Students Hartley Haverty and Melissa Wong use their multi-talented skills in order to produce, film, edit, and bring to life everything that is FIDM's reality show Living the FIDM Life. After two years on hiatus, the reality show was relaunched back at the end of 2008. Now, we're able to see a piece of what reality is like at FIDM, and what it really means to "live the FIDM life."
FC: What is Living the FIDM Life?
Haverty: "Our premise so far has been that Melissa and I are Digital Media students and we are working together to create a reality show, so it's kind of behind the scenes of a reality show in a reality show."
Wong: "Even though it's more specific to what we're doing right now, I think at the same time it is called Living the FIDM Life and I think there is a universal aspect to where everyone is going through a program--whether it's Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Digital Media, or Interior Design, we are all going through stress at once and dealing with all these things at once and showing how students go about dealing with the pressure."
FC: Who are the individuals involved?
Haverty: "It's people that we pick; mainly right now, the first two episodes that we've worked on focus on the Digital Media Center and how we integrate with the rest of the school, especially with the FIDM Debut Runway Show and projects like the Graphic Design and Digital Media Competition, where students are working together on projects."
Wong: "Eventually we would hope to carry on to different majors. Right now it's competitions within Digital Media and Graphic Design but hopefully it will evolve between Marketing, Interior Design, Fashion, and other majors."
FC: What is the Graphic Design and Digital Media Competition all about?
Haverty: "Basically the Graphic Design and Digital Media students are paired up, so they are working in teams of two. They've been given a band named "Seriously" that they have a single from; the Digital Media student will be working on a music video for the band and the Graphic Design student will be working on the album cover design and posters for the band and their single.
They will be given three tasks. They are currently working on their first task. They had to go to the zoo and pick an animal that embraces their concept for their idea for their music video and designs. These students have such amazing skill sets that they use to come together and make it work to create a product that is cohesive."
Wong: "The last judging we are going to put up on youtube so the youtube viewers will actually have input on who they think should win. That will be part of the judging for the last episode."
FC: What is your opinion on reality shows?
Haverty: "Now working on one, it's interesting how much things are staged. I mean I still love all of my reality shows. It's technically not scripted but you might need to recreate and reenact, so it is set up a lot of the times. I can look at a lot of shows and know which ones are set up. But it's entertaining because of the characters that people choose. If you get conflict and personality then kudos to the producers for choosing those people because they put them into those situations and they're gonna go at it, so that's real in that sense."
Wong: "It's a lot of planning, although it's reality you need to know where to be and what time. It is reality in a sense that we are in these situations, but we need to make sure we have a camera around."
FC: What is the difference between this reality show and others?
Wong: "I think we are actually working on real world things, and it's really stressful. We're not lying when we're stressing out and going crazy because it is actually what we feel. I think Hartley and I, we're not acting in front of the camera. We talk to the audience genuinely and we're not trying to be other people. This is really who we are."
Haverty: "I would say the difference also is we don't have a crew. I mean it's me and Melissa working camera, working sound, editing (most of it). It's hard when you're on the field and you have to run the entire show. It's kind of like a two-person crew."
FC: What do you think about the Digital Media program at FIDM?
Wong: "One of the things that makes it special is how small it is right now because everyone knows everyone. You're really comfortable with the instructor and with your peers. It's really fast paced and we don't learn just one thing. We learn many skills simultaneously so that we're not stuck in a situation where we wouldn't know what to do."
Haverty: "It's great because teachers can pay closer attention to what your main focus is. Working on this reality show I've been on job interviews where people are very impressed that I can wear a number of different hats. Knowing you can do all those different skills without going crazy is very impressive."
FC: Future goals for the show and in your lives?
Wong: "Ultimately I want to work in the Entertainment Industry. I do enjoy editing and that will lead me to where I want to go. After graduating I'm going to be moving to Japan because I want to travel and see the world and get experiences from different places before I actually settle down into one set career. I think right now it's the best time for me to explore."
Haverty: "I'm working on the show for now. I would like to see this competition be finished and all the episodes be finished. That's my short-term goal. I'm currently going on interviews for full-time jobs because I do want to get my foot in the door. I think now it's timing and riding the wave until someone says they have a project that they will bring me on for."
FC: How do you feel about the current economy?
Wong: With the connections and the reputations that we set for ourselves, I think we'll come out of it o.k. We learn the skills we need here, we just need the chance to prove ourselves. Once we get our foot in the door, we'll be able to meet our ultimate goals."
Haverty: "I think I would have a harder time right now if I didn't have a degree or some kind of forte to show what I do. This is definitely the time to go get a degree!"
Watch season 2, episode 1 of Living the FIDM Life!
- Arali
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