Happy 4th people! So, update: whoever couldn’t make it to Erica’s shoot totally missed out! It was awesome! For the first time at BDFI, I really felt the collaboration part of filmmaking on a shoot. Having started about 5 weeks ago, I felt like most of my time was spent adjusting to a new city, culture, people and film school in general.

Last night at Erica’s shoot, we did 10 set ups in about 7 hours. We had fantastic performances from the actors so we just ended up doing 2 takes per shot! I’m really happy from what I saw—I think Erica’s going to have fun in editing. Ryan DP’d and did a great job of lighting. My role was makeup and shot logging. We wrapped at two in the morning but I had so much energy. I think I felt useful so I wasn’t tired, whereas if I feel like I’m just another hand on the set, I’d just be bored.

I digress…I just watched “There Will Be Blood” and “Wanted” recently. I’m seeing the movies now in a way I haven’t before, instead of just being a passive audience member or geeking out on frame composition and lighting. I feel like I can now watch movies and learn about the ways they create from just learning the basics in class. It’s even more exciting because I know enough to start attempting imitation. It’s a really awesome feeling.