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.