Small Place

People like to say it's a small world, sometimes when noticing similarities between people in or from different places, usually when running into someone who knows a person place or thing that is very far away from where you both are, but close to where you once were, or something. Of course, small is relative and we only have this world to compare ours to, if we were talking planets, it certainly is a relatively small one, compared to the Jupiters and Saturns and the like, but one doesn't usually call those planets worlds.

I was mildly amused the other day, on the second day of shooting when I met someone in the beergarden who I know pretty well, who actually wasn't there for the shoot. Prague isn't a hugely populous city, and this beergarden is a pretty popular place with the expat crowd, particularly the arty/filmy subset of that crowd, so just amused, mildly at this point. Later on when one of the extras went over to jam with him and his friend, someone I've met before but don't really know, he came back saying that he (the other guy, one I don't know so well) was composing the score for a movie about a homeless 12 year old boy who goes on an adventure on the streets of Prague I told him.. I worked on that movie.. she (the girl playing my daughter in this film) was in that movie! World getting smaller.

Still only amusing though, what was really weird was when on the first day of the shoot we asked some girls if they minded us filming them at their table as general beergarden patrons, then asked where they were from etc etc.. they were from LA like one or a few of the students. Well apart from the fact that this was a FAMU film (a prestigious Prague film school) and they were on a program from NYU, though they all seem to be from California, it wasn't a big deal because.. LA, large city, and this is an area where a lot of foreigners, not only expats hang out. When it turned out that one of them new this guy's cousin, then the world became small. Well LA anyway. I thought it was on the big side for a city. I dunno, maybe there are a lot of poor people, so the pool of folk who go traveling and stuff is small. I mean, apart from all those super rich Hollywood people of course, and all the other super rich people. Or maybe it was just a coincidence. Like I may have said, small world.

Need. Sleep.

It's all early starts and late finishes, pickups from fuck knows where and travels to somewhere else. Many hours on set doing stuff, not doing stuff and something in between sometimes.

It's weird. I had one day off and I was all ambitious and intending to get all my files into orderly typed up spreadsheets or whatever those things are supposed to be in.. oh and I intended to get sleep. Well none of that happened, though I did go for a drink with a friend who had the absolute nerve to have a birthday the next day, making it imperative for me to stay out after midnight, when I'd already been drinking since pretty early to have a drink on his birthday. Honestly, people. No consideration.

So my day off didn't really help me feel rested and fresh the next day. More like, fucking hungover. It wore off after about 8 hours so the next 8.. (ok I exaggerate, it was only about 6) I was no longer sick but really really tired. We finished relatively early, seeing as the last shoot we'd had ended at 2am.. it was about 9 or 10pm. In any case everyone was ready for bed by the time I got home so due to that, having no light in my room and being really really really really tired.. and, what was I going to say? Oh yeah, 7am call for this morning, and a pickup at a completely uselessly fucked up place that's inconvenient to get to. Wasn't pleased. Tried to get something sorted out yesterday but didn't get through to the driver.. well, not until this morning after I was already on the way to the original lift, which I was going to be late for due to a stupid calculation on my part, all ready to call not him but the only person I had a number for.. I get an sms.. yes I can pick you up at (insert much better spot for picking up) just as the tram was about to stop there. So I get off.. have a bit of time to spare now.. and try to go buy a coffee, but I realize I didn't have my wallet.. but they'd already poured the coffee so I got one on the house.. sin't that nice? So.. interesting morning.

The day was full of drama and tensions, egos, pontificating and the usual.. well more than usual, but interestingly enough a lot got done, so, overall good. Oh and we had a meeting. Something about a family and football coaches and locker rooms. I'm wondering if it helped.

Now I'm here again, not getting my homework done, not getting to bed early and not.. I'm sure there's something else I should be doing that I'm not doing.

More on the same.

So I'm working on the set of this film and it's full of everything. Up and downs and in betweens, late nights and later nights the next night. It's been good overall. I'll never be great at this, at least, not on this shoot, but I'm not terrible. I'm probably not super suited to this work, but I don't think I'm particularly wrong for it either, I'm just someone who hasn't done this before who is learning as they go along, with a fair few people in a similar position regarding their work on t he same set, which makes for an interesting, if frequently exasperating experience.

And there are perks, getting your boyfriend to play a small role at the last minute is kind of fun, we get catering which is close to if not the best thing about this whole job and.. well I will learn something, if not necessarily how to do the job I've been assigned terribly well, but I will learn a lot of things, even if that thing is to never in a million years attempt to direct a movie myself. It's kinda hard. It's the sort of thing I'd love to have done, and really really really well and get all the praise and recognition, possibly fame and money for, but to do.. I'd have no hair left after about one day's shoot, I reckon, and I think I should try to keep that as long as I have.

Anyway, I have a day off which is why I'm able to even do this right now.

And I thought it was going so well..

There were about 5 minutes yesterday, when I thought this was all going great. Well..maybe about 4 or 5 hours where I thought it was at least good.. maybe a few more hours where it wasn't really bad and I thought things were going in the right direction.

Yesterday, change of location after 3 days at the same, non problematic actors.. the kids, rather strangely, a lovely day, relatively smooth rolling. I was quite enjoying it on many levels.. oh I scribbled a lot of indecipherable stuff, and missed some things, but then I got.. or thought I got the hang of stuff a little bit, and felt like I was getting better at this.. like, I was doing my job actually.

Then it started getting late. Still setting up. More set up, it was quite late by this point. It kept going on, rehearsals, start of shooting.. kept getting later, people are tired, I'm not really pleased to be there and then on top of that.. well.. something happened that made it all come crashing down on me.. and I feel again that here on my now 5th day, by which time I should have learned something, and gotten the hang of it enough to be useful.. I feel like I'm doing nothing.

So in I go again today, to do the same. Whatever it is.