Sunday, April 16, 2006
Showbiz
HOLY COW! I had NO IDEA how much work it takes to produce something like a four and a half minute video for a poem!
We spent 6 hours on the shoot yesterday. About 2 hours of set up, about 2 and a half hours of shooting me at various angles reading the poem. Here's something funny about that.
I asked if I should memorize the poem, which I wish I had, but was told there'd be quecards. However, there was a little problem with that. My glasses were shining light back into the camera, so I could not wear them. I'm near sighted and even with the big letters (about an inch and a half high), I could not read them at a distance greater than a few feet. We worked around that by having me hold the quecards myself out of camera view.
If I do something like this again, I will request a rehearsal. I read live in a certain style in which to catch peoples attention. I can work with a live audience. Shooting a video is much different. I could not get as loud and intense as I usually do, but had to convey that loud intensity without being loud and intense. Sound confusing? Try having to do that on the spot! I had to take on the spot direction without rehearsal as well. Inserting pauses in certain areas. Reading certain sections differently than I do when I read the poem live.
Although I didn't get cranky myself, I can tell why actors and people in this business can get cranky. I have a new respect for people who work in the film industry.
The people I'm working with are amateurs who produce very professional films. They are doing this on their own time, using borrowed equipment, their own equipment, spaces they find available, etc., all for one of my poems. It is such an honor. An honor I cannot express in words, even being a wordsmith. Janice and Terry believe in my work that much! They are doing this on their own time, and it is literally making me cry knowing they think that much of my work. Holy fuck! I am so honored and humbled.
Mostly, I am just oblivious to all the work that goes on with something like this. I just fill in the space where I'm needed. Holy cow! It is so humbling to know that people believe so strongly in my work.
After the reading was done, we did the shoot with the overlays on my body. The overlays were of various parts of the poem. My daughter, Felicia, who was there and helping out tremendously (as well as getting bored senseless when she had no work to do), was shocked to see little babies covered in smallpox. I don't think she understood until that moment what I mean when I talked of the deliberate spreading of diseases amongst our peoples. I still don't think she understands the depth of the destruction, but that is OK, she is only 11. (Our people suffered through 2 smallpox plagues and several measles plagues). This part of the shoot took about half an hour.
The last hour was spent tearing things down and getting things back to normal and packing out.
My direct involvement in this video has amounted to about 10 hours. I have no idea how many hours Terry and Janice have put into this aside from the shoot, as well as the hours just spent thinking and worrying about this baby. I have no idea how many hours they will put into the editing and creating this video. It's like having 10,000 pieces of a puzzle, but only 100 of them create the picture. I have a new respect for people in this biz, especially amateurs who do this for free. Thank you so much, Terry and Janice, for believing in my work and believing in your work to create something beautiful out of this collaboration. Thank you so much! I am sincerely humbled!
And thank you, Felicia, you wonderful and sweet young woman, for putting up with all this stuff your dad does. Although she is really into white bread culture, she is always fascinated by the work that I do and the events I drag her too. Felicia, you are a wonderful young woman!
Felicia and I celebrated the event with a bike ride after dinner (our first this summer). We then watched about 3/4 of Ace Ventura, which I think she likes watching more when I'm stoned because I laugh much harder at the same old jokes, and then reading stories to each other before falling asleep.
I had no idea how much this kind of work takes out of you. I'm still tired, and I got plenty of sleep. This, however, is an experience I will not soon forget.
We spent 6 hours on the shoot yesterday. About 2 hours of set up, about 2 and a half hours of shooting me at various angles reading the poem. Here's something funny about that.
I asked if I should memorize the poem, which I wish I had, but was told there'd be quecards. However, there was a little problem with that. My glasses were shining light back into the camera, so I could not wear them. I'm near sighted and even with the big letters (about an inch and a half high), I could not read them at a distance greater than a few feet. We worked around that by having me hold the quecards myself out of camera view.
If I do something like this again, I will request a rehearsal. I read live in a certain style in which to catch peoples attention. I can work with a live audience. Shooting a video is much different. I could not get as loud and intense as I usually do, but had to convey that loud intensity without being loud and intense. Sound confusing? Try having to do that on the spot! I had to take on the spot direction without rehearsal as well. Inserting pauses in certain areas. Reading certain sections differently than I do when I read the poem live.
Although I didn't get cranky myself, I can tell why actors and people in this business can get cranky. I have a new respect for people who work in the film industry.
The people I'm working with are amateurs who produce very professional films. They are doing this on their own time, using borrowed equipment, their own equipment, spaces they find available, etc., all for one of my poems. It is such an honor. An honor I cannot express in words, even being a wordsmith. Janice and Terry believe in my work that much! They are doing this on their own time, and it is literally making me cry knowing they think that much of my work. Holy fuck! I am so honored and humbled.
Mostly, I am just oblivious to all the work that goes on with something like this. I just fill in the space where I'm needed. Holy cow! It is so humbling to know that people believe so strongly in my work.
After the reading was done, we did the shoot with the overlays on my body. The overlays were of various parts of the poem. My daughter, Felicia, who was there and helping out tremendously (as well as getting bored senseless when she had no work to do), was shocked to see little babies covered in smallpox. I don't think she understood until that moment what I mean when I talked of the deliberate spreading of diseases amongst our peoples. I still don't think she understands the depth of the destruction, but that is OK, she is only 11. (Our people suffered through 2 smallpox plagues and several measles plagues). This part of the shoot took about half an hour.
The last hour was spent tearing things down and getting things back to normal and packing out.
My direct involvement in this video has amounted to about 10 hours. I have no idea how many hours Terry and Janice have put into this aside from the shoot, as well as the hours just spent thinking and worrying about this baby. I have no idea how many hours they will put into the editing and creating this video. It's like having 10,000 pieces of a puzzle, but only 100 of them create the picture. I have a new respect for people in this biz, especially amateurs who do this for free. Thank you so much, Terry and Janice, for believing in my work and believing in your work to create something beautiful out of this collaboration. Thank you so much! I am sincerely humbled!
And thank you, Felicia, you wonderful and sweet young woman, for putting up with all this stuff your dad does. Although she is really into white bread culture, she is always fascinated by the work that I do and the events I drag her too. Felicia, you are a wonderful young woman!
Felicia and I celebrated the event with a bike ride after dinner (our first this summer). We then watched about 3/4 of Ace Ventura, which I think she likes watching more when I'm stoned because I laugh much harder at the same old jokes, and then reading stories to each other before falling asleep.
I had no idea how much this kind of work takes out of you. I'm still tired, and I got plenty of sleep. This, however, is an experience I will not soon forget.
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