It’s been a week since I last blogged and oh gawd, despite the fact that this week started with a “holiday” (and I didn’t even have plans then), I feel too tired right now that it’s so unfair C feels great (he’s supposed to be the tired one).

I’ve been wanting to blog some days ago, but I’m always too tired when I get home, especially since the past few nights I’ve been having nights out with C (that’s what you get when you try to balance dating and work!). I feel like September’s going to be another tiring month, like it was last year. Although last year I was pushed and pulled and prodded by thesis and PD and other projects, I think this month it would just be freelancing and personal projects. C’s going to Japan for a week too, which leaves me with nights of loneliness I’ll fill in with work. (Just kidding. Pampering myself is the better option.)

Yesterday, and a Shoot

Yesterday I helped out with C’s shoot (well, as much as I could) and even though I didn’t do much to help (the most I helped out with was prod designing the “cafe” room and cleaning-up), I’m just tired now. Only having two hours of sleep the “night” before made my brain split itself into pieces on the shoot day itself (I got picked up at around 3am). If it were me in my past shoot modes, I’d have gone through the shoot looking very haggard but energized like a hunted bunny (I can never sleep the night before a shoot when I PD because I always worry about forgetting a prop I need). I think the only reason I feel an adrenaline rush in the past shoots I’ve gone to was because I was production designer, so work!stress shoots me up like super unleaded gas (whut?).

I brought my camera with me to the shoot, but I was too tired to take actual photos…like of the set that I helped with. I’ll just put up the video once C’s finished with it, so you guys can see what it was. But I did take some photos at the rooftop. It was so windy, my hair tried to eat my face.

I remembered Bohol, when my hair tried to eat my face the same way as yesterday.

More trips down memory lane

The last time I actually did some PD was for C’s Blue Roast film, Back in 2007. Before that, I swore that I’d stop production designing for my friends so I can focus on my thesis, until C asked me to PD for his thesis too (but we were still just friends then. In the most just-friends zone, because all the online conversations I had with him went like this:

camille: C, is the room scene also tomorrow? O: with the dvds?

C: yep

camille: but the posters aren’t for tomorrow? O:

C: yeah

camille: ohh okay, I thought that was the same scene so I was confused

C: the posters are going to be for the conference scene na lang

camille: is conference tomorrow too?

C: nope. its just cafe, bahay, first scene and last scene. those two lang ung kelangan mo i pd. cafe and bahay/room

camille: okay : D alright!

C: sorry if im kinda disorganized :(

camille: It’s okay! I’m just scared that I might forget things

C: alright

camille: oh, where do I go later pala? and mga around what time should I be in Katipunan?

C: hows the starbucks board thing?

camille: I’m done na. it’s blank right now. I have 2

C: pick up 7am sa katip

I ended up saying “yes” to him when he asked me to PD because…it’s so hard to say “no” to C. So the last two films I’ve ever done production design for was for C’s, and he’s probably going to be the only person now that I’d continue doing production design for. I enjoyed it while it lasted, hated it after the drama with my org, and then kinda felt “ok” with it when I helped out with Back in 2007.

Even while I was still enjoying it, I always said it’s something I did as a hobby (and, I guess, a consequence of being in a film org) but it’s not a career thing for me. My passion will always lie in designing for web or interactivity, but it never hurt to explore other kinds of design once in a while.

I’m still not okay with my old college org (and I doubt it will ever be for me, because they left the worst aftertaste in my mouth), but if there’s one thing I got from them it would  be the realization that I really enjoy working as a group — of working with other people. It’s one thing I didn’t like about design homework and projects in school: designing was done individually (usually, at least in most academic projects because I know that in the “real” world, design teams would handle projects. Even our thesis was individual.), whereas a production really needs a team to make it work (even as you are shooting).

It’s just much more fun when you’re not doing it alone, which is also probably the reason why I’m not doing so much freelance work, and I actually enjoy working at an office.