Wrapping
up the Semester
The 508 semester at
USC Film school
#15 in a series of 16
10dec2000
Fade up & zoom in.
As expected, the final few days before picture lock were some of the most
stressful
of the entire semester. The
girls
spent many hours, working closely in the
edit
room.
Both were exhausted, smelly, humorless, at the end of their ropes.
Wendy was grieving the loss of her
brother
on the 2nd anniversary
of his passing.
When the film was finally done (picture locked, film
double-spliced) Sunday night,
Wendy called mom. She'd actually planned to
be done editing a day earlier, Saturday,
so she could spend Sunday with mom (on the anniversary of Van's death).
***
Mom, Sidney & I were worried Sunday night, cuz we expected hear from
Wendy by
4PM.
That's when she expected to be done. By 8, we still hadn't heard a word.
Starting at
5PM, we left enough messages on
her cel phone to fill the box. It wouldn't accept any
more, and it started getting dark out. That's when we really started to worry.
We remembered how she sometimes isn't able to park at the Shrine, when there's an
event scheduled there for the weekend, & and has to park on the back
streets, and
how USC
is not in the greatest part of town.
Mom was the last person to talk to Wendy, at 11AM -
some 9 hours earlier. Wendy
was driving to school (talking on her cel), and said "Aww, shoot! I just got off the wrong
exit. Well, I *think* I know how to get to school from here. I better go
now, mom."
That was the last thing anyone heard from her.
At 8PM, Mom went into her bedroom & wouldn't come out. She said she thought Wendy
was goner (on the anniversary of Van's death). I didn't have any bad intuitions, but my
mind tried its best to
run wild, with a million different scenarios. None of which were
very
appealing. Mom, Sidney & I called each other every 30 mins. "You heard anything?
No?
Me neither. Wonder where the heck she is."
Sidney said, "Maybe I should drive up there & look for her. Nancy is really upset."
Wendy is usually good about checking in. Thankfully, Mom didn't tell me about
Wendy
getting off the wrong exit. That would've really made me worry.
As it turns out, Wendy was simply focused on finishing the film. No
harm had come to her.
There was a 12-inch piece of film she couldn't
find. The very last piece/cut before picture
lock. She spent hours looking for it. Became obsessive
about finding it.
It
was at the end of a reel - right where it was supposed to be. It was the first
place
she looked, but missed it cuz it's the part that wraps around the spool,
and didn't show
up on the screen. The
stress of the situation was
just enough that she didn't figure it out.
***
Wendy worked extra hard, editing Lisa's film, for 2 weeks prior to the
deadline. She was in
the edit
She says, nobody even thinks about editing a music video on a flatbed, cuz
it's so tedious.
A PC (
There was
also one track the Sound guy forgot to put on the CD, which meant
they had
to come back the next day (Sunday, anniversary of Van's death). That was one of the
flashpoints, cuz Wendy had planned on spending Sunday with mom.
Wendy felt tested. She contends that, if Lisa
wanted her to edit (the
film) to the music,
she shoulda gave her the music (at least) a
week earlier - not wait until the last minute,
when she was almost done.
Wendy says Lisa
rocks as an editor, but changes her mind too much as a
producer/director,
which makes working with/for her a challenge.
***
Both Wendy & Lisa were crying at times, during the editing home
stretch. Wendy looked
wupped when she got home, like a refugee, dragged thru the mill. I'd never seen her look
so beat up.
When she walked thru the door, after being gone for a few days, I said, "Dang, you look
bad."
[I've since learned that's not such a good thing to say =) ]
She considers it one of her more
unpleasant life experiences. I think the exact words
were "Pure
hell." Realize that Wendy was dealing with the grief from losing
her brother,
which seems to surface around the anniversary of his death.
Some of Wendy friends speculate that there might be emotional dynamics
at work,
underneath the relationship. Note that Lisa isn't much older than
Wendy said Lisa would have
her make editing changes, only to
return to Wendy's
exact same cuts (waste of time). And don't forget that Lisa's editing partner,
Geof,
seems to have abandoned her, and took an editing position with Pema
to edit a 546
with Wendy next semester. Wendy had nothing to do with this. It was between
Geof,
Lisa & Pema, but could only add the fuel of resentment to the fire.
***
Wendy's entire class was editing until 4AM the final weekend. USC kept
the edit bays
open round-the-clock the last days, before picture-lock deadline. A few groups of
students edited round-the-clock, to within minutes of the deadline (9AM, Monday).
Several groups had large
shoots - up to 400 feet of film. That's a lot to shoot for
a pick-up weekend
.. which is why some had to work all night long, two nights in a row.
So Wendy & Lisa finished 9PM Sunday
night. Note that, by contrast, Wendy's film was
done Friday at 4PM.
The prof (Helaine) was right there with the students,
staying until 2AM, helping them
make last-minute editing decisions.
No other profs were there with students. Helaine's
car (Jag) broke down, so she rented
a car, so she could be with her students. Talk
about commitment! Maybe you can see why her students love her so much.
Helaine is involved with,
and excited about, everyone's film project, encouraging her
students. Wendy
feels most fortunate to have Helaine as a prof.
Helaine will not be teaching another 508 class next semester. USC
offered her a position
teaching a 546 Directing class. But Helaine
opted, instead, to commit to direct an
independent feature. I think it has something to do with gospel singers/choir
for a
national religious organization (Baptist? Methodist?).
The feature
does not have all green lights yet, but she had to commit before they
could
apply for funding. It looks like they have a good chance at getting
bank-rolled, and it
would be a cool gig for Helaine.
***
Strange coincidence: Wendy worked, editing, 'til 4AM Sunday morning, the anniversary
of Van's death. As students were preparing to leave, Keith
(Luke's partner) offered Wendy
his
couch, so she wouldn't have to drive all the way back to Laguna (they had to
return
Sunday morning, to finish editing).
She took him up on the offer.
While getting directions to Keith's place, she noticed they
looked oddly
familiar. As an undergrad, Wendy stayed one night a week at
the Dog's place,
in Hollywood, not far from the famous landmark sign (class got out @11PM,
had to be back
at 8AM).
She was at the Dog's place when she got the news about Van.
Come to
find out, Keith lives right near where the Dog used to live (Dog has since moved
to San Jose).
She called early Sunday morning, from
Hollywood, sipping a triple-shot latte at the same
place she used to
frequent (The Bourgeoisie Pig, on Franklin St.) while staying at
Dog's.
This is the very same place she sat and had a latte the morning after getting the
news
about Van. Kinda trippy. What's the odds of that happening?
When she originally told me the story, I thought I heard her say that
Keith lived in the same
house that the Dog used to live in. That's not the case, but it made my
skin crawl. He simply
lives in the same neighborhood.
While driving home from 508
screening,
I told Wendy that I connected
best with Keith - of
all her classmates. I even told her that he reminded me of the Dog. He was easy to connect
with. And Wendy has always said that the Dog reminds her of Van.
So
she wound up in Hollywood, on the anniversary of Van's death, near the place
where
she first heard the news, after staying with a guy who reminds me of the Dog
(who reminds
her of Van), sipping the same triple-shot latte at the same cafe she was in two
years ago,
to the day. Would you call that a strange coincidence?
***
Students are having trouble completing all assigned work. One classmate
told
Wendy that
the Screenwriting prof told him, "I don't want to
have to fail you." .. cuz he hasn't been
turning in all the
assignments. He told Wendy, "I've never had any teacher ever
say
anything like that to me before."
Her classmates are
overachievers, used to kicking much academic butt, with one arm
tied
behind their back. Another classmate, who has an undergrad degree from
Michigan said,
"Graduate Film school at USC is 10 times harder than Computer
Engineering was at Michigan."
Wendy says making movies requires as much hard work as it does intellectual rigor.
***
Lisa
got an Editing job with Dava (girl). Lisa has lots of editing
experience. She's a Film
school grad, too. Not many students at USC have undergrad degrees in Film.
Some have
Accounting degrees, some Political Science, Computer Engineering, etc.
Everything you
can imagine.
Wendy's happy for Lisa. There was a lot of competition. More students
applied for Editing
positions than any other position. But there were only 8 positions
available. (4 films,
2 Editors per film). So Lisa &
Wendy are the only two female Editors, of the 8. They'll
have a 546 Editing class together next semester.
Lisa is cutting the sound for her film. Wendy said editing sound with
Mag tape is incredibly
tedious. You work for hours, and only make a few inches of progress. By contrast, editing
sound on a PC is a
creative joy. The director does their own Sound for 508. Wendy did her
own sound.
The girls had Foley (sound effects) yesterday (Sat), Two groups team up. Wendy & Lisa
teamed with James
& Allison. Like Wendy, James also did his film first. At one point, James
said, "I'm sooo glad we did
my film first." Wendy said Allison looked wupped. James said Lisa
looks wupped
too.
Lisa thinks she might have mono, and says she should be in the
hospital. Wendy walked
into a class a couple days ago, and Lisa was laying
on the floor, in the back of the room,
moaning & groaning.
Screening for Lisa's film is Saturday, the 16th, 7PM,
Lucas bldg, room 108. Same place as
last screening. Everybody is invited!
***
Wendy has her first day of work for 546
the same day as the screening. She'll be at USC
all day, sitting in on auditions for Pema's film. Typically, the Editor doesn't need to be at
auditions, but Wendy
has a knack for casting, & Pema asked her to be there. So 546 is
getting underway before 508 is complete. No rest for the weary.
She wants nothing more than to spend a
few days at Two Bunch Palms (near Palm Springs),
doing nothing but soaking
in 104-degree natural hot springs.
She smoked her victory Cohiba (cigar) tonight. She saves that to celebrate
finishing a major
accomplishment, a habit she picked up from the Dog. She wanted to
wait until she could enjoy
it. It makes her think about Van when she smokes cigars, cuz Van smoked them.
***
She'll be driving up to Santa Cruz with mom & Sid, Tuesday morn,
to see Lani
(in a play)
& spend time with her. She misses Lani. They're gonna
stop over at Deetjen's Big Sur Inn,
one of her
favorite places on the planet. Built in the 30's by
Norwegian immigrant Helmuth
Deetjen.
Lisa's movie is not your typical student film. Wendy describes it as rootsy,
urban, frenetic,
lots of jump cuts. Jump cuts look like
mistakes, made on purpose, for a desired effect.
It's a very personal film for
Lisa. Wendy encouraged her to do a personal piece, with
personal meaning. Sort of a window to Lisa's psyche. I'm looking fwd to it.
Wendy says, "it a cool-looking film". It's like nothing she's
ever done before. She's proud of it.
It's cruel that, after all that work, the film is over in 5
minutes. Hope to see you at the screening.
Fade to black.
Next -> Grades
Previous -> Editor's
Position Accepted
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