My problems, let me tell you them
So I just need to rant a little bit about today.
A warning: this is probably rife with grammatical errors, changes in tense and run-on sentences. Forgive me.
Today started with me waking up at 2 pm. I don't know how this happened, as I'd set my alarm for 11:20, but vaguely sort of remember waking up on my own around 9:30, so I probably turned my alarm off then because YEAH CLEARLY I WAS ABOUT TO WAKE UP FOR REAL. Fail, self.
So I woke up at 2, and I have class at 2:10. So I literally throw on pants and a sweatshirt and run out the door.
My only class today was Film Production, which is three hours long. We're in a bit of an awkward stage in the class, as our first films are due in one week. We're in groups, and my group is in good shape-- probably the best of anyone in the class. We're maybe 90% done with the film. But the thing is... we've been 90% done for like a week and a half. Every time someone goes in to edit something, some other part of the movie will disappear, or the timing with the music will be thrown off, or an effect will fail to render, or scenes will get switched around. When you have four people editing the same file separately, shit like this is bound to happen. But I'm getting so sick of it, and I really just want this film behind me. OH, AND, there are critiques our professor keeps making that we cannot possibly follow, because we don't have time to reshoot. I think it will turn out well, but being on the precipice like this is just really stressful.
BUT APPARENTLY, I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A PRECIPICE LOOKED LIKE.
A lot of kids, it seems, e-mailed the professor because they were unsatisfied with the group they were in-- so instead of giving us the option of swapping out, he decided to re-form teams from scratch. Unfortunately, this degenerated into kids who knew each other forming groups, and the kids who didn't being thrown into an arbitrary grab-bag. I really liked my old group. And the two new guys I'm working with... well.
For today, we were ALL supposed to come in with a pitch for our next film, to put to our group to vote on. Whereas we could act in our first films, which are seven minute silents, this next project is supposed to be bigger: we can have dialogue, it's got to be at least ten minutes, and we have to find actors. Also notable: we have even less time to shoot this film than we had for the first, and shooting will run right into Thanksgiving and a shit ton of other commitments, and ugh. What we've learned is that films need to be SMALL here-- few actors, few scene changes, and just... y'know. Achievable goals.
My new group members have no concept of achievable goals.
My pitch was simple, and based on Hayley's Grammar Fairy idea: we have a guy who's VERY sick with a cold, but he has a paper due in the morning that he hasn't started. He chugs a bunch of Robitussin to get through the night, and is then visited by the Grammar Fairy-- an obnoxious winged girl who bitches him out about comma splicing and the difference between every day and everyday. Slowly but surely, their bickering would transform into an honest working relationship. The paper gets written. And as the sun rises and he goes to print... he jerks awake, realizing he'd fallen asleep in front of an empty word document, and he'd dreamed the whole thing. He has nothing to hand in.
Yes, "it was all a dream" is the most cliched short film ending ever. Yes, this is a light and fluffy and silly idea. I can admit that, and I don't mind if you want to go in a different direction. But hey, new group members? If you're gonna shoot my idea down, then FUCKING COME TO CLASS WITH IDEAS OF YOUR OWN.
After rejecting my pitch-- the only one we had-- it became increasingly clear that the three of us have almost nothing in common, creativity-wise. They're clearly smart guys, but we just... our concepts of what makes a good, worthwhile project are completely incompatible. One of them wanted to shoot the whole thing in Boston. "I'm from L.A., right, and I just think that shooting in the city will give us some really great visuals." Do you have an idea? "No." Well, dude, let me tell you. If there are three of us, and we need to also coordinate with ACTORS, and lug camera equipment, then how the fuck is this gonna work? Assuming we can all find a time in our schedule to shoot together-- which is a huge assumption-- then we're already losing time. Say we can all meet from 11-3 on a Saturday. If we shoot on campus then we can just get started. If we're first driving into the city then? We'll cut our time in half, at least. Fucking IDIOT.
We ended up with this kind of half-baked idea about a love story that takes place at a Quiznos. I don't hate it, but it's severely under-developed and we need to have a solid pitch and an ending before the professor will even let us START the script. A script that I cannot write, because I wrote the script for my other film and he wants to spread the wealth a little. I understand that, and normally I'd be happy not to carry the burden, but now it means I have to trust one of these two jackasses to write a workable script and hand it in before dawn on Monday morning. YES, YOU HEARD RIGHT. A COMPLETED FIRST SCRIPT IS DUE AT THE END OF THE WEEKEND.
And, like. That was my morning. Maybe I'd have coped better if I hadn't just barely made it to class, I dunno. But now it's the evening and I have an a cappella gig in a few hours and we're doing my solo, and I don't... feel like a person right now. I won't get much sleep tonight, and then tomorrow is class FOREVER and then going back to the media lab to try and finish my damn FIRST film, and then I can't even enjoy my weekend properly because my a cappella group is going into Boston on Saturday morning to do more CD recording. (Actually this is mostly awesome, but fuck if it's not stressful.)
IS IT SATURDAY NIGHT YET? I JUST WANT TO HIDE IN MY CAVE FOREVER.
Related: does anyone have an mp3 of Dean Martin's "That's Amore" they could upload for me? It's for Film #1.
A warning: this is probably rife with grammatical errors, changes in tense and run-on sentences. Forgive me.
Today started with me waking up at 2 pm. I don't know how this happened, as I'd set my alarm for 11:20, but vaguely sort of remember waking up on my own around 9:30, so I probably turned my alarm off then because YEAH CLEARLY I WAS ABOUT TO WAKE UP FOR REAL. Fail, self.
So I woke up at 2, and I have class at 2:10. So I literally throw on pants and a sweatshirt and run out the door.
My only class today was Film Production, which is three hours long. We're in a bit of an awkward stage in the class, as our first films are due in one week. We're in groups, and my group is in good shape-- probably the best of anyone in the class. We're maybe 90% done with the film. But the thing is... we've been 90% done for like a week and a half. Every time someone goes in to edit something, some other part of the movie will disappear, or the timing with the music will be thrown off, or an effect will fail to render, or scenes will get switched around. When you have four people editing the same file separately, shit like this is bound to happen. But I'm getting so sick of it, and I really just want this film behind me. OH, AND, there are critiques our professor keeps making that we cannot possibly follow, because we don't have time to reshoot. I think it will turn out well, but being on the precipice like this is just really stressful.
BUT APPARENTLY, I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT A PRECIPICE LOOKED LIKE.
A lot of kids, it seems, e-mailed the professor because they were unsatisfied with the group they were in-- so instead of giving us the option of swapping out, he decided to re-form teams from scratch. Unfortunately, this degenerated into kids who knew each other forming groups, and the kids who didn't being thrown into an arbitrary grab-bag. I really liked my old group. And the two new guys I'm working with... well.
For today, we were ALL supposed to come in with a pitch for our next film, to put to our group to vote on. Whereas we could act in our first films, which are seven minute silents, this next project is supposed to be bigger: we can have dialogue, it's got to be at least ten minutes, and we have to find actors. Also notable: we have even less time to shoot this film than we had for the first, and shooting will run right into Thanksgiving and a shit ton of other commitments, and ugh. What we've learned is that films need to be SMALL here-- few actors, few scene changes, and just... y'know. Achievable goals.
My new group members have no concept of achievable goals.
My pitch was simple, and based on Hayley's Grammar Fairy idea: we have a guy who's VERY sick with a cold, but he has a paper due in the morning that he hasn't started. He chugs a bunch of Robitussin to get through the night, and is then visited by the Grammar Fairy-- an obnoxious winged girl who bitches him out about comma splicing and the difference between every day and everyday. Slowly but surely, their bickering would transform into an honest working relationship. The paper gets written. And as the sun rises and he goes to print... he jerks awake, realizing he'd fallen asleep in front of an empty word document, and he'd dreamed the whole thing. He has nothing to hand in.
Yes, "it was all a dream" is the most cliched short film ending ever. Yes, this is a light and fluffy and silly idea. I can admit that, and I don't mind if you want to go in a different direction. But hey, new group members? If you're gonna shoot my idea down, then FUCKING COME TO CLASS WITH IDEAS OF YOUR OWN.
After rejecting my pitch-- the only one we had-- it became increasingly clear that the three of us have almost nothing in common, creativity-wise. They're clearly smart guys, but we just... our concepts of what makes a good, worthwhile project are completely incompatible. One of them wanted to shoot the whole thing in Boston. "I'm from L.A., right, and I just think that shooting in the city will give us some really great visuals." Do you have an idea? "No." Well, dude, let me tell you. If there are three of us, and we need to also coordinate with ACTORS, and lug camera equipment, then how the fuck is this gonna work? Assuming we can all find a time in our schedule to shoot together-- which is a huge assumption-- then we're already losing time. Say we can all meet from 11-3 on a Saturday. If we shoot on campus then we can just get started. If we're first driving into the city then? We'll cut our time in half, at least. Fucking IDIOT.
We ended up with this kind of half-baked idea about a love story that takes place at a Quiznos. I don't hate it, but it's severely under-developed and we need to have a solid pitch and an ending before the professor will even let us START the script. A script that I cannot write, because I wrote the script for my other film and he wants to spread the wealth a little. I understand that, and normally I'd be happy not to carry the burden, but now it means I have to trust one of these two jackasses to write a workable script and hand it in before dawn on Monday morning. YES, YOU HEARD RIGHT. A COMPLETED FIRST SCRIPT IS DUE AT THE END OF THE WEEKEND.
And, like. That was my morning. Maybe I'd have coped better if I hadn't just barely made it to class, I dunno. But now it's the evening and I have an a cappella gig in a few hours and we're doing my solo, and I don't... feel like a person right now. I won't get much sleep tonight, and then tomorrow is class FOREVER and then going back to the media lab to try and finish my damn FIRST film, and then I can't even enjoy my weekend properly because my a cappella group is going into Boston on Saturday morning to do more CD recording. (Actually this is mostly awesome, but fuck if it's not stressful.)
IS IT SATURDAY NIGHT YET? I JUST WANT TO HIDE IN MY CAVE FOREVER.
Related: does anyone have an mp3 of Dean Martin's "That's Amore" they could upload for me? It's for Film #1.