(no subject)
I feel so lame that all I really talked about while I was on set was how I had to get up early and it made me sleepy. I'd rather have to get up at 3:30 am and be sleepy on set, worn out and exhausted, than be in class. Boo. It's hard to think about getting back into a class state of mind.
So I'll talk a little bit about set and what the show was like.
It was the best thesis set I was on. The ATL had their disagreements and issues (director, DP, designer, producer) but nothing major. The 1st AD (assistant director, runs the set) was mellow and while he probably could have kept things moving a little better, he didn't yell once nor did he get upset over stupid things (both of which I've seen a number of times onset). There were trying moments, like when no one knew from one shot to the next what we were doing (I have a great picture on facebook of Clay with the slate and under scene it says "No Idea"), but over all it seemed to go pretty smoothly.
They did some shady stuff with overtime,which is a huge no no. Here in film school we get a certain amount of over time, and if we go beyond that we get penalized by subtraction of editing time. Which makes sense when translated into industry terms. If you use up all your budget on paying a crew for over time, you'll have less money to pay an editor. On this show they used over time for us driving out there every day (so that's automatically 30 minutes a day they used), then we went into meal penality a few times (you have to have a meal every 6 hours of shooting, so if you shoot beyond 6 hours from call... well you get 12 minutes grace, but if you go beyond that, you use double overtime). And then on the last day, even though we didn't have any over time left, they still shot 35 minutes after we were supposed to wrap. But because the Key Grip and Gaffer were able to load the truck in twenty minutes (instead of the allotted 45 minutes), they were able to fudge their reports and claim that we hadn't used any over time that day. Riiiiight. While I understand that they're trying to preserve editing time (which is obviously very important), expecting a crew to wrap in 20 minutes is unreasonable. Just because it's possible, doesn't mean that it should be expected.
But along with the shady overtime counting (which i can't be too critical off... I miscounted over time for the thesis I was 2nd AD for, accidently because i forgot about all the times we used grace... and of course no one corrected it because it gave them more over time, but whatev, it was an honest mistake on my part), we had a lot of fun. Well i had a lot of fun. Sure Jaye was annoying as all hell as my sound mixer and there were times when I thought about bashing her over the head and taking over her job, but it was fun watching the second years get her all riled up and laughing at her shinanigans. This was the first set I was on with Mike, and excepting one day when he was in an awful mood, it was hilarious to be around him.
I was Boom Op, and while sometimes I wished I was sound mixer, Booming is a pretty good gig. No paper work. No subbordinates. Very little equipment that comes on a cart. Plus you get to be right there on set in the middle of it all. At times this can be frustrating, obviously. You're holding a long pole, trying to get good sound, but there are people all around you, and lights all around you, and you can't very well hit either of them with the pole. On top of that, more important to the shot is the actual visual, so your mic, pole, and self, have to be out of the shot (trust me, there were a few where I was like "you're sure I can stand here?" so I might have an accidental cameo in the movie, lol) and you have to keep your shadow and the shadow of the boom out of the shot. Some shots it's simple. Some, not so much. Luckily on this movie we used a lot of natural light, which meant that we didn't have a whole lot of artificial light for me to get in the way of.
I helped out Derek as much and as often as I could, because I felt bad his Art Director baled on him (which was sort of cruel since she's his gf, but I think she baled so that she could produce his movie... so, I guess that's not as bad). But as Production Designer he had a huge job of trying to make Northern Florida look like Africa. And we were shooting in an abandoned house (and fields), so he had to bring in absolutely everything. He jokingly said I get an art assist credit... which I'm secretly hoping I do. On one hand that would be awesome, on the other hand I don't feel like I did that much. *shrug* I like Derek though. I've adopted him as a big brother.
And I'm sad that I'm done with thesis 2009. I don't have any more sets, and for the last month of this semester I'll be in class. Bleh. I make no secret of the fact that I'm not looking forward to going back to class. In fact I told both Derek and Sylvia to tell Reb that they need me on set this month so I can't be in class. I wish it was that easy.
It's not the classes are hard or the hours are worse than set (they're actually much better, particularly this semester, and you get weekends 'off'), but can you imagine being on set... working on a film, even if it isn't "your" film, watching and helping a movie being made. Standing next the the camera, and listening to the production audio, and seeing the director talking to her actors... Making movies. Then, when the month is over, you get to go sit at a desk and listen to Rex talk about Red Cine and how to change the look of the film, or sit at a desk and listen to Jed talk about costumes, or sit and listen to Chuck talk about sound. It's a lot of sitting and listening, while you know that half of the class is out on set making movies.
I am looking forward to going back to directing class, because I do like that class alot and feel like it's been very benifical, and then in writing we're going to be pounding out a script for our d2s so that's cool. The rest of it however? I could do without. Particularly the homework. I mean, Cine and Design wouldn't be awful if we didn't then have homework on top of it. Same with Genres. Producing is like hell. It's four hours a week of personal hell.
I went to Zoila's last night for a little birthday dinner (her mom made fried chicken, delicious. I love that her mom drove up just to be with her on her birthday). It was good, I got to see a lot of people from the other track that I haven't seen in ages (people from my track too that i haven't seen all month, like Bobby). Zoila cracks me up and I had a great time. People came after set, some second years came by, and generally I thought it was fantastic. I want to have a party like that here at the end of the semester. I just need to figure out when that is. I'm seriously considering a trip to LA to visit my brother between this semester and the next one so I'd have to time it well... have time for the party, and clean up, and then a visit. It's kind of a lot. We'll see.
d
So I'll talk a little bit about set and what the show was like.
It was the best thesis set I was on. The ATL had their disagreements and issues (director, DP, designer, producer) but nothing major. The 1st AD (assistant director, runs the set) was mellow and while he probably could have kept things moving a little better, he didn't yell once nor did he get upset over stupid things (both of which I've seen a number of times onset). There were trying moments, like when no one knew from one shot to the next what we were doing (I have a great picture on facebook of Clay with the slate and under scene it says "No Idea"), but over all it seemed to go pretty smoothly.
They did some shady stuff with overtime,which is a huge no no. Here in film school we get a certain amount of over time, and if we go beyond that we get penalized by subtraction of editing time. Which makes sense when translated into industry terms. If you use up all your budget on paying a crew for over time, you'll have less money to pay an editor. On this show they used over time for us driving out there every day (so that's automatically 30 minutes a day they used), then we went into meal penality a few times (you have to have a meal every 6 hours of shooting, so if you shoot beyond 6 hours from call... well you get 12 minutes grace, but if you go beyond that, you use double overtime). And then on the last day, even though we didn't have any over time left, they still shot 35 minutes after we were supposed to wrap. But because the Key Grip and Gaffer were able to load the truck in twenty minutes (instead of the allotted 45 minutes), they were able to fudge their reports and claim that we hadn't used any over time that day. Riiiiight. While I understand that they're trying to preserve editing time (which is obviously very important), expecting a crew to wrap in 20 minutes is unreasonable. Just because it's possible, doesn't mean that it should be expected.
But along with the shady overtime counting (which i can't be too critical off... I miscounted over time for the thesis I was 2nd AD for, accidently because i forgot about all the times we used grace... and of course no one corrected it because it gave them more over time, but whatev, it was an honest mistake on my part), we had a lot of fun. Well i had a lot of fun. Sure Jaye was annoying as all hell as my sound mixer and there were times when I thought about bashing her over the head and taking over her job, but it was fun watching the second years get her all riled up and laughing at her shinanigans. This was the first set I was on with Mike, and excepting one day when he was in an awful mood, it was hilarious to be around him.
I was Boom Op, and while sometimes I wished I was sound mixer, Booming is a pretty good gig. No paper work. No subbordinates. Very little equipment that comes on a cart. Plus you get to be right there on set in the middle of it all. At times this can be frustrating, obviously. You're holding a long pole, trying to get good sound, but there are people all around you, and lights all around you, and you can't very well hit either of them with the pole. On top of that, more important to the shot is the actual visual, so your mic, pole, and self, have to be out of the shot (trust me, there were a few where I was like "you're sure I can stand here?" so I might have an accidental cameo in the movie, lol) and you have to keep your shadow and the shadow of the boom out of the shot. Some shots it's simple. Some, not so much. Luckily on this movie we used a lot of natural light, which meant that we didn't have a whole lot of artificial light for me to get in the way of.
I helped out Derek as much and as often as I could, because I felt bad his Art Director baled on him (which was sort of cruel since she's his gf, but I think she baled so that she could produce his movie... so, I guess that's not as bad). But as Production Designer he had a huge job of trying to make Northern Florida look like Africa. And we were shooting in an abandoned house (and fields), so he had to bring in absolutely everything. He jokingly said I get an art assist credit... which I'm secretly hoping I do. On one hand that would be awesome, on the other hand I don't feel like I did that much. *shrug* I like Derek though. I've adopted him as a big brother.
And I'm sad that I'm done with thesis 2009. I don't have any more sets, and for the last month of this semester I'll be in class. Bleh. I make no secret of the fact that I'm not looking forward to going back to class. In fact I told both Derek and Sylvia to tell Reb that they need me on set this month so I can't be in class. I wish it was that easy.
It's not the classes are hard or the hours are worse than set (they're actually much better, particularly this semester, and you get weekends 'off'), but can you imagine being on set... working on a film, even if it isn't "your" film, watching and helping a movie being made. Standing next the the camera, and listening to the production audio, and seeing the director talking to her actors... Making movies. Then, when the month is over, you get to go sit at a desk and listen to Rex talk about Red Cine and how to change the look of the film, or sit at a desk and listen to Jed talk about costumes, or sit and listen to Chuck talk about sound. It's a lot of sitting and listening, while you know that half of the class is out on set making movies.
I am looking forward to going back to directing class, because I do like that class alot and feel like it's been very benifical, and then in writing we're going to be pounding out a script for our d2s so that's cool. The rest of it however? I could do without. Particularly the homework. I mean, Cine and Design wouldn't be awful if we didn't then have homework on top of it. Same with Genres. Producing is like hell. It's four hours a week of personal hell.
I went to Zoila's last night for a little birthday dinner (her mom made fried chicken, delicious. I love that her mom drove up just to be with her on her birthday). It was good, I got to see a lot of people from the other track that I haven't seen in ages (people from my track too that i haven't seen all month, like Bobby). Zoila cracks me up and I had a great time. People came after set, some second years came by, and generally I thought it was fantastic. I want to have a party like that here at the end of the semester. I just need to figure out when that is. I'm seriously considering a trip to LA to visit my brother between this semester and the next one so I'd have to time it well... have time for the party, and clean up, and then a visit. It's kind of a lot. We'll see.
d