Networking Party

Yes, I realize that I'm busting these off rather rapid fire... but I just like to talk a lot! ;D On with it now:...

In term one of Foundation we have a class called Project Development & Presentation Design (http://www.vfs.com/faculty.php?id=1&staff_id=481). This class basically teaches you how to meet (“network” with) “people who are in a position to help you”, to sell (“pitch”) your ideas to people (the ‘higher-ups’) and to convince people to do what you want them to do – for as free as possible!

On our last class we had a mock-cocktail party/networking exercise where we all got together, dressed up for an early Halloween theme with snacks and beverages. The objective of the class was to practice our networking skills; to talk with as many people as we could, get to know something about them, exchange some contact info if we didn’t already have it, and most importantly, leave a lasting impression so that they remember you – in a positive way. A prize was provided by our instructor (the beautiful and talented Jessica Clark ;-) ), for the person who people remembered the most by the end of the party. Well, needless to say, I won by unanimous decision! (HUURRAAAYYYY! :D) The Prize? Something that no one should ever be by without… PENS! Mini-pens that you can easily hold in your pocket!

The networking party was so successful that I managed to get Jessica’s contact information, and some really good information and tips on a documentary project that I’ve got in mind (a blog entry for another day).

Here are a few pics that I just got from a fellow student:

Alijan, Marie (AKA: Glen), Chris K., Jaclyn, Jessica, Nathalie

Brett, Jaclyn, David, Daphne, Johnny, Alijan, Jae-Woo

David, Me, (Nathalie), Alex

Jaclyn, Brett, Me, (Daphne), Shab

Martial Arts Pics by Request

Here are a couple photos of me in Thailand while I was training Muay Thai. The first is a frame capture from a short video a friend of mine made so it's not of very high quality.
Believe it or not, these are pretty well the only two pictures I have of me doing Muay Thai! I guess when you spend several months, training 5-6 days a week, 6+ hours a day, you start to take it for granted! :D


I have a couple friends that I trained with who I think have more photos, if I can find any of them then I'll post them up as well.

Peace, All.

Pics

Here's a few photos of (primarily) me, just for the hell of it:

An Intro to the Chronicles

Hi, my name’s Mathew Joki, and this is my blog. Some of you may know who I am already, some maybe not. I am currently a student at the Vancouver Film School, a couple weeks into my second term of the Foundation Visual Art and Design course (http://www.vfs.com/fulltime.php?id=1) and am looking at following a career in film. I’m not yet sure what area of film I want to be in yet, but that’s what I’m in the VFS Foundation course for! Ideally I would like to direct/produce/write for film, and I’m more than prepared to climb the latter in order to get there! I’m starting this blog for a few reasons actually:
1) To test my creative, philosophical, and mental limits and get some feedback – be it professional or personal, technical or objective – in the works that I showcase.
2) On the recommendation of one of my Term 1 instructors in the Foundation program, to use blogging as a good form of networking and staying in touch with people.
3) To make my readers – and myself – think a little harder than we may be used to from time to time with some philosophical paradoxes that I’ve either read, or that are just floating around in my head. I’m also going to try to show how they may relate to some film/story concepts I have.
4) To help out prospective Foundation students get an idea of what they’ll be doing in the program.
5) To inspire others working in design and media and to, in turn, hopefully gain some inspiration from them.
6) To let everyone know who I am, what I’m all about and what I’ve been doing in pursuit of reaching my career goals.
7) For the love of writing!



More About Me:

Alright, now that I’ve got that all out of the way I’ll just start with a quick little biography, so that you know where I’m at.

As I said, my name is Mathew Joki. I’m 19 years old, going to VFS and absolutely loving it! I grew up in small-town, Saskatchewan – nothing important really happened there…:P I moved to a slightly larger center on the boarder of Alberta and Saskatchewan (Lloydminster) when I was about 15. I took up Tae Kwon Do there and discovered martial arts as one of my life’s passions. At about the same time I was making some short films with my friends and started teaching myself how to use several different graphics and video editing softwares including: Adobe Premiere, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and particleIllusions. The same time I experimented with several consumer grade music authoring softwares, and started to make some rather bad music with techno/dance/house influences. When I was 16, I decided that I wanted to travel Asia for a year in order to study martial arts. When I was 17, after just under 3 years of dedicated study of Tae Kwon Do, I got my first degree Black Belt. I was the third person in the 20 years that my instructor has been teaching to get their black belt in less than 3 years. Mainly, the reason for getting my black belt so early (usually it takes 5-7 years) was because I came and practiced by myself 5+ times a week, I was planning on training in Asia for the next year and my instructor wanted to be the one to give me the black belt.

At the beginning of September, 2005 I left to Thailand. I traveled and trained Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing) all over Thailand for eight months, also spending two months in the middle of my journey in China studying Shaolin Kung Fu. As you can imagine, I’ve got a TON of stories from those adventures, which I’ll probably flash-back to over the course o this blog. In Asia, I kept a sort of email journal and discovered a bit of a passion for blogging. So here as a continuation: of my life in Vancouver; going to film school; the work I’ve done in the entertainment industry; my day-to-day experiences; of my random stories, ideas and imagination.

And there we go, the first entry in my blog. A little bit lengthy, I apologize, but a necessary intro to the chronicles of my life. I hope you enjoy my blog and comment and some of the stuff that I post

This is a test...