Wrapped my second shoot tonight (the first in my 6.5 as a sound guy). As I was on set today, our longest day, thinking of an ambitious way in which to wrap up my series of my writings regarding this period I entertained a number of possible topics ranging from negative to positive. This was a tough shoot to begin my sound guy mission on. The long days, overnight shoots, and residual stress of my own production took me away from my goal of maintaining a continuous zen-like sound guy state. Yes, there were times when I wasn't always the persistently happy-to-help Ryan the sound guy and could think of little else beyond escaping to my room and sleeping for 24 continuous hours.
That's what I think I'm here in film school to learn though. As much as it is about my finding my own filmmaking voice, it's also about building and developing the work ethic and will to put in the hours necessary to make it in this business. I definitely feel a great sense of accomplishment after finishing this shoot and can only imagine how I'll feel after this production period is over and I can start re-focusing on my own film.
Alright, now I have to address Day 5 of this shoot specifically before my post-wrap champagne buzz wears off. Something really struck me today. I just wrapped production on my film last week and I still remember the amount of singular focus I had during that week. During that time little else entered my mind that wasn't directly related to bringing my script to life (the lone exception being thoughts of a certain girl). While being on set this week I saw the same focus in the director that I was working for and was amazed at how much it contrasted with my own state of mind as the sound guy. As the sound recordist you are allowed an inordinate amount of time to tend to your own thoughts. The only time you really have to work hard is during a take. It's kind of like football, where the players go hard for ten or so seconds and then stop. (Two sports metaphors in one week, tell me if I'm out of control). While directing, I was always on and never felt like I had down time to think about anything else but my vision (until lunch at least). As a sound guy the thoughts of a certain girl pervade 95% of my on set experience. The experience is night and day.
While I wouldn't say I'm experiecing an existential crisis (a la Sartre's protagonist in Nausea), I definitely feel the need to channel these opportunities to think too much into a creative endeavor of my own. I guess you could call this blog that, but in my mind I have an idea of a story about a guy who has a tremendous crush on a girl and must overcome a myriad of obstacles to keep his cool (unoriginal, yea, so, OK, I'll stop). It's a thought at least and there are apparently more where that came from.
It's rough because I feel like I'm there, on set, and not there, off floating in la la land at the same time. As a result the days pass slowly as I try to reconcile my thoughts with reality. Very rough. Unless I find a way to properly mediate these two extremes these next 5.5 shoots could be very trying and I might be forced to escape to Burma and become a Buddist monk to escape it all. I feel exhausted already....
...Maybe it's just because I need sleep though. Sorry if I've overshared, I'm sleep deprived. Sleep beckons in any case...
Ryan the Sound Guy
No comments:
Post a Comment