After the trip, I really buckled down on productivity--especially related to my short film entitled Kelly, which I shot last weekend. My responsibilities at work have essentially doubled, so I've been finding myself always working past 6 despite not taking any breaks other than lunch, being under extreme rushed stress from 3 to 4, and having to leave some tasks incomplete until the next day. I was there until 8 yesterday and still couldn't finish everything. So FORGET ABOUT doing homework during my downtime at work like I used to omg. That shit is actually done at home now.
So prepping for the film included: writing a shot list (46 shots!!), writing an audio list, printing out script copies and highlighting parts for the cast, cleaning and reorganizing my entire bedroom, hiding almost all cables near the ground, vacuuming multiple times, even changing my bedsheets and taking down all anime posters, and trying to coordinate the people that would be helping me.
After class on Thursday, I picked up the filming equipment which btw was a huge pain in the ass because I had to keep a friend watching my car in the freight loading zone while I slowly pushed approximately 60 pounds of equipment in a giant ass cart through hallways of classbound students and onto a rickety (rumoredly haunted) elevator.
I spent that night familiarizing myself with the camera (which I'd only touched for the first time that day), experimenting with the aperture settings (Sony NXCAM sucks if you want shallow focus), and setting up and trying out different combinations of and locations for the lights. It hit midnight and I could hardly keep my eyes open... and then 2 AM and I somehow knocked out without having filmed anything and also didn't set any alarms for the next day aiyahhhhh OTL
After work on Friday, I headed over to my friend's dorm to help him film his project since he agreed to crew for mine. ;u; I was exhausted but I'm glad I chose to go because not only was it really fun (and I liked the company!), I learned a lot about using the equipment and different techniques for lighting. STILL bitter that our professor threw us out here with demands to produce and direct a whole high-quality short film even though we'd never had any practical experience with filming during class. Sure you can have us memorize information on 3-point lighting, but what good is that until you've actually tried to light something or until you learn that you can manipulate lights by bouncing them off walls/bounce cards/umbrellas/the ceiling? I DIDN'T KNOOOOW.
I got home that night around 11. Read a chapter for my screenwriting class and took the online quiz. And then off to work on my production!!
1 AM to 6 AM. Filmed all of my stuffed animal scenes.
It doesn't sound like a lot. It sounds quite easy, actually. But every change of angle means a change of lighting.... It means manipulating your space so that cables and equipment don't show up in your shot. Which is freaking hard because I had that damn tea party on the GROUND which means making all your shit defy gravity. And moving all of those lighting fixtures by myself was HARD. Q^Q All of my fingers became little red balloons from the heat and weight.
Finally slept at 7 and accidentally woke up at 10 because the new poster I taped on the wall above my bed (to temporarily replace all of my Tsubasa Chronicle ones) couldn't hold anddddddd fell on me AHAHA. Surprisingly wasn't feeling groggy! So I had lunch, showered, reorganized my footage from the night before, rushed out to pick up food and Karu, and then my lovely voice actors in the form of NYA came over~
I admit that it could've went smoother and I'm a horrible director because I'm incapable of describing the way I imagine things andddd I got really overwhelmed having to talk in front of the whole group and was too scared to demonstrate things SOB. But we finished a lot quicker than expected so we got dessert! By the time I got home after dropping someone off, it was past midnight and I spent the next few hours doing a rough edit of voice acting and prepping to film with the actress the next day (including a 3 AM vacuuming because I can't ask someone to act for me AND have them sit on a dirty floor !!).
So Sunday was finally the big day !!! My crew was awesome. The actress Kelly was amazing at acting as Kelly. It's just that the process was long, tedious, and hard. But at least I had two guys around to help me move all the lighting instead of me doing it all myself which should never happen again LOL. Again, I'm a shitty director who can't describe her visions.
Returned equipment yesterday morning, was up til 3 doing homework last night, worked all day today and still have to do some homework tonight, blah blah. Should get started on editing the film and lots of audio editing to do blah blah blah blargh. Still have a Gemini mix that's been waiting on me even though it was supposed to be done last month. Haven't even started writing my 35 page script for screenwriting. OTL
One positive thing though... At work, I've always felt like.. the one that people gave up on/don't trust because I'm studying nothing related to finance or business. I was told to pursue what I love because anything else is a waste of both my effort and that of those around me. Today, bossman gave me another talk and this time he said, "When you're a manager yourself, you'll learn that it's all about the method. One day when you've risen to a higher position..." and I just. ?!?! I mean, yes, my responsibilities have increased but I'm still the radio-tv-film kid that's always been side-eyed because of my major. I know I probably won't ever become a manager in the way that he spoke of because I don't have enough interest to pursue finance or business in the long term, but it's really encouraging to know that... I think I was just acknowledged as having the potential to do it. Wow. That really helps. It really does. I don't plan to have a future in this but thanks for thinking I can! Well I've been thinking that if I truly fail, I can try to fall back on finance/business with my experience. Except I don't want to go back and study it because that will all feel like bullshit once you've had practical experience in a real working environment.
I would also like to ask to be shot because I wrote a complicated code in Excel for the first time for a tracking log at work and now I think coding could probably be fun-- even though it was a frustrating process-- and I really don't have the time-- IT WAS REALLY COOL and I kind of shot my hands up in the air when I finally succeeded which caused my boss to srsly judge me BUT IT WAS SO COOL.
I TURN 21 YEARS OLD NEXT WEEk. WHAT.
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