(no subject)
Well, ok. Time to catch up.
Voted (early, actually. Last week.)
But months before that happened, I was actually able to attend my own graduation ceremony. Originally I was going to be away on the film shoot in Quebec, but they delayed that, so I went.
Which was a very good thing, since I ended up getting not just honours, but the very first, one-and-only 'Student Excellence Award'. Very proud of how that will look on my resumé and on my wall (it's a plaque!). Totally floored me, as I wasn't expecting it at all. Apparently, it's not only for my involvement with the school and the other courses (doing music for some of the film projects), but also for having the best attitude towards the whole course. I was told by Kevin (my audio guru, and former teacher) that when the faculty sat down and voted for one student, only one teacher voted for someone other than me.
Sorry for gushing, I'm just really glad that something I actually put all my effort in paid off, in a way that I wasn't expecting.
---
As far as my Quebec experience...
Got to Cabano on August 24th (couple days after graduation) after a 3-4 hour drive in a hot van with 3 other guys. Really felt out of place and weird, knowing that I would be stuck here for the next 6 weeks. I did end up getting more-or-less used to it, but couldn't wait to get back home.
I had many reservations my first day. I honestly thought that I would be fired, or I would fuck up so badly that everyone would think that I shouldn't be there and it was a mistake to hire me. Only messed up once on the first day (never rely on the 'Pause' button when using a DAT machine). After that, smooth sailing, at least as far as the work I was doing was concerned.
Had an assistant, Rob, who I knew from the film co-op. To be quite honest, he probably knew more than I did going in, but they hired me as the main guy, so I did everything I needed to do to become that Main Guy.
As a side note, I would never ever ever ever ever lend my house out to be used by a film crew. We didn't mess anything up, but we certainly could have. Memo to everyone: Don't do this.
Days were usually long. 15-18 hours for the long ones (longest day was actually from 6:30am to 3:00 am the next morning) and 9-12 hours for the short ones. Six days a week, with Fridays off (for banking and stuff, as we were paid weekly by cheque). We shot in Cabano, Rimouski, Notre Dame du Lac, Notre Dame du Portage, Riviere du Loup (love it there), Pohenagamook (yeah), Grand Falls, Edmunston, and another place with 'Bleu' in it's name. Travelled a ton, but never more than 90 minutes in one trip.
After the 2nd day, it all felt normal. Get to the scene, and while camera and lights are being set up (takes so long), Rob and I scope out to see where the best location is for either the boom mic, tram (small, wired mic), or lav (small wireless mic) could go. Usually, it was pretty simple, so we just ended up hanging out with the crew, who were all great.
At the end of the first week, we (the sound guys) had temporarily misplaced all of the DAT tapes we had used so far. Let me tell you, nothing has made me feel so sick so quickly as realizing that you may have ruined an entire week of filming. Once we found the tapes (damn your secret compartment in your bookbag, Rob!), all was well, and I could once again eat solid food.
Got to work with a bunch of great people, both in front of and behind the camera. As far as celebrities go, we worked with Dee Wallace, which was huge. She's very nice and has a high tolerance for awful jokes.
Our casting director was Julie Matthews (really good friends with Jon Favreau, Peter Billingsley, Lou Ferrigno, and helped get Trent Reznor a role in Light of Day, way back when). She's really the reason we got to work with the people we did, she's friends with a LOT of people.
Worked with Irena Huljack as well. She's great, very good actress, I found. She was able to pull stuff out that shocked the hell out of all of us. Her character goes through a ton of shit, and is obviously hardened by it, and she played it well.
However, my favourite actor, out of all the ones that were hired, was Kevin Jackson. The guy is hilarious, really nice, you could talk to him about anything, and he'd be all over it. One morning, while watching CBC, he made the mistake of asking us how the Canadian election works. He was mesmerized by it for the rest of the day, kept bringing it up, cracking jokes about it.
He and a few other actors that he knows are starting up a project called 'Hear Me', which aims to bring music creation to poorer countries, sort of like 'One Laptop Per Child', only it's aim is to get this into orphanages of these places, to give some sort of voice to kids who might not otherwise get a chance to create something. They're trying to set it up so that this music made by the kids will be uploaded to a site, and be able to be purchased, with the money going directly to the kids themselves. Obviously, a lot of stuff has to get sorted out, but I think it's a fantastic idea.
Oh yeah, and I'm actually IN the movie. Carpet Man #1, I have three lines. Whoo!
Now, for pictures! (tons of them)
Rob and Gyu. This is where we stayed for the first week. Very nice place!
Good guys to work with. Can you spot the mic?
Very hot, in the middle of nowhere (Rimouski)
Rob, being a good help.
Still Rimouski. That's Gary closest to me.
Our long day at Grand Falls. Irena is the blonde one.
My gear! Well, the main part of it. I had to pretty much make sure that we were getting good sound, and that nothing went crazy. My god, Grand Falls has a ton of loons. Like, actual loons. If I were trying to record bird calls, I would've been set.
Constantine hanging out with Julie's dog 'Moxie'.
On our way back from Riviere du Loup. Some asshole got waaaay too close to our equipment truck. Nothing happened though. Shuckens.
Actual paramedic putting our Assistant Director Doug Sutherland into a bodybag (he plays the role of a dead guy)
Totally should've rotated this picture. We stayed at the 'Auberge de la Gare', which pretty much means 'Inn of the railway.' This is a conducter made out of cardboard.
That 'bleu' place I was talking about. Looks nice. Was noisy as hell. Julie in the foreground, Doug with his back to us.
From left to right is Julie (bent), Daryl (one of the actors, though I can't recall his last name), Nick (director/producer/DoP), Doug, Gyu (third assistant camera), Irena (fake blond wig), Veronique (continuity), and Gary (gaffer) holding up the reflector. Don't know who's behind it. Could be Daniel (second assistant camera)
Steve (first assistant camera), and our 'dolly shot', and Nick, with Irena on the bed. Got very hot in this room, very quickly.
Rob, acting afool.
One of the nicest restaurants I've seen. They have a modern player piano in the middle of the whole place. Anyone not on camera pretty much had to lie down, as those are very reflective windows you see.
Rob, crawling alongside Constantine, who had the tram wired up through his pantleg, and was doing a very long dialogue scene with a very wide shot.
Michael Bennet (Location supervisor, also provided anything and everything for make-up) on the left, Gary in red, Gyu, and Rob, all ready to go after having breakfast.
The blonde one on the left is Sue (can't remember last name). She was pretty good at playing a conniving hitwoman.
I laughed until I stopped. Yes, I know what it actually means.
Nick testing the light in the phone booth before a shot. Mic'd this one from one of the inside corners (the one on the right, actually). Sneaky.
Irena in another disguise, about to 'Birk' Margot (again, don't have last name). In the film, she's actually going to jump onto the woman's chest, while simultaneously putting thick plastic over her face. Oh, by the way, Irena plays a hitwoman. Thought you should know.
I love how this dog friggin' glows.
Dee Wallace talking with Julie.
First day off, we're playing Risk in our cabin. Never finished the game, but I totally lost. Bald guy is Andrew (art department)
Tammy-Lou (make up, obviously) working on Dee after breakfast.
Just got done filming a few shots inside a car (PAIN IN THE ASS, HOLY CRAP), and the Sonata totally breaks down.
Irena, Patricio Sanzari, and Dee, at a really nice restaurant in Notre Dame du Grand Portage.
Dee's hoodie.
My messy sound report.
Ok, so it's a picture of Marilyn Monroe. It's THE picture. However, I was lying in my bed (which is opposite this picture) on my side, and I suddenly saw an evil Falcore face with legs sticking out of the back of his head, chewing up poor Marilyn. Seriously, to me, it looked like Falcore put on Joker makeup.
Sam (can't remember last name), who was actually a stand in for Ben Kingsley on 'Lucky Number Slevin'. Crazy! Told me that Bruce Willis is an asshole.
Judith (costumes) on the left. We are so tired.
Kevin Jackson, singing something between takes. Dude can really sing.
Michael attempting to break into the truck, after Nick locked his keys in there.
Andrew and Judith working on the sign. Yes, Andrew was actually doing work as well.
This is us, pretending that it's night time. Actually worked quite well. This is the second place we put the felt. We had it all across the other side of the building, and then Nick told us to change it. Harrumph.
Kevin wearing Irena's wig.
Riviere du Loup's Palais de la justice. I noticed a board that had people's faces on it (past judges?) and saw that, from far away, the negative space creates almost an upside-down space invader.
Andrew, so very tired of working on the film. Very long day.
Fary, Luc, and Paul (forgot last names). Paul actually really reminds me of Nathan from Six Feet Under (Peter Krause) when he talks. I told him that, and he was happy that I didn't say 'David Hyde Pearce'.
Luc, Julie and Andrew (same Andrew that handles the Art department). The guys are playing security guards. Totally ineffective security guards.
More sound report lovin!
Hams, all of them.
This was creepy until it became neat.
Hotel Universal in Riviere du Loup, such an amazing place. Four stars.
... and later that day, we shot outside of a place that believes that 'Colour TV' is still a selling point.
Our (Rob and me) cabin, 3 weeks later. Risk game: Still unfinished.
And then, I found out that my phone can take higher quality pictures. Sorry about the lack of detail up to this point.
Best box of lettuce ever.
St Hubert's is awesome. This was on display on the way in.
That's Christian (forgot last name), and that's the leftover make up from a bullet wound to the head.
Just happened to take a picture when Rob's camera flashed. All of us, sitting down to eat. Wendy (again, forgot last name... I'm just great at that) is on the right.
Forgot to turn it sideways, but this is the saddest, most disappointed outlet I've ever seen.
Dude playing trumpet in a Mcdonald's that we stopped in on the way home.
And that's that.
As far as other things, school is going very well for Krista, albeit very busy. Our house is amazing, thanks to her and her mom who worked on it while I was away. It, to me, is starting to feel like home.
Now, I need to find a job.
EDIT: Sorry for the 'DEMO' thing. Did the resizing in Pixel, rather than photoshop.
Voted (early, actually. Last week.)
But months before that happened, I was actually able to attend my own graduation ceremony. Originally I was going to be away on the film shoot in Quebec, but they delayed that, so I went.
Which was a very good thing, since I ended up getting not just honours, but the very first, one-and-only 'Student Excellence Award'. Very proud of how that will look on my resumé and on my wall (it's a plaque!). Totally floored me, as I wasn't expecting it at all. Apparently, it's not only for my involvement with the school and the other courses (doing music for some of the film projects), but also for having the best attitude towards the whole course. I was told by Kevin (my audio guru, and former teacher) that when the faculty sat down and voted for one student, only one teacher voted for someone other than me.
Sorry for gushing, I'm just really glad that something I actually put all my effort in paid off, in a way that I wasn't expecting.
---
As far as my Quebec experience...
Got to Cabano on August 24th (couple days after graduation) after a 3-4 hour drive in a hot van with 3 other guys. Really felt out of place and weird, knowing that I would be stuck here for the next 6 weeks. I did end up getting more-or-less used to it, but couldn't wait to get back home.
I had many reservations my first day. I honestly thought that I would be fired, or I would fuck up so badly that everyone would think that I shouldn't be there and it was a mistake to hire me. Only messed up once on the first day (never rely on the 'Pause' button when using a DAT machine). After that, smooth sailing, at least as far as the work I was doing was concerned.
Had an assistant, Rob, who I knew from the film co-op. To be quite honest, he probably knew more than I did going in, but they hired me as the main guy, so I did everything I needed to do to become that Main Guy.
As a side note, I would never ever ever ever ever lend my house out to be used by a film crew. We didn't mess anything up, but we certainly could have. Memo to everyone: Don't do this.
Days were usually long. 15-18 hours for the long ones (longest day was actually from 6:30am to 3:00 am the next morning) and 9-12 hours for the short ones. Six days a week, with Fridays off (for banking and stuff, as we were paid weekly by cheque). We shot in Cabano, Rimouski, Notre Dame du Lac, Notre Dame du Portage, Riviere du Loup (love it there), Pohenagamook (yeah), Grand Falls, Edmunston, and another place with 'Bleu' in it's name. Travelled a ton, but never more than 90 minutes in one trip.
After the 2nd day, it all felt normal. Get to the scene, and while camera and lights are being set up (takes so long), Rob and I scope out to see where the best location is for either the boom mic, tram (small, wired mic), or lav (small wireless mic) could go. Usually, it was pretty simple, so we just ended up hanging out with the crew, who were all great.
At the end of the first week, we (the sound guys) had temporarily misplaced all of the DAT tapes we had used so far. Let me tell you, nothing has made me feel so sick so quickly as realizing that you may have ruined an entire week of filming. Once we found the tapes (damn your secret compartment in your bookbag, Rob!), all was well, and I could once again eat solid food.
Got to work with a bunch of great people, both in front of and behind the camera. As far as celebrities go, we worked with Dee Wallace, which was huge. She's very nice and has a high tolerance for awful jokes.
Our casting director was Julie Matthews (really good friends with Jon Favreau, Peter Billingsley, Lou Ferrigno, and helped get Trent Reznor a role in Light of Day, way back when). She's really the reason we got to work with the people we did, she's friends with a LOT of people.
Worked with Irena Huljack as well. She's great, very good actress, I found. She was able to pull stuff out that shocked the hell out of all of us. Her character goes through a ton of shit, and is obviously hardened by it, and she played it well.
However, my favourite actor, out of all the ones that were hired, was Kevin Jackson. The guy is hilarious, really nice, you could talk to him about anything, and he'd be all over it. One morning, while watching CBC, he made the mistake of asking us how the Canadian election works. He was mesmerized by it for the rest of the day, kept bringing it up, cracking jokes about it.
He and a few other actors that he knows are starting up a project called 'Hear Me', which aims to bring music creation to poorer countries, sort of like 'One Laptop Per Child', only it's aim is to get this into orphanages of these places, to give some sort of voice to kids who might not otherwise get a chance to create something. They're trying to set it up so that this music made by the kids will be uploaded to a site, and be able to be purchased, with the money going directly to the kids themselves. Obviously, a lot of stuff has to get sorted out, but I think it's a fantastic idea.
Oh yeah, and I'm actually IN the movie. Carpet Man #1, I have three lines. Whoo!
Now, for pictures! (tons of them)
Rob and Gyu. This is where we stayed for the first week. Very nice place!
Good guys to work with. Can you spot the mic?
Very hot, in the middle of nowhere (Rimouski)
Rob, being a good help.
Still Rimouski. That's Gary closest to me.
Our long day at Grand Falls. Irena is the blonde one.
My gear! Well, the main part of it. I had to pretty much make sure that we were getting good sound, and that nothing went crazy. My god, Grand Falls has a ton of loons. Like, actual loons. If I were trying to record bird calls, I would've been set.
Constantine hanging out with Julie's dog 'Moxie'.
On our way back from Riviere du Loup. Some asshole got waaaay too close to our equipment truck. Nothing happened though. Shuckens.
Actual paramedic putting our Assistant Director Doug Sutherland into a bodybag (he plays the role of a dead guy)
Totally should've rotated this picture. We stayed at the 'Auberge de la Gare', which pretty much means 'Inn of the railway.' This is a conducter made out of cardboard.
That 'bleu' place I was talking about. Looks nice. Was noisy as hell. Julie in the foreground, Doug with his back to us.
From left to right is Julie (bent), Daryl (one of the actors, though I can't recall his last name), Nick (director/producer/DoP), Doug, Gyu (third assistant camera), Irena (fake blond wig), Veronique (continuity), and Gary (gaffer) holding up the reflector. Don't know who's behind it. Could be Daniel (second assistant camera)
Steve (first assistant camera), and our 'dolly shot', and Nick, with Irena on the bed. Got very hot in this room, very quickly.
Rob, acting afool.
One of the nicest restaurants I've seen. They have a modern player piano in the middle of the whole place. Anyone not on camera pretty much had to lie down, as those are very reflective windows you see.
Rob, crawling alongside Constantine, who had the tram wired up through his pantleg, and was doing a very long dialogue scene with a very wide shot.
Michael Bennet (Location supervisor, also provided anything and everything for make-up) on the left, Gary in red, Gyu, and Rob, all ready to go after having breakfast.
The blonde one on the left is Sue (can't remember last name). She was pretty good at playing a conniving hitwoman.
I laughed until I stopped. Yes, I know what it actually means.
Nick testing the light in the phone booth before a shot. Mic'd this one from one of the inside corners (the one on the right, actually). Sneaky.
Irena in another disguise, about to 'Birk' Margot (again, don't have last name). In the film, she's actually going to jump onto the woman's chest, while simultaneously putting thick plastic over her face. Oh, by the way, Irena plays a hitwoman. Thought you should know.
I love how this dog friggin' glows.
Dee Wallace talking with Julie.
First day off, we're playing Risk in our cabin. Never finished the game, but I totally lost. Bald guy is Andrew (art department)
Tammy-Lou (make up, obviously) working on Dee after breakfast.
Just got done filming a few shots inside a car (PAIN IN THE ASS, HOLY CRAP), and the Sonata totally breaks down.
Irena, Patricio Sanzari, and Dee, at a really nice restaurant in Notre Dame du Grand Portage.
Dee's hoodie.
My messy sound report.
Ok, so it's a picture of Marilyn Monroe. It's THE picture. However, I was lying in my bed (which is opposite this picture) on my side, and I suddenly saw an evil Falcore face with legs sticking out of the back of his head, chewing up poor Marilyn. Seriously, to me, it looked like Falcore put on Joker makeup.
Sam (can't remember last name), who was actually a stand in for Ben Kingsley on 'Lucky Number Slevin'. Crazy! Told me that Bruce Willis is an asshole.
Judith (costumes) on the left. We are so tired.
Kevin Jackson, singing something between takes. Dude can really sing.
Michael attempting to break into the truck, after Nick locked his keys in there.
Andrew and Judith working on the sign. Yes, Andrew was actually doing work as well.
This is us, pretending that it's night time. Actually worked quite well. This is the second place we put the felt. We had it all across the other side of the building, and then Nick told us to change it. Harrumph.
Kevin wearing Irena's wig.
Riviere du Loup's Palais de la justice. I noticed a board that had people's faces on it (past judges?) and saw that, from far away, the negative space creates almost an upside-down space invader.
Andrew, so very tired of working on the film. Very long day.
Fary, Luc, and Paul (forgot last names). Paul actually really reminds me of Nathan from Six Feet Under (Peter Krause) when he talks. I told him that, and he was happy that I didn't say 'David Hyde Pearce'.
Luc, Julie and Andrew (same Andrew that handles the Art department). The guys are playing security guards. Totally ineffective security guards.
More sound report lovin!
Hams, all of them.
This was creepy until it became neat.
Hotel Universal in Riviere du Loup, such an amazing place. Four stars.
... and later that day, we shot outside of a place that believes that 'Colour TV' is still a selling point.
Our (Rob and me) cabin, 3 weeks later. Risk game: Still unfinished.
And then, I found out that my phone can take higher quality pictures. Sorry about the lack of detail up to this point.
Best box of lettuce ever.
St Hubert's is awesome. This was on display on the way in.
That's Christian (forgot last name), and that's the leftover make up from a bullet wound to the head.
Just happened to take a picture when Rob's camera flashed. All of us, sitting down to eat. Wendy (again, forgot last name... I'm just great at that) is on the right.
Forgot to turn it sideways, but this is the saddest, most disappointed outlet I've ever seen.
Dude playing trumpet in a Mcdonald's that we stopped in on the way home.
And that's that.
As far as other things, school is going very well for Krista, albeit very busy. Our house is amazing, thanks to her and her mom who worked on it while I was away. It, to me, is starting to feel like home.
Now, I need to find a job.
EDIT: Sorry for the 'DEMO' thing. Did the resizing in Pixel, rather than photoshop.