Giving a Talk

So we, meaning myself and Melissa, were invited to speak on Thursday (August 27, 2009) for a small group of media students at the Art Institute here in Tucson. My experience with students is a bit jaded, having been one myself several times, and the desire to show as much as humanly possible is there. We had typical students and somewhat atypical students so it all seemed to play out nicely. So now what?

Well, the class didn't turn out to be media students per se, but, rather, art and culinary students taking a sort of introductory media or some kind of media overview class. Not sure if this was revealed to anyone - I didn't know until the day of the class. Regardless, a web series is pretty much the newest of the new medias out there, so we're pretty well covered.

The class was initially a little rude; interruptions, chatter, texting. All pretty much what I would expect from a modern student. I remember we got yelled at and occasionally "tapped" on the head for such behavior, but now we don't get that luxury. It's all strong words and idle threats. So much for capital punishment.

Melissa started the game out by talking about the set up, writing, and pre-production aspect of the show, then led into formal production. Jonathan Northover was there to discuss things from an actor's perspective. Then, that's where I came into play. I talked about audio. I talked about our little Zoom device, boom mics, a good set of headphones, and the importance of getting everything together in one sort of package. I talked about tape-hiss and pointing the boom and other things. The students seemed to glaze over at this.

Back to Melissa to talk about post-production and marketing. We screwed the pooch on marketing didn't we. yes we did.

I remember a bit at the end where I gave an impassioned plea to just get out there and shoot. Get the practice, learn as much as you can, and then dive straight in again and again. I enjoyed it, it was fun. :)

Eat Before You Go

When I'm on set, I will often let every other aspect of my life dwindle to a minimum. Financially, I'm a wreck right now: I haven't made any real money in weeks. The last time I was on set (last night) I had forgotten to eat. Whoops. Dunno what happened, but I forgot to eat. So we meet at 3:30 to start shooting one scene for Limbo.

First off, Melissa is great - the director. She has a great vision and is an amazing writer. I think she's floundering a bit here in sunny Tucson rather than spending her time with the "big boys" marketing scripts and sipping cocktails with the big players in Hollywoodland. Then again, she's here and she likes it here so, cool, lets make some great stuff right here in Tucson. I feel a little like I'm riding on someone else's coattails, but she likes my work and asks me back again and again.

I have my own personal feelings on how I think things should be shot: I don't like handheld, Melissa does (the makeshift stabilizer is a strange compromise); I despise wide angle shots (put the camera as far away from the action and zoom in so everything doesn't look all bulbous and distorted) - Melissa uses lots of close-up, handheld, wide angle shots. Then she goes and uses a jib to shoot and I love it: the camera is far away and zoomed in and I think it looks great. My point is that there are times when I'm chomping at the bit for a different camera angle and when I'm not the director, it can get a little frustrating. Especially when I'm hungry.

I usually do sound. I'm good at it, I have a really good ear and such, but NOBODY respects the sound guy. Actors treat you like a leper, cameramen dismiss you (what? sound guy? fah! he will follow my lead...), directors know they need you, but everyone is soooo concerned with the visual, they completely ignore the audio and set up these scenes that make it completely impossible to get good sound with a boom mic and pole (yeah, this is indie film). Who do they blame when they can't hear something? The sound guy. In fact, despite having perfect audio for several weeks of shooting, I only hear about the quality of my work as "boom in the shot..." Yeah, boy am I jazzed. Grips have more respect than this. Seriously.

And then I was really hungry. Some people just fall asleep when they're hungry. Not me. I get into a tare and take everyone with me. I am not a pleasant hungry person. I get tired and weak and I clench my jaw which gives me a headache. I drink water to offset the hunger and alleviate the oncoming migraine, but I really just need food. Sometimes we are pretty remote. Sometimes, despite all the nastiness described, I just plain FORGET to eat. If I can't have a cigarette, it's pushing up to a potentially lethal scenario.

Now, I feel disrespected (okay, I know I'm not, but I FEEL that way), ravenous, nicotine deficient, and I'm starting to have issues with the director's choice of shots. I'm good friends with Melissa: we worked for a very long time on Crewing Up at Access Tucson, but that doesn't change the fact that the last 4 takes were exactly the same as the first one and minor details like hair are not so important (to me) and we're shooting it wide angle...AGAIN! I am filled with adolescent rage and I may kill one of the actors if they can't keep their FUCKING LINES STRAIGHT...AAAAAUUUGGGH!

Melissa looks at me and I can see her eyes do a mental triple-take. She stops everything and smacks me for not eating. I think she said something like, "what they hell is wrong with you?" I'm immediately calm...well, calmer. I apologize for not eating, but not for the delicious, evil thoughts running around my mind. I'm normally so calm.

Until next time, bring a snack with you - like a granola bar, candy bar, bag o' sugar, soda, sandwich, whatever. Food is a great equalizer: we need it or we die. Melissa is the only one I know who can drop like 30 pounds during a production because she forgets to eat entirely and must weigh in at like 70 pounds at production's end. I have a Klaxon alarm system in my stomach that won't let me ignore it unless I'm heavily caffeinated which is not a good place for me to be. There is usually some kind of food on set, but not always or always what you want to eat. So bring something small that doesn't need refrigeration. The life you save could be the director's.