I'm Still Alive, I Promise

Okay, I have a few people wondering if I have dropped off the face of the planet or something, due to my lack of blog entries. Indeed, it has been a while... and I'm usually not this bad at keeping everyone updated, but these last few weeks have been some of the absolute busiest weeks of my life! I started working on another film - The Kane Files - and it has pretty much consumed my life. I mean, normally, when I work on a film it takes up a lot of my time already, but I have discovered that as mixer (vs boom), it takes up even MORE of your time and energy. I have to haul all of my equipment there and back everyday. I have to take the disk and upload it to my computer every day. I have to put it on a flash drive for the editor. I have to make sure the sound reports match the audio files and that it's all good to go to send to the editor. I have to prepare the equipment, make sure everything has fresh batteries, etc.

I am constantly in search of what the next shot is, if it will be wide or tight, if we can boom it or if we are going to have to lav the actors. If we *do* have to lav the actors, after I see the blocking rehearsal, I have to tell the 1st AD so she knows that they'll need a couple minutes before a real rehearsal so I can have time to mic them. I have to talk with the DP to find out what exactly the shot is and where my boom can fit - if anywhere. I have to make sure my entire pack is portable for the times we have to walk (or run) with camera (almost the entire film is hand held). Basically, I have to be prepared for anything... every day.

We have also been filming mostly at nights, which means we don't *start* until 5pm and we don't *end* until 5am. Then there's the 'pack up and put everything away' part, and the drive home. So basically, all I have done for the last 3 weeks is eat, sleep, and work. Even my mother (whom I normally talk to every day) has called me a few times asking how things are going, because she hasn't heard from me in a while. Seriously, it IS my life right now - it'll all I have time for. So I will probably put up a "Week 1" "Week 2" etc post that sums up each week, but I can almost guarantee you that that will not happen until *after* we wrap.

Luckily, we at least have Sundays off... except I was so drained and stressed from yesterday (possibly the worst day yet) that I slept through church... oops. :/ So I have a few short hours each week to 'get my life in order' for the next week and that's it. Clean the room, do some laundry, catch up on my journal, and prep the equipment yet again for the following day. Yeah, definitely prefer booming to mixing. This mixing stuff is NOT my cup of tea.