Team Building in the Trenches
Today, I continued to work at cross-training the crew to make sure they can back each other up when we get to Zambia. The crew is going to be quite small. With plane tickets hovering around $2300, it's going to be tough to get too many folks over there. We need every body we can get because we want to tell this story in the best manner possible.
Last week, we cross-trained on cameras. Today, on lights. In a couple of days, we're going to shoot several scenes with Jabbes directing the crew to get them used to his style. Jason pointed out that we've got the director here in the states AND the crew AND the equipment. He suggested putting everyone through the paces, see how long it takes, how well it turns out and discover the problems before we get to Africa. It was a great suggestion!!
Next week, we're going to do some audio work. Certainly we could ADR the dialog in Zambia (because they have a thriving music industry, I'm certain they have excellent audio recording facilities) but it's one of the first things that gets cut when the budget gets tight.
On Wednesday, I made the decision to take the sabbatical this academic year. For a while I was wavering because I really wanted to build the film program at MCC but I realized I simply can't serve both masters well. I can't do a great job building the film program AND do a great job on these films. There isn't enough time nor enough energy to accomplish both. So, I made the commitment to the films.
I had been so over-committed and over-whelmed that a lot of things were falling in the cracks. Cracks, heck canyons. I was not showing up for things, missing things completely and forgetting where I needed to be and when. I was becoming quite unrealiable and (sadly) upsetting a lot of folks around me. It was a good decision. I'm feeling a renewed sense of energy and excitement.
