I know, I know… I’m being very inconsiderate about the date I’m writing this… but, have you ever felt that you just can’t get things from your head onto a piece of paper (or word page in this case)? That’s how I’ve been feeling for the past two weeks and, finally, today I can get everything out. So here I go, day three of Sex & Breakfast:
It was definitely the most exhausting and stressful day. Although day two was supposed to be the busiest, it came out very easy and quiet. I think we were very confident for day three, believing that it would be nothing if the day before was so easy. Well, dear readers, you should always take into consideration that efficiency on set is not a question of schedule and of how well you follow it. Crew’s mental fatigue can be worse than not being on time for your next shot.
I had spent the day before with a considerably heavy camera on my shoulders for hours, doing movements that put my knee in the weakest state that it had ever been. I made dinner for four during which I burned myself with a 1920’s oven, and later talked for around three hours on Skype. At 6am of Friday morning I was wearing a knee protector, both index fingers were in pain because of the burn (fingers that I had to use to press the shutter on the camera), and my eyes showed evident dark circles. Frankie was also in an awful state, waking up every morning to travel half an hour from her place to the set, sleeping late preparing the direction for next day. We thought this would not be as stressful because we were very well prepared, but day three proved us wrong.
Our actress had to arrive earlier than our actor, she got to the set on time and we started as scheduled. I couldn’t move because of the knee issue, my finger suffered every time we shot, and a headache started to show up. By the time our actor arrived, we still had a bunch of shots to do before he could act. Fortunately, we had our set angel, Cleo, who was more than helpful in guiding us through what was a hell of a day.
The peak came when a very ambitious dolly movement couldn’t be made because of lighting issues. I couldn’t stand it anymore, and so we did “the funky chicken”. The chicken is a very helpful dynamic dance that helps rid anyone of stress. Following a military line, we make three different animal sounds and mimic each other's movements. For this occasion, we did the chicken, the cat, and the lion. I wish we had recorded it so you can live the experience.
And let me tell you something, my friends, after that chicken our productivity started shining like a star. The next shots came out smooth and easy, our actors were comfortable and they even got the time to watch the USA-Canada hockey game in the Sochi Olympics. Cleo (after being shot as an extra for one of the scenes) prepared pasta for an army, which we enjoyed with a delicious tomato-basil sauce made by Frankie.
After a good coffee, our actors left and Frankie and I had some fun acting in front of the Bolex, as well as wasting the sixth stock on some b-roll. Finally, we cleaned up the living room and kitchen; it was our last day working there. Sex and Breakfast was almost over, there was only one day left.
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| Here we go again... |
It was definitely the most exhausting and stressful day. Although day two was supposed to be the busiest, it came out very easy and quiet. I think we were very confident for day three, believing that it would be nothing if the day before was so easy. Well, dear readers, you should always take into consideration that efficiency on set is not a question of schedule and of how well you follow it. Crew’s mental fatigue can be worse than not being on time for your next shot.
I had spent the day before with a considerably heavy camera on my shoulders for hours, doing movements that put my knee in the weakest state that it had ever been. I made dinner for four during which I burned myself with a 1920’s oven, and later talked for around three hours on Skype. At 6am of Friday morning I was wearing a knee protector, both index fingers were in pain because of the burn (fingers that I had to use to press the shutter on the camera), and my eyes showed evident dark circles. Frankie was also in an awful state, waking up every morning to travel half an hour from her place to the set, sleeping late preparing the direction for next day. We thought this would not be as stressful because we were very well prepared, but day three proved us wrong.
Our actress had to arrive earlier than our actor, she got to the set on time and we started as scheduled. I couldn’t move because of the knee issue, my finger suffered every time we shot, and a headache started to show up. By the time our actor arrived, we still had a bunch of shots to do before he could act. Fortunately, we had our set angel, Cleo, who was more than helpful in guiding us through what was a hell of a day.
The peak came when a very ambitious dolly movement couldn’t be made because of lighting issues. I couldn’t stand it anymore, and so we did “the funky chicken”. The chicken is a very helpful dynamic dance that helps rid anyone of stress. Following a military line, we make three different animal sounds and mimic each other's movements. For this occasion, we did the chicken, the cat, and the lion. I wish we had recorded it so you can live the experience.
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| Before "The Funky Chicken". |
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| After "The Funky Chicken". |
After a good coffee, our actors left and Frankie and I had some fun acting in front of the Bolex, as well as wasting the sixth stock on some b-roll. Finally, we cleaned up the living room and kitchen; it was our last day working there. Sex and Breakfast was almost over, there was only one day left.
