btw: and this is why I love the internet:

Pause and go back frame by frame from the monkey.


that wacky gibson.

back from dreams

I finally signed a "confidentiality agreement" yesterday for my role as a stand-in, which was pretty fun at the time. Lying in a pool of blood, shoulder to shoulder with three producers I'd come to respect very much, I felt kind of lucky. When I mentioned this, they all chuckled.

It's the end of the road for me on this production, but hopefully there'll be more work coming my way that involves the same crewpeople. Oh man, they all rock so hard! There's too many stories to ever, ever list on this blog, but sit me down with a light ale and they pour out like an open hydrant. I can't say enough good things about every single person on the crew...it got stressful and hectic for every department on different days, but we all helped each other get through it all. You rock, guys.

Will the finished product be worthy of critical praise? I don't even care. For me, it was a job - wake up every day, deal with what problems erupted, and 18 hours later go back to bed. Somehow during the last month I've made the transition from 'media consumer' to 'media producer'. There is a distinct difference now...watching Silent Hill I was thinking not about directoral and editing techniques (thank god, it was bugging me for awhile) and now think happily about each location and what days they must've shot certain scenes on. How big was their craft service table? Did they have to do street lockups, and did they have enough PAs to do the job?

This new perspective is going to stick, I think.

update

- reposted from an email:

Hey Kim. I finally got a day off today, and our internet is finally hooked up. The installation guy just left, and I'm writing emails. Somehow, tho, I figured my inbox would be cluttered with stuff, but apparently 3 weeks isn't long enough time on the internet for people to start thinking you're missing or dead.

We have five more days of shooting, Sunday to Thursday, and then that's it! Time flies when you're making a movie, let me tell ya. I've had production related dreams since day one, last night being no exception, and the weird thing is, I can't think of my life in terms that aren't 15 hour days busting my butt lifting, running, and eating sugary foods. It's kind of crazy, but I'm going to miss all the stress. On a good note, I should be working as soon as this one ends - two people have told me that I am definitely going to be in their next projects, making a lot more than I am now.

Z got me a short comic anthology and that started off my book reading on the subway. So far I've read that, Bunnicula (a classic childhood fav), and most of "Calling All Girls", a comic/article/how to/short stories mini-mag for girls from the 60s. It's both hilarious to read and carry around. On the cover is a girl being assaulted by a penis-y dauschhound, and inside are tales of girls dealing with the oppressive male-dominated culture of the 50s.

Let's see...I haven't had a chance to have a camera on set this month, but I'll definetely have one on the next project I work on. There are too many memories lost to the long hours that I would have liked to save via technology. Next time, next time. Hopefully the couch deliverer people will arrive shortly...


-chad

update: NOT DEAD

Hey internet. I've been AFK for a couple weeks, but I've been busier than I've ever been in my whole life. Z and I moved into a sweet apartment in Astoria, Queens two weekends ago, and the day afterward my battle against time began. Every day I have been putting in 15 hour days as a Production Assistant on an independent film called 'Rockaway', produced by Off-Hollywood Pictures. My nights - 5-6 hours at best. Even now on my day off, I've had to not sleep in order to get my body back on track with day shooting. Last night....well, I'll just repost from an email...

.....
Today I got to play a dead body! I lay stretched out on a pool table alongside the three producers of the film, one of which (like me) was a body double for another actor who wasn't around. The clothes I had to put on had been squibbed the day before, which means they had mini-blood-explosions happen on him during a shot. The result was a sticky, bloody mess. On top of this, the Art Dept. poured fresh blood on my hand, face and legs, all of which stayed caked on for the whole day.

Did I mention this was a night shoot? We started at 5pm and rolled all the way to 9am this morning. I have decided to get things done and plow through the day, because I'm hardcore!@ Or it could be that I want a normal sleep schedule back. We get today and tomorrow off (our only two-day weekend!), and I've finally had time to straighten up around the apt. Next week we'll get internet access (right now I'm paying for access at a hippie joint called FreezePeach) and hopefully the DOCS paychecks will continue to come in.

More to come as more happens,

Chad W.



ps, I am very happy, and my coworkers ROCK