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Meet Bodie, filmmaker & storyteller
September 29, 2015
Bodie is an award winning writer and director of
short films
and other projects that have aired on MTVu, Logo, and the Sundance Channel, and has collaborated with
DJ ShyBoy
to create
music videos
for his debut album Water on Mars. Currently Bodie’s video work can be seen as part of the Los Angeles Public Library’s exhibit, “
To Live and Dine in L.A.
” exploring food culture and issues of food justice in and around L.A.
We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at
+GoogleDocs
or
@googledocs
with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed.
1. Hey Bodie! Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
I see myself as a jack-of-all-trades film/media maker/storyteller/… . Although my background is firmly rooted in traditional forms of storytelling--like theatre and film--I’m fortunate that over the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to expand my knowledge of all things new-media related.
Currently I’m an assistant professor of cinematic practice at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts’ division of
Media Arts + Practice
. I teach documentary film production, web design,
installation-based storytelling
, and everything in between. The incredible group of faculty, staff, and students in our department are exploring all types of media (interactive, immersive, web-based, etc.) and how it can be used to critically engage with the issues most pressing to our culture and society. It’s an exciting place to be and, even though I’m a professor, I feel like I learn more than my students every day!
With my newfound awareness of the possibilities inherent to these emergent modes of storytelling, I’m now collaborating with many artists and designers to develop stories that will harness these technologies. This doesn’t mean I’ve completely turned my back on narrative feature films (in fact, I’m in various stages of the writing process for three), but because every project can take such a long time to gestate, I’m a firm believer of casting as wide a net as possible to keep the artistic practice in tip-top shape.
2. How does Google Docs fit into your filmmaking and teaching?
Google Docs is integral to all that I do; I use it to keep track of any ideas I have for future projects, my artistic partners and I use all of the Docs tools for our collaborations, and I use it in my classes as a space in which my students can ideate for group projects.
Re-reading that paragraph I find it amusing because I don’t think I have ever thought of word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations as artistic tools, but the way Google has designed them (and continually improved them) they’ve truly become a key part of my creative process.
3. What are 3 tips you’d give for filmmakers who use/would consider using Google Docs?
Try to think outside of the box - I’ve adapted Sheets to a 3x5” index card technique I learned at UCLA as a way to map out my screenplays, Slides has become a good pre-visualization tool for my video shoots, and Docs can be adapted to use for almost any idea!
Sync to your devices - I use the entire suite on my phone, laptop, and desktop at school. The mobility it allows is incredible and saves me from having to make multiple copies of documents for each device.
Collaborate - the fullest potential of Google Docs is only revealed once you use it to work with others.
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