For a Belgian girl who once dreamed about being an actress and later about writing screenplays, it was quite surreal to be part of a film crew for the past three weeks.
I was the third AD (Assistant Director) on “Last Night in Suburbia”, how about that? J
Not that my title meant so much in my case. I got voluntarily dropped into a well-oiled machine where everybody seemed to know exactly what they were doing… except for me of course, the newbie. J
But the crew and cast generously adopted me and I was fortunate to experience how all the little teams worked together to create one giant masterpiece called “a movie”. I walked around with headphones, learned the walkie lingo, travelled actors to the set, held their coats when we were shooting outside, played a back ground nurse at the beginning of a day and swept a floor ten hours later. I watched the green screen with the producers, cuddled the kids who played their little part in the movie and mastered the art of “sit, wait and hurry”. That amongst a fan of many other little things that I all deeply enjoyed.
Though about 75 people were moving parts of the same giant puzzle, I was the only one who had the benefit of time on her hand. Time in which I could absorb how all of the pieces masterfully came together, time to soak in every detail and be in awe by the aliveness on the set. Time to have real conversations with a lot of them. They all taught me tons about this magical world that is anything but ordinary.
I came to see that it takes a special kind of skill set to survive in this world that can be just as mesmerizing and thrilling as it can be stressful and exhausting. Someone told me that this life chooses you, I think there’s some truth in that. You have to have an extreme willingness to adapt to change every single day, to live without certainty from one job to the next, to work closely together with many different personalities, to know your place in the hierarchy and to act upon that, to be focused for hours in a row… whilst enduring the cold and the rain. Oftentimes you have to be satisfied with way less money than you believe you deserve. Just to name a few things here.
And yet… they all keep coming back. Those free spirits somehow keep choosing this life. And after my experience, I can see why that might be. There’s so much creative energy flowing on a set that you collectively ride a very appealing energy wave. It’s deliciously intoxicating.
You become a little family when you spend thirteen or more hours a day with one another. Your colleagues become the ones you share your little stories and meals with, the ones who cheer you on and hug you at the end of a marathon day/night. The ones who teach you in every possible way to master relationships, especially when things get challenging.
As it takes a village to raise a kid, it takes a village to create a movie. I have gained so much respect for every single one of them. From the directors to the AD’s, the hair and make-up team, the craft team, the props team, the location manager, the production manager, the stunt coordinator, the actors… The list goes on and on. And on! Post production has only just begun.
Tonight, just before writing this blog entry, I watched a movie from my couch. And for the first time in my life, I stayed seated for the critics at the end. With a heart overflowing with appreciating and admiration for their work, I sent all of the names on the screen a big, heartfelt” thank you”. Because they might not be aware of it anymore, but movies have the power to give people a soothing break from their own lives and make them feel good for at least a while.
Now ain’t that magical?
