Sometimes finding your muse isn’t as easy as you would hope. You can have an idea brewing, but no matter how much you stir it or let it sit, the idea just never seems to ferment. This has been a common problem of mine of late, but this week gave me the chance to tell a rather fun story that fermented just fine. I’ll start at the beginning.
On Monday of last week I met the new SolidLine Production Coordinator, Dave “The Doctor” Rokos. Dave is one of my predecessors as SolidLine intern and blog writer, so I was excited to meet him and see what one of SolidLine’s favorite intern’s was like. The verdict is: Dave’s pretty cool.
I actually spent most of the day transcribing, my eternal task, and for the first time in a while had a chance to focus on it and get a chunk more done. The rest of my day was spent formulating ideas for the next day. The next day Greg would be teaching Dave how to drive the production truck, and I was to come along and film it all, and edit it into a fun little video.
The next day I rode along as Greg showed Dave the parts of the truck, drove us around Rockford, and we all ate Beef-a-roo (which has a pretty mean mushroom swiss burger).
It’s fun to have someone else my age on the team, and I’m looking forward to taking the road trip next week and getting to know him.
Wednesday I was back in the office, where I spent the day editing the footage that I had shot the day before. Like I said earlier, sometimes it’s hard to figure out a story to tell. I had a rough idea of an “Ice Road Truckers” parody, but wasn’t sure exactly how to go about it. I started brewing SolidLine’s source of royalty free music from Killer Tracks, and instantly found my angle. With some of the most dramatic music I could find, I started my editing.
I got mostly through my cut that day, but then went home to get ready for the next two days of shooting nursing students from Northern Illinois University. I was to be picked up bright and early at 6am sharp, so I needed to be ready to go and full of sleep.
We began Thursday morning at Kishwaukee Community Hospital in DeKalb, IL. We loaded into the hospital and got a few staged shots of nursing students checking out a patient, and helping another patient walk around the hospital. Everyone was really helpful, and the shoot was smooth and over in a few hours. We packed up and went to the NIU campus, where we’d be filming classes and simulation mannequins for the rest of the day.
The first thing you need to know about simulation mannequins is that they are creepy. Scary. Terrifying. They may look like cheap imitations of people, but they move like us, they breathe, they have vital signs, and they talk. THEY TALK. Well, the teachers speak into microphones and it comes out sounding sick and muffled but still.
Anyways, we got some great footage of nursing students working on the mannequins. On Friday we returned to shoot a few interviews, with a doctor and with a couple of students, and then we re-packed the truck for the next week’s trip.
Next week we’ll be heading on the road west to Phoenix and Los Angeles, and I can’t wait! I plan on moving to LA at some point in my future, so I’m happy to get whatever glances of the city I can. I’m also excited to be back in the desert. I once drove in the desert and have nothing but fond memories of it. I can’t wait to see it again.
All in all it was a good week. I’m glad to be getting more editing assignments, as editing is something I’ve always enjoyed, and I’m excited for the journey to come next week. Until then, I’m Sam the intern, and you just read my blog!
-Sam
Copyright 2011 SolidLine Media, a division of KV Media Group, Inc.
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