Wendy hates bureaucracy. She wants to make movies, not drive around LA, fill out
forms & wait in lines. But bureaucracy is a big part of making
movies.
After a long day of running
around LA between classes, and getting stuck in traffic,
she was having a bad
day. All it took was Lisa asking, "You okay?" and the dam
broke.
Big tears. She's been feeling a bit overwhelmed last few days. Her film
screens in five
weeks (28oct). Until then, it's crunch time.
A lady at one of the offices where she
filed for a permit heard Wendy's tale of woe,
how
she got the run-around from a guy, and called the guy's boss (who gave her
the run-around). Apparently some guy sent her on wild goose chase, but should've
handled it himself.
There's not much time between
classes .. no time to waste. One permit is required to
film a horse/animal, another
to film a child/minor .. lots of permits required.
The horse/animal permit has been
especially tedious. She needs to hire Park Ranger
(for $30/hr) for 2 days (4
hrs/day), plus $160 permit fee, anytime an animal is used
in a film.
She's negotiating the steeper slopes of the bureaucratic learning
curve.
***
Film footage is edited each week
.. as
it's shot. I somehow thought editing wouldn't
occur until (after)
everything was shot. Not so. Lisa is editing. Wendy stayed with
Lisa late
Tuesday night, helping make decisions, until she (Wendy) started to tire,
then went home. Lisa edited 'til 3AM.
Wendy said Lisa is doing a great job
of editing. Her cuts look great. The entire class
reviews both raw (dailies)
& edited footage each week .. from all films.
Some of the footage came
out over-exposed (looks light). Supposedly, this is no
problem, cuz it can be darkened in
lab .. when they make the final prints (answer
print).
The print they work with
now (called the work print) is a lower-quality (less expensive)
version. Their Camera TA
said "not to
worry" .. that their footage will looks great after
being tweaked it in the lab.
Wendy heard that some cinematographers
intentionally over-expose their film (by one
f-stop setting). It's
supposedly some kind of trick cinematographers use that gives
them more control
later. What you *don't* want is to under-expose film (too dark),
cuz it's
much harder to lighten dark film, than to darken light film.
Wendy said Luke's &
Keith's footage rocked. At
end of class, the Camera prof said,
"Well, it looks like Luke & Keith
have set high standards for the rest of the class ..
and let's see, what else? .. oh
yeah, Wendy & Lisa's footage came out beautiful ..
just beautiful." The
girls were honored to be mentioned along with Luke & Keith.
Wendy is very much into image
quality. I've never paid much attention to image
quality, focusing instead on story.
Supposedly, b&w film can look gorgeous if shot
right.
I saw some of Luke's stuff last
semester, looking over his shoulder while he edited a
scene in the bullpen
at USC. It was indeed gorgeous. He has a knack for making stuff
look
good. It's like a magnet for your eyes. Almost hypnotizing. Artsy.
***
Some students are
dropping one class, due to financial problems. Students aren't
permitted to
apply for scholarships until they've completed one full year (at the
end of this
semester). The plan is to make up for the dropped classes some time
after scholarship funds roll in.
Wendy got (small) scholarship as
an undergrad (1 of only 5 students receiving a
scholarship in her class). I
accompanied her to the Awards
ceremony. The majority
of scholarships were handed out to graduate students.
More than once, in their acceptance speech, students receiving the
scholarships
said, "I'm
very grateful for this scholarship, because without it, I don't know if I'd
be
able to continue." You could tell by the look on their faces that they meant it.
Reality can be cruel .. even for those trying to master the art of make-believe.
***
Wendy & Lisa
have shot + edited more footage than anyone else in their class.
Their
classmates said,
"Dang, you girls were busy this weekend, eh?" So far, it
doesn't look like they'll have to re-shoot any scenes.
There is one scene in her
film where her classmates want to see the key actually
go into the lock. Wendy cut on the
action, which lets your mind fill in the blanks.
If she has film left over
at the end, she may consider re-shooting that one part.
Wendy said there's rarely an actor/actress that everybody likes, but all
her classmates
love Zarena. The biggest complaint
Wendy received was that things looked
pre-staged,
not natural.
For example, people thought, "No
one would hide a key there." This is part of story-
telling that Wendy wants
work on. She wants her stories, which tend to fall into the
fantasy
genre, to be believable. It's not easy to make fantasy believable.
Details are what make a
story believable. Wendy is not very detail-oriented. She tends
to think in
broad, general strokes. Some people like lots of details; others want only
the
general outline. It's impossible to please everyone, but she needs to strike a
balance between
the big picture & fine
details.
Each week, the class views only portions of a film, individual scenes, sometimes
parts
of a scene. So they're naturally prone to focus more on individual
details (cuz that's
all there is to watch). I
think her story will gel nicely once she can show all of it
together. Until then, she'll
probably get a lesson in attention-to-detail. How does the
saying go? God is in the details.
It's probably best for her to partner with
someone who is detail oriented. Cuz it's also
easy for a detail-oriented
person
to get bogged down in (too many) details.
***
Wendy & Zarena got in trouble for
returning their horses to the stables dripping with
sweat .. after a practice
ride earlier this week. Wendy said the horses wanted to run
(yeah,
right). The girl in charge of the stables scolded at them, and made them walk
the
horses around the track a few times to cool them off before bringing back.
The girl's entire bodies ached the next day. Wendy came home limping &
walking stiff,
saying, "Well, Zarena
can definitely ride."
They will need a horse trainer (named Hector) to be
there while shooting. He's going
to work for free (Wendy offered to pay).
Hector wants only a credit in the film.
***
First schmooze party last night.
Wendy & Lisa went. It was attended by graduate
production students from all different
semesters & Starkies (from Peter Stark Producing
program). Prof,
Helaine, also went. Wendy heard that schmoozing is a vital aspect
to
success in the industry. Lisa knew lots of people there.
Wendy talked to several upperclassmen
about what's required to direct your own 546.
The first prerequisite is that
you have to crew on someone else's 546
(before you can
direct your own). Crew positions are Producer, Asst
Director, Cinematographer, Editor,
& Sound. Except for the Asst Director, each
position is filled with two people (e.g. two
Producers, two Editors, two Cinematographers, etc.)
Wendy is interested in
crewing as an Editor. Now that the school has begun using
the Avid
Media Composer to edit 546 films, lots of students want to edit, cuz being
able to use the Avid is a valuable (marketable) skill. Since only four 546 films are
made each semester, that means only there
are only 8 editing positions available ..
with 40 or 50 students applying
for each position. Very competitive.
In order to graduate, every
student must crew on a 546 at least once. Before a
student can crew as a cinematographer,
they must first take a (semester long)
class. The cinematographer's position is
the only one requiring a prerequisite class.
Wendy is not crazy about
cinematography, cuz the camera is heavy for her.
546 films are 12 minutes each,
16mm, color, with sync-sound dialogue. By contrast,
508's are also 16mm, but
only 5 mins, b&w, with no sync'ed dialogue (only voice-
overs are permitted).
***
Lisa has changed the idea for her story/script. She Was going to do scene about
a political prisoner arrested
for protesting nuclear weapons. Now it's going to be
The Love Manifesto
.. about a girl with a boyfriend who doesn't listen to her.
The girl satisfies
her need to express herself thru graffiti. I'll follow up with more
info when
the details
solidify.
Someone broke into the apt of one of Wendy's classmates, and stole her Mac G4
&
Canon GL1 camcorder. She's pretty
sure she knows who did it .. a boyfriend she
met recently. Unfortunately she
doesn't know his last name.
Currently on crock pot #5 of
industrial-strength, nuclear-grade beef stew.
Wendy says she can feel it
calm her down (grounding) after only a few bites.
They're shooting outdoors in a horse corral near Griffith Park in Burbank both
today
& Sunday. She's been praying for overcast/cool
day, cuz Burbank can get H-O-T hot.
It rained here for 5 mins today, so
maybe it's overcast up there.
Next weekend may be final shooting.
After that is what's called a pick-up weekend,
where students grab any shots the
need/missed, or want to re-shoot.
Fade to black.
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Production Woes
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