I only worked one day this week, but that Monday was jammed packed. I drove out to meet the crew at a sound stage in Aurora. I was able to pick up a McGriddle meal from McDonalds, which was a great start. When I arrived everyone said: “Hi Cornbread!” I guess that’s my nickname for the summer. I think it has a nice ring to it. We began the day around 7 a.m., pulling equipment inside and setting up. Set up was a bit slow because we had some issues with the set we were building, and lighting could not begin until those issues were resolved. It was like a sauna in the studio at first, but then Tom, the lighting director, turned the air down to 68, so then it became freezing, which was ok because I would rather be cold than hot. But I sort of wish I had a jacket…
We set up one camera on a tripod, another camera on the jib, and I worked another camera on the side of the set getting reactions from the students. I felt like an auto mechanic taking the wheels off the jib and putting on the wheels (called Hot Buttons I learned) for the jib to roll on a track. Once we got our set together and set up all our equipment, we were ready to start rolling. Alexis Jones (who was on Survivor!) was the first person we were working with. She flew in from Los Angeles, and she was there to speak to high school students about their future for a new production for the National Society of Leadership & Success (that’s the client).
Ms. Jones spoke about some great subjects, which were quite inspiring. While I was shooting the reactions of the students, it seemed that some of the girls were starting to tear up. Ms. Jones definitely worked some magic on those kids if you can bring tears to their eyes just by talking. She really knew how to make someone believe that anything in life is possible. I admit I am starting to think so too!
After we finished her part, we had an awesome grill session out by the truck. The burgers and polish sausages hit the spot. Greg was a bit worried about how much he should eat, and after we guilted him into eating another polish sausage, he seemed to become a totally different person. He seemed a little upset that he ate it because he was full, but I’m sure he was satisfied with the polish sausage dessert.
After lunch, we started the second half of the shoot, althought we were already way behind. We were doing different parts of another video for the National Society of Leadership and Success on a blue screen. We worked with two different people, Gary (the President) and Patrick (another inspirational speaker). Both did a great job with their parts, but it took some time to get their shooting done.
As the day began to wind down, our crew began to get pretty tired. We had all talked about not getting enough sleep the night before, and after running around all day and shooting all day, it began to get to us. It seemed to really get to Greg. He kept telling me to get up there and slate, which I was trying to do, but I had to re-write numbers and information on the slate. Oh, he also made sure I slated the next shot quicker and quicker, so I became quite good at using a slate.
We were able to finish everything we needed to, but at the end of the day, we had worked about fifteen hours. I thought I was tired, but the high school students that were in the scene with Alexis Jones must have been exhausted. They rode in from Rockford with the crew, and after they were used as our audience, they had to sit in a green room and the truck for most of the time, which actually think was fun for them based on the fact that both places looked completely destroyed.
But, more than likely, some of the kids were losing their minds waiting around. As the day went on past 7pm some of the parents were calling. It was cute hearing the parents were worried and wondering when their kids were going to be back to home. It sounds like my mom. She is always sure to make sure that I’m ok and everything is going well at the internship. You gotta love moms. But fortunately for kids, they earned a little money for an easy days work. I, however, did not earn any money. Greg and Michael keep telling me: “Experience is better than any paycheck I could receive.” They are probably right.
Although the day was long, it was very productive, and a great learning experience. And that’s my 2nd week as SolidLine intern. We will see what next week brings…
You can contact summer intern Mike Radostits (aka “Cornbread”) at [email protected].
For more information about SolidLine Media, visit us online at www.solidlinemedia.smartwebsitedesign.com. Or call 312-939-8600.
Copyright 2009 SolidLine Media, a division of KV Media Group, Inc.
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