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1.10.2008

The Meltdown

Shooting long hours takes its toll on people. Currently the whole team is ill or barely staving it off. We get up and start filming, got home and eat something before falling into bed and then get up and repeat it the next day. We'll even be shooting this Saturday. This kind of non-stop pressure to perform has led to things not being quite as pleasant as would be enjoyable.

Last night we had to formally admit that it would take us more than four days to shoot MathTacular4. This wasn't surprising to any of us, but it was nice to see the new schedule that wasn't as totally daunting. This reschedule required that we find a new day to shoot at our one awesome location. Thankfully they were really gracious and happy to accommodate us. That was a big load off my mind.

We were doing really well today until our steam ran out. We became aware of a problem within the script and set to work trying to figure out a way around this issue. Our small team of four came to an impasse and we stopped for the night. This illustrates the blessing and curse of working on a small crew: Everyone has the ability to offer input and ideas which can move the project forward, but if someone gets stuck in "their way or the highway", the whole system derails. This is rather reminiscent of the experience of "When It's Better to Work Alone".

Tomorrow we get to get up and begin again. Hopefully with a few more hours away from the project we will all be able to approach filming with a fresh perspective and renewed energy.

The lesson? If it ain't going well it is often a good idea to stop. Beating your head against a concrete wall does nothing but give you head trauma. It's better to keep your head and rework your schedule.

~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor

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