Blog 11: Lesson 1 Reflection

I just saw "Steve Jobs" and I loved how confident and charismatic Michael Fassbender was,
so I tried to do what he did for my lesson 1.

1. What are you most proud of in your lesson, and why?

People seemed to really like my presentation. I kept them engaged with my humor and amazing fun-loving personality. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm a pretty funny guy, so I'd say I'm very proud of my entertaining presentation. I also believe I taught the class a few things while making them laugh a few times, so I'm also proud of that. 

2. What assessment would you give yourself on your lesson? Explain why you earned that grade using evidence from the component contract.

I would give myself a P because I did all the P requirements but I didn't really go above and beyond because I think my hook was a bit weak, and I didn't really have any props other than my Laemmle book. But if you want to give me an AE, I wouldn't complain because I kind of need it...

3. If you could go back, what would you change about your lesson?  How can you use that knowledge to give a better Lesson 2?

I wouldn't change anything, I think my presentation was fine. I would however take the feedback I got and use it to make my 2nd presentation even better. I will try and sound a little more professional and memorize my bullets so I'm not always looking at my paper.

Blog 10: Interview 2 Reflection

Me and mah boy, Gregory Laemmlizzle 

1. Please explain how you are spending your mentorship time (Is it at a workplace or somewhere else?  Are you shadowing?  Are you able to do tasks that are meaningfully related to the topic?  If so, what?  Are there other people who are experts in the location?  Etc...)

I work at Laemmle Claremont 5. I work mostly in concession and clean theaters. My mentor is the General Manager, Cassie Gratton. But there are also a few other mangers at the theater who I can observe. I don't know their last names but there is Carlos, Izzy, Lexi and Chris.
2.  How did you find your mentor?  How did you convince this person to help you?  

I contacted the owner of Laemmle Theaters, Greg Laemmle, in the summer, by facebook. And he responded. I met with him during the summer and we agreed that my best bet was to mentor with the Manager of my local Laemmle theater. 

3. How would you rate your comfort level with your mentor at this point in your relationship?  How does this relate to the time you've spent so far at mentorship/with this person. 

I'm pretty comfortable with her, I guess. She's very serious, because she needs to be at times. But she's also very cool. She comes over to concession sometimes and talks to me about my project. 

4. What went well in this interview?  Why do you think so?  What do you still need to improve?  How do you know?  How will you go about it?

I think my interview went pretty well. The only thing I had an issue with was understanding him at times. He's obviously far more educated than I am, and he went to Berkeley, which is like nerd central. But other than that, I think it was  pretty good. I had fun.

Blog 9 - Advisory Prep 3

Me at work/mentorship

1. State whether or not you currently have a mentor, and what the status of your interview is with that person (I have completed the interview, I have scheduled the interview, I have not scheduled the interview, etc). 

Yes, I have a mentor. Her name is Cassie Gratton and we've been together for about 2 months.... but she's a bit shy, so she didnt really want to get interviewed again. So, I decided to interview Greg Laemmle, the owner of Laemmle Theaters. Im scheduled to interview him on friday 10/22 at 3pm

2. At this point, your research is probably guiding your studies toward more specific areas within your topic.  Name the area or two you find most promising and explain your reasons.   

"Managing a Movie Theater" is already a pretty specific area of my topic. So I think that's fine.

3. What kinds of sources do you think will help you in the next month to gain more research depth?  Where will you go to get them?

I dont know, I dont really like the article sources because my topic doesn't have a lot of written material to research. I want to find some YouTube interviews with different managers or maybe even an indie movie about managing a theater-type business.

4. Write down a possible EQ.  Please don't worry about wording other than ensuring that it provides the option for multiple correct answers.  At this point, the senior team is most interested in understanding your thought process.

How can a movie theater manager ensure the future success of their theater?

Blog 8: Independent Component 1 Proposal

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

I plan on making a short documentary that shows what goes on in a movie theater on a given day. I haven't talked to my mentor about it yet because I just came up with it but I think it could be cool. It would be in the style of "Troops", the Star Wars fan film from a few years ago. I would just silently follow people around all day and see what they are working on. Or maybe something like the pilot episode of "The Office" where the camera man just follows Michael Scott all day as he interacts with certain people.

Troops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvswNDAAZCU

Michael Scott in The Office Pilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuZy9d8ob88

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

I will take pictures of my planning and editing. I've never made a documentary but I'm sure a lot of planning goes into it. 

3.  Explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

 I think this would be very educational for my project because I wonder many times what the managers do in the box office.

Blog 7 - Second Interview Reflection

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?  If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

I am going to interview the owner of Laemmle Theaters, Greg Laemmle. I know I said that last time but this time I will get the interview. I have much more time to schedule a date. He's an expert for obvious reasons... He's the owner so he basically has to manage all 8 of the theaters. 

2.  What five questions will you ask them about their background?

When did you start working at the theater? and what was different about it then? 

Did you always know that you were going to someday take over the theater? 

Did you friends in High School always ask for free movie tickets? 

Have you always had a love for movies? 

Why do you have a degree in Marine Biology??

Blog 6 - Advisory house prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  

I have met some very interesting people, I met the owner of an awesome company,something I never thought I would of done. I have had a lot of fun working at the theater with a bunch of super chill college kids. During down time we just sit around a talk about movies. My boss/mentor Cassie Gratton is delightful, she is very fun to talk to and very interesting. 

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help?

The only thing i'm having trouble with is figuring out what to do for my independent component. My senior project is sort of straight forward and even my mentor thinks the only thing that is really necessary to be a good manager is to have a lot of customer service experience. Someone told me I could just mentor for more hours, so I might just do that. But if i'm feeling crazy I could make a model of my dream theater that's been in my mind forever, maybe I could make a stop motion movie of how it would run on a day to day basis.

Blog 5: Interview 1 Reflection

Me and my homie Cassie G

The back of Cassie's Business card

Interview Soudcloud

Interview Transcription

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

I learned that the Film Exhibition Industry is a very experience centered field. When they are looking for positions to fill, they look for people who have time and experience of their belt. My mentor doesn't even have a college degree, she just worked hard and now she's a general manager.  So it's great that I'm getting some job experience for my mentorship so that in the future I can have people to put on my resume. 

Some things I could of done differently, were some minor things like Introducing Cassie to the people listening before starting the interview and maybe just some more follow up questions that I could of asked.

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

Managing for Dummies is now on my amazon wish list and my mentor gave me the name of a person I could interview who works in the head office of Laemmle. His name is Kevin Gallagher. I could also Interview some of the other floor managers at Laemmle Claremont. Either Israel, who is super cool and he's a huge nerd like me. We hit it off immediately. Or I could Interview Lexi, who is super smart and great with customers. It's great seeing her work. 

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 

What you should be asking is, what makes me worthy you stand on the same ground
as this goddess. Lol, just kidding. Cassie is super awesome, she's been a General manager at Claremont for 8 years and a floor manager for 3 years before that. She knows a lot of the things that a general manager is faced with and I completely trust her because she keeps a tight ship. The Laemmle Claremont is always clean and is filled with wonderful people. Her included.