USC School of Cinematic Arts - 2nd Semester

It has nearly been two months since my last post. It has been an unbelievably stressful time as a graduate student at USC's School of Cinematic Arts.

Currently, I'm working on my second semester graduate film project, Magic.

Actor, Tristan Bailey, plays the lead role of Austin Gray

The second graduate semester at USC's School of Cinematic Arts is considered the hardest semester you'll face during your tenure as a student. It is known as the dreaded, 508 semester. In my follow-up post, I'll go in-depth on the first year graduate student experience at USC's Film School.

I'd like to say another big thanks you to everyone who helped me out so much during the Dr. Pepper Tuition Scholarship Competition. I received such an amazing amount of support.  I also entered a competition to be a part of this year's Oscars recently. I went to the second round, but was not chosen. Still, we ended up making a great mini-commercial explaining why I love cinematography. 

I'm going to try my best to consistently post on Que The Lights from this point forward. I believe a good amount of filmmakers would be interested in learning about my ongoing experience at USC's Film School, especially for those who want to apply sooner than later. 

University of Alabama Graduation 2012: The Last Greek Stepshow

It's been a month since I graduated from The University of Alabama. Honestly, it feels like it's been much longer. The transition from being a full time student to free-lance working as a photographer/videographer hasn't been as rough as I imagined.

Currently, I'm working as the Director of Photography on two projects. The first is a low budget feature film named "Doobie Sampson." The film is definitely out of my area of interest as a writer or director, but taking the role as DP fits me pretty well. The biggest reason why I applied for the job is to prove to myself if I'm capable of shooting a feature length film (1:30 to 2 hours) at my current level.

The second project is a music video for R&B artist, Gifted. The singer has written for Ne-Yo and Jagged Edge as well working with Def Jam and Atlantic Records. He's looking to start a solo music career, and professor of mine contacted me about my interest in the project. The song is called Superstar. It's actually really good and if you're into music you've probably heard of the producer, Bei Major. Click on the link above or HERE to listen to it.

Now, one of the traditions I've kept up during my tenure at Alabama is photographing or recording graduations at Alabama. Since I was graduating as well, I decided to get friend and colleague, Kevyn Bryant of K.Bryant Images, to help me.

We decided to capture each Greek organization graduating and create a promo video featuring the idea of "The Last Greek Stepshow" since your graduation step is the final event you'll do as a Greek undergrad.

Along with making the promo video we put together a video for the organizations with graduating members. Here are a few. 

Omega Psi Phi

Yes, that's me for once.

Delta Sigma Theta

Alpha Phi Alpha

Phi Beta Sigma

If you'd like to see more of the videos you can find them on my youtube playlist UA Graduation 2012: The Last Greek Stepshow.

Finally, we are only three likes away from 1,000 followers on the Que The Lights Facebook Page! Take out the time to LIKE us if you've enjoy any of my work over the past few years at The University of Alabama!