Film Log: The Taxidermist

I say this every other blog but god, I really love making films. If I can do this and manage to pay my rent and bills, I'll be very happy.

Anyway, that bit over with, here is my reflection on working on The Taxidermist:

I loved the script when I read it. It was sweet without being saccharine, gory but funny, and I could just picture it

It has been an exciting time all round - every day this week I've been driven deep into the mountains where there's no signal, no internet, and worked at learning a job I've seen but never done.The lack of communication was excellent for our focus but it was always a bit overwhelming to check my emails on the journey back and find that the world outside was moving on.

I heard great things about Amélie's skills as a clapper loader so I wanted to try not to be a let down but I will be the first to admit that I've made mistakes as I went. None dramatic but still annoying: messing up slate numbers, ignorance of things like how to do an end board properly, dropping things, prioritising things wrong. Lots of stupid stuff like that; stuff that slows filming down and makes it that bit more annoying for everyone. For that, I'm sorry.

I think I learned my job better as the week wore on, though. By Friday, even without Dilara there to help (and she was invaluable) things ran really smoothly - batteries when batteries were needed, always a spare card, notes kept detailed and accurate, monitor where it needed to be. It's a bit tragic that this only happened on the last day but next time hopefully I'll get right back into it.

As far as I could tell the clapper/loader is all about keeping on top of things: I had to know where things were and be able to get them quickly. I'm quite good at spinning plates once I understand what needs to happen.

I loved working with the third years and with the RED (it's a beautiful instrument). Galina was even kind enough to teach me a bit of RED, and let me practice my focus pulling (I'm not that bad at it, though more practice is definitely in order). Very excited to get my mitts on it properly and discover the layers and layers of complexity within.

I don't really think I can take responsibility for how beautiful it will end up looking (and I'm pretty certain it will be) but I'm still very glad to have been there.

It's scary to think that next year it'll be us doing out grads. Eep!

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