well we just finished shooting the film
and it was like a natural disaster.
literally blood (mosquitos), sweat (it was 95+ degrees every single day), and tears (more on that later)...i've never worked so hard in my life and i've never been this tired.
this sounds all really melodramatic and corny but i swear that everything that i am saying is 100% true.
especially this: i'm pretty sure i saved this film. literally without me i don't know what anyone would have done.
within 10 minutes of beginning to shoot on the first day i was promoted from "on-set supervisor" (a made-up title that allowed me to be on set and do stuff) to assistant director (because the original assistant director realized that i was better prepared than he was, even though i'd only been on set for a day and he'd been there for most of preproduction). and then on the spot i learned how to do everything that an assistant director does, and i did it. not to mention, i played (basically simultaneous) translator (because the director doesn't know any chinese but the entire crew was chinese), took care of scheduling every scene and every day, checked out each shot for problems with props and stuff (which is btw usually taken care of by the art director), and otherwise filled in every gap that i could see needed filling.
plus. plus, the producer and director are not happy with each other and on the third day the producer and her mom had a big dramatic meeting with the director and i where they yelled at us for all this shit. and from then on afterward, for the remaining four days, it was drama all the time and i also played mediator during that. and it wasted so much time and it was so energy draining, you guys, drama makes you so tired.
meanwhile i was barely eating (there was food but my appetite basically disappeared during shooting. i think i lost like a pound per day), being eaten alive by mosquitos (it looks like i have the pox for real), sweating all the fluids out of my body and narrowly avoiding heatstroke, and sleeping like 2-3 hours a night for the first 3 nights of shooting (until i started officially completely taking charge of scheduling and made the hours more reasonable so that i could sleep 5-6 hours instead.) plus shouting all the time (which was actually fun. it's actually the assistant director's job to call Action.)
before the director and i left the set for the last time we went around saying goodbye to each location we shot at and i just cried continuously the entire time.
in this post i have whined and bragged and done a lot of stuff which usually i hate when other people do, and have judged other people for doing. but as stupid and arrogant as this sounds, this time i honestly think i deserve it, so i'm going to let it go.
i'm so tired. i'm so incredibly, ridiculously, absurdly tired. and i still have to help everyone get through postproduction.
which will be interesting, given the director/producer drama.
i think one of my biggest obstacles right now is that i am basically acting as de facto leader in terms of figuring out what needs to be done and trying to schedule it, but because i'm not officially a leader in any capacity it's awkward when i ask people to do stuff.
but anyway, i'm also really proud of myself and i think this experience was life changing and i will never be afraid of any situation ever again. and also i think it changed my life path. fuck grad school, i have skills that would be way more useful elsewhere.
and also i now think that one day i could totally make a movie (if i had the money.) and if i ever get that chance, guess who i'm going to ask to be my art director/assistant director/props master/costumer/etc. etc. etc.? get ready, guys. (i promise that my shoot will not be as traumatic as this shoot.)
literally blood (mosquitos), sweat (it was 95+ degrees every single day), and tears (more on that later)...i've never worked so hard in my life and i've never been this tired.
this sounds all really melodramatic and corny but i swear that everything that i am saying is 100% true.
especially this: i'm pretty sure i saved this film. literally without me i don't know what anyone would have done.
within 10 minutes of beginning to shoot on the first day i was promoted from "on-set supervisor" (a made-up title that allowed me to be on set and do stuff) to assistant director (because the original assistant director realized that i was better prepared than he was, even though i'd only been on set for a day and he'd been there for most of preproduction). and then on the spot i learned how to do everything that an assistant director does, and i did it. not to mention, i played (basically simultaneous) translator (because the director doesn't know any chinese but the entire crew was chinese), took care of scheduling every scene and every day, checked out each shot for problems with props and stuff (which is btw usually taken care of by the art director), and otherwise filled in every gap that i could see needed filling.
plus. plus, the producer and director are not happy with each other and on the third day the producer and her mom had a big dramatic meeting with the director and i where they yelled at us for all this shit. and from then on afterward, for the remaining four days, it was drama all the time and i also played mediator during that. and it wasted so much time and it was so energy draining, you guys, drama makes you so tired.
meanwhile i was barely eating (there was food but my appetite basically disappeared during shooting. i think i lost like a pound per day), being eaten alive by mosquitos (it looks like i have the pox for real), sweating all the fluids out of my body and narrowly avoiding heatstroke, and sleeping like 2-3 hours a night for the first 3 nights of shooting (until i started officially completely taking charge of scheduling and made the hours more reasonable so that i could sleep 5-6 hours instead.) plus shouting all the time (which was actually fun. it's actually the assistant director's job to call Action.)
before the director and i left the set for the last time we went around saying goodbye to each location we shot at and i just cried continuously the entire time.
in this post i have whined and bragged and done a lot of stuff which usually i hate when other people do, and have judged other people for doing. but as stupid and arrogant as this sounds, this time i honestly think i deserve it, so i'm going to let it go.
i'm so tired. i'm so incredibly, ridiculously, absurdly tired. and i still have to help everyone get through postproduction.
which will be interesting, given the director/producer drama.
i think one of my biggest obstacles right now is that i am basically acting as de facto leader in terms of figuring out what needs to be done and trying to schedule it, but because i'm not officially a leader in any capacity it's awkward when i ask people to do stuff.
but anyway, i'm also really proud of myself and i think this experience was life changing and i will never be afraid of any situation ever again. and also i think it changed my life path. fuck grad school, i have skills that would be way more useful elsewhere.
and also i now think that one day i could totally make a movie (if i had the money.) and if i ever get that chance, guess who i'm going to ask to be my art director/assistant director/props master/costumer/etc. etc. etc.? get ready, guys. (i promise that my shoot will not be as traumatic as this shoot.)