WE WON??? WE WON!!!

I wake up late on Wednesday morning, around 12pm after two long and tiring days of working and uni to a message from Mike received at 11.40am, short and simple: We won

And it wasn't even in proper punctuation. But good enough for me. I understood it. And it's the second best thing that has happened to me since i got a good job at Subway. Haha... I know. A job at Subway might not be ideal for you guys out there. But it's good enough for me at the moment.

And to top it up, my first ever experience working on a film was not only rewarding in terms of knowledge gained, but also the fact that i learned all the right things that made us win. Without trying to be modest, i helped out a lot on the film and without me they wouldn't have won. Mike acknowledges this himself, and for that i am grateful.

What a great experience! Haha... Our film will go up against other winning films from other Boston Schools, then if we win out of all the schools, we will go against the winning films of other states in the US. How exciting! The next level of screenings/competition will be on the 17th, so we will know on the 18th if we've won.

Here is the link for Mike's film, Tangent from last year that won in his school and went on to compete within the state of Boston, but lost to a short film called Elevator Girl.

http://www.campusmoviefest.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IdeaFlow.woa/wa/showAMovie?movieID=1200

Here's the link for Elevator Girl.

http://www.campusmoviefest.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/IdeaFlow.woa/wa/showAMovie?movieID=1233

Our movie will most likely be on the campus movie fest website on the 17th, regardless if we win on the 17th or not. I'll post the link here then.

On another film project with Mike for his Experimental Film unit he's doing, i helped out til 5am yesterday and had class this morning at 10am. God... last night was crazy. I met him a night before... Tuesday night by accident at the school steps. He told me he was filming for his experimental subject. I told him i would like to help, cos naturally the more you help out the more you learn, the less mistakes or judgments you're likely to make the next time you shoot for yourself. He told me when (start at 5pm-7am the next day, Wednesday) and where (the uni studio which his team booked and which we used to film Departure). I told him i finished class at 7pm and would pop by awhile just to help out a bit and leave cos i had class early the next day. And he told me, "yeah, just come by and you can leave whenever."

Little did i know, it was a trap. He was so disorganised this time... It took us ages. Plus his team were actually 2 teams doing their own films, just that they were supposed to help each other out during filming to make the sets and all that. So basically, long story short, the other girl (Kirsten) broke down and actually cried after awhile cos she couldn't set up as Mike was "hogging" the set. And i know him, he is like that, part of the reason why the name for his made-up production company is called Selfish Bastard Productions.

The whole time i was there, he would only speak to me about directing and constructing frames and stuff. And later on we only found out that his DOP (Director of Photography) otherwise known as cinematographer was supposed to be this girl in his group called Alice who was just sitting in the corner and observing and on and off helping out a little here and there and I was the one he kept discussing shots with. I felt really bad... Later on when Mike and I went up to the kitchen to make fake blood he told me he had no idea what was going on and had no idea that Alice was his DOP. And i quote him saying, "I work with whoever i wanna work with." Haha... whatever. At least i wasn't sitting in the corner. He actually didn't let me leave cos he needed me there "to keep him in check" he said. Nadira was there to help out too.

And after Kirsten broke down, her team packed up and left and it was down to Mike, Nadira, Linda and I in the studio for Mike's shoot. Linda Burt is the film society president, she was also the actress for Mike's shoot. By the end of the night, curse words and other rude ones were exchanged between Mike and Nadira and Mike and Linda. AH.... Confrontation. I resent that. Especially when we're trying to get things done. Nadira was picking fights on and off... Not that I disagree with her... But it's not like I was entirely on Mike's side either. I was neutral. Sometimes he deserved it, other times he didn't.

The thing about Mike is he's a pathological flirt. He flirts with every girl he meets on the street that he knows (I saw this when i was running around the city with him for the Southbank timelapses and city shots and interviews with potential actresses for Departure), he's also very touchy feely when it comes to the actresses he works with, especially the pretty ones, so obviously Marie and Linda and even other people that he just works with and are not actresses such as Nadira... Basically just anyone hot... Haha... BUT the good thing is he doesn't do it with me. And I'm glad, because if not, i would definitely not have worked with him. Thank God i dress the way i do :) See mom, it works. Haha...

So anyway, Daniel got himself locked out last night, came to the studio to get keys from me, hung out awhile then left. At about 1am, i realise i wouldn't be able to get in cos my keys were with Daniel. I call his phone and as usual he doesn't pick up cos usually his phone's outside on the dining table. So i call our house phone. Yes! He picks up. I wasn't so much worried that he was asleep, but more worried about if he would still be awake when we were done with the shoot, which was NOT SOON i tell you. So i told Mike i'd go back and be back in 5 mins. I actually had another reason to go back--my antibiotics. I was supposed to take them... for my ehem... "slight bronchitis" according to the doctor i went to see the other day. For a second then i was worried and asked him if it was serious, but he said no. So family, don't worry. I'm on medication.

Anyway, back to my little anecdote, i went home, got the keys, took my meds and left, at this point i expected the shoot to be done by 3am the latest. But nope, went on til bout 4am and i took us an hour to tear down the set... Gosh. By the time Linda, Nadira and I left, we were pissed off at how disorganised Mike was which caused the shoot to go on for so long and were dead tired. He did say he owed us one though. But that really meant nothing to me at that time of night, or should i say day... We left Mike to sit there til 8 or 9am when the prop shed would be open so he could return the stuff and would later in the day board a plane to Thailand for "spring break" as he calls it, but is what actually means "easter break" here is the land of OZ. Linda went to sleep over at Nadira's and i went home to shower and sleep for the most i could, which was 4 hours, then go to uni. I must say i bonded more with Nadira that night and reminded me why we were so close that one year in primary school. She's a good friend, speaks her mind when she feels like it and speaks up for friends. She actually gave me 2 hugs in the span of 12 hours, one during the shoot and one this afternoon when she came to say goodbye to Daniel and me for the weekend as she's going with her parents (who came to visit) to some resort. It was sort of a "I understand & good work" hug. Made me feel better even though i was in a zombie-like state both times.

Easter break is finally here, but for me it's just extra time to catch up on readings and other assignments after i've been working, been sick, been shooting Mike's experimental and other lazy shit i've been doing. Watched another 5 movies this week. Mad. I have to stop doing that.

Will keep you guys posted.

Thanks for reading and thanks for caring!