tis a chain

it's always funny to me when things happen like everyone says they do. (which of course would have to happen quite often, for everyone to be saying so for so long.) realized today that all my "industry" work came out of my first project here - the 168 short film contest. through 168 in general, i met the guy who hooked me up with the tv award show. then, my team's director's girlfriend was the director of the feature film i worked on. and there i met my friend richard, who hooked me up with the dog show last week.

so once it begins, it begins. and it is all about who you know.

glad for all my experiences, but it's a lot easier to enjoy them after the fact - and knowing that i don't have to repeat them. :)

whew

we are done filming. actually left the set last night around 10pm. just three days (thu, fri, sun) but they were LONG. especially when i didn't sleep AT ALL on wednesday night and had to be on my way at 6am thursday. and wake up at 5:30am on friday and then 6:30am on sunday. but, as most of you know, i can handle little or no sleep - though i must admit it is different when you're on your feet all day and needing to be alert and ever-observant! but i survived - thanks to the strength & peace of God.

i have worked in restaurants and offices, so i thought i knew about drama and gossip - but whew, film sets are an arena unto themselves! :) with the bad is plenty of good, though. the atmosphere is such that you're interacting with everyone and hearing about people's lives and having real conversations. and there's so much opportunity to serve people. i love it. and plus it's just a lot of fun. getting slap-happy with a bunch of actors can be pretty comical. half the cast and crew were singing gospel songs at the top of their lungs at some points while lights were being set up.

i started out on the team as a production assistant. i had to run a few errands, make 100+ cookies (with my friend, diane) for our fundraiser, manual labour, that type of thing. i had expressed interest in following around the script supervisor to learn his/her craft...but ended up being the script supervisor. whew. my main role for this was to slate (clapboard) each scene correctly. i checked out a book from the library wednesday morning and gleaned info from some of the professional crew as we filmed. i was also supposed to watch continuity of action, wardrobe, set design, etc. thankfully, we had a lot of alert people on set who helped with this.

i had two people (one actress, one assistant director) tell me they have future projects (one for sure pays!) that they'd love to have me help with. so hopefully those pan out. if nothing else, i know that God was able to use me amidst the drama and i was able to learn a LOT and i feel more confident trying for pa jobs.

our film is now in the editing process. it has to be completed & turned in by 8pm on wednesday. the festival & awards are sat, mar 11. your continued prayers - that the final film will be one we can all be proud of - are much appreciated.

one six eight

i am now in the whirling chaos that is the 168 project. if i didn't mention it before it's called that b/c you only have 168 hours to create (from ground zero) and produce a short film. that's not a lot of time. calm, clear communication - these are not familiar during the process. we had a fundraiser sunday night and raised $1100 miraculously. i'm the production assistant for the team and kind of the script supervisor and, basically any other role that's needed (which hopefully doesn't interfere with ones i already have). the verse our team got, which we have to base our film on, is psalm 73:2-3.

but as for me, i came so close to the edge of the cliff! my feet were slipping, and i was almost gone. for i envied the proud when i saw them prosper despite their wickedness.

it is due wed, mar 1. i'm also supposed to be helping with the movie guide awards show on thu, mar 2. all of this is, of course, for free. i'm hoping for actual paying jobs starting in march...if i can survive the next two weeks!!

i'll update with some fun tidbits when i'm not completely knackered.