Watchin' the game, drinkin' a university-approved beverage

Before I get started, I just wanted to thank everyone who watched and spread the word about my Cloverfield review. In just one week, it's amassed nearly twice as many views as both of the "Bread" videos combined.

I watched the Super Bowl last night. Not because I cared about either of the teams (no one in the South did this year) or about football in general, but because it was convenient. You see, over the past several months my roommate and I have been trying to put together a TV show for Mercer99, the campus closed-circuit network (we'll probably put it on the Internet, too). What do these things have to do with each other? I'll explain in a few moments.

Let me educate you on some of the harsh realities of student filmmaking. There seems to be a misconception among most people that making a TV show or movie consists of simply printing a script, hiring random actors, and "letting the camera roll." You might be thinking, "Hey! I never assumed that!" Well, that's because you're not most people; you're my beloved readers.

In fact, making any sort of film is a time-consuming and complex process. We don't just "let the camera roll." Cameras are fickle machines, and in many situations need to be adjusted constantly. John does the majority of the camera work, and we've had assistance from at least two others that I remember. And when we're not being accosted by the police (because carrying a camera automatically makes you look like a terrorist/burglar/stalker/journalist), we're trying to keep senior citizens from walking right in front of the lens.

In addition, Mercer99 has an extremely limited budget. And by, "extremely limited budget," I mean, "they have no money and I need to pay for everything." Getting decent sound is the most annoying part about this. We can't afford a boom mic, so we often have to improvise using one of our two standard microphones. Remember the opening shot of "American Safari"? The only reason you could hear me was because we had a guy lying on the ground pointing a mic towards my face. The cord wasn't long enough, so we attached it to a folded umbrella with electrical tape and ribbon.

Then, of course, there's the people involved. I won't talk trash about them, because they're cool for the most part. But generally speaking, about half the people you want will show up to a scheduled shoot, and at least one will not have read the script (once we had to improvise an entire scene due to this problem). And to top it off, finding extras can be absolutely infuriating! When trying to gather extras, I tend to get one of three responses:

1. "No, I have to : a.) study for the rest of my life; b.) eat for three hours; c.) hang out with several people I already see on a daily basis."
2. "Errrmmyeeeaaahhhwelllll I dunno, I think I maaayyy have soommmmething at sometime with someone laaaaater, so maayyyyybeeeee...ummm...I'll, uuhhhhh, call you." [these people never show up]
   
3. "Cool! Sounds fun!" [There's a 75% chance of cancellation. This usually occurs within 30 minutes of filming].

Which leads me to why I chose the Super Bowl, one of the least logical days of the year, to film a scene for my show: incentive. We got nachos, pizza, and brownies (thanks Mom) to eat, and freakin' projector from the school media center to watch the game on. John and I invited everyone we could think of to come and hang out in exchange for being on the camera for a few minutes. We had a decent turnout with great people, and the scene turned out better than I'd hoped for. Not as good as I'd fantasized, but better than I'd hoped for (then again, I tend to set my expectations way too high).

So what's the moral in this? I think it's, "Don't try to make a student film," or maybe, "Pick a major with real-world application." Yeah, I think it's the second one.