Teaching Channel: Education Update Pt. 1

So back in mid February I started working as an associate producer/shooter/editor for a project for PBS in conjunction with Teaching Channel, a U.S. version of the now defunct teacher's tv in the UK.

The project I worked on was specifically called "Education Update" and were 5 15 minute episodes detailing the adoption of Common Core Standards here in America. The project took about 3 and 1/2 months to complete and are now finally available to be viewed by the public. Below you can watch one of the episodes -- specifically on elementary education. They are all out but I am uploading some better quality versions to my Vimeo account, especially since the teaching channel website, for whatever reason, allows you to download the videos but not embed them -- and Vimeo does. So, more later -- they're a little larger in size so I only have enough memory in my Vimeo account to upload 1 a week, but you can still view the rest on the teaching channel website (actually, that is encouraged). Links below.

Education Update: ELA and Literacy from Matthew Chao on Vimeo.

Common Core State Standards for Math
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy
Common Core State Standards for Elementary School
Common Core State Standards for Middle School
Common Core State Standards for High School

Tom Mangravite

Tom Mangravite was an accomplished cinematographer, and while his credentials were not prominently displayed at the end of many Hollywood hits, he still had a very fruitful and none the less impressive career, having shot many classic and easily recognized commercials.

While all this is a relevant part of the laundry list of accomplishments that is this man's life, what I knew him as was a challenging, thorough teacher and a supportive and kind mentor. My Junior year of college I took Cinematography 1 with him, a class where he taught us much of the theory and science behind what goes on in a camera and then drilled that knowledge into us by recreating practical situations, his often taking on the role of cinematographer and ordering us as though we were working on a real set -- it was one of the most informative and valuable experiences I had in film school.

Often times, in class, he would take on the role of a hard ass, yelling at us for goofing off and constantly challenging. However, despite this gruff facade he donned during class, it was very clear his, as he put it, bark was much worse than his bite, often taking the time to provide assistance and support for students who sought it. His knowledge and passion will be greatly missed.

Back on my Feet

3-D Bird Walk Cycle from Matthew Chao on Vimeo.

Being able to walk has never hurt this much while simultaneously feeling this good.
(that is NOT an S&M comment)

Common Sense

Found this while filling out some Worker's Comp forms:



Man, I'd be really screwed if I didn't know any English huh?

Clipped Wings

Been wishing I could hurry up and just get to this point:

Flight Pencil Test from Matthew Chao on Vimeo.

(That's a little animation I did my senior year of college)

The Perils of the Film Industry

I managed to hurt myself on Friday, effectively putting myself out of commission for doing anything this past weekend... and, well, today. As you may be able to see from the -- very possibly too graphic picture to the left, I hurt my foot.

I was doing PA work (as is sometimes necessary when you go back to working pro bono as a favor to the person that kinda started you off on getting paid for the company that you previously did unpaid slave labor for for 2 years) on a commercial-ish gig for a company called "Black Watch Productions," a company I've worked with before (They're actually cool peoples). The details of this commercial, however, will remain hush hush since I signed an NDA and don't feel like being sued for leaking info over the net (in this public a forum none the less).

One of my goals is to steer myself away from doing PA work and get more assistant editing or associate producing gigs, but again, working pro bono doesn't pay the bills, even if you do get to pick up skills that will get you to your goal.

To sum up the events that left my right foot looking like it was suffering from a recent boxing match with Manny Pacquniao (and that was only minutes after this all happened)-- a 15-20 pound stage fell on my foot -- full force. It hurt a lot -- and I STILL had to drive home several hours later. Over the course of the next few hours I iced it as my entire foot swelled up to twice it's size and I stubbornly gimped around the sound stage cleaning and... well, doing my PA duties as best I could -- though frequented with breaks to re-ice and elevate.

And so I spend the entirety of my weekend chair or bed bound with my leg resting on a pillow as I wrapped ice around it. I think the swelling's gone down considerably and luckily nothing seemed broken (I can walk on it pretty ok now). There's more to this story, but I'm afraid I might end up violating the terms of the NDA if I talk more about it. Though, it is worth noting that we were shooting in a cool sound stage (i'm sure it used to be a warehouse/factory) in Greenpoint called "Cinema World Studios" -- and on a funnier/lighter note -- some time during the final day of filming (I was PA-ing on Thurs. and Friday, so on Friday --) some unexpected auditions started taking place that shouldn't have really since I believe the entire place was booked by the shoot I was on. The production manager for Black Watch Productions said it was weird because some of the girls that was auditioning for whatever last minute audition just came up popped into the wardrobe area our production was set up in and just started putting on bikinis and more or less stripping in front of everyone to do so (not our production's) so everyone was like "wtf?" and talked to the people that ran the place, who moved them upstairs.

When I was told about this I jokingly asked "are they auditioning for a porn?" To which the production manager is like "no... they can't be." -- Later we found out they were auditioning for something called (and I REALLY hope I wasn't imagining this) "Old Man Gone Wild" and that was a nice "told you" moment. But yea, it kinda wasn't cool that they kept eating our craft services (for those of you not in the film/tv industry -- that's our food/snacks -- as hopefully you could tell from the use of the word "eating,".)


All of that aside, I look at my job(s) and I really do think, you need to enjoy what you're doing if you want to survive in this industry.

Constantly I come across low-level/entry level people in this industry that don't seem to care, which is just kind of ridiculous to me because though there's this allure of fame and wealth, not giving a shit about your work isn't going to get you there -- hell, giving a shit about your work is no guarantee. Honestly, it is a very difficult thing to make a lot of money in this industry, the people you hear about making hand over fist in huge deals is maybe the top 1% of the people in this field. There are so many better ways to make lots of money, so for all the people in it because you think it's easy money -- you're in for a pretty big surprise.

Delivery Fail but Plushie Win, so lets just call it even.

I ordered Big Bird off of Amazon.Com last week -- only it wasn't really Amazon.Com, it was more BabyAge.Com selling through Amazon.Com, which wasn't a problem cost wise because it was discounted significantly with free shipping. ($16 -- how could I pass up the 20" plushie? -- that usually sells for $40 mind you)

At anyrate, I had it shipped to my office and got a call today about it being in. -- The packaging had BabyAge.Com written all over it and I realized how bad it looked/what it seemed to imply.

But look at how awesome that is. Big Bird was totally worth the mailroom people thinking I'm having a baby.

By the way, Big Bird looks totally gangsta in a fedora.