Adventures in Filmmaking
Mar. 15th, 2003 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
40cakes4:30AM Crew Call
Producer Pona (who from now on will be called PP because that sounds like pee-pee and that's dirty and funny) gave wake up calls to people who asked for them. One person was late. O'Leary. One of our advisor/professors. He slept through his alarm. Leave it to the Mick (is that the proper spelling? Anyone? I'm so unsure of my ethnic slurs sometimes...). Sean shows up fast and we get on the road by 5.
6:00AM Meet the Actors
We're meeting the actors at a Wawa in Southampton, because the actual location can best be described as "this one road someplace." The actors are late. Upon calling one, we find that he's about 20 minutes away, having driven past the Wawa. Not really his fault, considering there's one every 7 feet or so. We leave PP behind to meet actors at the Wawa while the rest of us move to the location to set up. PP follows soon with Matt and Angus.
Matt and Angus are not as hot as their pictures suggested. Fuck.
7:00AM - 12:30PM Shooting
Everything seems to be going swimmingly. I've learned that I have the largest bladder in the film class, as I didn't go to the bathroom for a good 6 hours. I think everyone else went once every 3 minutes.
Sean and Producer Eatherly (PE) are shooting with nice digital cameras. Archival, you know. PE's camera has microphone envy of Sean's camera.
At about 9AM I discover I'm cursed. I download the magazine with the exposed film and start to load the next roll when I run into trouble. The magazine that worked perfectly well yesterday now gives me trouble. The feed side seems to work fine, but the takeup side is PMSing.
(You know what a strip of film looks like? It has those little holes running down the sides, so the gnomes inside the camera can hook onto those and pull the film through. Well, if those holes don't exactly line up with where the gnomes are used to hooking onto, they can actually poke in new holes. This is Not Good™.)
That's what kept happening to me. No matter what I did, holes kept getting poked through on the takeup side. And I had done everything RIGHT. Grar. Eventually Joe fixed it and it worked fine. We thought.
For an abandoned road, there sure are a lot of cars coming through. We find out that there's been an accident on 206, the interstate highway that runs near our little road, and traffic has been detoured past us. Abso-fucking-wonderful.
Owen asks me if I'd like to shoot for a while. "Sure!" I reply. The first shot I take, there's a little red light in the viewfinder. I call Joe over, and he thinks it may be the battery. But that's silly; that battery charged all last night, and it just got put on. Plus, our other battery is currently charging, so if this battery conks out, we are Screwed™. Turns out, the battery conks out.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I. Am. Cursed.
We're all tired, we're all cranky, we have no batteries. Our solution? The crew will take lunch early (wasn't scheduled until 1:15PM) while Sean and Joe drive back to Rowan and find a fast solution.
Because they've just returned, I would like to add that I've had hiccups ALL DAY.
Fun Quote
Brian: [Directing car] You can come inside another inch and a half.
Me: That's what I always tell 'em.
12:30PM - 2:15PM Lunch Break
Angus's keys are locked in his car. The group tries to determine if anyone can pick a lock, or if we have any coathangers. Dave says "You can use the wire from a bra. Who's got the biggest breasts?" I scowl, pull my jacket over me, and snarl, "Hey, I need my wires, too!"
A little pizza place where we stress, smoke, or take naps. Then the call from Sean and Joe comes. They've got the belt battery packs. We can keep shooting! They'll be back around 2:30PM.
2:30PM - 5:00PM Thank You God
Everything goes okay. No bad things happen. We'll be okay. In fact, we're even back on schedule, though we had a 2 hour interruption! Hurrah!
I shot some stuff from a moving car, and boy am I glad Cheryl brings Dramamine.
5:30PM - 7:00PM Pack up and ride home
Fell asleep in Lindsay's car, as did Jack and Dave. Hopefully, I didn't talk in my sleep. When we get to Rowan, we unload all the equipment and get it inside. There, we need to download the exposed film from the magazine, and load a new roll. While downloading the same magazine that gave me all that trouble this morning, Owen notes that the last 5-10 feet of film seem to be crunched up. Goody. In fact, there's still a little piece of film crunched up in the claw system, and it'll need some extensive opening up and cleaning out that none of us felt like doing just then. So tomorrow, we have one magazine to use, instead of two to switch between.
Fuck.
I have the Monkees' "Do I Have to Do This All Over Again?" running through my head, and I'm upset I didn't bring that CD with me to skool. I'll get it when I go home this week.
Should bed. Have to be ready to do it all again tomorrow at 4:30AM.
>^..^
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no subject
Date: 2003-03-15 09:37 pm (UTC)Sorry 'bout Angus, though... at least his name isn't Gunter or Sven.
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Date: 2003-03-15 09:47 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-03-16 06:05 pm (UTC)>^..^
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Date: 2003-03-16 06:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-16 06:41 pm (UTC)Student: "Dude, why are we doing this script?"
Another Student: "Dude, I don't know. Oh, wait, look at the writer's name."
Another Student: "Ugh. Dude. Hey, look, shiney stuff!"
All the Students: "YAY!!!!!!"
Me: "Are you guys gonna go to the premiere?"
Cooper: "Huh? Nah. We'll just drink."
Me: "Okay, that works."
Yeah, that surmises discussions about that script.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-16 10:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-16 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-16 06:49 pm (UTC)Though both scripts were about getting the fuck out of NJ, right?
>^..^
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Date: 2003-03-16 07:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-03-16 07:12 pm (UTC)>^..^
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Date: 2003-03-16 10:42 am (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-03-16 06:06 pm (UTC)>^..^
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Date: 2003-03-17 08:05 am (UTC)Esp. That stuff about loading the magazine. I LOVE VIDEO, and I'm not afraid to admit it.
no subject
Date: 2003-03-17 10:08 am (UTC)