Ok, insanity... here we go again! Vacation is over and now its time to get back to work. But not just my day job. Now it's time to thrive on chaos. It's time to throw away my sleep schedule and add a new challenge to the next few months. Normally, I work hard to be a good husband, dad and web development manger at work. Now I get to try to add a new title: Film Producer. As of this last Monday, I am officially starting the pre-production phase of another documentary film, once again following the Marist High School Volleyball Team, documenting the season, and providing a "behind the scenes" style look at the athletes, their stories, and their season both on and off the court. There is much to do in the next 2 weeks before cameras officially roll, but as I have said before... this is the place I love to be. Sure, it can be complex, tiring, and stressful but I seem to thrive on that. Remember this blog?The workload began Monday evening as I worked up proposals and began committing my mental ideas and scope to paper. Last night, we began planning out travel schedules (as we will be on the road a lot this year!!) and looking to see which teams we play when to know when certain pieces will fall into place. Today, I spent my lunch break checking out possible shooting locations and working out some logistics for where and how to shoot some sequences. And what does the next two weeks hold for me? Where do I begin? Graphic design needs to be done, some sequences will need storyboarding before shooting begins, schedules need to be worked out and typed up so people know what is going on, music is being researched, shooting backdrops have to be created, production budgets carefully reviewed, new shotgun mics need to be obtained, initial advertising will be created so people know about the film and why I am shooting footage, camera and audio tests performed.. the list goes on and on... and like I said.. I have 2 weeks to have as much ready to go as possible.
The biggest trick to this whole thing is having the ability to have my two brains. First, there is my "Day Job" brain. This brain pops into place 30 seconds away from the office parking lot and stays firmly in place until lunch time when I switch the work brain off and start up the "producer" brain as I run my lunch time errands, typically researching out various things for the film. Then in the afternoons, my work brain goes back in for another 4 hours of solid focus before being removed as I drive out of the parking lot. This whole idea helps be to make sure that while sitting at my desk, I am staying focused on my job so that I can continue to do well there, but the second I leave, it's the film I am thinking about. This gives me 8 hours a day to use my work brain, and 16 hours a day to work on my film. Sleep? Trust me, once I get into the hard core editing phase... there is no sleep, because even when nodding off for the night, your brain continues to edit sequences.. it's really quite bizarre.
And so my journey of chaos begins... and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am. I love this stuff, and while looking at a project like this from the beginning, things can look a bit daunting and scary, knowing all that I will need to do over the next 4 months, I look forward to seeing how it all comes out. And I look forward to taking the vision that I have in my head for this next film and making it a reality.
Over the next few months, I will probably be writing about this project quite a bit, keeping everyone up to speed on how things are going and whether or not I am keeping my sanity. As the volleyball season gets underway, I will also update on the team and how they are doing as well. Go Spartans!
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On a separate topic: Further adding to my new chaos schedule... Monday began yet another phase of life for me. After spending almost a year just trying to "get back into basic shape", it's time to kick of my "official" marathon training routine. The schedule I use is out of Runner's World magazine and is designed for people that want to successfully finish their first marathon. It's a 22 week schedule, which means.. it starts this week, bumping my weekly milage from 15 miles to 20 miles. So not only am I now starting a new film, I am also "officially" beginning to train for my marathon. What a busy and FAST 22 weeks these will be! January 7th will be here before I know it!! Yikes!
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