out of all of us, I bet
Day three went well for me even though I had to leave early (and I much rather have been on set than at the SOS appreciation banquet that I attended instead of the last half of yesterday. ugg)
It was an odd day. We had a lot of people on set, more than I would deem necessary and we were getting too relaxed to be as productive as possible. The Penniless Writer was there which surprised me. We hadn't seen him for the first two days and it was interesting to hear his experience with seeing the reality of the film vs what had lived in his mind for a whole year prior. Even more to my surprise was his reasoning for not being on set prior to day 3.
He had read my "Still" director's blog and had taken very seriously one of my entries about not wanting Mr. Supe ("Still"s writer) to be on set with me because I believed having the writer on set opened the door for all sorts of problems. I was shocked. How does my opinion about my own film so affect a member of another film? Boss Man is his boss, not me. I must remember to be very tactful. It wasn't that I didn't want to see him there--I did--and not that I wouldn't love to have Mr. Supe's support on the set of "Still"--it's just that I am well aware of the conflict of interests. In all honesty, I wanted The Penniless Writer to be there to share in the joy I felt for him--that joy caused by finally seeing the characters come to life on set.
I had my mentee Alyssa from the CMA mentorship program on set with me. It was our first time meeting but this was the only day that was going to work for her to shadow me. She is a busy little bee. She is a sophomore and this is her first year in the film program. Already I see her experiencing the same excitement and anxiety and frustration that plagued me my first year. It's odd to revisit all that. It seems a lifetime ago. But it's amazing the level of maturity and self-discovery you achieve by the time you get to my age. Imagine how much more is ahead of me, only half way through my BA and on the verge of directing my own major project. The anticipation of growth is killer but I know from experience that the growth involved in filmmaking is painful, time-staking and exhausting. The rewards are abundant and indescribable, though. It would take hours to relay it all and I'd still be recognizing changes months from now.
I just debriefed with the UPM which may have been a bad idea. She sees more of the problems than I do. Drama surrounding production design is through the roof--takes the cake off the locations' failure to know that the sprinklers would go off in the park right as we were scheduled to start filming. All of our stuff got so wet, including our actors' clothing which was hanging from a C-stand nearby. Makeup Mistress was beside herself. Production Design: it would take a long time to explain the frustrations there so I will spare the details. But our DP's ability to do his job is suffering because of it and that's not okay by any stretch of the imagination.
I got to see Boss Man after they wrapped and I was home from the SOS banquet around 10:30 last night. He sounded very happy, was smiling, told us he was doing well and feeling satisfied. Whenever I can on set, I ask Boss Man how he is doing or how he is feeling things are going. His positive responses give me the emotional and mental strength to keep doing my job. If he is happy, then I am happy and I am encouraged to do my best because it is what he deserves to see and he is really the ultimate beneficiary of my efforts. I can only hope my crew for "Still" will feel the same.
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