Growing in Greece: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Almost There

January 31^st, 2011

Aghia Paraskevi

Athens, Greece

The day started off with a production meeting at 9:30am as usual. We discussed what our week is going to look like and it is crazy: Tuesday shoot scenes 1, 23, and 25, Wednesday shoot 13 Nancy and information desk scenes, and Thursday shoot two bar scenes. Not only this, but the actors have to have rehearsed all of these scenes and have them completely memorized and perfect or we won’t be able to finish our set list on Wednesday, as well as the Director and Art Director having to storyboard all of them. Plus on Wednesday we’re going to a soccer match right after the airport so it’s going to be shoot for eight hours, get on a bus and watch a game until 11pm, then get home and wake up at 7am to travel to the mall and finish shooting. Tensions are going to be so high and everyone’s going to be so exhausted!

We also had an images lecture from Taso with Greek lessons proceeding it. As soon as we were finished Kristy, Jamie, Caitlin Marassi, Jess, and I all met up to finalize the shot list for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Making sure we group certain scenes together for continuity issues, sorting scenes by short, medium, and long, as well as location isn’t as easy as it might seem. We created task lists to send out to everyone so they know what their jobs are for Tuesday as well as Wednesday. Finding a bartender for our pub scenes has also been a hassle just because we want to have a bigger age range in our film instead of just college kids, plus we’ve used all of our boys already. I plan to contact the man Kristy and I met on campus to see if he is available on Thursday or not.

This part of the program is supposed to be the most crucial: we’re running out of time and our cohesiveness has to be perfectly in sync for everything to work out the way it needs to. I think people are getting more used to each other and therefore a little less willing to help each other at some points. But at the same time producers and directors basically spend every free moment working on efficiency and making sure everyone knows what their tasks are so production is still flowing pretty smoothly. Seeing final cuts of video footage that has been edited of the scenes we’ve organized and shot is so awesome! I can’t wait to have all of the shots edited and ready with an end tangible product!

We're sooo closee!

Susie

Friday, January 28, 2011

Hydra Island...not quite...

January 28th, 2011
Hydra Island..ish
Greece

     Today was our excursion to Hydra Island. Supposedly an island that has no automobiles except for an ambulance and a garbage truck. We shuttled to the ferry as per usual, but today it was really windy and rainy, rainy, rainy, so I was a little freaked about whether we were going to be able to make it to the island or not.
     Five minutes into the ride I was feeling a little queasy, which is normal since I get a little motion sick on spinny rides. But about thirty minutes in I was feeling like I was about to throw up and low and behold- I did! Luckily I made it to the bathroom, but I think I totaled four times on that two and a half hour ferry ride; and I only stopped then because there was literally nothing left to throw up. We had to make a pit stop on some random island and then turn around and head home since the weather was so bad. So I got sick for NOTHING, literally nothing. And I had a headache for the rest of the day.
     Hydra Island=fail. And I have never thrown up that much in my entire life!

Record-Holder,

Susie

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Giggling Drag Queens

January 27^th, 2011

Aghia Paraskevi

Athens, Greece

I was anticipating a super fun filming day and I was right! A lot more tiresome than I thought it would be, but definitely fun. We shot scenes 20, 4, and 42 today. For scene 20 I had already reserved the theater department’s black box theater from 9:30am-3:30pm so we were all set. Scene 20 consists of drag queens, two emo kids, and a metro cosmetic salesperson. Seeing Will and Mitch dressed up in women’s clothes, and McKenna, Jess, and Morgan giggling alongside them in a kickline was HILARIOUS!

It’s a good thing we had 6 hours to shoot this scene because there was a lot to go over. When we got there, Jamie, Kristy, and I met with Yannis, the man in charge of lights. It was a little difficult to communicate him since he spoke no English, but we soon discovered which knobs worked which lights, etcetera and then Katerina came and helped translate for awhile. She has been super helpful this entire time and even opened up the dressing rooms for us to use. We’re hoping to cast her in one of the scenes at the airport, but she has a very busy schedule. Also, some of the cues were especially hard to grasp for the drag queens, and the counts got a little messy for awhile, so that took longer than expected.

The emo teens scene is the one I ‘acted’ in, dressing up in all black (leather jacket, skirt, corset shirt, fingerless gloves) and black eyeliner galore. It was short and sweet but still a little fun to be an actress for awhile, plus it gave me a break from producer duties for that scene. Off we went to shoot scene 4, or the hipster and George in the bathroom scene. We had already gotten permission to use whatever we wanted on the Deree campus as long as we weren’t causing too much of a disturbance so we just pasted some gray duct tape over the boys restroom and started shooting. It was a little difficult for the videographer (Brendon today) to get the angles exactly the way he wanted since there are lots of mirrors, but he did a great job. Tavis continually squirting water up his nose was comical to watch, especially when we did like five takes of that scene! I even did audio for the last half of the scene today to give Jordan a break which was fun and I liked learning a new skill as well.

The last scene of the day was 42, or the Janitor rallying his troops, well, rallying his coworker Steve anyway. Last night Will, Arnold, Jordan, and I had scouted out the storage room and moved couches and desks around to create the Janitor’s secret “mancave” or his scheming room. It took a bit of interior design and some man muscles to create the scene just the way we wanted it, but it looks pretty awesome now! Will is very good at improvisation and has a lengthy monologue in this scene; I can actually see him being a professional actor and if he was it’d be cool to say that I’ve worked with him! All around fun, exhausting day; filming for over 9 hours really wears me out, but that just means we’re one step closer to finishing the film!

Lovin' Athens,

Susie

The Emo and the Hipster

Brendon and I- emo kids!

I'm so emo!

In the Black-Box- drag queenin' it up!

Kicklines!!

We're just in a boys bathroom, no biggie

Do not enter!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Freestylin'

January 25th, 2011
Aghia Paraskevi

Had an early shot today because our RA has very specific hours of when he can unlock the janitor’s closet. So from 8:30-9:30am we shot our longest janitor’s scene with no obstacles. Everyone was ready to go and precise with everything they did. That scene would normally have taken two hours and it only took one. Everyone was super happy that we weren’t going to have to split it up! Then we had our production meeting at 9:30am where we just discussed the scenes for the day and the possibilities for this week.

Time to shoot scene 31 or the “Lost and Found” scene: we created a lost and found area in one of the empty supply closets on the -2 floor. Everyone gathered up the luggage that they had brought and brought it down- I must say it looked legit. I wasn’t on set for most of this scene because Kristy, Jamie, McKenna, Kellye and I went to the theater department again to obtain lots of missing costumes for our shoot on Thursday. I can’t wait to shoot this scene since it contains drag queens (lots of our guys wearing women’s clothing and wigs), two emo kids, and a cosmetics salesperson. We found some really silly/awesome purses, dresses, and handkerchiefs. Then to the library we went to print off more appearance releases and back to the apartment.

The AP’s met again to go over the script and organize where each scene needs to take place: whether it has to be in the airport or if we can fudge it, if we can fudge it, where are we fudging it? We thought it would be easier than it was so we ended up deciding we needed to have an 8pm meeting with writers, AD’s, and AP’s. I like being done with production by 8pm, but not tonight! I watched/assisted the reshooting of scene 37 and everyone was having a good time with it, I wish we had a video of all the silly things that happen on set.

Dinner and a movie as usual, then our 8pm meeting rolled around. It ended up lasting about three hours but it was a great meeting. We combed through the entire script, brainstormed ideas about where to shoot all the scenes, and eventually made the shot-list for tomorrow and the week. We still have a lot of scouting to do so it was a little hard to make the shot-list without exact locations. As soon as all these logistics get sorted out it’ll be smooth sailing from here!

Overcomer of Obstacles!

Susie Dobkins

Will ready to location scout with me!

The crew on break before our next scene in our apartment

Cornetto!

My production notes...ahhh!

This is what happens when Will comes in our room...

Arnold trying on his hipster outfit for tomorrow-a lot of girls clothes!

Colors of the Rainbow

Wednesday, January 19^th, 2011

EVERYWHERE!

Today we shot scenes 37, 48, and 39, or the interrogation room scenes plus one of the janitor’s closet scenes. I helped pick the location and set up the scene down in the apartment’s basement for the interrogation scene, as well as contacted our RA Gerry for permission and the key to use the apartment’s janitor’s closet.

As an AP it’s all behind the scenes work so I rarely ever need to be on set. I like this aspect of my role because this way I can run any errands that need to be done. Today’s errand was going to Mourassi to The Mall to look for café and pub fronts that would pass as airport fronts. It seems like a simple task but the yellow rail wasn’t working, as well as some of the green rails, so we ended up using every single color rail the metro system had to get there, taking two and a half hours and a few cab rides. I was especially glad to have Jamie there today because she’s excellent at navigating and using the logistical skills that I sometimes lack to get us from place to place. Plus it was easier to keep our frustration levels down with someone to vent to. Thanks Jamie! Luckily any of the café and pub fronts will work for the scenes we need, so at least it wasn’t a total waste of a day! Not to mention that we got some shopping in- probably the best mall I’ve ever been in!

Group dinner and a movie again, I love traditions! Plus I feel like the more movies we watch the more creative we get when shooting scenes- learn by watching, right? I had another shot-list meeting with the group, where we decided to shoot scenes 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 43. Seems like way too many but three of them are only one angle shots so they should only take 30 minutes apiece. I plan to meet up early with Arnold, Emily, and Jordan to scout out more coke machine options on the Deree campus, hope we find what we need!

Kindergartener in training,

Susie Ellen Dobkins

Tavis in a Coca-Cola Scene

Jordan as the "Schtable Boy"

Linh and Will during their fantasy scene

Arnold's always creeping in our kitchen

Thumbs up!

We skinned the salmon ourselves!

Lookin' Good!

Best dinner ever!!! :)

A Turning Point

January 24^th, 2011

Aghia Paraskevi

Today was a turning point for the production. We all knew it was coming, the airport was falling through and people’s morals were low. Taso came in and gave us a huge speech about work ethic, taking charge of the program, and preventing him from doing too much work. He said we needed to decide whether he was going to pick an official director or we could vote democratically. As soon as he left we made some nominations, including Arnold, Caitlin Marassi, and Emily. It was unanimous that Arnold should be the Head Director since he knows the most about film/videography and no one can make any final decisions until they’ve talked to him anyway. I organized and mandated the voting process, tallying up the end results which were as follows: Arnold as Head Director, Caitlin Marassi as Assistant Director, and Emily as Art Director.

Everyone seemed happy with the results and agreed that splitting up the power and tasks was the best way to go. Immediately after this vote there was a director and producer meeting in the study area. We basically outlined what tasks needed to be delegated to whom, that our main group should stop trying to do it all and give away jobs, and that more organization and strictness was in order. I feel like everyone was all abuzz when I got back to my room. Doing things, fixing things, coming up with ideas for how we could essentially re-do our entire film. Even though it was frustrating at times it was also exhilarating to know that the program is officially solely run by students. Taso still handles all of the logistical tasks, like keeping in contact with the airport, funds, and excursions, but for the most part it’s all up to us.

We had yet another meeting at about 6 p.m. that lasted two hours with the writers, AP’s, and AD’s and there was a little power struggle. Actually I wouldn’t even say power struggle, more like no one was really sure exactly what their job entailed so for a while we all pretended like we were the boss. That calmed down pretty quickly when we realized there’s plenty of work to go around and we’re all very dedicated to the film. I’m excited to see how the scenes will play out tomorrow!

Ready for Action,

Susieeeeeeee

Brendon and Arnold going over storyboards

Let's just say it was a long day...

Emily writing her field notes

ZAP!

BEAR HUG! Definitely needed after such a long day :)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Trevvy Fountain Ain't No Joke

January 21st-23rd, 2011
Rome, Italy

Woke up early and packed (of course I packed the morning of my flight) and bus and metro'd it to the airport. Made it to Athens International Airport with plenty of time to spare and almost no one there, and did a little bit of location scouting for the production as well. Arnold and I played travel scrabble until we got on our flight (I won...by a large margin too haha) and then we were off on our adventure! (Say Anything reference anyone?).
Here are the rules of travel we created while we were in Rome:

Never intentionally backtrack!
Don’t be afraid to get lost.
Free stuff is free stuff.
Don't listen to con artists!
Don’t plan ahead.
You can always make more money.
Bring a watch.
Everything happens for a reason.
Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
DON’T PANIC.

      Aside from buying our tickets, we decided not to make any plans until we got to Rome. No booking our hostel, figuring out how to get from the airport to the city, where we wanted to go: nothing. Spontaneity is what life's about right? So when we got off the plane the first thing we did was go to an information desk to get a map. We were standing in the middle of a terminal examining our mediocre map when a random Italian guy approached us and offered to give us a ride in his "small bus" for 17 euros a person. This seemed pretty sketchy but he said there were already four people in the car so we figured we might as well. When we got to the van the creepiness was confirmed but at least there were four British people in the car, so in we went.
     Even Rome in a car is beautiful- plus we met a British couple who were super friendly and they gave us the best places to go in London and just England in general so we plan to go there after the production's over! We had our driver drop us off at The Yellow, a hostel Arnold found online, but it was booked. So we walked down the street to Hotel Lella, went inside, and then proceeded to ask if they had any available rooms and if they did how much they were. Convo:

Us: How much is a room?
Them: How much do you want to pay?
Us: Umm...what?
Them: How much do you want to pay?
Us: *weird looks exchanged* 20 euros a night?
Them: *after some deliberation* That sounds fine, we give you special room.

     Yet another sketchy situation, but our room ended up being super nice and we even got a complimentary breakfast the second day so we were fine with it. Plus we checked on how much rooms were when we got back home and they were 60 euros a night...so apparently we actually did get a good deal. After we'd basically thrown our stuff down and left the hostel, we made it to our first Italian restaurant- Ristorante Pizzeria. So original right? The pizza was delicious and the kind that you fold in half like a sandwich. Plus our waiter was very helpful when we asked about the nightlife and which clubs we'd have the most fun at. So far so good!
     We started making random turns, this way and that, and after about five minutes ended up at the Colosseum! Then we took a right and saw the Roman Forum and a Van Gogh exhibit, but decided to wait on that until the next day when the line went down. We went off in search of the Spanish Steps, thought we found them and then realized that was not the case. We kept taking fun, silly pictures and ended up searching for a non-pizza like restaurant for dinner for a looonngg time. Thank goodness I had my trusty umbrella with me because it started to pour! Lasagna for dinner and then off to find the Trevvy Fountain.
     I've already been to Rome one time, on my 16th birthday, and I got to wish in the Trevvy Fountain that night. I thought you tossed a coin in and made a wish and that wish had to come true. But the British couple in the car with us said that you throw the coin in so you'll return to Rome. And I definitely had! Before we made it to the Trevvy Fountain (and it turned out to be surprisingly harder to find than we thought) we stumbled upon the rain-streaked streets in front of the Pantheon, and got some really interesting gelato. We finally made it to the fountain and started taking pictures but random guys kept stepping in our pictures so we'd have to buy theirs. Very annoying!
     Arnold went first in throwing in his coin, and he missed! We should have seen this as a bad omen because right when I was about to throw mine in and Arnold was taking a picture, one of the con artists came up and said he's take one with his camera- which is very expensive. He was having us pose in really weird ways to where we weren't actually looking at him so I just assumed he was going to make a run with the camera. Thank goodness he didn't but what he did do was take out his polaroid and snap two pictures. These two crappy pictures ended up costing 17 euros! Pretty annoying but also 'part of the experience' as we kept saying, or "everything happens for a reason" was also one of our favorites. The night only went a little down from there when I went into a souvenir shop looking for a shirt and got yelled at over and over again by the saleswoman- apparently you're not supposed to unfold the shirts to look at them!
     Our spirits were lifted again when we couldn't find our way back home. Of course right? We kept looking at the map and asking where to go, but what made it so fun was that the streets were almost dead quiet. The last time I was here I didn't even like Rome because it was so crowded and busy and impersonal. This time though it seemed like we were the only ones out at 10pm on a Friday night- I definitely didn't mind that at all. We made it home with no trouble, a few wrong turns but that's what traveling's about.
     Saturday morning! We didn't set an alarm because we had nowhere really to be, but we got up around 9am and had our complimentary croissant and tea at the breakfast bar. We knew we wanted to hit up the Van Gogh Exhibit so that was our first stop- but we also wanted to explore the Roman Metro system too. Not too crazy actually, one euro for a ride and it's pretty self-explanatory. When we got to the museum there was an even longer line than from the night before but we waited anyway. Van Gogh's paintings were amazing and even though some of his biggest works weren't there, I still loved it. Arnold's quite the artist and had recreated one of his mom's favorite paintings which just happened to be one of Van Gogh's too.
     We had seen the Opera the night before so we scurried over to it to see when the latest show time was and how much it would cost. A bit more than I had expected but I'd never been to an opera so I went for it anyway. We bought the cheapest tickets we could for the Opera- The View from the Bridge which would begin at 6pm. With time to kill and no real plans we hopped back on the metro and made our way to Vatican City. The square we came into was beautiful with fountains and statues everywhere; it's hard to understand that you're actually in a completely different country, the smallest country in the world actually, and its only a few stops off the metro. They don't even check your passport or have any type of security either which is very surprising.
     After we'd taken enough pictures and marveled at the architecture we bought roasted chestnuts from a vendor. I'd been wanting these since I saw them in Greece! They kind of look like little brains (gross I know) and taste pretty close to chicken too. It was getting close to six so we went and got something to drink and headed over to the Opera. When we got there we soon realized just how under-dressed we were. Old men and women were everywhere with fur coats and diamonds- apparently going to the Opera is similar to dressing up for prom. Whoops! We were just wearing jeans and t-shirts with our backpacks still on our backs. But oh well, we were there to see the show anyway.
     The building was enormous and the most elaborate thing I've ever seen. Velvety walls and chandeliers everywhere; black tuxed butlers everywhere as well as champagne. When the show finally started we found that it was actually an opera in English with Italian subtitles- not what we expected but we didn't exactly object. The show was a little confusing at first but when it ended I was pretty sure I had followed what had happened- I could only see about 3/4 of the show so I missed a few parts. Then off again to the hostel with the intention of freshening up before we went clubbing but when we got back we were so exhausted we just fell asleep.
     That is, until Arnold woke up in a tizzy throwing things around the room trying to figure out the time. We had called the same service that dropped us off at the hostel that day to come and pick us up at 5:30am so we could make our flight, but we had forgotten to set an alarm. It was the most hilarious thing to see him like that, so anxious and silly, at one point he even said "Susie, you need to be more URGENT!" When I finally found my phone I couldn't help but laugh because it was 12:15am! We had plenty of time. Funniest moment of the trip by far, and I doubt he'll ever live that down.
     Our car picked us up on time and we made it to the airport without a hitch. Off we went back to Greece! How amazing is it that we can just pick up for a weekend and visit Rome! Such an awesome weekend!!! :):)

Spontaneity is my middle name,

Susie :)