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 filed by Becca
You never realize how much you enjoy something until it leaves you speechless every day. This week I have been working with Doug Degrasio as a digital imaging intern. He is in charge of the image being captured. This is very important because they are recording digitally and not on film. With the Genesis HD camera, what you see is what you get. By paying close attention to exposure and changing the contrast digitally, Dante Spinotti will be able to see the image that he wants.
I have learned so much about lighting decisions and frame composition from Dante this week by just observing. Doug has taught me so much about decisions regarding aperture and shutter speeds. Watching them both this week has left me speechless at the beauty of the images I saw.
I also got to make video cables and learned to solder connectors. I even had an opportunity to be an extra in one of the scenes. This whole week was busy and exciting and left me wanting to know more about everything! |
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 filed by Michael
This week so far was my most enjoyable. First of all I have become extremely confident in my abilities here, and I feel like we are all just one big family at this point. I learned a lot about the people I have worked with and have learned a lot about the business. The best advice I have received is that if you want to be in this business, do it while you are young because the business will consume your every waking moment. You will have the time of your life, but it is not “real” life; relationships will be made and broken, sleep will be lost, too many beers will be consumed, and some of the greatest times of your life will be had. This is all good stuff to know because before diving into this lifestyle you must know for sure that it is what you want. Also it is important to save your money and give yourself the ability or option to retire at a moderately young age or at least get to the point where you choose what shows you want to do. |
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 filed by mark
This week I made the rotation to sound and got to work with a great sound mixer David Ronne, the boom operator Jeff Williams, and Utility John Agalsoff. We recorded at the DVD standard 48000 khz, and a 16 bit-rate. I was able to hold the boom during one scene that needed two booms, so I might actually get to hear something that I held the boom for. They had incredibly good hard drives that held up to 9 days of material, and each day while the recording was going on, it was simultaneously being burnt to a DVD throughout the entire day so that at wrap you just pop the DVD out and send it out to post as dailies. I also got to take part in setting up COM units that let different crew members speak to each other during shots that are taking place if something needs to be changed like camera movements, or mic positions. Overall, I learned a ton this week, and look forward to working with the grip department next week. |
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 filed by Dan
We spent the third week out in the desert. I split work with the Electric Crew and the Props Department. On Tuesday, I was an extra during one scene with John Turturro, as a person in the background. The hardest part was that the scene was hilarious because Turturro is a great actor, and I had to make sure not to ruin anything by laughing. It was a great experience, and hopefully I will actually be in the movie. |
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 filed by Jeff
I would be lying to say that this week was as easy as the last. It was considerably more difficult for several reasons. I moved from AD to the grip department. The guys in this group are very different from the first group I worked with. They have a much more specialized job than the AD’s. The grips are, however, in charge of many miscellaneous jobs around the set. They essentially shape the light in the scene, they operate the camera dollies, and they make sure everything on the set is positioned so that nothing moves. Although I felt like I got in their way at times, I know they all did their best to help me learn about what they do. I learned a lot about knots and how important they are to keeping things solid on the set. I also learned a lot about the nuts and bolts of setting up a shot. Whether it was using flags to filter light out of a scene, or using bounce to use the available light more efficiently, there was a lot that I learned about lighting a scene.
I also learned a lot about hard work. This job was more about endurance and just being ready to do a difficult job that involved lifting heavy things in the desert. I’m really excited to move on to sound this next week – partly because I haven’t had a job where I can observe as much as this one will allow me. |
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 filed by tim
How amazing is this business...
I've been in a place totally foreign to me, performing tasks that I've never been formally trained to do, in the one industry I've dreamed of being a part of my entire life, all for only three weeks... and I feel like I'm actually pulling it off. I can only compare it to feeling as though I'm part of a family that has welcomed me with open arms. Walking around set having professionals that I look up to knowing my name, shaking my hand, complimenting me and cracking jokes with me... it feels like the ultimate sign of success.
I spent this week working with the Assistant Directors, learning and performing jobs I never thought in a million years I'd be doing on a show of this caliber. It was great to have an incredible Base Camp Production Assistant like Anthony Steinhart to help me out. On Monday of this week he took me under his wing and taught me some very important lessons to ALWAYS remember in this business...
Number one: This business will get you down, if you let it. Simply put, DON'T LET IT. If this is what you want to do then make sure everyone around you knows that.
Number two: Be persistent. This is a hard business to get into, but don't let that affect you. Work as often and as hard as possible and you'll get to where you're going.
The bottom line is I consider this to be the most important advice imparted on me at this point in my life. It means so much to have an amazing amount of tutelage passed on from Anthony, a person who started out at very much the same place I'll be starting at in this business. To have a person like him, who I know had to struggle to get to where he's at, encouraging me to do the same is tremendously rewarding. If he sees any of that same spark in me, then I consider that to be the greatest compliment I'll ever receive. |
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 filed by laura
This week some of the students took new positions. Mark went to sound, Becca to digital image technology, Tim to the assistant directors, and Jeff went to work with the grips. Mike stayed with camera for another week. I hoped that by rotating the students to various positions, they would learn about the different areas of filmmaking.
On Monday we drove to the desert where we experienced what the students described as something like walking into a hair dryer. It was 90 o at 9:00 AM, and when there was a slight breeze, it was not refreshing. The good news is that we were on a golf course and at least the grass seemed cool. Despite this, the countryside was lovely.
At the end of the day, we moved to a small desert town and the following morning began shooting at a nearby motel. On Wednesday, the students were asked to be extras in the movie. You can check out their costumes in the photo section. It will be interesting to see if the shots that included them will appear in the finished film or remain on the cutting room floor.
We concluded shooting on Friday and returned to LA for the weekend. By the end of the week, we had observed amazing performances by Fionnula Flanagan, John Turturro, Christopher Lawford and Anthony Hopkins. |
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