Forbidden Knowledge

A few months back I tried to get someone onto the job who was also interested in getting into Script Supervising. I got my big break because of shadowing so I wanted to repay that kindness to the universe by getting someone new interested in the role. My attempts were kiboshed at every turn (an odd thing for a production that's so eager to put trainees first). Thankfully, that person got a small placement as a locations marshall for our current filming place so when they weren't too busy I passed on my iPad and showed them the ropes. They were arguably better than I was when I first started out, in fairness they were fresh off a training course on the subject so they really seemed to know what they were doing right from the get go. Some under the radar learning though made me feel like a renegade, passing on forbidden knowledge.

I did the final push of prop buying for my upcoming short film. I don't think I've ever spent so long scrutinizing buttons in my entire life but it'll be worth it. Mum is coming down this weekend to create our hero sock puppet and I already can't wait to meet him.

Dialing in Favours

Called in a few favours to get some bits and pieces done for my upcoming short film. Mum is doing some material buying for the main character and some old camera chums have a slider I can pick up for gratis. Is this what being a Producer is like? Calling on favours from your favourite people to get something made... Perhaps this is telling that I still don't know what a producer does. Kinda sucks that we finished quite late tonight with clawbacks for the rest of the week. I want to do more prep work but I also need to prioritize my sleep.

Cafe Camera

There was a ray of hope that we might wrap early again today but those hopes were dashed on the rocks. The whole crew seemingly forgot we were shooting outside for the last couple of hours and we've been spoilt recently with filming interiors so we were ill-equiped for the exposure. For the most of my day I was treated like the support hotline for the second unit who had dozens of queries about the show and continuity. It's nice to be needed, but I'd prefer to be needed under less ASAP conditions.

I unpacked the old Cafe Studios camera once I got back to do some quick camera tests. It's amazing how quickly all the old buttons and switches came back to me, the whirr of the auto focus and the snap of the battery lock. One more rodeo with that bad boy is coming up and I'm already getting jazzed about using it properly.

One Second

Before I knew it, the work day was over. Wrapping two hours early is rarely a reality but I used my time wisely back at home to catch up on my film watchlist with One Second, a Chinese movie about an man who has recently broken out of a labour camp for one humble reason: to see a movie with his daughter in... And she's not really in the movie, rather she's in the newsreel portion of it and is in screen for meer moments. Such a charming premise, it's an Asian Cinema Paradisio in a lot of ways since it features a handful of loving shots of audiences being brought together by the power of the screen. It has incredible restraint not to go in for big, saccharine moments though... Even when the film deserves an emotional close up it holds back. It's muted tone is somehow the film's best feature and biggest flaw though as we don't have quite enough space to truly connect with the characters, but there's more than enough charming and inspired images that make the film worthwhile.

One More Burns

To continue our Burns weekend, we did the traditional meetup with Louis and Rachel for a plate full of haggis and glasses full of red wine. My favourite part of the meal is watching the guys finish up cooking as Rachel puts on a YouTube video of 3 hours of bagpipe music, often to Louis' chagrin. We had the food as a long lunch, befitting of a quiet, rainy Sunday. Once home, Rebecca and I said we're both feeling like or respective social batteries were drained so we took a bit of time apart to do our own separate things. Rebecca read books and watched true crime documentaries, while I finished up some video games, basically doing our best 'brain off' activities. I feel rested and ready for the week ahead now, only a few more weeks on this shoot now, I'm honestly struggling to remember life before this job, I'm beginning to crave a change of pace.

Cèilidh

 I'm holding back my eyelids before I drift off, but I keep cycling the day over and over in the meantime. We all agreed as a friendship group recently not to buy each other Christmas or birthday gifts anymore, rather we should funnel that money into regular meetups. So, Rebecca, Mark, Lucy, Dan and I all met up to hang out in Surrey for a round of Topgolf. Before you ask, it's a bowling type of sport where you take it in turns at a driving range and hope to sink goofballs into large targets on a green in front of you. I started off dreadfully, all straight knees and rigid wrists. Once I watched Dan a bit (a seasoned golf chap), I got a handle on the posture and got much better.

The main event though was a Burns night extravaganza at a taproom. Haggis and all the trimmings were consumed alongside a dram of whiskey and a cèilidh chaser. We only stuck around for a handful of dances but we had smiles plasted onto our faces. Burns night will continue tomorrow with Louis and Rachel, hopefully I can sleep off the merriment til then.

The Brutalist

My boss had to step off towards the end of the day because she needed to attend a house viewing. It could the 'the one' for her so I didn't want to deprive her of that, so I opted to step up for the last few hours. While I was a bit sweaty, I actually ended up doing a decent job. I answered every question about continuity swiftly and pointed something out to the director who later came up and thanked me for the spot. I left Friday in a great little mood, so I thought I'd treat myself. With Rebecca away tonight, I took myself to the movies to check out The Brutalist... Here's my LetterBoxd write up.

During the film's epilogue a character sheds some light on the philosophy of Brutalism, revealing that the work isn't intended to make a statement, rather it's reflective of nothingness and how humans need to accept the lack of meaning in the world.

The Brutalist is a story told in two halves, kept alive by a refreshing dedication to sustained shots that permit performance to do the heavy lifting - the on-screen results are often electrifying. 

Act one has a great sense of buildup because it's about people with dreams. Act two on the other hand is about the cost of those dreams and how people let you down - it's messy, ugly and disappointing... and I mean this quite literally.

The moment an in-world train goes off the rails, so does the storytelling. Scenes feel increasingly fractured and devoid of context. We hop over to Italy for ambiguous reasons (because the plot demands it, apparently) and the final few scenes with Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones feel hurried and unresolute. It kinda lost me in the last stretch which is heartbreaking because everything that came before was exquisite.

Does this mean the film is in harmony with the art style it champions? Possibly. Does that also mean the conclusion is inherently unsatisfying? Almost definitely.