From here on out...

Attention all Faithful Res. Life Blog Readers...

Please refer to the new Res. Life website at http://www.reslifebu.com for all of our blogs. Any new blogs that have yet to appear on the website will be there shortly and from here on out we will be posting solely on the website.

Thanks,

Pat

City of Boston, State of Confusion

Darcy aka D.Fizzle, reporting for blog duty as promised. I love my jobs. They are very rewarding because I have so far contributed in some way to the following successes:

#1: Convincing Boston Beer Works (with Elyse) to shut down half of their restaurant for 12 hours, free of charge, and even giving us a parking spot next to the owner’s in their private lot. Then avoiding getting kicked out of said establishment even after our 50 man crew took over, covered up the view of their precious brewing tanks with a very large piece of duvetyn, and possibly contributed to the downfall of their complicated and frustrating DVD system

#2: Doing a sweet K-Turn at a Hess station in a 13 person van while Chris watched in admiration

#3: Continually battling and defeating the dreaded “Easy Cart,” a lighting storage device which Jac and I are convinced is actually a “Difficult Cart” simply masquerading as it’s far simpler “Easy” cousin who no doubt accepts the replacing of light stands in a less confrontational manner

#4: Verbally accosting a large German gentleman in a Shelton elevator and somehow cajoling him into acting as an extra

#5: Thoroughly vacuuming locations so they looked neater than when we arrived, though Chris’s sweeping technique seems to be a real crowd pleaser

#6: Singing random and obnoxious songs that become ingrained in the minds of our crew members for days on end: i.e. “Shake” by the Ying Yang Twins, “This Is Why I’m Hot” by Mims and a riveting tribute to duvetyn version of Wayne Newton’s “Danke Schoen”

#7: Inventing new nicknames and jingles for Dave Runkle: Runky Runk and the Funky Bunch, Runk Master Flex, The Runkinator, Davetyn Runkle, Dave Runkle Esq. "We've Got The Runk," "Won't You Take Me To Runkytown?" "Play That Runky Music White Boy" etc (partial credit goes to Jordan Newman and Rich for the Runkle tunes)



#8: Writing a mind-bogglingly good Key Grip/Best Boy rap that has yet to be produced because, and not to point fingers, but Rich is lazy

#9: Giving Oscar much-deserved back massages on 2 separate occasions… Not to brag, but I’m told they were amazing

#10: Visiting City Hall so many times in one week that the Departments of Transportation and Public Works knew me by name and ran in fear at my mounting requests for parking meters, resident parking spots, and rain dates

#11: Fending off a meter-maid who was prepared to give our truck a $120 dollar ticket for parking in a handicapped zone to unload- this success was a direct result of Jac and I working our feminine wiles, though showing him our permit may have had something to do with it – and I’m pretty sure Alex overshadowed our accomplishment by running out into traffic to rescue a single stray can of Sobe Gold only moments later

And last but not least…

#12 Getting a 9AM phone call from my Dad alerting me to the fact that, due to this project, I have racked up over 1000 minutes on my cell in the past month. Thanks for the heads up, Verizon.

That is all.

Director's Update #5: One Weekend Down, Three to Go

This past weekend we had two successful shoot days, Saturday at Boston Beer Works (North Station) and Sunday at BU's Rich Hall lobby.

Saturday went particularly well, as we began filming with a fun group scene, allowing a good deal of actors to gather together for the first time since our cast readthrough. It was one of our easiest days of shooting in terms of page count, but one of our most difficult in terms of lighting setups and logistics (our only non-BU location).

Sunday was more challenging as our filming all but took over the Rich Hall lobby, despite torrential rain and plenty of student traffic, which our amazing volunteer crew held back during rehearsals and takes. Shooting on location is always difficult, and losing valuable time between takes for students to swipe in the dorms was a great example problems common to even the most glamorous of film shoots.

On location with us was our photographer Emily Berl, who snapped some amazing shots, many of which appear in this entry and will continue to appear throughout future blogs. She'll be with us every weekend, including this weekend's shoots at the Howard Thurman Center at the George Sherman Union at Boston University.

Finally, you may be reading this on our brand new website, and if you aren't, please check it out HERE. It's a work in progress, but we'll continue to update it as we have the blog.

Pat

Ow-perating the Cam

ow ow ow. ow ow ow.

Alo there, this is Oscar, Camera Operator for Res.Life, and that's about how I feel right now, a few hours after we finished shooting our second day of "Res.Life". I knew operating the camera was going to be a painful affair, but I didn't really want to think about it until the day had come. After three months of pre-production-and to be completely honest me sitting on my bum as everyone else in class did a million and one things-I finally got my hands dirty.

For our first two thirteen hour days, I was in the thick of it with our Prof. Schneider, Director Patrick, and DP Leo, and our wonderful actors as we found the best way to shoot our story. It was a painful process that requires a lot of micromanagement, tweaking, and repeating, but when we get 'that shot', it is incredibly rewarding.

We've done a few dolly moves, including one today that involved the dolly moving forward, as the camera was lowered and I had to tilt up and pan right following the action, but we've mostly stuck to handheld shots. And you know what that means? The 50 pound beast that is the HD camera is on my back for most of the day. If it weren't for my amazing 1st AC Dave and 2nd AC Josh, I would be writing this blog entry from a physical rehabilitation ward in the nearest hospital. Thankfully, I am just in my room, with three cooling pads stuck to my back.

The trickiest bit of handheld camera operating is getting the correct marks and following the action as best as possible. My field of vision is limited to what I can see through my black-and-white viewfinder, and that's it. I cannot see to my sides or behind me, so when I am following an actor or waiting for him or her to come into my frame, I am blind as a bat. This is when I rely on visual cues from the surroundings, or on other guides set by the director or my AC. Also, some of the actors are tall. Really tall. Others are short. Really short. I am neither really tall nor really short, which makes things complicated when a tall actor and a short actress are in a scene together.

My favorite things about the shoot so far? The food. Craft services is awesome. Or are awesome. I dunno. I'm from Puerto Rico. We speak Spanish there. Anywhoo, I also really like the cast, they are nice and very eager to learn and work with us. I also like that because I'm the guy lugging the fifty-pound camera around, I don't have to carry heavy things when we are setting up or breaking down. That's pretty nice.

My not so favorite things? Waking up early. A necessary evil, but still. Also the weather today, poo on that. I also don't like the awkward positions my body makes as I hold the camera. Emily's pictures of me should be HILARIOUS. [on a side note, my hair will probably look different in each picture, as I have a habit of pulling on my hair every.other.second.]

I was extremely nervous before we started shooting. Would I keep the camera still enough? Would it prove to be too heavy for me to hold all day? Would I delay filming because I missed a shot? or I couldn't hold the camera? Would I drop the camera?

These things still make me nervous, but after the second day of filming went so well, I can relax a bit more. I made it work, somehow. You'll see. One day.

Soon.

Betcha don't know what a gaffer is!

Hey all! I'm Jac Woods and I'm the Gaffer on Res.Life. What is a Gaffer, you ask? (It's OK, I get it a lot.) A gaffer is the main lighting guy (or gal, in this case). He or she designs (along with the Director of Photography - aka Leo) and implements the lighting schemes for every scene. In other words, I light the sets. I make it so that you can actually see an image through the camera... because what can you see without any light, right? You with me? Good.

OK, so over the past few months we've been training in the studio with the camera and the lights, which is a good thing because I barely knew anything about lighting before January. But, between the lighting class I'm taking and this class for Res.Life, I've definitely learned a ton this semester and I'm sure I'm only going to learn more once the filming begins.

That brings us to another point... the filming is almost beginning! We start on Saturday and I know it sounds cheesy but I can hardly believe it! Time has flown! I think we're all ready and if not, then we'll have to deal. But, I think we'll do an amazing job. You be the judge though!

I've also been working closely with Leo (and the other crew members) on some extra content stuff for publicity. Hopefully you'll be able to see those videos soon!

Alright, I'm not too good at these blog thingys (hence the reason why I'm the last to write one), but I think I've said my peace, for now at least. I'll give you another update when I have more to say!

Wish us luck!

Director's Update #4: One Week To Go

Here I am giving Kara Doherty, who will be playing our main character's little sister, some direction at our cast readthrough. She was chosen from a pool of 30 candidates and we're excited to have her on board. In addition, we have finally completed our casting, tying up the loose ends of Dan's parents (Society Allegra Holmes playing Mom and David Simon playing Dad) and Raj, the Indian security guard, played by Sunjay Kelkar.

For anyone who has read our blog to this point or anyone who will continue to read our blog despite Rich's posting of pictures of our production office (doesn't it look great? send money. please.), we are about to enter crunch time. Our shooting begins this Saturday, April 14th at Boston Beer Works near the TD BankNorth Garden. It's getting exciting and hectic as our shooting dates continue rapid fire (April 15th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th, 30th, and May 5th).

From my point of view, things are coming along quite smoothly (as the rest of the crew curses me silently). I'll be having two more rehearsals this week with the majority of our lead actors in preparation for this weekend as well as future challenging scenes. But overall, I've been very pleased with the work our actors have put in to defining their characters with me, right down to defining every relationship and interaction even hinted at by the script. What's the deal with R.A.s Katelyn and Jeff? Our actors know the answer.

Speaking of Katelyn (Marie Polizzano) and Jeff (Timothy Aden), to the left is the best picture to result from our first publicity shoot. Possible captions include: "Living With Herpes, But Still Loving Life!" and "Cialis: Making Every Day Better" (feel free to post any more caption ideas here). The picture was also one of three (the other two were magnificent cast photos) sent to Variety to be included in an upcoming special educational issue. For those of you who don't know what Variety is, it's simply the only thing guaranteed to be read by everyone in Hollywood (or at least by their assistants/interns) on any given day. Not bad press for a student produced television show. The contact came from BU's Film and Television Department Chairman, Charles Merzbacher, who we all owe much thanks to.

From the standpoint of publicity, which I am teaming up with Susanne Dahl to tackle, we are getting things lined up quite nicely thanks in large part to a great deal of help from other BU students. Our logos are being designed by COM Senior Derrick Taylor. Our set photographs are being taken by COM Senior Emily Berl. And COM Senior Liz Osaki is, in addition to acting for us as a featured R.A., aiding us in coming up with a PR plan for our planned mtvU airdate in the fall. With their efforts combined, we hope to put together an effective strategy to be noticed outside of the Boston University community, as the plan is, of course, for Res. Life to air at colleges and universities nationally.

Every member of the class has faithfully blogged during our pre-production phase, even if a few felt the need to call me out on my nagging them to do so. Susanne and I hope that even during the crazy time that is production, each member of the cast will find the time to write once, and then once more after production has wrapped in reflection of their efforts and the post-production to come for our editors. Perhaps if you are lucky, Rich will take some photos of the production truck and explain how we will possibly fit all of our equipment inside.

Until then, keep an eye out here for more announcements, including the launch of our website. Okay, well I guess I can let you in on just one secret: the address.

http://www.reslifebu.com

Pat

Production office pics as promised!

Ooooh!! A computer...

Aaaahhh!!! Shelves!

"The nicest 3 hole punch I've ever seen." - Paul Schneider (our fearless leader)

The bane of my existence

1st AD = Stage Manager for TV

"Quiet on the set!...Sound ready?...Camera ready?...Roll Tape..."

Hi! My name is Sara Scheinman and I am the 1st Assistant Director (1st A.D.) for Res. Life. The quote above is what I will get to say on the set right before each take, but as usual I'm getting ahead of myself. We aren't quite there yet. Right now we are still in pre -production for just over another week. Wow, only a little over a week. That is so daunting. In just over a month this whole thing will be over. I have no idea what I will do with all the time that will be freed up (and it will be a lot!), but I know I will miss the exciting crazy sometimes stressful wonderfulness that is Res. Life.

Again, I'm getting ahead of myself. So you want to know what I do in pre-production? I email. I email for hours on end some nights. I email so much that if emailing were sold by a commercial corporation where you have to pay for every individual email you send I would be responsible for keeping the corporation in business! What am I emailing? I email schedules...shooting schedules, breakdowns for the shoots, rehearsal schedules to the actors, and updates and questions to Pat mostly pertaining to the cast. For I am the official "Keeper of the Cast." I am the link between the cast and the production staff.

That's not all I do. (And here I felt deprived when most of the other people on the crew had 47 million titles and I only had one... little did I know what I was getting myself into!) The 1st AD is to Television what the Stage Manager is to Theater. (Like that SAT style analogy right? :-P) Both positions require being the liaison between the cast and crew, scheduling, conversing with different production departments, and ultimately "calling" the show during production. (All those jobs are why it has taken so long for this post to finally be written...)

In addition to emailing and keeping the cast updated I also work a lot with the script and this wonderful program called Movie Magic Scheduling (which has only made me want to throw my computer out the window a few hundred times...). I read through each draft of the script and breakdown every scene which means I figure out what cast members, props, set decorations, wardrobes, vehicles and other random things are needed in each scene. Then I fill out breakdown sheets with all that information in the Scheduling program and from there it helps me make a pretty shooting schedule and other forms that all the crew need. Before printing those I double check with Chris our King of Props and Set Dec about those lists, Susanne and Pat about our cast and extras, and Pat about our shooting schedule. From there this huge packet, about 41 pages long, is printed for everyone and we go over it in production meetings.

Of course the script has been revised many times, locations have changed, and characters have changed so the breakdown sheets are tweaked and altered regularly. When a massive number of changes occur then new versions are printed for everyone (don't worry, we recycle!!).

Ok I've babbled long enough. I hope you are all still awake!! My next post will be about the next phase: Production. And what it is like to be 1st A.D. ON SET! (Hopefully it will also be funnier :-P) I am incredibly excited to be on set. My background was in theater and my favorite part was always tech week and then the performances. Well, this week is tech week and next weekend is performance number 1!!
-Sara

PS - Pat it may have taken me almost two months to finally post, but look at how long it is! (Sorry Leo! I didn't mean to outbabble you!!...but since I did, can I have the prize? I like Chocolate!)

Leo Rules

Hello, my name is Leo and I am Director of Photography for this here RES. Life show. I have put off this, my first ever "blog," for quite some time, mainly because of the negative association I automatically make upon hearing the word "blog." But I was sitting in my room about a week ago, Rush's 2112 erupting out of my iHome, when i made the realization that I am connected to the "blog" in a very subtle and cerebral way. You see, the word "blog" is short for "weblog" which really should be "web log" meaning "a place where loser's egos inflate to the size of hot air balloons as they decide to air their dirty laundry for all the world to not read." But pretty much everyone knows the etymology by now. So I looked at the word "weblog" and noticed that if you added an "e" and dropped the "g," you would have "webelo" which happens to be the highest cub scout ranking I myself achieved as a youngin. With this knowledge, I decided that it would be okay for me to finally write a blog. Plus, Pat kept yelling at me to write one.

So as I said before, I am Director of Photography on this project, which means that I work with Pat to develop and execute the visual aspect of the show. In short, I gotta make sure it looks purty. Early on, I chatted with Pat about what he wants the show to look like, and from that we established a sort of definition of the visual style we want to achieve. Since this project is a single camera sitcom (like The Office or Scrubs), rather than the more conventional multicamera sitcom (like Frasier or Alf), we get to look at the piece almost as if it were an (unpretentious) short film, as every shot and all of the coverage needs to be carefully planned. It's more fun and more challenging this way.

Currently I am working with the rest of our balls-to-the-wall crew to make it all happen. This coming week is our last training session before we actually shoot, so we're just doing some last minute preparation, getting even more comfortable with all of the equipment and such. Some of said equipment, such as the camera and dolly, was new to everyone at the start of the semester, but now it's like second nature when we go to set up, which I think is pretty impressive. After all, we're using all this "professional-grade" stuff, like the Panasonic varicam HD camera, the Chapman super pee wee dolly, Kino-Flo and Arri lights, and GMC pickup trucks (get it? - "professional grade" - ooh, tough crowd). So what I'm trying to say is this: Dave (1st A.C.) and Oscar (operator) are camera wizards, Rich (key/dolly grip) is a key/dolly wizard, and Jac (gaffer) is a light wizard, or wizard of light since it sounds cooler. And then we've got Darcy as the best boy for grip and electric, and she's some sort of wizard with a electric grip or something. Then all the PA's who are going to help us out with this stuff, and I guess they'll be like wizard apprentices, or "mage-pages" if you want to get cute. And the rest of the people in our class are just badass too. I guess I'm not really any sort of mythic creature unfortunately.

Alright, I'm now realizing that I'm doing exactly what I hate most about blogs; rambling. It's probably cause I just downed my third iced coffee of the day. I should go back and edit some of this stuff, but I'm too lazy, so I'll continue later with another post or two. I should have more to say once we start shooting.

So I think I win the prize for longest entry yet. All I can say is you got what you asked for Pat harharhar.

Director's Update #3: Meet the Cast via our new Actor Blog

Dear Blog Reader,

With filming set to begin on April 14th, you will soon have the chance to meet the cast. The upcoming Res. Life website will feature a new blog allowing the actors to share their thoughts on my directing ability, their character, and their satisfaction with the craft service table.

Will we regret giving the actors free reign to say what they please? I'm thinking as long as there isn't secretly a Tom Cruise of the bunch, we'll be fine. And if not, any publicity is good publicity right?

The Actors of Res. Life

-Pat