Annie Wengenroth

12 On, 12 Off. WHAT A CONCEPT! :D

Phil, ...Wait, what was that about coffee shops? :D I have a hard time leaving the coffee shop but I still work, so where does that leave me?! And you're right. Success is never guaranteed...but it doesn't mean you shouldn't give it your best shot. I'm more realistic/fatalistic about things than my posts might seem. I don't expect people to magically remember I exist and call me for work (bonus points when they do! hee hee!). But I don't make that a reason to stop picking up the phone, either. There have been so many times in my life when I've sabotaged myself because I've been afraid to take risks... or perhaps I was even afraid of success. Enough already. I could have a billion doubting Thomases telling me how I'll never "make it", and it still wouldn't stop me from doing everything I'm doing now. I'm just not in a place in my mind to think negatively about it anymore. I did it for years and it f*cked me. Whatever degree of humility or fear I'm supposed to be projecting now, well, for whatever reason, it's gone...and all that's left is the feeling that good things will come to me because I work hard and because I want them to. I mean, what do you want me to say? "Oh you're right. I am not good enough. Local 600 does not have enough of my money or tears. The life I have worked so hard to build for myself in this city which makes itself f*cking impossible to live in, is poop. Time to give up." Dream on, pal...dream on. Don't kill it for the rest of us. ;-)

Phil, If you think I should be getting better work because I'm in the union, you're perfectly welcome to pick up the phone and start making some calls on my behalf. I'll forward you my copy of Production Weekly and you can just go down the list and find the jobs that are shooting in New York. Just make sure that none of them start on August 3rd because that is the Depeche Mode concert. The number one reason for "If you're in the union, then why are you working on all THIS poop?" is because sometimes the poop is all that's happening, and until something bigger happens, it's not like I'm gonna sit around my apartment with my thumb up my ass waiting. The bottom line in this business is money. I love what I do and if I can make money off it, how much can I really complain? If I work 10 days on a crappy NYU thesis for $150 a day cash-in-pocket, then there's my minimum income for the month and I have those other 20 days to do whatever the hell I want. I'd love to get better work. And I've been trying. Part of the problem is that a lot of the people I've worked with on non-union stuff, end up joining the union, and now instead of working together as 1st and 2nd AC on indie jobs, we're both fighting each other for union 2nd and loader jobs. It's not like when you join the union, they send out a big announcement to all the big-name AC's in the city to dump the guy they've been working with for 10 years and start hiring you because now you know how to load a magazine. It's not like the union helps you get work. They just send you their little newsletter and give you that ICG magazine for free. Chaim Kantor doesn't go around calling people being like, "Hey! Are you dead or something? I haven't seen you on any of these jobs! Wanna talk about it?" Whatever...I don't expect any of that. I joined the union because everyone else I worked with at CSC did the same thing and I figured well, it seems like as good a choice as any, so what the f*ck, here's $2000. But in the meantime, I HAVE a solid network of people in the independent world who like hiring me, and I like them. It is what it is. So I play the hand I've been dealt, plain and simple. There are things I want for myself. I want to be able to go down to St. Mark's and blow $100 on vinyl without my stomach twisting in knots. I want to be able to maintain my dye job without being a stingy bitch and not tipping my stylist. I want more tattoos. I want to take a trip to Europe like all the other kids my age who had the luxury of taking a "gap year" out of college. Paying off my loans and credit card would be nice too. If carrying around an HVX for $150 a day for two weeks will help me to have these things, you're goddamn right I'll take the job. There is a time and place to ask for a better rate, but sometimes you just have to be cool with whatever they can give you, and the rest will fall into place. And yes. Local 600 doesn't care. Why would they, as long as their members are still paying dues? They only take 1% of your pay from union work anyway. When you think about it, it's a perfect system. Because all I have to do is make enough money that I can continue to pay them, while working on whatever I want. If they WERE stricter about working on non-union jobs, THEN I'd be on the line for food stamps. But as it is, it kinda gives you the best of both worlds. Defensive? Not at all. Proud of the fact that I am successfully making a living in one of the most impossible, expensive cities in the country? You bet your ass. You do what you can, with what you have. I wish things were different and that the guy who just got fired off the low-budget indie I'm on, had stayed, so that *I* could take the union job that he just got called for. But they aren't different. There is no logic or justice to this business and you just have to deal with it. The difference between now and then, is that instead of sitting around crying about it, I take a longer view on it...and I say, "At least I'm working and making money." Tell THAT to the union. </soap box>

I disagree, and because I am waiting for the newest version of Itunes to install, I will explain. First of all...if you have an attitude of "It'll never happen", then at least get out of the way before you get trampled by the people who actually believe that they're worth something and that someday, someone will see it. I think one way or another, there's work out there for whoever wants it. It won't be effortless, but it's there. The people who "don't make it" either really suck, or they don't try. But come on. We live in a golden age of entertainment. With all due respect to those who came before me, the gatekeeper to the oh-so-sacred motion picture film and television industry has just been shot in the head by some rich trust fund kid who owns a RED camera...and people who weren't even born when VHS first came out, are watching movies on their Ipods. The most I can say for the climate of the business these days, is that at least now, all bets are off and it seems to me that, well, at least the way "in" is no longer guarded in the same way that it was during Hollywood's prime. So yeah. There's always a way. And by the way, I do not think it's too much to ask to work in this business and get paid for it. What is "making it" anyway? Haven't you "made it" when you continuously get hired by the same people, when a film you work on goes to Sundance, when you have IMDB credits under your belt and can pay your rent on time each month? I dunno, man. I like to think so. If you constantly compare yourself to everyone else out there, you will never win. I had a friend give me a hard time about accepting $200 a day cash-in-pocket for a 10-day job. I gave him my phone and said, "I'm sorry. If you think you can do better, why don't YOU give production a call and tell them the bottom line?" Hell, I still take pride in what I do, whether I'm getting $150 a day or $500 a day. Yes, I have the same grandiose visions as everybody else of pulling focus on some big-budget union feature someday, but as AC/DC said, it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll. So I say, break in at the bottom and then climb up, over the heads of the people who all said it was impossible. Screw the "Hollywood system", there is none anymore...why perpetuate this cycle of "I need to get down on my knees and eat poop before I am worth anything in this business?" This is the biggest lie that film school feeds you and it's time to tear it all down and get real. We might as well take advantage of the fact that the workflow is changing... and try anything. If emailing your resume doesn't do it, get on the phone again, or just show up with a nice shirt on and a winning smile on your face. Personalize your game...give these people something that they'll see is YOU, not just another name in the pool of potential hires. Even Facebook is fair game now. If these people don't call you for work, maybe at least they'll friend you and invite you to a bar or a ballgame or something. You can't tiptoe around on eggshells waiting for them to call you, because they pretty much won't. I am in the process of finally understanding this, and it took me three years of banging my head against the wall wondering what the hell has become of my life, all because I thought that I had broken some cardinal rule of schmoozing in the film business. F*** that...there are no rules! Throw it all out there...something will happen...someday, the universe will respond. This is just me after two shots of espresso and you are perfectly welcome to either argue, or not take me seriously. ;)

Hey Rick what's up? You should post your resume if you haven't already...the people on this board are really helpful with resumes!

I will channel my Zen throughout this forum! :-D

On, off, on, off. It reminds me of when I was a little kid and I would sit in the living room and flick the light switch on and off to annoy my parents. Except this is real life and I have to pay for 1) my Depeche Mode ticket, 2) my bills from last month, and 3) August rent, in that order. Priorities, you know. ;-) So the on, off nature of this job is starting to get to me a little. I know you were all waiting in suspense to continue reading about it. Right? Yeah. Well, amidst the drama of either 1) shooting the rest of the movie in Bridgeport (WITH PER DIEM! WOAH OMG NO WAY!!1!), 2) the director saying, "We need to finish this f*cking thing by August or I swear to god I'm gonna blow my f*cking head off!" and 3) the producer threatening deferred pay, (thankfully an empty threat) I've managed to keep my head up and still enjoy myself when we're, well, on. As for off days, I spend them either on other jobs as an AC (YES. I AM AVAILABLE AND YOU WANT ME ON YOUR CAMERA CREW. :-D) or as a TA at New York Film Academy (hereafter known as Other Job), which is not as glamorous as it sounds. Anyway, the bottom line is that ultimately, in life right now, I just want 1) to make money and 2) people to like me. If 3) all of the above, that would be grand, but I'm not holding my breath. :-P So today was interesting. I don't know which was better, some guy hitting the director's [parked] car which the cops then said was illegally parked, the producer yelling at the cops, shooting in a pet store and spraying the parakeets with a spray bottle to make them freak out for insert shots (animal wrangler? Whatever, dudes), or the three giant cups of coffee I drank between 5 am and, incidentally, 5 pm. By the time I finished my day on set to go to my Other Job, I had sweated off my eyeliner, my pants were falling down, and we were out of empty 400' cans. Did I mention that I'm also training for the NYC Marathon? It's been crazy, guys. They dumped most of the crew because we just want to shoot this goddamn thing as fast as possible and I guess Production (aka the ONE producer plus the director) decided that less people=faster (why? I don't know...). So there you go, I've been 2nding and loading for myself. Today I yelled at myself because I was taking too long to load the mag. I forgave myself upon realizing I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep. Conclusion: we still don't know how many days we have left, when we will get paid, and when/if we are going to Bridgeport. For whatever strange Zen reason, I have stopped being angry about this and have decided instead to just let things happen. Not to be confused with complacency. :-P There were no particularly dramatic focus pulls to report for the day. We used a wheelchair as a dolly. Duh, of course! And I think that's it. Hell, we don't even have a matte box or follow focus...we returned it to save money. I've been pulling off the lens like the hardcore kids do. This is the gritty essence, the absolute skeletal minimum, of independent film. Like I said in my last blog, a year or two ago I would have been a snobby b*tch about it, but this year I'm seeing things differently. Observe: 1. The economy sucks and we have no right to complain about ANY work. 2. I'm just glad to be working as an AC and getting into it again after realizing I would rather set myself on fire than work at a rental house again. That is to say, I think you can only work for $8 an hour and scrape labels off of cases ONCE in your life. You will then leave the nest, and there is no re-entry. Did I really want to go back to that? Srsly? Hell no! 3. More money would be nice. Bigger jobs would be nice. More money and bigger jobs will come to me someday. Sometimes life in tha film biz is rough...but it still beats working a desk job. Every time I'm standing around on set wishing I were doing something else, I ask myself if I would rather be sitting on my ass at a computer with some dude in a tie hovering over me screaming about memos and staplers. :shuddder: Thus, I have to live in the moment with what I have now. Namely: 1. Work. 2. ONE DEPECHE MODE TICKET, SECTION 3 ON THE FLOOR AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN ON AUGUST 3RD...UH HUH :wub: 3. A little bit of rum left. Thus, my first lesson for tonight. Tune in next time for Things The DP And I Talk About When We're Sitting Around On Set Waiting For Everybody Else To Get Their poop Together. If I'm really feeling professional, I might even post a link to the trailer or something. I realize that this has far more to do with sharing the lolz of being on a low-budget job, than with cinematography. And what the hell do I know anyway? I'm only 27. I've only been doing this for a few years. But I guess part of why I share these stories is because quite frankly, you could write a whole book about how the DP lit the shot and what it reminded you of and how many days you had to spend in therapy afterwards because of it. And yet, I think some of the best stories, which you don't hear as much about, are the ones that get into the grit and realism of this business, beyond the jargon and the cliches. Not to mention, I think we all sometimes feel that if we didn't laugh, we would probably cry. And that's pretty much why I've started writing this stuff down. When you go to film school, they basically bend you over and blow a big ol' wad of smoke up you know where, and it's about time people start hearing about what's real. What's real is that you get rained on by the weather and occasionally poop on by production. What's real is that sometimes you have to go find somewhere to cry because you just found out that half the people you went to school with, are married with kids and 9-to-5's...and you have been mercilessly shut out of their world all because you wanted to make movies instead. You become the weird friend who is always busy and doesn't go out. You have been rushed into a world where you're going to work when everyone else is coming home...or vice versa. A world where part of your life is dictated to you over a walkie and the other part of it exists between the last mag of the day, and the apartment that gets messier and messier the more you work. The laundry! The dishes! The cat with separation anxiety issues! Bill collectors won't understand "I was on a feature for two months" and relatives won't understand that "nothing in the pipeline" is different from "unemployed". Whatever...it's worth it. You learn to create your own order within the chaos. There's no other way. ;-)

Would the New And Improved 535 That Is Not Quite As Much Of A Paperweight, aka 535B, manual suffice? I think I have it kickin around on my hard drive. Let me know!

Awesome. And this is basically why I love the film industry. Hey, do you guys think I should bleach my hair? :P

Wow, you guys are all crazy. It's just TV, who cares. :rolleyes: I blew $400 on a flat-panel HD TV this fall...recession special. Ain't got no box...Cablevision robs me of $90 a month for cable and Interwebs...and life goes on. The 4x3 thing is irritating, but it doesn't ruin my day.

:sob: This is so depressing, seriously. Excuse me, I have to go down half a bottle of rum and listen to Joy Division now. In the dark. Okay, so we all saw it coming, but it's still freakin sad...

Yep. It's really exciting. I'll see if the director has a link to the trailer and post it here.

This job puts the "non" in "non-union". And I did not do the prep, so yes, but no. I've mostly just been getting eye focus since we've been moving really fast anyway. I don't even know how many more days we're shooting for. This is the kind of job where if you start making demands about a solid schedule or a contract or like, more rolls of 1" black tape, you just look like a douchebag or a primadonna. So I've been rolling with the punches....I use my own tape once in a while since it won't kill me, I come in to work when they tell me to work, and that's that. I think a year ago I would've been bitching a lot more, but what's the point? Work is work. This job is giving me some real insights into how I really want to be as an AC. I don't want to waste time complaining about how clueless production is. They always will be; that's just the way it goes. I can't expect everyone to be on my wavelength all the time and need to be prepared to speak up for the camera crew. I want to be able to walk into any job with no preconceived ideas of how it's "supposed" to be, and just GET THE SHOT. Because at the end of the day, I really think that's all that matters. And in thinking that way, suddenly nothing bothers me. Metric marks don't bother me. Rain doesn't bother me. An excitable director wanting to rush to the next setup doesn't bother me. I think working as an AC is really very simple, and we try to make it complex because we fear that otherwise, no one will care about what we're doing. We build the camera, make sure it's in focus and that the film is actually running through the gate, and we get the shot. We can debate new technology all day, or constantly find new ways to reinvent the wheel: new ways of making marks, new strategies for labeling things, whatever. But when you simplify the job of a camera assistant down to the most fundamental, basic needs of the department, I personally find that life gets a hell of a lot easier. My frustration for the seat-of-the-pants, run n' gun nature of this job, has dissolved. If it makes me look like an idiot to be casually talking about how completely chaotic and stripped-down this gig is, so be it. Sometimes it's just not the time and the place for big demands, and I guess I'm starting to realize that. Anyway, surprise surprise, we're off today due to weather, and I don't even know about the rest of the week yet. Laundry day!!! :lol:

Last night was another grueling one...this rain is absolutely unreal. I don't think it's been sunny all day since May. We shot near the Morris Park stop in the Bronx in typical guerilla-style: me loading out of the back of the DP's car, our only PA holding an umbrella over the trashbag-covered camera. We were supposed to shoot tomorrow but the producer decided to give us the day off; I have no idea why. At any rate, I think yesterday we got some good stuff. We ended up at 180th Street somewhere, shooting this giant Jesus mural which we lit with a single HMI (minimal lights on this gig). Then we shot some stop-motion footage of a guy getting hit by a car which was interesting. Anyway, it's funny how you don't notice how tiring it is to be outside running around in the rain all day, until you go inside to sit around and do nothing. Our saving grace, however, was this ridiculously epic Italian food place in which I consumed a plate of pasta approximately the size of my head, and then a shot of espresso, of course. Weee! Til next time...

Karl: possibly, but you'd have to work for free. I can find out. Although... we don't have that many days left, the schedule is kinda sporadic, and you can't crash at my place because I live in a studio apartment the size of a motel room with no couch. Thus, we would have to share the futon and I don't think we're at that level yet. :P Um, but yeah. Other than that, I'll ask production.... As for NYC Meetup 3D, I am not sure when this will happen because I'm ridiculously busy these days....

I can't seem to exterminate the expendables-stealing gnomes from my too-small Harrison doctor bag and I'm starting to wish I had something bigger that doesn't eat everything I put into it. So if any AC's or ex-AC's are looking to get rid of a Portabrace-type set bag or similar, let me know. I'd also like to purchase a Junior Magliner cart, so holla back if you're looking to sell yours.

Cool, my slate sucks now so I think when I have spare time (rare, haha) I will convert it to Velcro. Camera Assistant Arts and Crafts Time! Then we can make friendship bracelets! :-D

1. Yes, metric marks on the lenses. FUN! :lol: 2. Ripped: yes, in that I Went To The Gym And Then Did Heroin way... :blink: Last night was complete and utter madness, to the point where I nearly forgot I was working. We grabbed three quick shots at a pharmacy and then rushed outside to get the establishing shots of our main man walking into the store from the train. Then we threw everything into two cars (remind me to tell you the CC Rentals story) and took off for Westchester Country Club for four hours so that the producer could go pick up more film and it could get dark. That's just the kind of day it was. The sound guy had 8 martinis and the producer disappeared without a phone call and returned with ONE roll of 5222. I dumped it into a 1000' mag in my changing tent, which was in my lap with the poles pulled out, as I squashed into the front seat of the moving Jeep Liberty on the way to the next location, where we had a flatbed truck (like, a car towing company) waiting for us. Thankfully, it was MOS. ;-) Banged out some car shots of the two main characters talking. Then onward again to the middle of nowhere somewhere on the highway in the Bronx. I don't even think I could find it on a map. It was starting to rain and about 10:00 at this point. Call time had been at noon and the four hours' break killed us. We were lethargic on cheap watered-down drinks and crappy bar snacks. The sound guy was sleeping near the Jeep. The next shot was our main character getting pulled over by the police. The way this job is and the way these people are, we (the crew) all assumed that the police officer was ACTUALLY a police officer and not an actor. I'm not sure why...it was just this...universal theory which, now that I think about it, makes no sense. Well, we were wrong. So when the ACTUAL NYPD pulled up, there we were impersonating an officer. Permits? Yeah...somewhere...oh, like on the director's coffee table. The cops miraculously cut us a break and gave us twenty minutes to get our next three shots. Just as well, because we rolled out at the exact moment it started to pour. Then we all went home. The end. The Roll 19 story: our previous 2nd/loader is, uh, a little neurotic and high-strung sometimes. He caused something which we call The Spaghetti Incident. With a 35mm collapsible core, this is pretty messy business. Especially 1000'. Yeah, that's all I'll say. Poor guy. He panicked and then walked off the set, leaving me to bravely volunteer to plunge my hands into the darkness and attempt to salvage the mess. I wonder if they'll ever pay him? :-/ The CC Rentals Ripped Us Off story: apparently, they did. So the producer left them a "deposit" from an empty credit card and peeled out of the parking lot before they could do anything about it. This is also why we do not have a truck. Cough syrup consumed in order to make it through the day: 3/4 of a bottle of Robotussin DM. I feel like I've been in the wild too long and if I get captured for a union commercial, they'll have to send me to obedience school and boil me for four days to get that low-budget indie stink off of my tool belt....

I decided it would be interesting to keep a production blog on here since 1) I've never done that, as much as I post on these boards, and 2) I'm not sure how many accounts are kept by camera assistants, and I thought it would be neat for people to read about what we do and how awesome it can be! So, here goes. Backstory: This job is actually into reshoots at this point. It started [from what I know of it, anyway] a couple of years ago, but they had financial issues and had to stop shooting. This time around, the crew is smaller, the schedule's tighter, and it seems like things will come through. I started on it working for a few days filling in for my friend as 1st AC. I then moved over to 2nd AC/loader when my friend came back on, and they just so happened to can the 2nd/loader they had. (Wah wah wah...) So, yeah. It kinda fell into my lap as an early summer blessing, and quite a relief after such a ridiculously slow spring. We're shooting on an Arri BL-4 (DP-owned) with anamorphic lenses and the DP/cam op is Ron Wolf. The director is Chris Raffaelle (jeez, I hope I spelled that right- I don't have the camera reports in front of me!) Like I said, the crew is VERY minimal and so is the budget. This is my second time pulling focus on anamorphics and my first time with the BL-4. I'm an Arri geek so this camera is pretty familiar to me even though I hadn't done a job with yet yet...and on a Worrall head, it's a hell of an upper body workout! My first night on set, my shirt was stuck to my back with sweat and I consumed chocolate chip Clif bars like Whole Foods was planning to discontinue the flavor or something. By the way, I think those things have caffeine in them. I am notorious for getting all wound up when I work, and it was even harder than usual to fall asleep that night...er, morning. Did I mention most of the job has been shooting nights? This is also the longest job I've been on since I got back to New York from my little hiatus to Savannah. It wasn't until I got the phone call to jump on, that I truly felt like I had never left this city. As much as going to Savannah was necessary for my curiosity and my progress (as a camera assistant and as a person), I feel like it derailed me a little bit from my original purpose in New York. When I got BACK to New York, it was just in time for the recession and my spirits sank. Even by the spring, I was starting to fear that my old network had dissolved and that I would have to "start over" to some degree...that I wouldn't get as much work, and things just wouldn't happen. Well, then the phone rang...and rang...and the work started coming in again. Thank God. When my friend Alex first told me about this job, I have to admit I was a little skeptical. But then I thought about how it would be good to work with a camera that I haven't been on a job with yet, and to work with all "new people" who I hadn't met yet (usually I run into lots of friends on jobs and we end up all recommending each other, to the point where our reference lists get pretty redundant!). I just got this gut feeling that this would be the job to renew my faith in the low-budget indie world, of which I had become so [grudgingly] a part of. I wanted to prove to myself, in other words, that it's the attitude on set that matters...not the job itself. Anyway, so that's why I'm on the job, and even the few days we've shot thus far have been a hell of a ride. If you're looking for lighting setup hints or name-dropping, I don't know what to tell you but to keep scrolling!...but I can tell you that there have been many interesting stories on this job so far, all of which I will fill you in on along the way as I write this. The odds are stacked as we begin again tomorrow: I am filling in once again as 1st AC, they could not find me a 2nd/loader and I could not find one who wasn't already busy (yay! haha), the DP is recovering from the acquisition of his 3-month old son Nigel and a poisonous spider bite (not at the same time), they dumped the 2-man G&E crew in favor of a couple of inkies and "a guy to set them up and point them where Ron says", I myself am bouncing back from a pretty bad cough/flu thing and must remember to pack a bottle of Robotussin in my set bag, and since CC Rentals apparently ripped off our producer somehow, we..uh...we don't have a truck anymore. ...Yeah. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. I was assured, however, that some sort of mobile vehicle would be used to store our [minimal] equipment. At any rate, in the 4 stuporous, slow months prior to this (in which I wondered if I wouldn't be better off scrubbing CSC cases), my attitude has somehow shifted from one of, "This is a f*cking disaster" to "This is an adventure." So, 12:00 call tomorrow, in the Bronx. Tomorrow I'll entertain you with the tale of what happened to Roll 19, as well as a condensed version of our adventures in Secaucus dumping off the first truck we had, perhaps in haiku form. I will also let you know how the rest of the day goes.

:death metal voice: MEGABUS!!! Sorry, guys. I ended up working that night. However the rest of this week is good. Then my life will be taken over once again by a 35mm feature :wub: .

Sounds like a plan!

Wow, I actually think your trip sounds really cool. You'll be like a film nomad or something. Let me know when you hit New York.

This might be old news, but I just found it today! For those of you who have not worked with the Genesis but want to know what the menus are like, you can go here: Panavision Australia Genesis menu simulator

Actually, come to think of it, I did see a 16S body going for about $350...I'm seeing a LOT of film cameras going up for auction and it's really kinda depressing. I feel like rescuing them before it's too late...sheltering them from the horrors of cheapskate producers who are dumping film to shoot on the Red... "It's okay, little film cameras...you're safe here!" That reminds me. I'm putting together some reference photos for my tattooist of the 16S from various angles of uber sexiness. We were talking about adding a battery because, you know, you can't have a camera without a battery, especially if it's tattooed on your arm. I mean, he's planning to draw up the camera first and see how it looks, then add the battery...it might work, it might not. But I was thinking of using a battery belt which would then go on the inside of my arm. So then, the power cable would wrap around the back of my arm. If anyone has any really cool, retro-looking battery belts lying around, feel free to send photos my way!

The seller also has tons of other random Arri parts including spare castings from different bodies, it's really weird. Who wants to build a Frankencam? :-P