Day Seven and Eight of Filming – My Dad & Cemeteries

 

F*cking lens caps…

But in reality, if that was my biggest problem and the only big problem we faced yesterday then I can’t complain that much. It’s a tiny piece of plastic and the shots yesterday… oh magic, magic, magic. And I started doing something that I should’ve done from the beginning.

Mimic Tony when I’m not doing something. I’m not sure why I didn’t think of this early, but I just started that today and it turned out well. I think that was the biggest lesson I learned on the sixth day.

Everything went oddly smooth considering that we, the cast and crew, had a few days off. I thought it would throw everything off, but it didn’t. We had a few bumpy starts, but nothing too major if I remember correctly.

Dad came in and naturally delivered his lines according to everyone there.

“My dad’s a badass!” Nick said as I scrunched down in the back, getting audio.

Half the time I’m used for scenes because of the fact I’m small. It’s the only reason everyone tolerates me (I kid, I kid).

Everything turned out well and we may have done some questionable driving on a country road. Oh and apparently the actors and actresses talked about how good looking my dad was. Of course, my dad didn’t look like he lived in Missouri with his tattoos and shaved head.

Dad insisted on showing everyone pictures of me when I was a kid. Tony and Alex got a real kick out of it after shooting.

It was perfect. Oh sure, we almost lost a lens cap, but we found it today hiding in someone else’s car. Oh yeah, I may have nearly banged my head against a wall to find that damn thing, but we found it.

Today was a bit rougher around the edges. I learned the valuable lesson of replaying your film after shooting a scene. I also learned to pay attention.

The audio messed up again. It’s something we can fix, but it’s something that I’m not going to mess up again. The problem was that Tony’s camera, which was the one I was using, was synced up to using the boom mic and we were using a stereo mic. It didn’t capture, but visually the scene looks better.

I climbed in a tree to get an aerial shoot. It looks pretty cool and I’m excited, like always.

Later this evening, we did a few quick scenes in one of Columbia’s cemeteries.

(This is a big deal since cemeteries aren’t all that keen on letting people film there. “It involves strippers and casinos,” Tony tells me whenever I ask how he pulls off certain tricks.)

I wasn’t thinking and was more focused on getting a good shot. I wasn’t thinking that I was in a cemetery where people came to mourn the dead and wasn’t acting all that… respectful. I didn’t let the scene play out naturally. Which makes sense. When people are in a cemetery a certain feeling of respect and reverence comes with being around the dead.

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t programed with that sort of thoughts on cemeteries. To be fair, my family is the sort of type to joke about death. (My sister and I always “swear on mom” when we’re making a promise to each other and we joke that if we break said promise that our mother will come out of the grave).

So I learned to replay film as often as possible and to be aware where I am. I think I was more embarrassed then upset at myself about the cemetery scene.

Tomorrow is going to be interesting, but our tough day will be on Thursday.

 

Day Five of Filming – Eureka!

I suggest never reading “Silence of the Lambs” before falling asleep. You’ll get a strange dream that involves Eric (Nick) in a hockey mask, Tony dressed as a FBI agent, and our director hiding behind a camera, demanding for something to look creepier.

Anywho, that’s what I did with a good portion of my day off.

Worlds are officially colliding since my dad will be playing Eric’s dad in the movie it seems.

Yeesh, that’s a scary thought.

Anyway, today went a lot smoother. We started on time and I got to take over for shooting on the second location. I needed help still, but I figured it out.

Focusing and steadying are still issues, but I’m getting better at it. I think. Well, slowly. I mean, I didn’t get the dreaded, “Eliza…” with the serious teacher tone that I’ve gotten used to with Tony.

Everyone was basically jumping up and down today because everything turned out well. We did another basketball scene. It turned out better and I got the shoulder rig to work with me more. It didn’t feel like it took very long.

We went over to Peace Park by the university and since I got there first, our director talked to me about what she wanted and we figured it out. I got to direct Tony for a bit.

“You got spunk.” Alex, our executive producer, told me as I smiled. I have never been described as that, but I like it. It helped that in this scene, we didn’t need audio so it was a bit easier to work with the camera.

Alex is the guy who also has a skill at “everything” as he likes to say.

Also, I forgot to mention, the audio from…Wednesday I think was fixed. Tony said that the process involved strippers and a casino. Nope, do not question it and just be happy that it got fixed.

We were done by nine in the morning. Much to everyone’s relief since we were all burned out I think. Or getting to the point where we laughed at whatever good news we got.

Tomorrow we get a break so no blog post tomorrow!

Day One of Film Crew Diary – Informal Meeting

I finally got to meet my director/writer of the story I’m going to be helping film. I met our go to guy who seems to have a skill at everything when it comes to the film business. I also got to meet two of the actors.

And I called got “mini Tony”. Well, that’s a new short joke.

The wonderful thing about this experience is that everyone is going to be learning. Even Tony, who I admire for his documentary work and filming skills, is new to the idea of lighting.I’m going to be doing some research into lighting tricks because I have a text book about it.

Why do I have a random textbook on lighting? Uh, well, I have a strange habit of getting books. I have so many books that they don’t fit into my bookshelf. La Sigh.

Anyway, Tony and I were talking about how we were going to make one of the characters stand out to the audience. I imagined the character as some strange goth girl because… I have stereotypes in my head? I don’t know. I was thinking about saturating the colors of the character’s outfit because, to me, that gave the character a dreamlike look to it.

However, our Jack of All Trades (when it comes to film) guy, said to wrap around christmas lights around the camera to make the lighting different. I’ve never heard of it, but I’m going to be trying that tonight in my room tonight (I’ll try to post up my results on my youtube account and here).

Yes. I have Christmas lights. Don’t ask why. I just do.

Anyway, I should probably talk about the link to Child Eater I put up on this post. Anyway, Tony pointed out the video to us because we might want to add some sort of horror a bit to the story and it’s fairly simple, but still very effective.

It scared the HELL out of me so I suggest checking it out.

I’ll keep everyone updated on HERE. Not on my facebook or anything like that. But I will add some stuff from my twitter account. You can follow me at ejd8v5 on twitter if you want to see what I’m up to on the film crew and what I’m learning.

Summer News!

Well, I like how bright and colorful this video is and and fits the mood I’ve been recently.

Alright, sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been busy with trying to organize what I’m going to do this summer. Like getting a job. Because, you know , I’m poor.

I’m afraid I’m going to have to put off the documentary because of audio issues. I.E. Meaning I don’t have the proper audio equipment yet. I’m saving up for it though and it won’t be long.

But on a better note, I’m going to be working on a film crew this summer on top of the poor college student job as well. So I’ll be busy. I’ll be working with a guy named Tony (http://vimeo.com/84005828- a link to his documentary The KOMU Experience), who originally got me into videography and the panasonic lumix gh3,  on a psychologist thriller that will be about thirty minutes.

I’ll update you more later as I learn more. That and I don’t know what I can or can’t say.

All I know is that I’ll learning ALOT! So basically, I’m jumping up and down like a two year old about to get her favorite ice cream.

I’ll put in a post analyzing some of the lady gaga music videos because… well because I’ve started getting into that habit since I started learning about videos.

So until Monday when I might be learning more about this stuff.