Weekend Recap: Friday. Judgement Day.

I don't even know how to start this post.

This weekend was the most insane experience for me in a long time.


Friday was a non-stop day building our set. By non-stop I mean we met and started working at 10/10:30am and didn't complete everything until close to 2am. Most of that time was spent trying to fix all the problems that arose perpetually throughout the day.

No real breaks.

It all started that morning. We took a trip to Office Depot and Home Depot to get materials for the movie. Office Depot was an easy stop, but Home Depot proved to be a tricky experience. Due to fund issues, we decided against building a frame and dry walling it to make the wall. Instead we decided on stiff foam insulation and textured spray paints.

Even though we had Pete's SUV, the 4x8 pieces of foam wouldn't fit in his trunk at all. So we were forced to tie it to the roof of the car. Unfortunately, this was also one of the windiest days in a long time. We didn't make it a block out of the Home Depot parking lot before the wind caught the foam strapped to the roof and snapped them both in half.

Needless to say, we pulled over and had to reassess the situation.

We couldn't leave them on the roof anymore, but the width of the foam still would not allow for them to be put in the back of the car. They were already beat to hell, so we decided the only way was to bend the already broken pieces in half once more and fit them in the trunk. We had no other choices because we had to get to the costume storage in Trexler Pavilion before it closed.

We just made it in time to pick out costumes before the place closed and we then brought all the materials to the TV studio. It was here where we started preparing our gear for the next day (mostly black bursting tapes). Kathleen ran over to the school store to buy two DV cam tapes. She called me soon after she left to tell me they were sold out until monday. Of course. So here we are with no tapes. Can we even film tomorrow??

Lucky for us, Kate Bolger exists.

She was amazing enough to give us both her DV cam tapes because her filming was canceled for this weekend. So basically she saved us.

We started black busting the tapes and next we had to deal with our wall.

Our two 4x8 foam pieces were now demolished into four bent pieces. Great.

With Rachel and Natalie's help we straightened out the pieces as best we can and tried to figure out where to paint them. Rachel offered us her basement, which was amazing of her. We forced the pieces BACK in Pete's car and brought them over to one of the most dank, dirty, and drippy basements imaginable. Very Tyler Durden.

There we used duct tape to piece the halves back into two 4x8 pieces. Then we started spray painting. Soon into this, however, we realized we had no where near enough paint. We decided on making another trip to home depot to get home, and right then Kathleen accidentally snapped the tip of the spray can off, rendering the can unusable. To top this off she accidentally sprayed it into her eye. Poetic. We helped her upstairs where she cleaned her eye and face. Then Pete and I made our second trip to Home Depot.

When we returned Rachel and Kathleen had finished taping the other 4x8 piece back together. We started spray painting again when the residents above Rachel's apartment came down to kick us out. The spray paint was contaminating their air.

By this point it is dark outside and still very windy and cold. No where to paint.

After alot of phone calls, we managed to get access to the scene shop in Trexler. Adam Bishop let us in and made sure it was okay for us to work there. Kathleen and I struggled with the two 4x8 pieces, walking them from the corner of Liberty and 23rd Street to the Scene Shop. Keep in mind the foam wall pieces essentially created a sail which we had to maneuver across campus in the wind.

Pete couldn't leave his car at Rachels overnight, so he decided he would drive and meet us at the scene shop. The scene shop is right next to South (were Pete lives), so we assumed he would drive back to his parking lot and meet us there. We didn't count of the events affecting his judgment. Instead, Pete drove halfway, parked, then got out and walked to the scene shop, forcing him to walk back to get his car the next day. I still can not fully explain why he did that. Its a mystery.

Anyway, in the scene shop we talked for a while to decide how best to work with our destroyed foam pieces. We ended up covering the wall pieces with huge sheets of brown paper and painting it giving it color, shadows and texture.

This actually worked quite well, and around 2am when they were done drying, we walked our wall sail (now covered in paper) through the windy night back to the TV Studio. Full circle.

Then we got a few hours of sleep before meeting the next day at 10am.

The day was one huge learning experience.
"Welcome to the world of video" I was told.

So, in conclusion...


That was hard.

-Jordan