 Hey, we're back. We're live. It's 12 o'clock block on a given Tuesday. I'm Jay Fidel. This is Think Tech, and we're talking about community matters with our guest Kendra Austin. Kendra was an intern here at Think Tech a couple of years ago. And she is lumbered off to Atlanta where she's studying film and TV, and was at the Savannah School of Art and Design. And wow, we want to connect with her. We want to find out how she's been. So we're calling this the natural extension of an internship at Think Tech Hawaii. Hi Kendra. Hi. Hi, Jay. How are you? So let's start with the time you left. You were graduating, I think, in the year we last saw you here in Honolulu. Give us a little praisey about how things went from then. So I left you guys, it was my senior year. And so I can finish my senior year off. I asked you guys, you guys for a letter of recommendation, I believe on the fall to enter grad school and I got in at Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta. And so I was pretty happy and I got a couple of scholarships. And in May of 2019 I graduated, and I head off all the way to the mainland to Georgia. And I've been here ever since I'm entering my second year in a film and television program. Okay, we want to drill down in all of that. So, Georgia, is Georgia the place from which you originally came? Or is Georgia a place just for the school you're in now? No, I do have some family in like Columbus, Georgia, but not in Atlanta, but I mainly most of my family is from Alabama. So not that far from Georgia. I remember Alabama. Alabama was the place that Trump marked on the, on the. You remember that? He decided, he decided that the storm, this is last year, that the storm must be hitting Alabama. So he made a magic markers circle around Alabama. It wasn't true at all. Hey, it's an it's the alternative universe. And I want to talk to you about that. Okay, so why did you go to the Savannah School of Art and Design? What about that school attracted you? So I, I went to start off in Georgia because I saw that it was prospering a lot in film and television, all the Marvel movies and different other movies happening down there. So I was like, okay, this is the place to go right now to enter film and television and they just don't happen to have a college there. But I was like, I just took the opportunity. So when we talk about art and design and film and TV, what are we talking about in terms of your, you know, your general career plan? I mean, you want to come back and work for think tech. Is that what you want to do? So, so for my, I guess, course and my career, I went to go into film and television, be a ride director and actress. So that's mainly my focus right now. A writer director. Okay. So distinguish that for me and our viewers from say producer or camera person or, I don't know, somebody out of the field creating the movie out there. A writer director is different. What is different about a writer director? Specifically, it's on screen rights and directs the movie they are part of. Some people are just directors, they don't screenwrite it. Some are just screenwriters and don't direct it at all. But you have both where they normally write and direct the film that they are part of. So I guess if you're studying to be a writer director, you would be very interested in courses that include writing and directing. So what kind of courses are you taking at the Atlanta, make that the Savannah School of Art and Design. So for my first year, I took an intro to screenwriting the grad level, which is pretty much different from undergrad because it pretty much throws you into the program. You're kind of like a thinker, I'm right. So I'm learning how to write a short film specifically because we can't really push an entire feature length movie script in like two months. I'm learning short films and they kind of throw you in there. They teach you everything to know about structure, character, plot. And I learned a lot in that first quarter with my professor. And then I took a second course with him that was more advanced and I really learned how to create a structure story and good written characters. You know, I must say, it brings me back but you write well. I think I told you that at the time. And so this is really a good thing for you to be doing writing writing for film. What is the difference between writing for film and say writing a novel. What is the difference between writing for film and writing in general. So I would say for writing for a novel you're describing everything you describe 100 trees look what the characters were. And you know you can say Oh, Sally said this in an angry voice, but in screenwriting you're pretty much you kept writing that way you have to write action and what you're seeing on the screen. You know, you can say Sally walk walk off, walked off to her neighbor's house what you wouldn't say that you would say, end of scene interior neighbor neighbors house, like you don't put all those extra details like you do in a novel. Novel very descriptive. Sometimes screenplays have to be kind of to more to the point to get it going. And it sounds like this. The good connection between writing a script for a film and directing it because then you fill in the blanks. All that material you would put in a novel you actually add in by being a director. Yeah, yeah. Well, so is that, is that your primary area like a major, or are you taking other courses as well. Well, also taking producing courses that kind of show like both the business and creative side of filmmaking, which I also like and I wouldn't mind doing as well that I'm not going to live it myself. I always thought the producer is the one who brought the money. Yes, yes, that's the business side they're the one who gets the money for the film and I'll convince studios and exact to find the film. So, that's the business side, not so fun, but you know, maybe they should teach you that too right. And in one of my intro courses about financing and trying to convince people to give you money. Oh, you've got to cover it all don't you. Well, can we talk about one film can we unpack one film, a film that you've done, you know, spent a couple months on a film that got finished a film that had characters and a plot, even though I'm sure it wasn't that long. You know, sometimes a short film is actually more challenging, because you have a beginning a middle and an end and it all has to happen within a certain defined period of time. So, so pick a film, and tell me about the film. Yeah, film that I may or film that came out like in theater. No, that you may. Okay. Well, let me think. So, well, I'll say my first quarter in grad school I created a family with like a parody of 1970s horror genre. So I was kind of poking fun about the 1970s horror and creating stereotypical characters that you know, got killed off by some serious monster that appears out of nowhere. And so in the beginning they're kind of if they're based in 1970s or sorry 1980s. And they're hanging out and having a good time. And there's a lot of bands are going back and forth and then one of the girls run off. Her boyfriend falls behind her and everyone's left. And the girl, when she leaves she ends up getting killed by the serial killer right very, very stereotypical the boy finds her screams and rushes back to his friends. And everyone's freaking out and they don't know what to do and suddenly the serial killer appears from the shadow and attacks them they all scramble and split up. And it's just completely ridiculous and they end up all getting killed. That's it. Yeah, but it was about a five page short film so five minutes. Yes, very short to the point. Not 2030 minutes we can't actually produce though that school. Were you the camera person on it. So I was the right director and producer I was not on what we call the first AC first assistant cameraman. So I was not that I had another colleague of mine being there. So you had to assemble your team. Yes, I had a team of about 12 people and six actors. Were the actors part of the master's program also or did you have to go outside the school to get them. Yeah, no, they were part of a, I guess, just like an online website for actors to find directors and find different projects so that's where I found these actors from as well. No, because the student film so we get to be free 99 over here. So what happened when the film was done did you post it anywhere. If I wanted to see this film this, what did you say five minute film with everybody dying from a monster. What was the name, what was the name of the film gender. So it was parody off of Friday the 13th so I call it Saturday the 14th. So it's like a horror comedy is not very scary it's kind of corny purposefully dialogue she be because you know, 80s low budget movies are kind of cheesy. I'll say yeah. Do you post it on YouTube or somewhere I mean if I, if I wanted to see your work on that film where would I look. You can find it on Vimeo.com I probably should. It's on Vimeo.com my Saturday the 14th. Okay. So, what did you learn in that experience. Again, I'm working on this one film Saturday the 14th. What did you learn what you know what did you bring to the table what did you learn at the table. What did you take away. So when I first entered my MFA program I knew nothing about filmmaking I knew something else I really want to do because I had all these stories in my head but I have never touched a camera never read the script never directed anything. I was always thrown in there and I had to sink or swim. So when came this product of the most ambitious thing I ever done I had a full cast of six, six people and 12 member crew I that was the largest crew and cast I ever had in my, you know, so far. I had to really learn how to work really hard to be organized to really just give everything I've got. This was a very ambitious project I have a lot of things that went wrong but know my producing skills I had to overcome them a lot. So I really learned how to persevere and to really just do my work really really hard and work my best. What was your grade on it. I got a B plus. It was like, almost a but my professor was not trying to interrupt. Maybe wasn't into the genre. I wish I had it. Next time. Next time. So what, what are you working on right now these days. So right now I'm just writing pilots I'm running a couple of pilots and outlining some features that I want to write in the future and a couple of others short films so a lot of writing, not so much directing right now but a lot of heavy writing. So are you aware I mean you can touch with the industry. Do you have a feeling about where you could fit in the industry once you graduate. So I think if so many stories and filmmakers that are coming out with their own different type of brand and storytelling so I think right now it's, it's becoming more and more diverse what people want to see on a big screen, especially independent markets there's a lot of more diverse voices in independent films. I think I could find my niche and I think I have that I looking for that audience I think I could find it. No, I think you have the charm. And let me say that, you know, you got to sell it yourself. It starts with you. And I think you could put a film up there but you still have to talk to people about it and make them see that it's relevant then it has art about it and audiences will come to see it. Okay, I have a question for you from one of our viewers. Sandra did UH West Oahu, a West Oahu degree. Oh, did your UH West Oahu degree prepare you well for your graduate, your graduate program. What's your answer to that. Well, I would say for my UHWO bachelor's degree, I took some screenwriting classes in there and it kind of scratched the surface of screenwriting so when I went into my screenwriting program I knew a bit already but obviously I didn't know the entire thing. So I would say work ethic right, worth ethic wise. My last senior year I worked really hard my senior thesis film and it somewhat prepared me for what my work ethic will look like in grad program, but I would honestly say it was a lot I had to learn my first quarter. You know, I don't think your bachelor's degree can prepare you a little bit but graduate degrees on a whole another level, you know, as you go up. What do you think your classmates, where are they from, what motivates them, what do they plan to do. So my classmates, I, my classmates come from a lot of places, some are actually from Atlanta itself. There's a lot of international students that come from like China. And I think there's a few that come from like Eastern Europe and different places in Africa. So there's a lot of people from various cultures that come with their own experience and their own knowledge, their own technique and how they want them to look and, you know, stay. My classmates are very diverse they come from different backgrounds and all of us actually have different interests like not all of us want to be directors or writers and some of us want to be the first AC they want to be the director of photography or the sound person that they want to be different roles as well. So I'm wondering if some of some of the these classmates from far away they are they coming to make, you know, to learn about how to make films that are fiction or nonfiction. I would imagine some of them want to go back home and make movies about what's going on in their in their home country. And that's why they want to do they want to have an effect. They want to have influence in their home country by making films that tell the story of their country what's going on my right. I was like, a lot of especially the students that come from China they bring their own experience from China and even some of their actors in their film speak Mandarin, I believe, and I think another language in China but they bring their own type of culture and you know what, you know, different aspects of their culture they put it into their work. And so it's definitely you could definitely tell a difference between the American students and the more international students and what they perceive as part. So what about the editing. I can do it, you know, I know a director would not edit and a writer certainly would not edit but there is editing there's always editing and we know that. And the question is, where do you find the editor is the editor also a student in the master's program. And do you supervise the as the director and writer to use supervise the editor and how. I would say right now, normally we are the editor. But actually collaborate with another student editor as well and I knew her from other classes and she's pretty well versed in camera and editing and post production work. So I need I needed her to help me out with my, my Saturday to 14 film action so she helped me. So when you do the editing what what program do you use what software. I think I use premiere pro. I haven't edited something in probably six months, I believe it was like premier pro my memory's a little wonky right now. Well so you know I wanted to talk to you also about how COVID affects you as a student. Maybe you're in a dormitory room. Okay, well, that's a feeling of a dormitory room. So, I mean how is it to live in Atlanta these days mean Georgia has had its ups and downs on COVID and you've had some, you know, political issues that have hit the national news. What about your observation of that. I guess sometimes it's a little embarrassing being part of Georgia right now. We tend to get popular in the news for all their own. Thank you, but I would say for code for coronavirus the pandemic and how it impacts me as a student well, my classes are all online and it's a film school so it's kind of hard trying to do online and, you know, do such a technical hands on program. So what my school has done is they made the equipment available for students that live in Atlanta, but obviously if you're someone who's not in Atlanta right now you can't, you don't have access to equipment. It's not the greatest situation really I miss being in class I miss collaborating with my fellow classmates so I am ready to get back to a normal program. When did they shut you down and stop having classes sometime in the spring. Yeah, so I think it was actually we're on a quarter system so literally, we ended school March 14. And the next day they were like oh we're going next spring quarter will be online so we kind of aligned better with us because we were already ending our winter quarter in March. So, what is it like to live in Atlanta though can you can you go to the store can you shopping can you can you go to a restaurant. Can you have a social gathering was it like. So, in Atlanta right now. Well, it's kind of it I guess you could probably seen it in the news of a conflict between you know the mayor and the governor right so it's. It's kind of barely some mixture of both that attitude where you know a little laissez faire and some people are very serious so it's literally just that mixture some people are going out to restaurants and use the bars pack and then you turn around and like a street is empty and everyone's like walking around mask is very, is very matched up right now. How about you, how do you conduct yourself in view of these risks and the conflicting instructions you're getting from city and state. Well, I've been staying indoors mainly honestly just trying to be more safe and go out with a mask on. Honestly, in this pandemic I've been able to tap more into my artistry as a filmmaker and understand the philosophy of what I want to bring to my films and, you know, really try and tap into what is my brand what do I want to say as a filmmaker and, you know, hopefully find out audience wants to see it. What do you want to say it's a filmmaker. My brand of the film I like to tap into a different philosophical existential questions in my film I really love exploring know who am I why am I here. What is my purpose in life I like putting those questions into my films and answering them for my characters. So what, you know, are you tossed on the question of whether to fiction films like the was it the Saturday the 14th film or, or nonfiction films documentaries. I mean I know that's that that's part of every every education film and TV to tackle documentaries that is that interest you have you done that do you want to do that. I think the documentaries I haven't yet seen a topic that I really want to explore to make a documentary about but I'm sure something will pop up. Honestly, most of the time I want to take historical events that happen and kind of turn it into a fictional, you know, situation or scenario so actually pull a lot from history and make it into like whatever fictional story that I have. Talking about American history or world history. World world and American history I love pulling from different things like Greece and ancient Romans and different things from Africa or East Asia I love point from different historical events in culture. You know, I'm, let me share that at least here in Hawaii. In my house. We watch movies now than we did before. Every day is capped off with a movie or two and then we go to Netflix or Amazon for the movie. And there are tons of movies. I don't know where they come from, but there are always new movies there and and you say to yourself cheese they're not wearing masks. This this movie had to be made, you know, last year. I haven't heard of it yet. It's like, they put it in a vault somewhere and they left it, they left it quietly and now they trot it out almost a year later. I don't understand that but I do and I post this to you Kendra, I do see the films changing. So many, what do I call it, trouble films with a fair amount of violence and vengeance and this sort of thing. Maybe they think that this kind of genre is appealing to people in the middle of the night who were getting a little, a little cooped up because of because of, COVID. And I wonder your thoughts about that whether that's happening elsewhere also, whether people are being cooped up and and looking for entertainment in this kind of dark film that that we are seeing more and more of, you know, on the internet and on cable. Yeah, so I definitely see that people is an evolution happening with moviegoers and audiences that are kind of more interested in seeing the darker, more shadow side of humanity. They want to see, you know, their deepest, your deepest thoughts, you know, your dark secrets and you're seeing more darker content. I believe that people are, you know, things in the world are kind of reflecting, you know, more darker things that are coming out in society. So I think people are just more interested in seeing more of the shadow side of things are not supposed to see the things, you know, you're not supposed to be interested in. I think more people are tapping into that and that's what I tap into I like looking at the shadow side of the world. And you know, the shadow side of humanity. Yeah, the evolution of the audience line to see more of that. Yeah, it's true. We're all evolving into COVID a new time and COVID and maybe, maybe better in some ways maybe not in other ways. The only thing I wanted to ask you is, is this, you know, it strikes me that we are living in very strange times politically I mean, you can see that in Georgia, but you can see that around the country. And if you read the newspapers or even watch the cable news every day, you see the strangest things happening and see our president doing things that no president has ever done. So this is great material. This is great material for documentaries or even, you know, semi documentaries about what's really going on here in our in our COVID and strange world with this president. I don't see that yet. I see some of it. I see some documentaries what I'm thinking is that it's it's building it's building under the hood. And at some point, maybe this year next year when it when it gets easier to make a movie, when you can go out, you don't have to wear a mask, and your actors don't have to worry about getting sick. At some point, it's going to be a storm, a flood of movies, both documentary and semi documentary about what in the world is going on in this country. I mean, I see you in a very, you know, attractive position, because you'll be there, and you'll you'll have your degree, and you'll have the all these possible subjects to cover that I think everybody will want to hear about everybody will want to know right now we don't have enough of it I think I I'd like to see some movies in that. The problem is that it's changing so fast under Donald Trump that you don't know what he's going to do from day to day. So it's very hard to get a beat and as a writer right as a script writer. It's hard to get a beat of how you can cover this, even the, even the cable news shows. They change their tune every hour. How can a movie maker do that the movie of the old and 20 minutes. But what are your thoughts about that. I think you know things that we see in this country are things that are repetitions of what we see through history and I think that you could. It's not hard to take what's happening that moment and reflect on what was happening in the past so I think someone like me. I like this moment right now, write a script. I think it will still be relevant. 20 years from now because corruption and politics and political, you know, fighting different sides that's been going on for decades and decades well centuries in this country. So I think if you get to us at the basis of everything which is corruption. That's a universal thing that people see. It could, you know, it could be whatever side you want to write about, but that basic which is corruption and evil and greed that's a universal ideas and no matter wherever time it is people will always look at that and it will find that appealing because that's just a universal idea to write about no matter what a political, you know, times it won't be, it won't get old. Yeah, I can see this going on for a while just the way it's going on now with unprecedented events unprecedented surprise events that nobody nobody has ever seen before I mean this election coming up is it's going to be great material. I may not have a good result in fact but great material and I hope you keep your and handy. Right political thriller right now so this is pretty interesting information to add to it. Yeah. Well okay we're almost out of time but I just want to make a movie recommendation to you okay. Well occupied occupied is a take off on an event that took place in 2010, where the Russians attempted to occupy Norway. And this is not, it's not a documentary by any means it's all fiction. And it's a 24 show series. It's so interesting to me it is a statement of modern movie making is it is very very very well written. And, and as you know I don't have to tell you that, you know that the writer, the one who has the ideas is the one who really makes the movie, you can't have a good movie without a good writer. Do you agree with me about that. Exactly the script makes embrace the movie is the foundation for making this group. Well take a take a look at that occupied. And I think you'll, you know, write me a note and tell me what you think of it I'd be interested in your evaluation. What do you say farewell to our think tech staff crew hosts and guests from Atlanta and telling me the thoughts now two years after your internship with us. Well, Kara, I think she may be watching hopefully I missed you so much of we were catching up so I miss you all. I don't know who's all the staff I think she told me like a lot of people. I don't know. I think Rob, she said Rob love and obviously Cindy passed away unfortunately. I'm not sure who else. I'm not sure. Well you have to come back and find out don't you think. Yes, but thank you to all for bringing me back I missed you guys tremendously. You guys are always in my thoughts and I will never forget you all I want to come back. I definitely want to come back. Great. Kendra Austin, one of our dear friends and now far away but we think of you. And we wish you all the best in your schooling and your career to follow. Thank you so much for appearing on think tech today Kendra. Thank you so much Jay for having me.