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. :)