Day Fifteen: La Fémis and La Défense

The morning was dedicated to a visit at Paris’s prestigious film school, La Fémis.  We received a tour of the building and got to see HD cameras and various other equipment used for filming.  We were even able to walk onto a set, which was a little surreal.  It’s amazing how detailed every room of the “house” set was – and there was even a pseudo-backyard, which was only used for shots of the window in the set kitchen, when parts of the “yard” could possibly be seen out of focus.  I was very impressed by the intricate detail provided by these film students.  I'm still very inexperienced with all this though; I look forward to the progress I hope to make in the next 2-3 years.  We also got to see a few student films.  Two out of three resembled a professional film in its camerawork, acting, and writing.

Here's a secret: I picked up an application.  Don't tell anyone that my French isn't so good...

The "outdoor" set

In the afternoon we had a guest lecture with Professor Bernard Bastide, a film professor at the Sorbonne who worked closely with Agnès Verda, the director of Cléo from 5-7, for four years.  He wrote his thesis on the film and gave us an hour lecture on its important themes and basis of inspirations.  The subjective reflection of time--namely from Cléo's perspective--was an important topic of discussion, as well as the film's reflection of societal fears of the time - cancer and the Algerian war.  He also showed us paintings that were inspiration for Cléo's character, which were valuable insights.

After, the boys, my roommate and I decided to check out the metropolitan district of Paris.  We can see the skyline from out room, and I thought the area might be cool since I'm in love with the big city feel.  But boy was I wrong.

So far so good...

L'Arc de Défense.  Not particularly beautiful, but we're still doing okay...

And then this happens.  Yep, it's a thumb.  I'm in one of the most beautiful cities in the world and I am looking at a giant thumb.

So we got out of there fairly quickly, after harassing pigeons (a new pastime of mine) and attempting to feed them scraps.  The pigeons were big and dumb, but these ninja sparrows kept on flying in exceptionally quickly and stealing them.  I was proud.

Walking total: 7.2 miles.