Blogging my first Indie Short, part 2

No time--lots to do--but I HAVE to take a second to blog, because 1) It's been waaaay too long, and 2) I loveloveLOVE my indie short crew and I have to take a second to gush about them.

In a nutshell, today we resumed shooting (a week later than we meant to, but that's okay) and I have to say, my actors and AD BROUGHT IT today. It was my first time working with Annie, and let me tell you, I would be lying if I said she didn't blow me away. She was sweet, polite, professional, and honestly, as an actress she KICKS ASS. I had literally five minutes to give her a total character overview--turns out, I didn't even need that much time. She walked on set, snapped into character, and served up one hell of a performance. Alex played off her brilliantly, as well as delivering a great performance of his own--I've worked with Alex before, but I've never seen him as good as today. No goofing off, no "inappropriate" jokes between takes, no complaining even when I asked him and Annie to go outside (it SNOWED today) for a wish-list shot--I could not have asked for anything better from either of them. Anytime we had to do re-takes, it was because of technicalities, not the actors.

Nicole and Isaac were unavailable today so it was down to me and Matthew--literally, there were FOUR PEOPLE on our set. Having just come off a five-day MPA shoot where there were a minimum of about a dozen people on-set each day, this was not just refreshing, it was eye-opening: It reminded me of how much I love pure, raw creation. You know--when you just take two or three friends, grab a camera, and say "GO!" It's magical beyond words. Today made me remember what I love about the art of film--not the technology, not the hierarchy, not the red tape and the hoops and the step-by-step "required process." Just a couple of people I like and trust, a camera bought secondhand for $150, and about two hours of free time.

There was no production slate, no studio lights, no thesis advisors. It was me, Matthew, our two actors and our two cameras, and pretty much nothing else. We had from two-thirty to four forty-five scheduled, and we ended up finishing half an hour early because our actors were so freaking professional that it took about five minutes to complete each shot. We didn't get forms signed, didn't do a beat breakdown, just took our shotlist, went into an empty room, and got going. We had time to get extra shots and STILL we finished at about ten after four--so we were over thirty-five minutes ahead of schedule. BEAT THAT, FELLOW FILMMAKERS. ;)

Also? Can I just add that our actors had about 24 hours' notice that we were shooting today--and they STILL managed to get to set EARLY, dressed and ready, and deliver some of the best performances I've ever seen from either of them? Oh yes, they did. This was one of those times when I realized that not only am I lucky enough to do what I love, but I am lucky to know smart, talented people who, like me, are only here because they WANT TO BE. I love working with people who feel as passionate about what they do, as I feel about what I do. (Was that a properly constructed sentence? I hope so...)

And, hey, guys...remember the post about "drama" back at the beginning of February? Seems like people weren't listening, because there's an EPIDEMIC of drama going down here lately. C'mon, guys...can't we be mature young adults? Please? I don't want to see our senior year go up in flames because we'd rather play the Blame Game than show a tiny semblance of integrity. Let's stop treating each other like s#$%, okay?

Thank you.

STOLEN DIALOGUE

"You're like a Care Bear gone rabid!"

Person one: So, Valentine's day is coming up. I think you should profess your love.

Person two: I think so too!

Person three: Yes! I could sing it to him!

Person two: NOT LIKE THAT! Oh God, bring out the steak knives!

"Will you fetch me some water, Shae? To make up for shooting me?"

Person one [girl]: I'm going to the bathroom...[to boy] Hey, watch her while I'm gone, so she doesn't disappear.

Person two [girl]: Oh, drat.

Person three [boy]: Actually, I have to go to the bathroom too...

Person one: Not the same one, I hope.

Person one: Hello darling, how are you?

Person two: Student senate was bulls**t, how are you?

Person one: Oh well spotted, Sherlock...I'm fine, thanks.

Person one: Why not work here for the summer? You can earn money and hang out with interesting people all day.

Person two: Yeah, but you can also do that at a strip club.

Person one: You have to see Let the Right One In, you will see so many parallels to our friendship...except I'm not a vampire...and neither are you...

Person two: How do you know if I'm a vampire?

Person one: Isaac, if you were a vampire, I would know.

Person two: Yes, but it's been mostly overcast since we met...so how do you know if I sparkle?

Person one: This is a perfect example of insanity. Look at this--these are my class notes from one session of Fairy Tales class. If you crossed out what I already knew before that lesson, there'd only be half a page of notes.

Person two: Actually, that's pretty normal.

Person one: Just say, "Honey, don't masturbate in front of your therapist, okay?"

Person two: I learned that the hard way.

Person one: He doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground!

Person two: How is that biologically possible?

Person three: No, wait, here's how you tell: Your ass is the one that follows you around.

Ok, who ordered the drama!

WHAT. THE. [F-WORD].

(And by f-word, I mean Flugelhorn. Duh.)

Okay, guys. I get that February sucks. I get that Winterlochen sucks your soul faster than a starving Dementor. But seriously, people, WHAT IS UP WITH ALL OF THIS [FLUGELHORN]ING DRAMA?!?!?

You know what? I remember last year, about mid-February, there was an "expulsion massacre." It sucked, but we bounced back. We pulled ourselves together, we rallied. This year we get an "expulsion massacre," and not two weeks later, what happens? Someone else is leaving! Neither of the "expulsion massacres" hit me that hard at the time (sorry, expel-ees), namely because usually I had no idea what was going down and I wasn't close to that many people. But that doesn't mean that I didn't see the effect on the school...and the people I was close to, who wound up losing significant numbers of best friends.

And this time it's someone I knew, someone I cared about, and it has a pretty damn wide ripple effect. This time, the expel-ee was not a best friend to me, but a best friend to quite a few really good people who will seriously miss this kid--and I can say from personal experience that this guy had some KICK-ASS TALENT. We will all miss him, some of us more than others, all of us for different reasons.

Added to that, there is some serious dramallama business going down on a smaller scale. I'm talking about that he-said-she-said bachelor-science (sorry, had to throw in the tribute to Mr. Nadji) that EVERY high school faces...but, somehow, at Interlochen everything is magnified, possibly because our school is so freakin' small. Interlochen: Population 500. So tiny that what one person does has an effect on at least twenty people, which in turn effects twenty more people...and so it goes, until the entire school has no freaking clue what is going on and everyone is saying, "When in the purple hell did THAT happen?"

I'm sorry for ranting at you guys, but I'm beyond eloquence tonight. I am, excuse my French, PISSED OFF.

It's not just the expulsion, or the teenage drama (although I could write a blog post each about both of those subjects). It's the cabin fever. It's The Shining set at a flipping boarding school. It's the feeling that you just want to get the heck out of here NOW and you don't care where you go. You're so damn frustrated you could cry. Running through your entire repertoire of profane words helps for a fleeting moment and then it's gone. Screaming, crying, praying, kicking furniture, throwing things, making people feel miserable (although to be fair, most of them already do), taking out your frustration on every human or inanimate object to come your way...it's just that time of year.

I don't know why or how this occurs. All I know is that February is not the root of the problem. It's February after two months of the insanity that is Winterlochen. After three months of snow, ice, and wind, you begin to freak out (unless you are inhuman, in which case I would have to question why in the heck you're at Interlochen in the first place. Get out. We don't need aliens here). After awhile you start to feel trapped. And then you do things that have varying levels of stupidity.

Last month me and some of my friends put a huge banner inscribed with "ART MOVED" across one of the welcome signs. We had fun "rebelling." Wearing sunglasses to community meetings, quoting intense poetry and plays in the hallways, sitting under the table at dinnertime. No one got hurt, no one got high, and no one got in trouble. We were united, close, untouchable. No one could hurt us.

And now we're confused, scattered, afraid. Rumors are flying. "Oh my God, they're going to drug-test us!" "Oh my God, they're going to search our rooms!" "Oh my God, they're going to expel us just for knowing [insert name of expel-ee here]!" "Oh my God, they're going to dorm/suspend/expel us for fake cigarettes/making out/using caffeine after 2 PM!" We are trying to pull ourselves together, to no avail.

Some of us are going nuts over our majors. We can't get jobs on each other's film sets because we aren't popular enough, or because we haven't been here long enough, or because we're under/upperclassmen, or WHATEVER the reason. We've only been in second semester for three weeks and it feels like forever. People are complaining because they can't get into publications or into shows or get first chair in orchestra. People are getting lazy in classes. You know senioritis is running rampant when JUNIORS ARE GETTING IT.

Last year, right after the first big expulsapalooza, my friend Andrew wrote "If the devil had a month, it would be February." At the time I agreed with him. This year I know better. I know that it's not February that's tearing us apart from the inside out. It's us. If we tell ourselves "This is hell," we will fall apart. BUT. If we tell ourselves, "We can do this," we can--hopefully--pull ourselves together enough to get through Winterlochen.

Please, guys, don't be stupid. February at Winterlochen is already worming its way in, making us fight each other, making us fight ourselves. Do not let it tear you apart. This is crazy, you guys...don't let it get crazier.

Help me end the drama. Or, if not, for the love of all that's holy TRY to stop it from spreading.

We can do this.

Right?