Snow Bunnies

Day three of the internship: 6 hours of (you guessed it) typing transcripts. I'm supposed to be doing some casting stuff for Internship 1 on Monday and will be talking to the Art Director (hopefully) in the next couple of days... Dear God, I want this film stuff to pick up.

I tried to spice up my day a little by trying a new place for lunch: "Grey's Papaya" where they serve a Recession Special that consists of 2 hot dogs and papaya juice for $4.45. Done and done. I knocked out my lunch in about 10 minutes, so I took another 10 and walked around the block. I saw hanging meat in a window and got nostalgic for Sarah. On my way back to the office, I passed two construction workers. This brings us to my new blog special: NEW YORK PHRASES!

Encounter 1 -

Guy 1: *winks* hey

Me (to myself): you're my dad's age

Guy 2: Leave that young girl alone, you old perv.

Guy 3: (walking in my direction) you know they were gonna say something right?

Me: Yeah

Guy 3: Now that I'm walking with you, they won't say anything. I'm Michael, by the way...

Me (to myself): you're pretty old, too.

After work, I decided to head over to Bryant Park to work on my film. I'm thinking about switching to a short story adaptation... I fell in love with "Teddy" by J.D. Salinger yesterday, so we'll see how that goes. Before I got into the park, I stopped at Crumbs to get a Blackout cupcake and an iced coffee. Food in tow, I found a nice table and annotated the story for an hour. I think I've spent too much time with Jillian, because a bird decided to shit on my book and hand. Yes. (And when I told my mother and aunt the story later, their first reply was "I hear that's good luck." I responded by saying, "that's probably a lie to make people who got shit on feel better.").

Anyway, after the poop incident, I headed toward the Hudson. Along the way I passed a live concert/benefit show. It was super intense (please refer to picture). As I continued my journey, I passed a group of dudes. NEW YORK PHRASES!

Encounter 2 -

Guy 1: Hey there, Snow Bunny

Me (to myself): what the fuck? [long pause] I'll take it!

On my way to the Hudson, Alex called and confirmed the Vermont trip. I'm heading to Long Island tomorrow so we can drive up to Vermont first thing Friday morning. His parting words were "don't forget a swimsuit." I brought one with me, but it's mildly skank and doesn't fit properly (the bottom's too loose and the tops to small) - so I headed over to Macy's to find one of those one pieces with the backs chopped out so that my suit won't fall off in the lake. Long story short - that place is huge... after searching 5 floors, I couldn't find the bathing suits so I gave up and headed back to the Bronx. NEW YORK PHRASES!

Encounter 3 -

Guy 1 (to Guy 2): It's like having sex with a roc ho

Me (to myself ): I wonder what exactly is comparable to sex with a roc ho...

On the subway, I heard a woman sing that Whitney Houston song from "The Bodyguard" and a dude do a drum cover of "Smooth Criminal." Yes.

So, that's it today. I won't write until after the VT trip so you get a reprieve for the next few days.

In the end, I'm having a blast in this city, I really am. But I'm starting to ache for certain people. Being here is so bitter sweet.

Less-Than-Three You, Snow Bunny... I mean Monique

Listening to: nothing, nothing at all

*EDIT* I just heard a gunshot and screams. Welcome to the Bronx.

48hrs and AD-ing

This'll be a bit long... its been a long weekend.

48hr shoot:
I spent my weekend helping Tom and George with their 48 hr shoot. If you aren't familiar with the concept, here it is: several teams have exactly 48hrs to write, shoot and edit a film. There are usually some stipulations (in this case, we had to spoof a film), and, if you get your film in on time, you are up to win approximately $750 dollars. The movie we drew to spoof was "Jaws."

Friday night, we sat down and watched the film. We wrote the script and did most of the pre-production work. Our version of "Jaws" was about a boy (Jaws) who couldn't take the hint that no one wanted him around at parties. The hosts of the party (Quinn, Brody and Hooper) took it upon themsevles to scare the boy away so that their party could survive. It ends with Quinn (played by VLo) killing Josh/Jaws (played by Box) with a bat. Magic.

Anyway, the next morning (after 2 hours of sleep) we woke up and bought props, built some equipment and began shooting. The shoot was fairly easy and mostly fun... minus the fact that I cannot drive a truck due to my size and the fact that I'm a shitty, unexperienced driver in general. I even got to smack one of our actors, Mike, in the face *giggle*. Mentally, the event was a trip. We were all exhausted and hopped up on several substences (beer, coffee, 5hr energy drinks, cigarettes, etc) in order to stay awake. (PS, out of all of those things, the only one that woke me up was beer... go figure). By 10pm, the boys set up shop in my room and started editing. I seized this opportunity to go play with our neigbors, Nick, Winn and Mike. When I got back, they were still working so the three of us spent the next 10 hours sleeping and editing and talking. They managed to get a working cut done around 4:30 (the film was due at 6:24) and were going to export a safe copy before they sent it into Color, but for some reason (probably dillusion) they didnt. By 6, they were ready to export. The problem? The computer was running so extremely slow by that point that the export didn't finish in time. Yes. We had a hilarious, completed and professional fim, yet were unable to turn it in because of the effing export.

They are still going to submit a copy just to screen and will submit the film into First Friday, so perhaps they'll make a little dough. All in all, the experience was worth it. The process was emtertaining and the film experience was useful.

AD-ing:
This morning I went in to interview with my professor for the AD job. The way it is going to work is two fold: 1. if she is able to get the funding, she will fly out my 'mentor' to be the 1st AD and either me or another girl to be 2nd AD. Because he is DGA, he cannot technically get the 1st AD credit, so the 2nd will get the credit. 2. If she isn't able to get funding, either me or this other girl will take on the role of 1st AD and we will work with the 'mentor' in order to be prepared. If I don't end up AD-ing, I'll be working with the Producer or the Art Director. In the mean time, I'm still working on the logistics of the film. Currently, I am looking up flight and catering information.

Overall, I feel that the meeting went well. However, I could definately feel the scrutiny and pressure of the whole thing. I've worked with this 'mentor' before and he is usually very helpful and sweet - very much a teacher. But, because we were discussing an actual job, he was much more harsh and scrutinizing. There is absolutely no problem with that, it merely reminds me that, in the real world of filmmaking, there is serious responsibility. It's hard work, actual work. There is no room for laziness or error for that matter. Student films are difficult sometimes, yes, but they are nothing in comparison to what's really out there.

After realizing this and hearing exactly what work I would be doing as an AD (which is mainly paperwork and set organization), I felt the need to prove myself. This, my dears, is a good step. Usually I would be terrified, thinking that if I actually got the job, I would fuck up in two seconds. But this time, I feel ready. I'm ready for the challenge and I'm ready to handle whatever shit may come up. That feeling is not only a necessity in order to work in film, but it is beautiful on its own.

That's all I got for you this time, loves.

Less-Than-Three You <3 Monique
Listening to: my stomache growl and my eyes droop from exhaustion (yes, drooping eyes do make a noise)

Dr. Hayes tells me to dip my toe in the river of knowledge

It's Monday morning. Sarah is gone. J-Ty (our old roomate) is gone forever. Tom (our new roomate) is all moved in.

Here is the recap of my life so far without Sarah:
1. I'm still job hunting - I'm sure the people at Coffee Exchange think I'm crazy due to a car alarm incident... I don't want to talk about it.
2. I played some pool.
3. I saw "Hunger" (see it! They have this redicoulous long take that must last about 7 mintutes. Not only is it a long take, but it is a stable two-shot where the characters are in shadow with highlights outlining their bodies. It works... yes!).
4. I went to a party and learned how to salsa dance. For being half black, you would think I would know how to dance better.
5. I saw "Terminator Salvation" (meh, not bad).

I spent the morning working on Internship 1. Right now, I'm trying to find housing, casting information, catering and secure a location for this short my professor is shooting in late July. We are shooting in this small town in upstate NY. I've made so many calls, I'm pretty sure every local business knows my name - now that's a strange feeling.

As far as my senior film goes, I got an idea and some crew. I want to shoot this really bitter sweet love story that deals with fantasy and reality. My junior film partner and I talked about shooting a story like this last semester, but it didn't end up happening - I'll let you readers wonder what bizzare flick we made instead. The overall point of the piece? No matter how hard you try and what you expect, some things are just not meant to work out the way you intend. That was the overall theme of my last semester, what with all of the pitfalls of my junior film.

I'm running into this problem whilst trying to write. I don't relate to my characters. For one thing, I've never had a longtermer and for another, I'm not a man. How do writers accurately write the opposite sex, another social class, etc? If we only write what we know, then is my perception of others enough to make my script work... Bueller? Bueller?

Meh, this is long enough for today. I'll try to make these more concise, entertaining and fluid in the future. Yes? Okay!

Less-Than-Three You <3 Monique
Listening to: "Kings of Leon" Radio on Pandora