In which hearts are torn apart, panic ensues and we all learn the true meaning of makeup
So school is done. Its been done for a while now, but I'm just starting to realize that I have some extra time on my hands. After a couple months straight of at least 12 hours days moving to having entire days off is still a bit strange. On the whole school was quite amazing. It was full of good people both inside and out of my program. One of these outside people just wrote a comic book!! This makes me happy.
Anyways the entire year went by far to quickly but that is to be expected when one is too busy to eat. The last two terms were a whirlwind of stress and blood; both real and fake. My portfolio, which, as many of us realized early on was the only thing that really mattered at all, turned out pretty good. I am happy with the result, and don't mind at all letting people look at it. I like to brag after all. There are a couple of issues with some coloration in the pictures taken by my old camera, so a page here or there might need to be reprinted. I will make sure to bring it around to everyone and show it off. Prepare to be wowed. Unlike my portfolio my final project turned out to be a flop. Most of the materials I was given were so old they no longer functioned as they were meant to, so my foam didn't really foam up to the promised ten times its volume, but rather just slightly oozed to the left and called it a day. Coupled with the fact that more than a week into the project I was informed that I was doing it all wrong caused a bit of a panic, but I managed to turn something in. It looked nothing like I wanted it to, was made of nothing I wanted it to be made of, and really had nothing to do with my original concept. But considering I had no pieces even poured the day before it was due what I managed to pull out of my ass wasn't too shabby. But the best of my final was my stupid laptop. It decided to break on me the morning everything I had prepared on said laptop was due. This meant I had to make an emergency trip to seattle, which was quite nice, though brief. $2500 later I went back to Canada and turned it in. But by this point it was way to late and while they took it, I still received a zero for that part of the assignment. Whatever. As I said, the portfolio is all that mattered. Its rather nice to be able to attend a school where the grades are on the same level as the points on Whose Line is it Anyway.
Graduation was also good, and gave us such wonderful things as the free wine and cheese pile, slideshows, and nearly maximum Vanhee saturation. It would have been quite the challenge for all involved parties to have fit any more of us into one room. Later that night we went to this pub called the Lamplighter where I got rather drunk and embarrassingly ignored my family... but I hope they will forgive me. I then cried more than almost everyone in my class, which is far less than I actually expected to cry, so all in all it was a good night. Graduating however has left me with a problem; mainly that I had nothing to do.
So I decided to take an offer from another VFS alum. The offer was to work on these two feature independent films that are being shot simultaneously. Their stories overlap and continuity is a big thing. This is a volunteer thing on my part, but I am more than willing to help out a friend. My classmate Holly is her 1st assistant and I'm her 2nd. This work will count for days toward the union requirements should I ever join it up here. Which is neat. But what is even neater is this will be two film credits for me, as well as (if the director gets his way) two IMDB listings for me. Awesome. I am now on the interwebs! Maybe.... soon... maybe. But the whole point is that I got to help out the FX guy with a ton of blood gags, slime work, gun shots, hearts filled with goo to be torn apart on set, gooey stuff like that.
Sadly though, as I am finding out, my classmate was totally right when he said "The school teaches enough that you can start learning." I am NOT prepared to be on set. I'm slow, sloppy, and kinda clueless, but I know enough to fake it and I'm super thankful I'm a quick learner. The time on set so far has been wonderful, and all the cast and crew are stellar and incredibly nice. And patient. Oh my are they patient. Especially my boss. Like I said... I'm slow.
And finally, to further expound on matters raised in a previous post I'm planning on moving to New Zealand. I'm doing this because they are filming the Hobbit and I'm going to try and get attached to it in some fashion. I know people who know people, etc etc, and a fair chunk of my class has the same idea, with one of them already accepted (at a staggeringly impressive salary... i had no idea how much I could actually make... wow... )
The plan is to wander down there on a holiday work visa (application already submitted) banking on the LotR movies and their hundreds of makeup artists to indicate the Hobbit and the following movie need a pile of artists as well. I think it would be a fitting start to the thing I hope to do for many years.
Anyways the entire year went by far to quickly but that is to be expected when one is too busy to eat. The last two terms were a whirlwind of stress and blood; both real and fake. My portfolio, which, as many of us realized early on was the only thing that really mattered at all, turned out pretty good. I am happy with the result, and don't mind at all letting people look at it. I like to brag after all. There are a couple of issues with some coloration in the pictures taken by my old camera, so a page here or there might need to be reprinted. I will make sure to bring it around to everyone and show it off. Prepare to be wowed. Unlike my portfolio my final project turned out to be a flop. Most of the materials I was given were so old they no longer functioned as they were meant to, so my foam didn't really foam up to the promised ten times its volume, but rather just slightly oozed to the left and called it a day. Coupled with the fact that more than a week into the project I was informed that I was doing it all wrong caused a bit of a panic, but I managed to turn something in. It looked nothing like I wanted it to, was made of nothing I wanted it to be made of, and really had nothing to do with my original concept. But considering I had no pieces even poured the day before it was due what I managed to pull out of my ass wasn't too shabby. But the best of my final was my stupid laptop. It decided to break on me the morning everything I had prepared on said laptop was due. This meant I had to make an emergency trip to seattle, which was quite nice, though brief. $2500 later I went back to Canada and turned it in. But by this point it was way to late and while they took it, I still received a zero for that part of the assignment. Whatever. As I said, the portfolio is all that mattered. Its rather nice to be able to attend a school where the grades are on the same level as the points on Whose Line is it Anyway.
Graduation was also good, and gave us such wonderful things as the free wine and cheese pile, slideshows, and nearly maximum Vanhee saturation. It would have been quite the challenge for all involved parties to have fit any more of us into one room. Later that night we went to this pub called the Lamplighter where I got rather drunk and embarrassingly ignored my family... but I hope they will forgive me. I then cried more than almost everyone in my class, which is far less than I actually expected to cry, so all in all it was a good night. Graduating however has left me with a problem; mainly that I had nothing to do.
So I decided to take an offer from another VFS alum. The offer was to work on these two feature independent films that are being shot simultaneously. Their stories overlap and continuity is a big thing. This is a volunteer thing on my part, but I am more than willing to help out a friend. My classmate Holly is her 1st assistant and I'm her 2nd. This work will count for days toward the union requirements should I ever join it up here. Which is neat. But what is even neater is this will be two film credits for me, as well as (if the director gets his way) two IMDB listings for me. Awesome. I am now on the interwebs! Maybe.... soon... maybe. But the whole point is that I got to help out the FX guy with a ton of blood gags, slime work, gun shots, hearts filled with goo to be torn apart on set, gooey stuff like that.
Sadly though, as I am finding out, my classmate was totally right when he said "The school teaches enough that you can start learning." I am NOT prepared to be on set. I'm slow, sloppy, and kinda clueless, but I know enough to fake it and I'm super thankful I'm a quick learner. The time on set so far has been wonderful, and all the cast and crew are stellar and incredibly nice. And patient. Oh my are they patient. Especially my boss. Like I said... I'm slow.
And finally, to further expound on matters raised in a previous post I'm planning on moving to New Zealand. I'm doing this because they are filming the Hobbit and I'm going to try and get attached to it in some fashion. I know people who know people, etc etc, and a fair chunk of my class has the same idea, with one of them already accepted (at a staggeringly impressive salary... i had no idea how much I could actually make... wow... )
The plan is to wander down there on a holiday work visa (application already submitted) banking on the LotR movies and their hundreds of makeup artists to indicate the Hobbit and the following movie need a pile of artists as well. I think it would be a fitting start to the thing I hope to do for many years.