Staying Behind

February 17^th, 2011

Athens, Greece

     Today was another day at The Mall for the bar scenes, but for me it was learning how to back off and not take over everyone else’s job. On my last peer evaluation I was told that I need to stop trying to do everyone else’s job and delegate tasks better. So today, Jamie, the other Associate Producer went in my place to keep everyone on task and to be the restaurant to production liaison. The entire time I was wondering what they were doing and if they needed my help, looking at my phone every ten seconds.

     It was also a little difficult not knowing what went wrong, what shots didn’t got accomplished, etc. As a producer I need to know exactly what happens on set so when we have production meetings with the directors and producers we can keep a complete log of scenes and shots that haven’t been finished. But in the end it turned out fine because I interrogated the Art Director as soon as she got home, making sure there weren’t any reaction shots or close-ups forgotten. What I’ve learned from this is that as long as the lines of communication are completely open, I can still keep track of production and make sure everyone’s accomplishing their tasks.

      If anyone on this program feels like they’re out of the loop or that they don’t have a job sometimes, it’s because of this aspect of the program: If you don’t stay in contact with the producers and look over the new scripts every time they’re distributed, you’re obviously going to get behind. When people complain about having “nothing to do,” I just think of the problems we have on set sometimes because things aren’t completely set up, or the time it takes for the videographer to frame the shot, and how if people really wanted to, they could be making sure continuity matches the last shot or asking if anyone needed someone to run and get a new battery. Anything! People who want to make this program reach its highest potential are front and center all the time, they’re the ones who attend meetings even if they don’t have to, they have a job all the time because they’ve stayed in touch. 

Backing off is harder than it seems, 

Susie

We've Come A Long Way

February 16^th, 2011

Athens, Greece

     Reshooting scenes is a part of the low-budget film process but it’s still pretty tedious. First of all because we don’t know certain shots were ruined until they get to editing, like the boom being in the shot, an extra’s foot just barely in frame, or a continuity mess-up. Or, since our actors are all completely new, we have times where we need to reshoot because they forget to react to a ‘funny’ circumstance or something along those lines. Basically with a student production like this, there are so many variables that inevitably come into play to where reshooting is necessary and today was one of those days.

     In order to be the most efficient and since we only had three days in the airport, we shot any and all scenes that didn’t have to be in the airport either at our apartment or at the Deree campus. Throughout the program it’s quite obvious that the actors have grown immensely. When they started off they were stiff and followed exactly with the script, but now at week eight in the program they’ve begun to improvise and their reactions more closely fit the situation. We had originally filmed scene 49, or a janitor’s closet scene, in the first few weeks of the program when the actors were still inexperienced. When reshooting this scene the chemistry was much more pronounced and the scene flowed together beautifully.

     Today was one of the days that I can see growth throughout the program and I am thankful for that. Sometimes we get so caught up in just getting things done we don’t stop to realize how much we’ve learned along the way. Videographers used to take an hour to set up a shot, now they take thirty minutes. Audio used to hold the boom diagonal instead of flat, everyone used to give advice to the actors and now it’s only the art director: everyone has found their place on set and knows precisely what needs to be done. We make such a great team! 

Learning as we go, 

Susie Dobkins

Last Airport Day + Valentine's Day

February 14^th, 2011

Athens International Airport

Valentine's Day! 

     Today was our last day at the airport! We decided not to take everyone this time to try and minimize the amount of clutter we bring along with us. With fifteen scenes left to shoot and eight hours to do it, everyone was a little more on edge than usual. There was a little snappy-ness and trying to use our time the most efficiently by sending Rachel out with Arnold’s camera to shoot time passage but we started getting the hang of things.

     Our day started out extremely slowly, especially since our clock was literally ticking away, and anytime a shot took too long to set up people started rushing everyone and getting frustrated with the filming process. I think it’s important to understand that if the shot doesn’t look good, it’s unusable so we’d have to reshoot it anyway. Plus a lot of times we forget that this, although we are trying to make this film look good, is a learning experience for everyone involved and that none of us are professionals.

     I had tons of appearance releases signed today from people who obliged and declined. My communication skills are definitely getting enhanced from these close interactions with extras even if I have to call Taso over to translate every once in awhile. When it came to finding the interrogation exterior shot I had to get our airport liaison, Virginia, to accompany me and open doors. But for the most part I played the part of runner and when we got stuck on what scenes we could actually accomplish in our allotted time, I was Emily’s crutch to lean on. I also made sure the actors knew what scenes were coming up and what their outfits and make-up should consist of so no one would be sitting around waiting for them and wasting time.

     Luckily we walked away from the airport twenty minutes past our allotted time with all of our mandatory airport scenes accomplished and any re-shoots finished. It was insanely hectic only having three days to film sixty percent of our movie but we made it through! Good job crew! 

    

     Now for Valentine's Day festivities! I decided my gift was to let Arnold make the craziest icecream sundae ever. Basically it consisted of neopolitan ice cream, chocolate syrup, kiwis, bananas, strawberry's, plums, pineapple's, pomegranate (all from the farmer's market), oreo cookies, hazelnut sticks, coca cola gummies, M&M's, normal cookies, pudding, and these big ice cream drumsticks called Cornetto's. Let's just say disgusting but awesome at the same time! He loved it :)
     He got me the cutest gift of all time. Not only did he get me flowers and chocolate, but knowing that I love to color and being the great artist that he is, he created a coloring book for me based on the adventures we've had in Greece so far. From riding mopeds to getting sick on the ferry it's all there and he said he'd keep making them throughout the entire trip. So freaking precious! By far the best Valentine's Day gift I've ever received!!! :):)




Hyper as ever!


Susieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Some of the ingredients to the sundae..

Will serenading Meera with Jordan...haha

This was unintentionally made haha

Arnold being nervous to put his arm around me

The day we made disgusting pasta-this is the pasta monster

Riding mopeds on Aegina!

I'm sorry flowers :)

The Trevvy Fountain!-You always come back to Rome

The failed trip to Hydra where I got sick

Temple of Poseidon

February 12th, 2011
Sounion, Greece
Temple of Poseidon

     Lounged around, cleaned, and got ready for the two hour bus ride to Sounion to the Temple of Poseidon! No one was exactly sure how to get to the random bus stop near Syntagma Square, so I'm going to give the run down of exactly how we got there for any future goers: From Residence 1 we bused to Nomismatokopeia Metro stop, Metroed to Syntagma (on the blue line), transfered to the red line and went to Omonia, taxied to Victoria metro station, and walked to the tour bus station. Then we got on the coastal bus and went on our way!
      We definitely took the scenic route because there were gorgeous beaches, para-gliders (which I hope to do on our excursion weekend), and mesmerizing sites! Arriving there at 4:30pm, we didn't plan to leave until 6:30pm so we knew we had plenty of time. Taking goofy pictures along the cliffs took an hour of our time and then we actually made it to the Temple of Poseidon. It's located on a bluff and the view of the sea is SO GORGEOUS! With the sun reflecting down upon the sea, seagulls flying, being with people you care about, and in a foreign country, it can't get better than that! Until it did, but of course.
     One of the main reasons we took the 2:30pm bus was so we could get to the temple before the sunset. Arnold and I wound our way down the bluff and took the hardest way to the rocky edge as possible. A man even called up to us as we were making our way down "You guys know there's an easier way over there, right?" and almost in unison we said "It's fine, we're already almost down." Which is really code for "We have too much pride and our hands hurt too much to climb all the way back up and around." I guess my stubbornness is really rubbing off on others...haha. Eventually ending up on a ledge, we watched the sunset together. Can I just ask the question how it's possible to top a day like this? Watching the sunset on a cliff ledge in Greece on a beautiful, sunny day? I'm only 18 and my life's got some high standards to surpass, but I am SO ready to see how I can top this! :)

Sunsets + Scrapes= Happiness

Susie

Delphi

February 11th, 2011
Delphi, Greece
Temple of Delphi

     Two and a half hours and a cramped bus ride later, we arrived at the Temple of Delphi museum. Everyone was dying of hunger but we were still very excited to be there! After the museum we headed up to the Temple and saw the Navel, or the exact middle of the world- which was quite awesome! The view was spectacular again, I swear Greece is the most beautiful country in the world. Everywhere I go I can see for miles around and its always sunny, crisp, and clear. Ahhh, Greece! I almost wish it were summer time, but I would hate all the tourists and how crowded everything would be.
     I've found that I adore climbing on rocks and reaching the top of things. I guess everyone's like that; it kind of brings a feeling of success to take a long, strenuous journey and reap the benefits of what's at the top. Maybe that's why I loved climbing anything and everything when I was a kid. Today might not have been the most exciting day, but it was really relaxing and earthy, it makes me miss Missouri quite a bit!

Beautiful views with beautiful people,
Susie

The Navel, the center of the world

My big Bro and I :)

Caterpillar Train! So odd!