Day One of Filming

You know, there’s a reason that people think that the first day is the worst.

It’s been about an 18 hour kind of day.

Everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong, but somehow all fixed itself.

First off, one of the actors overslept. This isn’t that hard considering how we had to get up by five to be there at six, but it didn’t help with anything and I think we all underestimated how difficult this was going to be.

Or at least, I did.

Then one of the mics broke. And there’s going to be quite a bit of reshooting to do. I was squashed and squeezed into all sort of positions with random bruises already beginning to form.

I was too small/weak (I really, really, really hate to admit this) to hold up the boom mic. Wind kept messing with the audio.

But you know what?

I had fun.

Legit fun. I loved every moment. Even the banged up knees. I learned so much.

I learned how to use a boom mic, make a time lapse video, shoot film in a moving car, and… I learned so much. I think I lost count how many things I’ve learned.

Even though I wasn’t super strong and couldn’t hold the boom mic, I was able to squeeze myself into the back seat and get good audio in a car because of how small I was.

It’s a lot of team work and I’m not a big touchy feely kind of person. Tony (I’ve talked about him on this blog before) had to hold me up while I leaned out of a car to get the perfect angle on an actor. So you get over it fairly quickly.

Oh and we got a super duper creepy shot of a rotting building. I’ll have to post videos and pictures I took on my phone tomorrow if I get some me time.

Though apparently, my “yup” is going to be my producer’s text tone. And we learned just how…uhh, sensitive the boom mic is.

I’m excited to show and tell everyone of what I learned and how the movie, which is being called “Them” at the moment, is coming together.

More adventures 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.