Earlier in the week, I had been feeling panicked about Mike's impending visit. I've started working at a bakery in old town Pasadena, who has been scheduling me on a day to day basis. What if I were to be scheduled on one, or worse, both days of Mike's trip? Luckily, they only scheduled me in on Tuesday, and at that only from 11:30am to 1:30pm. Unluckily, they also told me my schedule wasn't going to move beyond two days a week, four hours a day, at $8.00 an hour. I jumped on a bus with the sobering thought that I had to go job hunting again.
Michael arrived around 3:00pm, camera in hand, and we began immediately setting up, having little time to waste. My girlfriend Amy agreed to take some pictures of the process, so I could write a blog with pictures after the job was done.
During the filming of the documentary, Mike and I came to realize that his camera has a unique quirk to it; If you put a tape into the deck, the camera will automatically re-wind the tape back 30 seconds. Obviously, this is a problem for a tape that has already been rewound, as the camera would then freeze, forcing you to shut it off, and then attempt to rescue the tape before it was eaten.
A brilliant solution to this was found in a mysterious zip lock bag, which contained a pencil and a screw. The screw would be inserted into a hole located in the center of the digital tape, which has a lock that keeps that lid in an open position. Then the eraser of the pencil was used to manually fast forward the tape whatever length of time you thought was safe. I put Mike in charge of this part of the operation, being the expert and all.
With all the tapes ready to go, Mike and I embarked on what was undoubtedly going to be a long two days. Nineteen tapes of documentary footage, which would need to be logged IN FULL (no time cutting by way of logging only the 'best takes') meant no breaks, no google binges, and dinner spent in front of the computer.
I also loath looking at new footage, as I am invariably disappointed. Progress will screech to a halt as I kick myself for not pushing harder on set, and the ever present thought that I shouldn't have dropped out of college. For this reason, the first few hours of logging shots are often accompanied by a beer or two, which keeps me nice and apathetic.
However, one of the benefits of documentary shooting is that shots don't have to be exacting so much as functional, and the pressure of getting a "good performance" isn't as important as a "relevant" take. And one of the great pleasures of going through this footage was that not only were quite a lot of takes relevant, they were also funny, in the way that early John Waters movies are funny.
See, my family thrives on crude humor. Bowel movements and sex stories are dropped casually in conversation alongside mundane complaints about work or the weather. To get this all on tape has long been an ambition, going back to middle school.
While logging in one of the "Christmas Tapes", Mike and I broke out into a thirty minute laughing fit while listening to my openly gay sister and my dad bond over an affinity for hate- fucking their respective girlfriends.
Other highlights of the evening included my childhood friend John reminiscing about the magical day we helped my father move out of his apartment, in which he passed out numerous joints to us before, during and after (YOU try lifting a 100 lb. file locker while loaded up with Marijuana and pizza) and some truly harrowing tales about living on Telegraph avenue in the 1960's.
Despite my initial stance on not leaving the computer, I HAD promised to take Mike out to dinner, so around seven we all drove down to Sunset and Vine, were Mike's cousin owns a wine bar. The discounted meal of pizza, cheese, crackers, and wine was delicious, but all the while I could hear a clock ticking in my head. We got back at nine, and I worked until 3:00am, enjoying the quiet of solitude, since the boozing and food did everyone else in by one.
Up at 10:00am, I got right back to work. Mike had already left, having a friend he needed to see down in San Diego, and with no job to go to, I had all day to work at getting those 14 tapes finished.
The first few hours went by fast as I worked down my first pot of coffee and knocked out another four tapes. But as late afternoon approached, I started to loose steam, and found myself on google, looking up how much cash I could get for some of my more valuable star wars toys, should this new job not work out. However, I really didn't have the time to waste - Mike left for Berkeley tomorrow, and with each tape taking almost an hour or more to log, I needed to get back on the horse!
I've always subscribed to the theory proposed by humorist Art Buchwald that in order to effectively motivate yourself for a task, you should trick your mind into believing it's NOT work by having another project going at the same time. Maybe this just works for those with short attention spans like me. Regardless, I decided on re-painting my sideshow Universal movie monster figures as I continued to log footage. First, this is a pleasure project, serving no purpose other than nerdy fulfillment. Second, I find that painting toys and models is relatively easy, as I have it down to a few simple steps; start with a dark base layer, and gradually dry bush lighter and lighter layers, which brings out all the details in the mold. For those hard to reach places, I often cheat and use a finely sharpened color pencil.
I finally finished all the tapes by midnight, and had satisfactorily painted three movie monsters (all color accurate, by the way - I'm obsessed.) The last tape was actually an interview with me, which I found supremely irritating, but I suppose most people don't relish seeing themselves on camera.
Mike showed up the next morning, having partied in San Diego all day prior. After loading up the camera, we grabbed another cheap lunch at Phillie's Best, an accurate description of the greasy, delicious cheesesteaks served inside, and then it was off to a job interview at a pet food store, who are interested in hiring me as a supervisor - shocking, as I wasn't looking for anything other than to be a cog.
This week, I have a pressing animatic project that needs tending too, but using the Buchwald theory, I've been going in and labeling all the shots, putting them in proper bins, and selecting good screen grabs that I can upload in a later blog.
Until then,
Waylon
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