Goddamn Brownies

Today, I spent my time helping judge eight different short videos from high school students in a competition. These were not fiction, they had a prompt and had to sell the viewer on their program of choice at their school. The quality was widely varied between each disc. The bad were really bad, but the few good were really good. In fact, the first place team will probably be someone I'll end up working for in the near future. Bright kids with a firm grasp on the equipment and production process.

Watching the final products was entertaining, more for our comments/laughter between judges, but the interview process was, to say the least, awkward. I couldn't help but remember the few times I competed in UIL sanctioned events back in Junior High and High School. In Junior High there were a couple of drama tournaments were I did impromptu speaking and all I can really remember is Greg Montgomery snorting Fun Dip. His nose was tickled and when he sneezed red snot swung from his nose while we all laughed.

I never knew a class like this existed in high school. I of course knew of Jan (who could miss him, heh) but never really knew what he taught. Band and drumline consumed most of my life so I might not have had time for Media Tech, but I would have loved to do this. If only I would have started in the production biz then I would be much further along in the ranks than my current situation. Oh well.