Location Destination

What a weird day. What weird few days.

I haven't been feeling well. Life's hit a bit of a MPC: a minor personal crisis. Ever since I found Liz's last text message, the one telling me she's leaving and not coming back, the one I glossed over in the final month of school insanity, the one that I wish I had fully read before ignoring. 

I suddenly feel very lost once again.

I am no longer going on the road-trip with Makeup Artist and BTS girl. No more Seattle--haven't got the money. I could make it to San Francisco. Truth is, I would love to go, but the other gals decided to just fly to Seattle. It'll be $50. The road-trip was going to be a couple hundred each of us, for me even more cuz I'm making the trip back alone.

Well, with that done, here I am and here I am staying. I could have taken that intro to photo class I wanted to take at school. I could have taken that class on social justice with Dr. Russell. I could have taken that class on reading hieroglyphics. I feel like I'm already wasting the summer. Mom says it's ok I'm not taking classes. I need a break.

She's probably right.

But I def need an escape now.

I need to call Anna and tell her I won't be coming.

I need to call Jeannette so I can feel a little better.

I need to call Liz.

Today I revisited Mr. Script Supe to return the book I borrowed. He seems a little frazzled. Job search go figure. He needs a crap job he says. One he can leave without much notice. This way he can disappear into S. Africa for a while. I have a crap job, the next step is to disappear for a while. I might just be back where I was last summer. Last summer though, I was Africa-bound as well. Mr. Script Supe, you wanna trade lives for a bit? Or how about you take me with you? Maybe in your carry-on?

Well I walked away with a new book. Rant by Chuck Palahniuk.

Tomorrow Lady Producer and I have a lady date. She was at the boys' house, hanging with the Gaffer. Whether or not something is happening there is anyone's guess. The Director can go ahead and keep being awkward about it. That's fine. Makes it better, even.

I'm glad for the lady date. I haven't had time with Lady Producer in a long long, too long of a while!

Stranded in CA is better than being stranded... in other places

So here I am

back in the production center at biola, back to editing footage for Invisible Children stuff.

I've got company. Watkins is here and Key Grip and UPM are running in and out. UPM is now UPMing/LMing on the spring biola film and Key Grip, her equipment room honey, is doing inventory of the whole ER.

Gluttons for punishment? perhaps.

All excuses asside, Self Storage has stranded its out-of-State crew members and now we are picking up the pieces, running around bored, taking other crew jobs--just to keep busy. But hey, better to be on crew for biola film, stressing out beyond healthy regulation and fed two meals a day than to not be on crew and not eating at all.

It's all in perspective.

After the Watkin wedding, they get to go home. After June 1, Makeup and BTS girl get to go home, thanks to my car. As far as the rest of them, lord help them if they're stranded, but it's better here than.... well, pretty much anywhere else on the planet.

Worst Text Message EVER

So today consisted mostly of driving Loc Manager all over the plizace to her various jobs in SoCal. Finally topped off the day with the deliverance of a mattress from Curtis. 500,000 Awesome Points to Mr. CCC. Tonight we unwind by watching THE DARK KNIGHT ON BLU RAY!!!!!!! omg.

So this morning woke up to the worst text message ever. This is what it said:

Im at the er with micah. He had a bad asthma atttack at the club.

-Beth 1:00 a.m.

I went to Micah's bedroom. Sure enough, my little brother is missing.

Where are you now?

-Costume Mistress 8:49 am

He went to see his boss. Hes fine now. Scared me to death first.

-Beth 8:51 am

Phew. Relief. He laughed about it and told me the story when he came home. I am a negligent older sister :(

On the latest gossip,

The other day, Mr. Director gave me a hug instead of a hi5 when we met. I am ungrateful and complained about side hugs--but it got me an upgrade to full hug. Oooooooo. You know that this could only mean one thing, and one thing only:

we must be friends outside of Self Storage! gasp!

AND!:

Mr. Script Supe found the blog! Cruzin his cribbage boo's gossip blog, he inadvertently found mine. gasp! Well Mr. Script Supe, enjoy and keep the secret! I know the Director is your roommster, but you gotta keep your mouth shut. I know, I'm bad at keeping the secret myself, but trust me, this will be even more fun when The Boss Man finds this months from now. But Sir Director, if you have already found this blog, you're in on the secret too so zip lips friend!

-The Costume Mistress

Strawberry Express

Today was a good end-of-a-long-weekend-slash-kick-off-of-summer day. LM and I did our strawberries delivery to all those whose grad parties we inadvertently missed due to our monumental day of packing up and moving out. Still even working on the moving in part though....

First was Curtis and Gonzo's Memorial Day bbq. We brought the strawberries and Italian Soda supplies. They provided the bomb carne asada fajitas. Then we paid a visit to the boys' house but only Mr. Script Supe was there. We kicked it and ate one of the packages of strawberries while being educated on all of Mr. Script Supe's favorite mellow music. Using his library system, I borrowed Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk which I am very excited about reading. Finally, after a quick dinner, we visited the Production Designer at her parents' place. At 9 pm, they were just getting to their grilling for the holiday, but LM and I were too full to indulge. Instead, we just chilled and admired Production Designer's picture that was on the cover of the local newspaper. I don't think they could've chosen a better shot.

Peace and love to all the grads. And strawberries. what hwat.

-The Costume Mistress

Trouble

So now the Locations Manager has taken up residence in my home.

She helps me kick off the summer by getting me in trouble with my Mom.

I swears, LM said "jbf" first, not me!

Here's to summer

Here's to parents being gone for a week.

Time for adventure!

<3

The Costume Mistress

Fatty McButterpants

I am done.

No more papers to write.

No more finals.

No more classes.

No more stressing.

No more Self Storage (and that I am actually sad about but now the anticipation just gets to build up)

I have been stress eating and therefore hating myself. I swear I'm done, now that I've rewarded my survival of torture by downing a 16 oz peanutbutter moo'd from Jamba. mmmmm calories. The guy who made it also had a monroe piercing. = we are instantaneously best friends. But now seriously, back to eating good things.

Dear Mr. Script Supervisor,

Take it easy. I think you're cool so no worries. Enjoyed our conversation today. I will put in a good word with the Big Man about the job. Good luck with your crap and have fun waking up and the butt crack of dawn the graduate. 

Days till production: who cares

Remaining finals: none

Remaining papers: nothin

Remaining grad parties: oooooooh boiiiii

Oh Yes!

Last night I almost wet myself.

I was talking with the Director and Taylor Rae asked about Self Storage. A kind of odd moment ensued in the standard film department fashion surrounding discussion of failed/failing projects. 

AND THEN Taylor asked if there was any way he could help us on the project and the Director said, of course.

Oh.

My.

Goodness.

Taylor Rae on Self Storage would be pretty much the BEST THING EVER.

Vintage 70s couch... just the right size

Now that it's move-out season at school, the classifieds for free/cheap couches are in the millions. The Locations Manager thought it would be nice to remind us how bummed we are by sending me and the Prop Girls and Production Designer an add for a "Vintage 70s couch... just the right size"

Perfect timing.

Days left till production: less than 118

Remaining finals: 1

Remaining papers: 1

Days left in the semester: 2

Tonight was good though, last gnome night of the semester full of pie and fun. love love love

<3

The Costume Mistress

Gametes for Sale

So according to our UPM, in a fit of crazy, the Director proposed that he sell one of his testicles to raise the money we need to get Self Storage up and running. If more crew members sold their testicles, then we'd make a really really good movie. Budget wouldn't even be an issue. The good thing about testicles is that you are most likely born with two so if you sell one to fund your student film, you still have the other one. Though, one has to wonder how one transplants a testicle....

The UPM and I then discussed selling our eggs for funds. Technically, only one of us will have to do that cuz an ovum will fetch $5,000 and Self Storage only needs $2,000. We tried to decide which female would be most likely chosen in the rigorous eugenics selection process. We decided that our BTS girl is the most worthy candidate seeing as she is blond-haired, blue-eyed and tall. The Executive Producer can afford to give up one of his testicles for the project too seeing as he flaked out on us early, this will be suitable repayment.

For now, the UPM looks into donation centers.

Communication Melt Down

So today is MEGA COSTUME SHOPPING DAY. Woke up at 8:30 a.m. I made a nice fat list of all the thrift stores I need to go to and all the clothing pieces I need. Out the door by 11:30 a.m.

I hit the jackpot at Melrose Vintage in Uptown Whittier. I love the manager here. He is super cool and really helpful. He helped me find all the pants I needed to fit our male actors AND HE HAD RUNNING SHORTS!!! OMGGGGGGG

THE tiny shiny 70s running shorts I was looking for. I had to make a quick call to the Director though to find out the pants size of our "Ramon" character since I found some black pants that would work.

"Uh yeah... we did production meetings all last night, till like, 2 in the morning... and we ran into some issues... pretty much the UPM and Producer didn't have great communication with the Production Designer and... now... we're trying to decide what to do... cuz like, they are giving her $600 which... for a 24-page period piece just isn't possible..."

It suddenly hits me why the Production Designer was in such a foul mood when I ran into her at the library last night.

"Dude, yes--what? Just tell me what's happening!"

"We're thinking bout postponing production a couple of months. Cuz it's either we do it now on $5,000 or we wait to get $2,000 more, which we will find out in the next two hours."

I put the Melrose stuff on layaway and head back to Biola. I check out a couple more stores, but I can't lie, I'm kind of disheartened. The Director sounded like it's been a very very bad last several hours. On the way home, he calls again.

"So after a lot of talking about it and praying about it, we decided it's best if we postpone the shoot. We wouldn't be doing our donors justice making the film next week. We won't get it right and I rather postpone it then make a crap film."

I understand, totally. Besides, I'm not really ready. It would just have been nice if we had figured out this problem earlier.

Final summation: communication meltdown.

The Director sounded so disheartened, like we all hate him now or something. Hold the phone son! You have been having multiple production meetings every day, running all over creation with me and the Locations Manager and I don't even know who else trying to make sure everything is right and under control. I feel bad for you, not for myself. If anyone is to be upset, it's you cuz this is your baby. So don't go around thinking we all want to kill you.

Days till production: less than 120

Costume pieces to return: about a dozen and a half

Remaining finals: 2

Remaining papers: 2

Sigh.

Next up: Miss Fortune Cookie Production Meeting tonight at 8 pm

Sigh.

<3>

Costume Attic

So today, the director and I went to Fullerton Civic Light Opera which is pretty much the most eyegasmerational place I have ever set foot. Imagine a whole warehouse full of costumes, three racks tall, row after row, any show or period you may need--and that's just the women's side. We spent most of our time in the attic of the main building where most of the men's costumes are kept. 

To my surprise, he liked practically everything I had pulled out last Friday. After so many failed attempts, I was sure I would have pulled over half of the pieces in vain. Lately, our visions just haven't been matching up, but I did talk to him about that so I think there's just a lot more positive talk flowing back and forth between us.

I am stressing big time right now though. With two finals and two papers left to go before my 2nd year of college is over and now 7 days before "Self Storage" hits production, I am FREAKING OUT!!!!!!!!!! 

I have Zack and Lauren to assist me in sewing stuff, but I don't know how much of that is going to happen. I really really wanna sew some cool 70s stuff. Sewing is like yoga to me sometimes... or it could just make things more stressful. Bah.

Costumes yet to complete: all of them

Days left before production: 7

Remaining papers: 2

Remaining finals: 2

Lord help me!

That's a Wrap Party

Today was our film department wrap party at Huntington beach. I drove the locations manager and the BTS girl. Seems like everyone I know is working on this film. We played volleyball. I enjoyed harassing the script supervisor and didn't care to keep score. I never do. I don't think I've been competitive since I was 11 years old. I just laugh every time something unfortunate happens.

Dan was there and it's the last time I see him before he leaves for Africa with Give a Damn? I'm nervous for him, but I know that the journey is the whole point and it's going to be freaking amazing. Shanna was also there and I loved talking to her as well. Seeing her reminded me that I want to do portrait photographs of all of my friends who are graduating this year. I think it would be cool, just do a little something to remember them the way I remember them.

The director came up to me, "Howdy"

"Hey. How's it going?"

"Good. I'm good."

I nod, "sweet."

"I have an idea. We don't talk about the movie at all" sweeping hand motion like an ump signing SAFE! "we just talk about other stuff?"

"Sounds good to me," I say with a smug grin and we shake hands.

"So how are finals going?"

I don't really want to talk about those either. uggggg.

Days until we hit production: 9!

Costumes completed: not sure

Finals: 3

Papers: 2

Balls.

<3

The Costume Mistress

Nothing Else to Talk About

I just went to the hands-down coolest place ever: the Fullerton Civic Light Opera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW I WANNA WORK HERE.

I couldn't stay long because I had to go to work, but the women there were really helpful and let me pull any costume pieces I wanted and put them on my own rack. I'll take the director back here later today or on Monday. The way this process has been going, he's not gonna like anything I've pulled out. I think I just have to be more forceful about my vision.

After work, I went to the director's house cuz the production designer was hosting a bbq for Give A Damn? I gave the director the run-down on all the stuff I had found out, good news (such as THIS PLACE IS EFFING AWESOME!!!!!) and bad news (such as... it's still kinda pricey... even with the discount and doesn't have anything for women I liked or that I think you'll like). I finally blurted out the whole I-need-you-to-trust-me-not-just-say-you-trust-me spiel I had considered on my drive to the bbq. It was a total fantasy, I didn't think I'd actually say it. To which the director replied, "What are you talking about? I do trust you." I know, but that's what I say when I want people to feel good about themselves.

The production designer came across us and my open binder of movie notes and said, "Oh, are you talking about Self Storage?" 

Still slightly worked up, I replied, "I really have nothing else to talk to the director about."

"Oh ouch," he said with a laugh.

It's funny because it's true. sad, but true. He's really awesome, no lie, but I realized that we rarely talk about crap other than this movie.

Days until Self Storage hits production: 11

Costumes completed: not sure....

My Skin is Falling off my Face!!!!

Yesterday, I had a fantastic treat--in fact, the only good thing about yesterday is that Sandi showed me her super awesome photo album from her wedding/honeymoon in 1974. Sooooo cool. I was really inspired. She showed the director and production designer too later in that day.

I was feeling kind of crazy cuz yesterday was a really busy day. I have only slept 2.5 hours since Tuesday. I still feel really crazy..... ahh....

I stayed up all night working on my Intro to Mass Media final project which was a really tongue-in-cheek spin on the "future of print" debate. But, finally, it is done. Here are some of the pictures from the photo shoot. Everyone has facial deformities due to the radiation in the soil and atmosphere. The magazine is set in 2069 AD Canada, one of the few countries that hasn't been destroyed by nuclear fall-out.

I had a lot of fun doing this, but I was soooooo out of it today. To top it off, the director called me and told me he didn't see anything he really liked in Sandi's albums. wtf.

Days until Self Storage hits production: 12

Remaining Costumes: all of them

Remaining Finals: 3

Remaining papers: 2

Remaining final projects: 0!!! suckaz!!!!

I decided that this blog maybe a good way to purge some frustrations as well as document the Self Storage movie shooting May 26-31st. 

Basic Premise of the film: Spring of 1973, the Los Angeles Zoning Commission attempts to disband a group of anarchist freeloaders who are living in their personal mini warehouses.

I am the costume designer. oh boy. 

I am currently frustrated because of the fact that my director, like most dudes, doesn't discern between colors the same way I do. I know this is a stupid complaint, but sky blue and teal are not the same color. Ladies can I get a witness? Also, while I'm ranting, I think he has a different idea of what the 70s were than the 70s that actually happened. I probably do too, I mean, I saw Anchorman, I know what's up.

In my linguistics class, we actually talked about this. American Men can usually name 6 to 8 colors where American women can name 10 to 15. It's just a thing. Might have to do with a lot of guys being slightly colorblind? I don't know, that's just my theory.

www.storagemovie.com 

Love,

Your Costume Mistress