Back to the Campus

Over the Canada Day long weekend, Tyler and I revisited the University of Regina campus to retrace a few of the steps through our film school experiences.  I've previously written a great deal about my time in film school, but it's amazing the stories that get triggered from stumbling onto familiar places.  

The orange and yellow hue of the media wing along with the familiar classroom numbers still echo the assignments and presentations that we did there.  College West still looks and feels so familiar that just running up the stairs again makes you feel like reaching for your key card.  It was amazing to have stories come up so naturally from a variant of visual cues and share them with someone who had been through them with me.  It's only been 4 years since I left Regina (or 5 years since my final year in production), but it feels like a world away.  Life has changed dramatically in such a short time.


The whole experience made me think about how it's easier to view film school as a far more positive experience now that things have panned out somewhat.  I suppose just growing up and generally being in a better place in my life makes everything seem like it had more purpose.  It's bittersweet to go back knowing that it was as defining as it was, knowing that there's always one more thing that you wished you would've done, knowing that in the grand scheme it was so brief.  I think it's tough to comprehend it properly at the time because you don't know where it's taking you exactly, and towards the end that got in the way of enjoying it for me.  The visit gave me a lot to think about.      

Not taking anything on this nostalgia trip for granted, we followed up our brief tour with a walk to Mac's like we usually did (and frankly like I did with pretty much everyone I knew in university) to grab a slurpee.  Clearly not everything has changed then, but those few things that have sure made it feel different. 

Slices of Studenthood

I always wish there was more.  Whenever I browse through old pictures not only do I wish I would've taken more pictures at parties and events, but I wish I would've taken more obscure shots like these. The ones that were snapped between the bigger stuff. 

These slices of studenthood make me think about my time in College West at the University of Regina - how I lived off of the vending machine for a full week at the end of my first semester, how the common areas were always a mess, how I plastered my dorm walls with pictures, and how now it seems it all went by in a flash.  You can check out more of my snapshots and random observations by viewing my Dorm Life tag. 

Last Day of Film School

At the end of April in 2008 I closed the chapter on my student life.  With an empty dorm room, the last of my things piled into my Buick, and one last look back at the University of Regina campus, it was over.  There was no telling what the future had in store at that point.  All I knew for certain was that it was time for something new.

My First Dorm Room

My first taste of university life came in September 2002, when at the age of 18 I moved away from home and into the dorms at the University of Regina to study film production.  Dorm life isn't neccessarily the easiest or most attractive way to live, but the initial experience was invaluable.  I made new friends right off the bat, was within walking distance of all my new classes, and was forced to adapt quickly.

I didn't know it at the time, but for my entire university education I'd end up living in the College West dorms (with the exception of 4 summers).  From the disgusting shared bathrooms to kitchens dominated by fruit flies, I suppose one the greatest lessons I learned was how to avoid others germs (there's no shame showering in sandles).  By contrast, and because I probably wouldn't have been able to stand it otherwise, my dorm room quickly became a very personalized home away from home.

Compared with how ambitiously decked-out my dorm rooms became towards the end of my schooling, my first year dorm was tame.  It was also a shoebox, that was only marginally bigger than the bathroom in my current apartment.  After going through some of my old film school images, I thought it would be cool to post some of them.  I guess I was already anticipating my own nostalgia back then becuase I shot all of these on black and white film.

My first dorm room. I still have that Abbey Road poster (now framed) and you can still see the imprints of the bricks on it from me leaning against it.

The common area.  It was as hip and trendy as The Brady Bunch was . . . in 2002.

My desk. To be honest, the dated furniture didn't bother me. I was on a big fifties and sixties kick back then. Could you tell? 

The kitchen. I'm pretty sure we had just had a cleaning inspection before I took this picture. There was almost never counterspace (or clean dishes for that matter).

The roof court. One of the best things about College West was the open roof court that all of the dorms lead out to.  Of course, this was Regina so it was pretty much unusable 6 months out of the year.

For more, check out this video I made of the campus in 2002.

Winter Semester

Although I'm no longer in film school, the routine and doldrums of January echo with the same bleakness that I came to despise every year with the university winter semester.  Take note that I was going to school in Saskatchewan, Canada and that as far as Canadian winters are concerned, this province is one of the top contenders for long, drawn-out deep freezes.  

I've since moved back to Alberta, where throughout the season warm winds come down off the Rocky Mountains (known as Chinooks) and melt the snow.  Well it seems these have been incredibly short lived this year as we've had snow on the ground since the first major snowfall in November.  Again, bleak.

The winter semester, like the New Year, always kicked off with excitement.  You have plans for the year, you reminisce, you get to check out all these new classes, but a week later the novelty has worn off and you realize that spring is what you're really excited about.

Call it cabin fever, seasonal affective disorder, or whatever, it's all tough to deal with in long stretches.

What I recall about my winter semesters in the dorms was that these feelings were amplified.  Small space, no where to go, and trying to be inspired within a film program during one of the most uninspiring times of year.  Seems like the irritation hasn't worn off even now that I'm making money and doing what I like.  

I think I just needed to rant. Spring can't come soon enough!  

Campus snow art seen from my dorm - the one bright spot in a sea of cold.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Of the few things I usually choose to make for myself, chicken noodle soup has long been a favorite and became a regular addition to my menu in film school.  I'm not talking about canned soup here either - not that chicken noodle soup is that complicated to make.  The way it makes the place smell is as much a treat as the meal itself, and I always make a lot so I can enjoy it for a few days.

Cooking this today reminded me of my winter semesters in the dorms.  January and February always feel a bit bleak to me, and this all just seemed emphasized when you were trapped in a small box of a room.  The communal kitchen was usually a disaster, but still, chicken noodle soup was the one thing worth cleaning the kitchen for (at least the bit of counter that I needed).

In between several edits I need to wrap up this weekend and a forecast full of snow, there's nothing like a bit of comfort food.

University of Regina Collages (2006-2007)

Created around the end of semester in the spring of 2006 I was going to be saying goodbye to several friends who were graduating. Starting my university career in 2002 I should have been graduating then also, but my evolving plans and a couple wasted classes determined otherwise. As a student I found inspiration in a lot of things outside of the classroom . . . still, with the snow thawing and things rapidly changing that semester, I could appreciate the milestone of how the absence of friends was going to alter my experience and so I thought about making a video.
 
What I decided to do was collect a few of the home video clips that I'd shot over the semester to include with a photo collage of the university - kind of creating a time capsule on DVD of what the place was like then. You may think that you'd have to wait a decade or so to really see some major changes, but we actually all came to the University of Regina when things were just about to shift.
 
Regina, Saskatchewan had been awarded the Canada games for 2005 and in 2003, still in my first year, ground had been broken on an expansive new phys. ed building and a set of twin tower residences. Those residences have since become the focal point of the new campus and dramatically altered the green space that the university centered around.
 
By 2006 the games had passed and the buildings were all in full operation, however, construction had begun on a brand new lab building right next to College West - now the old residence - that we all lived in. It was probably this that inspired the photo collage more than anything. I knew that in just a few years the building would be complete and it would instantly date the footage and remind us all of the semester that that giant crane and construction created so much noise. I even mentioned the new lab building in my retrospective short, Quirks, as the park location we shot at in 2004 was now covered by a lecture hall.

I gave out my DVDs as everything concluded in the winter semester of '06, ending my collage saying 'may our time at the U of R serve as a reminder that we are always working to better ourselves'. A bit cliche perhaps, but true nonetheless.
 
In 2007 I found myself staying in Regina over the summer for the first time. Not really intending to make a project necessarily, I ended up shooting a lot of pictures of the campus with the weather being so nice. It's worth noting that when you're in Saskatchewan for predominantly winter months it can be tough to fully appreciate your outdoor surroundings. In any case, I created a secondary video of the architectural details of some of the campus buildings - which are actually quite notable, as both the modernist/minimalist library and classroom buildings were designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the architect behind the World Trade Center.
 
What came out of all these photos was essentially what I had hoped in 2006. Time has passed and with each year the landscape and tone of the university that I attended changes. I'm really happy to have both these videos to remind me of a location that I not only lived in, but experienced in so many ways. Just as the University of Regina evolved so much when I was there, it continues to inspire my nostalgia as it reinvents itself for new students.
 
It was only a few years ago, but as far as I'm concerned these shorts now represent a completely different time.

Quirks (2009)

This new short is part documentary, part home video, part experimental, and what I consider to be a somewhat kitschy stereotypical depiction of what every film student experiences on one of their first film shoots. 

The footage, as you might have guessed, comes from an old film school project that I shot with classmates Cam Koroluk and Thomas Gallagher in 2004, originally titled The Brief History of Metric Time.

Brief History was the result of a Film 300 assignment in which every student in class wrote a script, and then two other students in class would act as either the director or producer for that project. This system worked on rotation so that every student got to experience the various roles played in the production process. 

For this project I was the director, hence, I took it upon myself to resurrect the footage after 4 years and cut it into something I actually felt was worth sharing. 

It seems to be a common occurance in all creative ventures when groups are involved that comprimises have to be made. I'm refering here to the film class, which was a very diverse and opinionated group. With the scripts randomly distributed, I didn't have much of a choice in terms of plot, and didn't really have a lot of time to rework the concept before shooting. It was always what I hated about shooting on film compared to shooting digital, there was so much equipment to be booked, and so much more to do just to get your exposures and audio right. 

On top of that, everyone always had their own projects on the go at the same time, so there wasn't an abundance of people to draw on for crew. Even in the best of circumstances, it was just a complicated process to pull everything together in these classes. 

The original film, focused on a man who invented a new system of time based on the metric system. The dialogue was divided by pages of nonsensical mathematical equations, and aside from that, there wasn't actually much to go on. The student who wrote our script was the type that if you were casting roles for stereotypical arts students, he'd fit the bill perfectly, which is to say that he didn't need his script to make sense because he already believed himself to be the next Fellini. 

The worst part was that the concept really wasn't a visual story. I guess dealing with these challenges was what film school was all about.

On a side note, I recall that my script was a comedy about a guy getting dropped off at the dorms by his parents. Inspired by my own experience in the fall of 2002, the group that shot my screenplay did a sweet job.

Quirks (OR: The Blurbs Behind a Lost Film School Project) is a fresh edit composed entirely of the raw footage that was captured to mini DV from the film we shot it on. My goal here is to give a little glimpse of my own film school history, with some quips about just how random the experience was.

While this project obviously wasn't technically 'lost', it stands to represent the handful of my film experiments that were. At the very least, Quirks is a symbol of just how far I've come since 2004. The 4 years and 3 months since this was shot seems like an incredibly long time ago, largely because of how much more prolific I've become with my filmmaking. It's why I felt it was finally worth sharing. I've grown up a bit I suppose.

Quirks (2009) Directed & Edited by Luke Fandrich
Starring Cam Koroluk / Produced by Thomas Gallagher

Goodbye Residence

Standing in that empty dorm room for the final time was like the last few seconds of an epic film, where the camera remains stationary on the lead character who looks defiantly ahead before walking out of frame. It's the kind of goodbye that really gains meaning the further away you get from it. What's next? What did I learn? What did it mean? It's a real life adventure, and it's crazy to catch yourself in such a meaningful act break.

University is behind me now, and as I've already started moving in a new direction I don't really know what's next exactly. If anything, it's just nice to be reminded how much is still left to be experienced. To escape from that bubble and plunge head first into something new again. It's a bigger beginning than an end - another fresh start.

Last Weekend at the U of R

With last minute celebrating, packing, and goodbyes in order it's not long now before the Tuesday morning that I drive away. I'll write a more detailed post about all this soon, but for now, here are a couple of the videos I made in regards to my current location. The first is a photo collage of the entire university that I made for a couple friends when they were leaving in 2006, and the second video is a couple of time lapses of sunsets from my room here in residence. While I'm excited to be moving on and at the moment can't imagine wanting to come back to school, the nostalgia I have makes all this seem fairly profound. In some ways I want it to mean more than it really does. Things won't ever be this way again.

University of Regina Photo Collage

Sunsets From Residence

You've Lost That Student Feeling

In 9 days my dorm will be completely packed, the Buick will be filled, and Regina will be in my rearview mirror. I'm not really sure what to say, but as I peel away all the layers of posters I've put up I'm seeing my mark come off of this place. Moving out feels so different now that I know I'm not coming back. With all that I've experienced living in residence all this time, it's the end of a way of life. In all honesty, it couldn't come a moment sooner!

More updates to come this week.

College West Sunsets

Here are a few snapshots I took from the roof of College West, the university residence. Not a bad view at all. I've also attached my sunset time lapses below. 

Sunset Time Lapse - Saskatchewan

I shot the following video from my window here in College West Residence. Sometimes I get to witness really amazing sunsets and occasionally I try and capture them. These two sunsets are cut together from different days, but the process became a worth while experiment in time lapses. It's just another day going by at uni.

Land of Living Skies

Here in Saskatchewan the provincial license plates declare that this place is the Land of Living Skies. It may sound a bit generic, but it's actually true. One of the notable features of Saskatchewan (it's kind of a stereotype too) is how flat it is.  It's easy to take the landscape for granted, but it does make for some epic views.

From the roof of the university residence you can literally see from flat horizon to flat horizon. If you find yourself driving on the Trans Canada highway into Regina you'll also find that you can see the downtown buildings about 30 minutes before you're even in the city. The natural landscape can easily be described as bland because there's just so much of the same thing, but the more I've traveled (even just to other parts of the prairies) you really do notice that this place is unique. 

Perspective is an important part of filmmaking and something that's discussed at length in film school, but it's also an important part of appreciating the things that you didn't even realize were so defining.  These are a couple shots of a sunset that I snapped from the roof of the residence a couple weeks ago. Pretty incredible.