in search of sunrise

whenever i talk with my dad, he asks if i have any work coming up; a reasonable question from a caring parent to a son of a freelance lifestyle. when i talked with him on monday [i think i did...], i told him 'no', reminding that that can always change.
tuesday morning began like any other day: listen to the radio, go to the weight room [the blasted deposit for that key was more than the deposit for my apartment in college--i'm going to use it!], finish watching 'the magnificent ambersons' over breakfast, shower, and turn my phone on.

on my phone was a message from cosmic--called my friend, and he said they might need me for a shoot tomorrow, but he would get back to me. nothing hard, just shooting a glass of beer on the stage.
well, i wanted the job, but i won't take money for promoting beer.
when rich called back, i declined and explained why. he said, 'what if it's an underage drinking psa?' i whooped and cheered and was happy to be working the next day.
be there at 8, work until 5. i can do that.

then, that afternoon, i got a call, looking for help on the last night of that rugby movie; they were starting at 7 p.m., tomorrow evening.

do the math:
wrap at cosmic at 5.
1 hour to travel home.
half hour at home.
half hour up hobble creek canyon.
call is at 7.

24 hours? sure, i can do that.

the cosmic shoot was great. we spent quite a while building different rigs to pour the beer into the various cups. the concept is a baby bottle, a sippy cup, a sports bottle, against a black background, being filled with beer, showing something about underage drinking.
i don't know how they do it, but whoever does the bud lite commercials really knows how to pour beer.
we spilled some, spilled some on ourselves [i was curious if questions would arrise when the other camera assistant showed up to byu to teach the cinematography class that night, smelling of such], and eventually got a decent stream. [getting it to not look like a urine sample was a trick, too].

we got out of there in good time, and after a brief stop at home, i was going through springville, up the canyon. talking with the production manager on set, i got a call from rich at cosmic, asking if i was available for some light work tomorrow morning at 8. i did consider it, and would have taken it, except that i didn't trust myself on the freeway. only working 24 hours, i guess.

nights can go long, but cool work makes it better. talking with the other camera assistants, i found out that i wasn't replacing someone, but was extra help, as we had four cameras for the 'car crash' scene.
coolness.

i ended up on 'b' camera, which was on a 25' jib arm, operated by a really cool guy who also does audio surveilance for the midvale police. if he weren't working that night, he would have been wiring a hotel room for a sting operation.

the car came speeding down the road, swerving as it almost hits another car, going right underneath our camera as i'm pulling focus.

after dinner and around 3 a.m., we found ourselves out in the field, setting all four cameras to capture the convertable as it jumps a ramp at 35 mph. we had a safety meeting:
'if the car flips over, she's going to run out and see if i'm ok. if she asks for people to come and turn the car over, that means i'm fine. if she calls for the paramedic, that means i'm hurt. i've also got a fire extinguisher, although i can't imagine needing that.'

ok.

a few tests, to make sure he can hit the ramp, and then they called to roll the camera [all this time i'm going over everything in my head, making sure i turn the camera on and all that stuff]. ''b' camera speed!' i yelled, and in a few moments, here came this red convertable, down the road, off the ramp, into the air, onto the field, and it kept going.

really fun, but dare i say a little too uneventful?
i better not.

by 4:30, i was getting a little sour and tired, especially since my work was essentially done. i helped out here and there, noticed that the regular loader had a lot more girls in the trailer than came to visit me when i was loading, and by 5:30 was let go.

i was getting home just as my neighbor was coming back from unlocking the pool. he stared at me and asked where i was coming from. 'work,' i told him.

i slept until 2.