Finals Weekend

So this weekend was really a blessing for me because Zach allowed me to spend minimal time on set to get work done. On Friday night we did the pickup scene at the shadowy house and I accomplished my first Conrad Hall set (no visible lights/cords but it's all magically illuminated) I was really proud of it. Once I had the first set up done, there were only minor tweaks for the other shots. After that scene, me and Zach did some cut ins/establishing shots which were fun to light.

On Saturday I had the day off, and I wrote the first 20 pages of my prompt book for directing. This saved my life, I would have never ever have finished otherwise. I went back to set once they got to the classroom scene and everyone was excited I was back but alas my second Conrad Hall set...not by choice. In order to save time, they left the overheads on, it looked really ugly and I didn't have to set up any lights except for like 3 shots..maybe. Quite unfortunate.

Sunday, I woke up at the crack of dawn to go to a freelance-esque job with France Productions. I was really nervous at first because it was obvious they didn't really need my help too much and I didn't want to step on their toes. They also didn't realize I knew anything, so I started talking about the equipment they had and what not and then they opened up to me. I learned some audio stuff and got more familar with Kinoflos. The gaffer, Tim, also used negative fill inside which I had only ever done with exterior shots, so that was good too. I had to leave a few hours in with the promise that they would be in touch to get me back on set more often. I then went to my directing final for the rest of the day.

I talked to Zach afterwards to see how everything went and I was very proud that he survived on his own without me. I was also kinda sad because he's learned so much this semester that he doesn't really need me too much anymore...which is good but I liked being needed.

Almost there

My my, it's been awhile. The weeks are flying by...next week is the last week of classes and this project is becoming very overwhelming. There was a span of time where I started to get upset at TMC for my constantly lingering anxiety but then I redirected the blame to where it should go, my useless classes. If it wasn't for these classes where I'm not learning anything usefull, life would be super. I'm wasting time doing work that I already know how to do when I could be doing way more productive things. I know professors give work to make sure that their students are studying and getting involved with the course, but its not really fair to some students who are beyond their peers and are now getting bogged down with busy work. I'm glad I redirected my blame because I really do love the project. And it's absolutely true that everything I'm learning worth remembering is occurring outside a classroom. Every weekend has new challenges and I get to experiment with something new. I'm slowy learning to treat every situation independently from the last because what worked for one scenario doesn't necessarily work for another.
Last weekend or so was the torture scenes in the shadowy house (which were so intense!) we did a lot with pooling and really dramatic shadows. I found some materials around the house to use to texture the walls and used the water to make cool reflections on the wall near Walter. I agreed with Zach and Cody's vision of the green dingy totally separate world and I think I gave them what they were looking for. It's really been a journey with the two of them. I feel there are varying levels of committment on set and within the crew. And the three of us have really shared some intimate moments of creating art. Along the lines of committment, I've actually had an issue with preparedness. I know it's getting to crunch time with exams and finals and the project is really grinding everyone down but that's no excuse to slack now. It's not fair to everyone to not do your job... because later in the day it comes crashing down on me when we are losing dayling and I'm stressing out to get a particular set up done faster than I should. If call time is 9am, you should be there at 9am with all of your equipment/props/etc and be ready to start working. I understand mistakes and sometimes you forget something but it seems to be happening more and more lately. I'm sorry just needed to vent that, I shouldn't let other peoples work ethic effect my stuff.
This past weekend was up and down as usual. Every day is such an emotional ride, we can go from overwhelmed stressed and about to kill each other to absolute excitement and high energy in minutes. As soon as we have those few shots that you can't even imagine, it really makes it all worthwhile. When everything comes together and everyone agrees, "yes this is what I imagined" it's really amazing. We ended up dropping a few scenes which is extremely frustrating, but what we did get some awesome footage. I'm developing a new adoration for Conrad Hall's style and I've been trying to emulate him in my work.
Our proudest scene was the last one on Sunday, we had to drop the scene prior and had to wait until it was dark out. I love when we have that much time to set up. And it was a scene I wasn't sure how it should look. I pulled Zach aside after going over the blocking and set ups and I admit I have no idea what a cafeteria should look like at night. Plus the back half of the caf was halogen lights and the front where they were sitting was ugly ugly flurouscent. We discussed what we thought it would look like, flat probably, and decided to do what we wanted instead, not flat obviously. We had facilites turn off the front half (b/c fluorescents are awful) and instead put dark corners on the sides and clip lighted pools around them. I lit the room quasi-generally so it looked like it was coming from the ceiling and them gave David and Lana a ballin' rim light to make them stick out. Then I lined up all the salt/pepper and table things up so the shot was really linear and even. It looked SO cool! And it turned out to be dramatic lighting for a not dramatic scene, but I loved the contrast between the two and it gave it a more intimate feel for the actors to work in.
As we're getting towards the end of the project, I love seeing the dynamic between the crew. I've realized there are certain pairs/groups of peope that overlap and it's interesting to observe. It's obvious there's a distinct level of respect between everyone but theres also a closeness to certain people who have been constantly working together. An intricate web if you will. Example: Justin and Claire have been working hand in hand but at the same time Claire and Katie Bliss have an aspect that they always need to go over beforehand but then Kaite Bliss and Brianne while on set end up saying the same things at the same time and thinking on a very similar level whilst Brianne and Cody need to combat each other and find a compromise between perfection and time managment and then Cody and Zach are constantly a team for their creative vision and then Zach and I need to collaborate to make sure everything looks right in our area. You don't realize how much everyone really does effect everyone else.
I think that's it for the longest post ever.

P.S. I need a helmet.

Shooting day # ??

I'm not gonna lie, I can't differentiate one weekend from the next. General feelings is that I think we're getting more efficient and making more timely days. I had a really good lighting day last weekend (maybe, I think) it was a night scene and Bobby was choking and I made a scary face in the black wrap and then had a light out the window. So the outside one gave it the overall light and texture to the walls and the light on bobby was just wrapped in the blackwrap so only a little light got out (and it made a cool face on the wall) but it was pretty cool. And Cody spazzed after the take so I knew I did a good job. The other challenge was when we ran out of daylight because of other things and so I had to do day for night (night for day? - - Damnit Cody). Had to make daylight at night, it took some fiddling around but eventually figured it out. I can't remember anyting else persay.

Sidenote: I'm winning the gold stars race to breakfast! hooray.

This weekend was good, mostly because it was my 21st so we didn't have to shoot on Friday and Saturday morning didn't require my skillz so I napped in my car until I was sent home annnd then Justin covered for me at night. Sunday was good though. I was really refreshed and everyone else was really tired from the night before. I was hoping my chipperness would rub off a bit. But the days are draining no matter what. Becky saved all of our lives by bringing us a real lunch. My plan prior was to eat dry cereal because I havent had time to go food shopping in weeks. It was the best surprise. I also love the days that we shoot with Shamus because he is such a good character to have around. He's always joking around and keeping things upbeat. Something I discoverd was to take advantage of snack breaks to do my lighting without the usual obstacle course. While everyone else is sitting and calm I can move everything around and be ready for the next shot after break without being like "excuse me, excuse me, sorry, oops, excuse me, can i just put this over there?, sorry." And its not like I need that much of a break anyways since I can usually just chillax between shots.

Feb. 5th - 8th

This weekend was ridic. We stayed in a mad creepy motel, slept in a 600 degree room for a few hours, shot all day, slept for a couple hours, shot all day, slept for a couple hours shot all day... I think that pretty much sums it up. I can't really differeniate it between days right now. It might be because I got a concussion from getting hit in the head with the crane. I might be exaggerating. I also seemed to develop narcolepsy by sunday's shoot. My body pretty much quit on me, and I don't blame it. We definitely need to start making our days in a timely fashion, because the 5 hour turnaround just isn't cutting it. We didn't even get to shoot the diner scene because it was too busy or something like that so we have to come back... I probably won't be able to during the week because of my courseload, which sucks because I was looking forward to it too. The main lighting highlight was taking 2 - 3 ish hours to set up this sickkkk silhoulette tent shot. It was crane from the ext. house to the tent that David and Lana were in and you could see their shadows on the wall. I was so stoked it worked out, but then my spirit completely broke when I realized I had been spending so much time and energy on this one 3 second shot and still had a whole night of setups ahead of me that I didn't really care about as much. Also, my boots have holes in them and the snow was slushy and I had puddles and blue toes. There were a few wardrobe/continuity issues which could have been easily prevented so we were set back a bit this weekend. Justin saved us a lot of time by realizing we could just flop a shot that broke the line. Spending the majority of my weekend at a graveyard was pretty weird..and I decided the saddest thing I have ever seen is happy birthday balloons on gravesights.

I felt a little better once I got home. I have had a headache for 3 days (see concussion) but I took a long hot shower, ate, and watched House. Now I'm trying to play catch up on an obscene amount of homework and tomorrow starts the sick cycle all over again. There is no time to relax this week because the upcoming weekend is going to be just as intense. Some of the hardest lighting set ups for outside the shadowy house. Hopefully, after some talks with the rest of the crew we can work out some more kinks to make us more efficient. Zach and I are on the same page and were continuing to work smoothly together..it can only get better from here.

Introductions

Hello hello, I'm Kelly, a junior media production major and zee gaffer for The Mercury Cycle. I'm in charge of lighting and I know that I'm doing my job right when no one notices the lights (outsiders that is). I work closely with the DP (Zach) to make sure every shot is adding to the creative vision. Working with Zach has been good so far, we seem to be on the same wave length which is nice. Our screen shots from NY were pretty stellar. I am already very impressed with the rest of the crew; everyone is finally working in their specialized niche and doing a spectacular job. As opposed to class projects where you have to do almost everything alone. This is when the true collaborative art happens. As a student production, we have a very limited budget, which I actually really enjoy working with (shh don't tell). It's no fun if you have all the money to buy the best equipment. It's the most satisfying to make a good shot with limited available resources. Fun fact: I like gaffing because the art of manipulating and controlling light is one of the coolest concepts I've come across.