7 August 2024 XXtra Dry Wednesday

[scenicdesign71]

Actually, extra-damp, from a weather perspective: never properly raining, but sort of misting all day.  It's supposed to continue like this all the way through the weekend.  But the upside is startlingly cool temperatures for August — today's high was 72, tomorrow's is 74 — that make the damp worthwhile, at least compared to the usual heat.

It was also a lovely day to return to camera work, one of those slow days where the work is so sparse and easy that it makes my pay rate a little embarrassing.  My total workload today, spread out over about seven hours of an eleven-hour day, consisted of spraying Arrid XX-Dry deodorant on a couple of shiny metal props that were causing a camera-unfriendly glare.  One had to be dulled twice, for different camera angles, and then wiped clean for yet a third angle (where the glare was no longer a problem, but some smears that had appeared in the deodorant coating, from careless handling in the interim, were).  A scent-free version which I had ordered a couple of weeks ago, before my unexpected real-hospital visit, had arrived last week in my absence, so I got to experiment with it for the first time today.  For whatever reason, it did seem to behave slightly differently, for this off-label application, than their scented formula does.  Differently, but satisfactorily, once I got used to it — and I think it's worth it not to be filling a crowded set with annoying perfume every time something needs dulling (which is fairly often, averaging at least once a day, on this particular show especially: our hospital sets feature convex security mirrors at pretty much every hallway corner and intersection, which sometimes require selective dulling — not the entire mirror, or it stops looking like a mirror — to make sure the camera doesn't glimpse itself, even in distorted reflection).

Lots of well-wishes and welcome-backs from various fellow crew members, which felt nice.  I was already easing back into this, spending Monday and Tuesday back on the "day" crew (who gave me a lovely homemade get-well card) preparing upcoming sets — one of which shoots tomorrow, so I got to familiarize myself with its colors and techniques in case any touchup is required.  And I had a fun prop project yesterday afternoon: a line drawing, ostensibly made by one of the inmates —a former engineer— in his journal, depicting the hospital exterior in mechanical two-point perspective.  Those two days allowed a more-normal schedule and a shorter commute, without the hurry-up-and-wait stress of camera.  (Not that there ended up being any of that today.  Today, I made a conscious decision not to worry about anything, popping up quick-like-a-bunny when called to dull things, but spending most of the day calmly hidden away in my own little workroom one hall away.  Under the circumstances — subsisting on clear liquids in a hospital bed this time last week — I just wasn't going to feel self-conscious about having an easy day my first day back.  No "looking busy" in case a producer walked by; no straining my brain preemptively figuring out how to troubleshoot every possible challenge that might hypothetically be thrown at me; I decided to take things as they came today, and it just so happened that they came very easily, and very sparingly, indeed.

But just to earn my paycheck, and test the water recovery-wise, I did end the day by pushing my gazillion-pound cart of scenic goodies a couple hundred yards across campus (downhill about half the way, slowly and carefully) to the building where we will be filming tomorrow, so that I won't have to deal with it in the morning or call someone from the day crew over to help.  Encouragingly, the trek proved no more taxing than usual.  And now I'm situated for the rest of the week, Friday as well — no more carting stuff around until next week.

[KathyB]

I think New York's weather has somehow made it to here, and I'm not complaining one bit. It's a not-quite precipitation, and it's currently 61°, which is lovely.

I enjoy reading about the everyday-day-to-day of film/television production. It sounds exotic to me. 

I'm still not allowed to push anything heavier than my empty wheeled trash can, but I've been testing my stamina with longer treks with B and the occasional walk to the supermarket two blocks away. (That actually sounds like a good plan for this afternoon, because the weather is so nice.)