Tuesdays were intense at ICF. On Tuesdays, we would be in Hollywood at Mole Richardson.

On the first Tuesday to Mole Richardson, I had no idea I was suppose to be in Hollywood and I didn’t know what Mole Richardson was. Thank God Karla read the schedule. I had no idea what to expect. I don’t even remember how we got there since I only drove on the streets at the time. It took forever and we were late since I didn’t realize we were going to head towards Hollywood instead of Santa Monica. Of course I didn’t know to get there but I think I was trying to use my GPS on my cheap phone to get there or we wouldn’t ever get there.

We got to Hollywood. We drove down some streets with these small houses. The streets seemed like they carried a lot of weight on them. No physical weight, I mean like emotional weight. Hollywood seemed like it had a lot of baggage.

Let me tell you something, Mole Richardson was nearly impossible to find. I didn’t see a building with clear signs. We circle the place where Mole was supposed to be but we couldn’t find it. So we called Elizabeth who was the office manager. She was the go-to person to call when we needed anything. She was great. Elizabeth said we were at the right place. She told us to find parking on the street which took forever and then she came to get us. We followed her into this warehouse-looking building. It looked like a place where murders happened. Now, this felt like uncovering the secrets of Hollywood. A hidden studio/equipment area in the middle of Hollywood. We entered the warehouse and there it was, Mole Richardson. Mole Richardson was this super important company in the industry that was responsible for all aspects of lighting in the industry. It was established in 1927. I felt overwhelmed and excited. Even as I write about it, the feeling of excitement lingers in me. I remember there being bleachers inside the ware house and we were instructed to sit there. It was uncomfortable afterwhile but we survived. At Mole Richarson, we had classes in lighting, cinematographer, directing and more. One of the first things I remember being told was that if I knew how to use a grip that I would be hired before a person who didn’t know how to use it. We took time to practice how to put together a grip. We practiced lighening the stage that was in the ware house. We learned how to use the fancy Sony camera’s that we were set to use for our own shoots. After each lesson, we were usually fed sandwiches provided by ICF.

It was a cool building. I remember they demonstrated the batman light for us.

Let me tell you something about me. I am a hands on learner. Mole Richarson was a bunch of lecture and then we were thrown in to practice which helped but I definietly needed more practice. I needed more opportunity to fail at lighting until I mastered it. Mole Richardson always made me think of the movie Scream. The part when they were filming Stab and the killer was on the movie set.

Guess what? I still rememeber what barn doors are in lighting!

Angelo Pacific was our cinematographer Instructor and lighting.

Aimee Lagos was our director Instructor.

Cheers,

Frshta