“I’m here with my mom actually who’s up here for homecoming, we we came to the marketplace to kinda hang out. I mean it’s always fun, it’s kinda cool to see local venues and stuff.” says Joey Daoud, a FSU Film School Student
They actually recorded that on-camera, but for some reason it never aired. I guess I was too articulate for them. I did, however, warn them that I was in fact dragged to the marketplace against my wishes.
And to show how small a film world it is, I found out the person interviewing me is the girlfriend of one of the actors who’s been in many, many films.
I showed up to the Burn Notice set, which is in a convention center they’ve converted to a soundstage (Marley & Me was filming in the other half). The building looked normal until I rounded the corner to find a huge sea of production trailers, along with random fragments of sets I recognized from the show.
I met Melanie, the Location Manager, and she brought me inside. The first hall was filled with department trucks and a giant set building workshop.
Going through to the other side was the sets - Michael’s mom’s house and his apartment, complete with a giant cyclorama of Miami.
Melanie introduced me to the Assistant Directors (ADs), who then asked if I wanted to be a Production Assistant for the day. Um, sure.
Unlike Film School where we’re lucky if we have four working walkies, wireless communication was so abundant on set even I got a walkie with a head piece, along with a few sides.
In fact, there’s so many walkies out that each department has their own channel (production team, art team, grip and electric, etc.).
I was stationed near a side door and basically had to yell out whatever the first AD said - the usual cadence stuff. “We’re going for picture! Quiet on set! Rolling!”
Between setups I could roam around, observe, and talk to people.
Honestly, I felt like I was right back on a film school set. It felt so familiar. The only difference is more people and larger production.
The set was run the same, the process was the same, the equipment was better but still the same. They even fell behind schedule, just like us. Okay, there is one major difference. Craft services is amazing and even has a waffle making station.
While the crew was setting up for a shot, I started talking to the First Assistant Director. She asked what I wanted to do, but answered it before I could get a chance. “Direct, of course.” Well don’t I feel like the typical film school guy. I said yes, but I also like producing, which seemed to be a different reply than she’s used to.
With each department I did notice something very interesting. As the positions got higher, so did the age. With the camera team, the Second Assistant Camera was young but still in his thirties. The First Assistant Camera was older, followed by an even older Camera Operator and then a graying Director of Photography.
This can be seen in the Art and Production departments as well. Of course the writer/producer for the episode, who was pretty much chilling near video village on his Blackberry all day, was in his 20s. I want that job.
Another interesting dynamic was how each person only cared about their department and nothing else. One of the ADs caught me looking at the lighting set-up for a scene, and asked what I was looking at. When I told him the lighting, he responded, “So now you want to be a cinematographer?”
The few times any of the Assistant Directors asked for something over the walkie, I was pretty quick to respond - something I thought that went with the job. But apparently this was above average performance, because by the end of the day they asked me to stay on for the production of the entire season at $125 a day.
Tempting, yes, but returning to broken equipment and scarce walkies, along with the occasional making of movies, won out.
The film feels so much like one of the above movies that I forgot these were real people, my age, that had a history before the film and a life after.
This main shock came when I looked at their Facebook fan pages and they had the usual ‘my life in an album’ pictures. This is just a testament to how well the film was made.
Hopefully this will be one of those few docs that will break its way into the mainstream and hold its own against the Hollywood blockbusters.
I really wondered how Nanette Burstein, the director, got such candid shots and access to these teen’s lives, so the Q&A was quite enlightening.
There were lots of pre-interviews and location scouting to find high schools that would cooperate. In the end 10 high schools agreed. They did a casting call to pick who they would follow.
They started following quite a few students, but once the school year and stories unfolded, Nanette was able to focus on who she would feature.
In the beginning the students were still getting used to having a camera follow them, so none of the footage was usable.
Eventually they got used to the camera, and a second camera crew was around all the time, allowing for some nice cutting. Nanette had a small camera on her just in case.
Some of the most intimate moments caught (like filming the girlfriend of one of the main characters cheating on him during a late night swim) were a matter of coincidence and being at the right place. There were a lot of times when the students didn’t want her filming, but what they thought was private didn’t really interest Nanette.
I did stumble across this photo, which looks like they had some serious toys for B-roll (and a serious budget).
I strongly encourage you to watch this any way possible. It’s on a limited theater run, and if it’s not playing near you, since A&E produced it they’ll be screening it.
And of course there’s Netflix. The only thing there isn’t is an excuse, so check it out.
Thesis films are over. And as far as film school films go, we’ve shot our last frame. Hopefully these won’t be the last films we make.
The realization that this was the end hit me when I was walking to the final location on my set. Perhaps that’s why things dragged on and we went into overtime.
Sure, there’s one semester left. But the frightening and exciting real world is very close. Film school provides such a safety net. Your films will always get made, you’re really close to everyone you work with, and it’s a lot of fun.
I’m in San Francisco right now, working on the Life Hacking Doc, after having just left Los Angeles. It’s weird to visit LA and know I’ll probably be back there soon, but this time to live and work.
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Following four high school seniors, 
