Face to face madness

When you're in Hamburg in the vicinity of the Mundsburg shopping center, you might see strange things going on in the street. Young students who suddenly run to the middle of the road – in between driving cars - roll out a carpet on the street, then stand back to photograph it. A group of people building a wall with bricks. A regular guy walking on the street accompanied by a clown. If you see any of this madness, there's a good chance that the Face to Face week has started at the Miami Ad School. When you have to execute campaigns there, you're usually not allowed to use any stock material, so you had to work together with other students and make photographs or illustrations together. And if 50 students execute all their ideas for the evaluation at the same time, you can imagine that it's total craziness on the streets around the school. The epicenter of this madness is the school building itself. Students work day and night. Some even stay awake for three days in a row. One French student actually broke his toe and refused to see a doctor because it would mean he'd lose time. This hard work goes hand in hand with strong emotions of course. Nothing binds a group together more than being in one building and all having the same obsessive craze. But there were also students who would scream at each other. And some girls would freak out because they couldn't handle the pressure. Once, a first quarter student was freaking out in front of the school. She was shaking, crying and screaming at her classmates. They had to make a small book and she had no clue how to make the book in the little time they had. I told her: "When I first started here I heard that almost no one has work they made during the first two quarters in their final portfolio. And I found that this is true, because you'll make better work in the course of your training. So I wouldn't worry too much about this little book." Upon hearing these words, a heavy load fell off her. Yes, the Face to Face is important, but sometimes you had to be realistic: it's just an evaluation, not Judgment Day.