First Day on Set

Hi everybody!

    I had the time of my life today- being on set was incredible. We had an almost perfect shoot! The director was prepared, the actors (who happened to be our FAs, the equivalent of RAs) did a great job, and the crew got along really well. I was the boom operator, which means I hold a really long metal pole with a microphone on it, and my job was to direct the mic right at the actors lips, as closely to them as possible, without being in the shot. Our editing teacher was there to help us out, and he gave me a ton of help on proper booming technique. I began to get the hang of the over-under cord coiling, which looks easy but for some odd reason is really frickin hard. Apparently, if I can do that really fast, I can get a job as a PA. Our FAs were hilarious in shoot- they kept making parodies of songs while they had to wait for us to set up.

Two examples:
Creep by Radio Head turned into "I'm a crepe, I'm for breakfast. I'm full of bananas, covered in chocolate!"
Shots by LMFAO turned into "Establishing shots, shot shot shot shots, shot shot shot shots, Over the shoulder!"

At one point, I held the boom while standing on a table, and another, I had to stand on a chair and then hold my arms up as high as they extended. Most students regard it as a sucky job, but because of the environment I was in, I loved it.

I learned a lot today, and not just about booming. It really makes a difference when you are prepared and treat people nicely- our shoot went so well and I am a lot closer to the people I worked with now.

I have five more shoots left, including my own, so I should be revising my script now. I am an AD tomorrow, so I have lots of responsibility, but its still gonna be awesome, I know it. An AD means Assistant Director, and basically their job is to make sure everything gets done- that means creating the schedule and securing the props. My AD came up to me just to see how I was doing- and it happened to be when I was stressed out- and she really calmed me down- it meant a lot.

I am so tired.... I wish there are more hours in the day so that I could sleep more, and work on my script more. But that is not the case, so I am going to log off and go to sleep.

Comment, please, and let me know what you are up to!

-Molly