Growing in Greece: 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