All good things have to come to an End...

I have to say that this summer was not what I thought. I never really had too many friends in the Tcom department. I had seen some of the people in our crew in my classes but I had never talked to them. I found myself meshing really well everyone. We all became so close knit I know that now I can go to any of them to hang out or if I needed help with something. I learned so much for each person and built a friendship with everyone.

I can say that I have learned so much on this Crew. Everyone had something to bring to the table and were flexible to work around where they needed to be and helping others who needed it. Shawn taught me so much and I was glad I got to work hands on with some of the equipment we did.

I have to say that I liked the busy days where we were constantly busy that someone had to go buy us lunch because we didn't have time for a break. The car rides were pretty much amazing and had a lot of eventful memories. I loved having people come over to my house when we were in Indy and swimming and hanging out. It was neat to see everyone in a new environment outside of working on the crew.

I wouldn't change anything from this summer other than maybe the temperature a couple of days. But as we filmed I could see a great masterpiece being made. I can't wait to see the final project. I am really upset I am not in any of the classes in the fall, because of scheduling issues. I hope that I can find a way to get in on some things.

thanks everyone for being a great crew, I will miss those of you I won't see in the fall and I hope we have another Wrap party that I can attend!

We're done Free Wallin'

Well guys, it was great fun and great work, but all great things must come to an end, and now it is up to the great work of the editing team to make our final product. I know its gonna be awesome, I can feel it deep within my soul. I enjoyed my time working with everyone of you and I learned a lot, so when you add those two things together I'd say that I chose the best thing to do with my time this summer...I just wish it pay more than absolutely nothing.

My favorite shoot had to be the day we were at the factory, in like the last week of shooting, and we were like ants because we all worked so fast between setups and we still got great shots. That's how we should've shot the whole time. But I enjoyed everyday, except when I felt like we could've worked a little faster, or when the heat was just miserable, but we got through it. The last day at the wall was really fun because we were all clownin' on each other and Rich damn near sliced open Jon and Shawn, haha, just kidding it just looked like he could've, ha. When we were finished that day, we had been there all day, almost til dark, and we were still just laughing and hanging out. That was the day we learned the identity of the boarder we were standing on...good thing we never had to bust out our nines!

My dad had a great time as well, and he thanks all of you for letting him contribute.

I had a great time with all of you who came to my house a couple times, and I hope to see you all again soon. I am glad I know who to find when I want to put together a truly fun-to-work-with and charasmatic crew.

Good luck to all of you in everything you do, and Don't take no spit from nobody.

Another Day...Another Dollar

Wow! is what comes to mind when I think my first movie.
I have worked on several crews for classes and with The MiXx, but I must say we have came a long way from the first day in a "cold" classroom.

Working with the 'cool kids' was amazing... making phone calls to state officals, SAG reps, Actors, Resturants, etc made me never to want to talk on the phone again. Deep down inside I enjoyed calling people and making things 'pop' well happen.
During the production part, although mistakes placed we as a team found solutions and I enjoyed working with this crew and cast. Every department did the "damn-thang" (I hope damn is ok to say on this blog) but every department worked really hard. All of our hard work will pay off. I can not wait till post-production starts (well I can wait till school starts).

Overall, I enjoyed myself and I learned from this experience.

My biggest goal now is to help Rich see things half-full. (Who is going to help me?)

Crew please remember the following:

- The Itis
- Fabulosity

I just would like to know when will the next wrap party take place?

Good Day and Good Night!

Phase 2 = OVER

Wow... that went fast. Hard to believe it, but it did. The days were extremely long sometimes, and sometimes I just wanted to pack up my things and leave... but it was completely and wholeheartedly worth it. The weeks of pre-pro prepared us as much as it could for what we've been doing since June, but even then, the amount of things I learned while filming were overwhelmingly better than anything in pre-production. You can spend all this time trying to prevent things from happening, from contacting people over and over, to trying to plan meals ahead of time and organizing paperwork, but the truth is, the minute crew call hits, all those plans go completely out the window.

I was extremely lucky, as the Producer, to be able to work with like-minded people in the Production core, or the "Cool Kids." You might not have known it (which is a good thing), but they all worked their asses off to try and prepare for each day of filming. I cannot even explain the amount of help Sam and Starla were to me throughout production, whether it was contacting actors/city officials/restaurants and collecting and distributing gas money, or sating the actors' requests and mediating between other crew members. Tara was a great help as a production-main crew ambassador of sorts, and we were able to work around all the problems.

I think a lot of other crew members have said a lot of the things I'd just be repeating here. The story was great to work on, and getting to actually make a film has and will be great, but it's really those connections you make while you're doing this thing for 2.5 months that make it all worth it. This crew has been so awesome. I am really stoked to get to work on the post- for this thing; according to Tim I'll be supervising the DVD stuff, which I'm really happy about because I'm a sucker for good DVD extras.

In short, this film has, and will be, ballin'. :P

See You Later, See You Soon

I guess that is it! It is funny how shooting days can feel so long but the summer can happen so fast. It is also funny how I can remember each day specifically because we did something new and cool each day. Being one of the younger kids in the crowd- I knew about 1 person coming into this summer. Now I feel like I have 16 crew members and friends who would be willing to help me out in the future. I was very intimidated coming in but I knew that I would be able to hold my own.

Being a producer- once filming started I thought my role would be less and less each day- and while that may have happend- I was always eger to be a part of filming. I'm sure there were countless times that Shawn and Jon, and Tara (although her sentiment was much stronger) were thinking "how can we keep Sam out of our way". I wanted to do anything that kept me involved, holding a lightstand (Or in Jeff and I's case sitting in my wonderful chairs for about 3 hours with the silk), running the slate, or keeping Jeff's timecode- I just wanted to be involved. And this project gave me the opportunity to do all of those things.

This production has been crazy so far- and I'm so proud of it. We were able to come together in the pinch moments to get that final take- and to not kill each other while doing it. We literatly were running equiptment from location to location- or in from the rain. By the 3rd day we were working so well together it was just second nature. And I'm so proud of all of us for that. (Except Tara- who did little to no work in this entire production)

And lastly I'll comment about my "boss" Heather. Nobody really understands how much work she did- and without her it would have been difficult. Heather was always 3 days ahead and had the solution for just about every problem that came up. As Ms. Producer as she was most often refered to- she did her job and more- and I want to thank her for being a mentor to me- and how I hope to do my job someday.

Well guys- thats it! To those of you who are leaving, or in Adrian's case- already left- I'll miss you! Good luck with whatever you're doing- and thanks to our Green Phone Cards- you have my number. For the rest of us stuck in Muncie for a bit longer- see you in the fall! Don't be strangers- I feel that wrap parties can exted well past the wrap date.

Thank you Free Wall family!

When Rich told me that my script was picked I was so pumped, but at the time I had no idea how lucky I really was. The first day of class, I can not tell you how nervous I was was. The only person I was really friends with was Nick. Sitting in that room looking at all of you, knowing that you all would soon be judging something I wrote was incredibly intimidating. I have never been the "involved" TCOM student. I'm not in any clubs and I don't hang out in the Via 2. That first day, you all looked like you knew what you were doing with your lives. I had started to make friends with some of you during the script revisions. Shawn and I stayed up all night at Nicks house and nearly lost our minds. I knew a few of you from previous classes and projects. I could tell Sam was going to be trouble and Jon and I were still at each other throats. Then this new snobby NYU film student joined us and man was I wrong about you Adrian! And then came Jerry, the gentle giant, who turned out to be one of the nicest guys I've ever met.
The final draft of my script turned out amazing thanks to all of you.
Where friendships really started to form however, was when we stepped outside of the classroom and began filming. Now, I don't even care about the miles I put on my car or the fact that I was loosing money instead of making it. All the stupid arguments and stressed out moments will be shadows by all the great times I had with all of you. Rich said that making a movie is all about sacrificing. Well when I was sitting back and watching my story come to life, nearly everything look as it did in my head, only better. The Shawn-Jon team did some amazing work, same goes for lighting, audio, and of course production. The actors did a great job making the dialog come to life, as well as making some freaking great out takes. "Acid Salt burns your skin and if you snort it up your nose, you're dead" -Sinclair. Javon, Jarod and the other artist blew me away with their talent and I hope to be on there level some day.
I have high hopes for this movie and I am sad that I wont be here for editing. So now it is up to post to put it all together. I will say this for everyone editing this movie, this story is all about a certain time and culture, therefor the music is soooooooooooooo important! Before I leave I'm going to talk to a few people and makes some demos to make sure that we nail it.
In case you didn't know I will be in London all next semester. So if anyone needs me during post you can get a hold of me by email plbosler@bsu.edu. And for those of you who are leaving or finishing up this fall semester, stay real. I will leave you with one final note. This industry is incredibly competitive and often it is not about what you know, but who you know. Now chances are some of us, are going to do big things, so we need to stay in contact with each other and help each other make it to the top. I know if I ever get the chance to make another film, I know where to find a great crew.

At’ll Do

I’ll echo what everyone is saying about this being one of the best experiences at BSU. Going into this film I probably knew about a fourth of the people on production. Looking back now, I can honestly say I have become good friends with everyone including an Angels fan. Although I gained a vast amount of knowledge in many areas to filmmaking, I will say I enjoyed the memorable happenings on set the most. The last few days were really cool. I got to do multiple jobs and had a chance to play the star extra as a note passer in the classroom scene. Over the next couple of weeks I will be logging and capturing all the footage. I can’t wait to see how all this comes together. I have high expectations after this great summer.

That's a Wrap

Looking back, I can easily say this has been the best summer I've had in a long time. Not many students can say they were able to spend an entire summer making a movie with not only a crew that works hard, but plays hard as well. I loved that when we all faced a problem there was at least one person who had a solution. We truly worked as a team and nobody was more important than anyone else. Whether it was our best day or the worst day we all rose above the challenge before us to finally see the end of this great experience. After working on this project for a few months I feel a little guilty not continuing to work on the post production, but we all have to go our own way eventually. That's not saying I'm going very far. During the fall, all of us pretty much live in the same building so I will definitely be around to see how thing are shaping up.

until next time
-Steven

so there's two gorillas sitting in a zoo

Lets just say for every mistake we made during the course of shooting, we learned from it. This means, mistakes made in all departments. Not that there were a lot of them, but there were some and we learned from them. Actors can me late sometimes, equipment may have been forgotten, crew members may be late, images may be too dark, camera moves may be too difficult, the sun is all up in your grill, things get stressful, a few times pushing people to almost snap, crew members disappear at lunch leaving the set short handed, people get tired, flustered, confused, crazy, they laugh, have fun, and say the F word a lot, these are just the kinds of things you face when filming a movie. I learned a lot. Just working with a full crew was a new experience, and we were a crew long enough to adjust to one another, like/hate each other. Because of this, in 7 months when this movie premieres, even if its crap,( not that it will be) but if its a huge failure, it will mean something to everyone who worked on it. We will be watching the screen saying on yeah I'm totally hiding just behind that box, or I was holding that reflector that made that shot look awesome, or that was my camera move. And then to yourself you will say "Son of a Bitch... I made a movie."

anticipating the anticipators anticipation

Now that shooting is a wrap, Free Wall moves into post-production. For several of us working on the audio and video editing process, this means habitual sleepless nights and increased caffeine intake. But, with post-production comes anticipation, anticipation that 8 a.m. crew calls, overnight stays in Indianapolis and scorching outdoor temperatures will all mean something. Post-production will bring all of the dailies and give them life, a life that each and every crew member has helped build.

As Sound Designer, my anticipation has kicked in, as my position on the crew will begin very shortly. That said, I have started to read the book Sound Design: The Expressive Power of Music, Voice and Sound Effects in Cinema by David Sonnenschein to help me understand not only the effect sound can have on the viewer, but more specifically the emotion that helps create each sound. Is it the image that helps portray the sound, or the sound that helps portray the image? This question will be the driving force behind Foley and ADR work. 

 <-- Father 900

The Final Countdown, Do do do dooooo

I think this has been a pretty good experience. I thought the crew all got along great and I learned quite a bit, despite my frequent absences, (sorry guys). I hope I get the opportunity to work with everyone again. Oh, and I wrote a song for Sean. "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Shine until Sean comes and tells me to change it." It still needs some work, but it's coming along.

Final Words

So, for my final post, I was going to do something creative. I thought I would write a poem to summarize and highlight some of the crews experiences. However, I found the task of writing the poem to be too challenging. So (being the lazy person I am) I'm just going to do the usual, novel-length post.

This summer has been fun, difficult, exciting, exhausting, and a great learning experience. I am so glad I decided to be a part of this film crew! I don't know what else to say (that might be a first for me!)

I have truly enjoyed working with everyone on this crew! We did an amazing job of working together and have created some great friendships. It's funny, as I was going home after my last day of filming, I started to feel a little sad. I knew I would feel down after such an energized summer, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. I realized that I wouldn't see most of these people again, and I began to wonder what I was going to do with myself the rest of the summer.

Also, I plan to graduate in December, so I'm starting to feel the pressure of deciding what to do with my life after college. That might have a little to do with how quickly the sadness set in.

The good news is that I will still get to work with some of the crew in the Fall as we edit the film. I look forward to working with them and seeing this project continue to develop.

Post-Production here we come!

How many potato chips does it take?

Well- this is it. For the most part- our last week of filming. And while it may be halfway over- we still have pretty far to go. Today was pretty fantastic and yet again- I find myself remembering the dumb converstaions and fun car rides and that is the stuff that sticks with me.

First of all- the artwork was amazing! It feels like we've waited since day one to see how this was all going to play out- and it was better then any of us could have ever dreamed. All of our artists did amazing things- and this is going to be a huge part of our film.

The main two questions that came out of today were: 1. Can you smash an egg using only your hand muscles- and not your fingers? and 2. How many potato chips in one poatao. (We got the answer there 15-20.) Adrian and Shawn didn't fail to keep our car entertained by our insane conversations and colorful jokes. Betsy- as usual- did a fantastic job as our driver. (GPS says: Turn around- you've compleatly messed up.)

Filming today was bright - and my skin goes to prove it. WE lathered up in sunscreen multiple times- yet I still get burnt. Oh well- I guess we'll be extra careful tomorrow.

This is it- our last few days- and while we are all ready- its going to be sad too. I really don't know what I'll do with my life with all this free time. We've grown to be some huge dysfunctional family and that is why we are so comfortable with each other- and that is why we work so well. I really don't know how I'll live with out Adrian's random songs and thoughts, and Tara's horribly mean comments. I don't know- I'll most likely slide by without Tara.

Thats all for now- have a great day!

Sam

PS. Shawn, am I in this shot? Yes? Good.

Crunch Time.

The title says it all. We're rounding out the last week of filming, and honestly, it's a little bit overwhelming. We've had a lot of scheduling switches due to actor and location availability, but I think we've got something finally nailed down for these last days. I know today was supposed to be a day off, but I spent a lot of it on the phone and making lists of things for the shoots. So much for a day off.

I think it's also safe to say that a lot of us are a bit burnt out on this project. It's been a lot of long hours and crazy days, and we've been at the mercy of a lot of things that are outside of our control. It's tough trying to work with everything we've had against us. I talked to Piers today, though, and he said the work on the wall that Jevon and co. did for us looks amazing. I think that once the crew sees it, they'll be psyched, and that'll give everyone some drive to really bust out these last days on set. The wall really is the integral thing that we're basing this film around, so I can only hope that seeing this great work will remind everyone why we're doing this in the first place.

In the end, though, there ain't nothing to it, but to do it. So... let's do it. :)

Looking back...and...looking forward!

Looking Back...

The past weekend of filming was a long-haul. I was prepared for the long weekend, although we hit a few bumps we managed to overcome them and keep going or re-think things. I feel we are a wonderful crew overall, when something goes wrong there is that one person with that amazing idea.

Thanks Hossley for the wonderful hospitality!

Oh! My grandparents really did enjoy themselves watching the crew film.

Looking Forward...

This week will be a huge chunk of filming for the rest of filming. I know we will keep the energy pumping and keep things moving to get to the end of the road! Currently we are in need of an actor to play a teacher and I believe I know the perfect person.

Well...Good luck to us for an exciting two more weeks, and soon an amazing wrap party!

Starla!

I see a bright light!

After a long week of filming, I see the end in sight. This was a tough week to get through, but we were able to get a lot accomplished. For that I say, "Way to go Team!"

As is always the case, we had some obstacles to overcome. What I really admire about our crew is we were able to rebound quickly and still get the job done. In once instance, we were able to set up for a scene that we weren't even scheduled to shoot this weekend. We finished within about 30-45 minutes, and it didn't interrupt our schedule for the rest of the day. That was one of the best moments of the day.

As far as the lighting for the weekend goes, I was pretty happy with it all. The setup in the factory's "mixing room" was simple yet really effective. Also, Shawn's idea of using a couple of lights with CTO on them for the following scene looked great!

The only thing I wasn't really happy with was the lighting for the "fight" scene. I would give it a 70% satisfactory rating. My main complaint was the amount of lights created a few different shadows, but they didn't really appear noticeable. One thing I don't think I've mentioned is that I am a perfectionist. It's very hard for me to be satisfied with the things I do. I always think of something I could have done better. In the case of the fight scene lighting, I can't think of anything to do different, except maybe place the lights a little differently.

According to my count, only 9 days left of filming. I have really enjoyed this summer film project and I am glad to have been part of this immersive learning. That said, I am ready to be done and have some time off before the Fall Semester begins!

Chao for now!