groups about their approach and it seemed we all learned the same things but in different ways, from asking them to play the scene as if they were a cartoon character to telling them to act the scene as if a swarm of bees was surrounding them. What matters most is that our narrative shorts went off without a scene and we all found the correct actors for the parts we called for. Many of the actors and crew members were quick to become friends on Facebook and it has been mentioned numerous times that we will all soon meet up in Cologne to get the local student tour. We casted actors but in turn we ended up casting friends, maybe life long friends and perhaps one day in the future, collaborators. The shorts will be in post-production soon and I know I am not alone in saying that I am excited to see how they all turn out!
Written by Maxx Grummer

October 9, 2013

Cologne Day Trip


One Friday we took a field trip to Köln, which is about a 30 minute train ride away from Bonn. It is known for its rich history, beautiful buildings and architecture, and amazing gelato! From our first steps out of the train station, we were welcomed with the magnificent beauty of the Cologne Cathedral – the “Kölner Dom”. It was so tall that not even a camera could capture the entire building in one shot. First, we took a historic tour of the city where we discovered that the first cologne (perfume) ever invented was actually in Köln: Eau de Cologne! We learned that the Romans used to live there and, thus, it was a royal city. So much history — middle school history classes don’t teach you anything compared to this! We passed by the Love Locks Bridge (there’s one in every European City) where couples go to lock their love to the bridge -- and to each other for the rest of their lives (and the key goes into the Rhine)! It was precious to see all the names and dates on the locks — some from 60 years ago! Some locks were even welded there — there’s no turning back from that! There were even a couple bike locks— classy.

Finally, the day was coming to a close and we had the most exciting adventure — going to the top of the Cathedral of Köln! It was a terrifying, shaky escalator ride up to the top (about 50 floors high), but it was so amazing to see the inside of the cathedral and how it was built. From there, we walked through the narrow behind-the-scenes steps to make our way safely to the bottom. It was a great experience and a very exhausting but definitely worth spending day. LMU film students conquered Köln!
Written by Natalie Perez

October 8, 2013

First Weeks in Bonn/Class


The first weeks in Bonn, Germany have been an exhilarating yet a transformative experience thus far. One statement that my fellow students and I have said is that “ it feels like we have learned more in three weeks than we have in our entire lives”. We are still trying to take it all in that we are learning about film in Bonn, Germany. We are seeing a side of film that we have never seen before and discovering new things every day. Our professors are all passionate and inspirational. For one of our first assignments, we were paired up to create a series of pictures that explain a story while demonstrating elliptical time (time passing). Some stories were abstract and some were straight forward. Nevertheless, we learned how to create feeling in a new way.
The city of Bonn feels like a home away from home, it’s a quaint town full of richness of people, culture and history. The AIB (Academy for International Education), where we attend school is right in the center of town and right in the midst of everything in Bonn. One thing we think we can never get used to is how easy the public transportation is. In a sporadic moment, we can meet up at our local HARIBO shop to indulge in flavorful gummy bears or for a movie night at one of our host families’ houses. Even in going away for a weekend on personal excursions, we all at some point feel home sickness and can’t wait to get back to Bonn. It’s safe to say that we all love it here and we can’t wait to see what else is in store for us in this wonderful place.
Written by Melissa Effa

October 6, 2013

Eifel


I spent the last 3 days in the Eifel, which might possibly have felt like a huge time warp for me. It was BEAUTIFUL but time definitely slows down over there. The town of Monreal is such a neat place to visit and the castle overlooking the little village made us feel like being in a fairy tale.
I don't know whether hiking is a big thing in fairy tales but this is what we did: we went on 3 hikes in a day and a half which was awesome! I’ve never climbed to the very top of a castle before - we felt so accomplished at the top. That was definitely a highlight of the weekend! At the very top we took some of the best pictures of the whole trip!

Another highlight was definitely making friends with the little sheep around town- I loved them even though they smelled a little.
Our headquarter was the Weingalerie Artarus with our hosts Dirk and Andrea. It was so quaint and the beds were the most comfortable things EVER. I wanted to lay there and snuggle with my roommates forever. It was basically the willy wonka scene with the old people when it got really cold..we’re cool like that! Andrea and Dirk made wonderful dinner and we enjoyed every single meal after finishing class in the afternoon.


After all I have to say that our Eifel bonding weekend was successful: We also motivated each other to get up at 6 am for a 2 hour hike. That’s friendship right there! Not to mention there was the program’s version of our second hike: give us TORCHES for a torchlit night hike. Bravo with the creativity and clear logic on that one. I am forever grateful for it. Playing mafia with the whole group was also awesome and I couldn’t help but channel my inner mob wife and make it as the last two mobsters left. I think we have a really awesome group and I’m excited to see what the next week brings!
Written by Meredith Yinger

October 5, 2013

Welcome Party


Although it was a bummer that soccer cup was canceled due to the rain, the day was redeemed with the AIB welcome party. The party took place at the old AIB near the Bonn University where tents were set up in the backyard and all the programs studying in Fall 2013 were able to meet. Before this, the programs were separated and there was no real contact but this party allowed people from the film program to speak with students from the other programs.
Each program had to prepare a performance to introduce themselves to the rest of the programs. The film program went through many ideas but in the end we decided to perform famous songs from great films. The set list consisted of “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile, “Time Warp” from Rocky Horror Picture Show, “We Are Men” from Mulan, “Come On Eileen” from Perks of Being A Wallflower, “Cup Song” from Pitch Perfect and “Don’t You Forget About Me” from The Breakfast Club. We were nervous to perform and hoped we would remember the choreography and not embarrass ourselves in front of everyone. We performed and we didn’t mess up! We committed and it was successful. Olaf even said that we were the best and that means a lot coming from Olaf.

After the performance it was time to eat. There was a plethora of food options ranging from delicious salads to delicious sausages. This is when everyone was able to mingle with students in other programs. The party ended at roughly 8pm but the film program didn’t end the party there, we all went to the new AIB and had a movie night and saw Moulin Rouge. Overall, the day was great and it was nice to share the evening with all our host families and enjoy great company and great food.
Written by Jose Luis Magańa