Monday, May 19, 2008

I always expect Saturday to be the best day of the week.

So I spent Sunday working on a music video for the Foo Fighters. Not a very good use of a perfectly lovely 84° day in Los Angeles. Not good at all. Not only was I working on a music video, which is a stupid thing to do, but it was hotter than hell in East LA and we were running our asses off trying to get everything done before we lost the light. As my buddy said, "Full panic mode all day." Damn straight. Our director was a nice enough Frenchman who fell to pieces once the day really got going. I think it was because he showed up dressed all in black, chain smoked Marlboro Reds all day, and could barely speak English. All of this seemed to make him fairly frustrated very quickly. It's always like that on music videos. No one at the label ever wants to pay the money so that we have the time to make a video. It's always a low ball comedy of errors and idiocy with a bunch of good crew people thrown into the mix for pathos. Or more comedy, I can never really decide if I think the whole thing is funny or sad even when it's happening to me. Odd.

The nice part of Sunday was that my immediate boss, the DP, was one of my favorite guys to work with, an English chap with a good sense of humor. He's been in the business for awhile both as an AC and a DP so he's seen it all and done it all. The rare times he gets frustrated or angry are actually a joy to behold because you really have to try to piss him off. Sunday was a pain for both of us because we were handheld all day and hanging off a camera car like jackasses. The car was cool. It's a handmade jobbie with mounting points and chairs all over the chassis and it's electric, no noise. Silent as death! Too bad we were shooting skateboarding and had to pretzel ourselves into the rig. Very silly but I do love watching skateboarding, especially when it's downhill and fast. I almost fell out of the rig on one turn but thankfully the one safety strap I had on helped keep me in one piece. I'd really like to not get hurt again anytime soon. At least not until the leg heals up all the way.

When all was said and done, yesterday was just one more day in what will hopefully be a long and pointless career of making videos for bands that suck and commercials for products you don't need. It didn't totally suck but it sure as shit could have been more fun. Where does that leave me? Looking to get ahead, that's where. Looking to be the DP and have more creative control and make enough money to make the pain of working for morons more bearable. Ah well, we'll see. I'll either make it or keep pulling the old focus on various and sundry banalities that the smartest guys in the room keep making.

On the plus side, I just got hired to work on a Jonas Brothers video with the Englishman and the rest of the usual suspects. Three days of work for a band you haven't heard of unless you're the kind of bad parent who lets their kids listen to Disney's particular brand of pop pablum. Nah, just kidding, you're not a bad parent if you let your kids listen to teen bands mass produced by Disney. You're a slave. But hey, the slave master sho' nuff pays dem bills! Ha! I'm feeling slightly bitter but I am happy that I'm gainfully employed. I think I'll surf all day again tomorrow and then walk my dawg.

Peace out, bitches.

2 comments:

savannah said...

but you're in lalaland, sugar! tht has to be a good thing! *snickering*

captain chaos said...

Shoot me, shoot me now.