i got what you need

Thursday was a studio day and on the show we were featuring DeeDee's lacquer tour, you remember that long day? That's the one :) Well my jobs for that day including: being the elevator boy, wrapping everything used in DeeDee's segment, helping the boys load everything to be returned into the van, and after the show was finished taping, it was time to do some camera testing.

We're looking to redesign the set a little but it's a lot more work than you think, its not just "this looks bad, take it out... this looks good, put it in" You have to satisfy everyones wants and once you agree on something you have to put it on the set and move the camera around to the different camera positions to make sure it comes across as nicely on camera as it does in person. For example, you may really like a lamp, and it may work for certain segments but as soon as you go to one camera position, that lamp may be appear to be growing out of your talents head... you don't want that. So I was down on set to help take out and put in set dec pieces, including lamps, tables, armoires, chairs, tables, everything. But the best part was being one of the only camera savvy people on set... so who do you think got to move the camera to the different positions? And take direction from the director as to what they want the shot to look like? Thats right :)

Maybe a studio camera operator is in my future :)

So I was down on set for a few hours doing that and by the time we had made some decisions it was time to head home.

Enter FRIDAY Stage Left.

Yesterday was supposed to be an outdoor shoot with Carson Arthur but in case you were in oblivion all day yesterday.... it was kinda pouring rain. Like excess of 35mm of rain, pouring. Well Denise and I got to location, met up with Carson, unloaded the car, got everything set up, got the intro done, and started doing his first stand-up.... And then it was Niagara Falls from the sky. We all ran for cover and tried to wait it out, but Carson pulled up the radar on his phone and sure enough we were just at the tip of the storm. We waited and waited and talked and waited some more, finally it was time to call it quits and head back to the office.

That is, after going to The Source Shop and picking up some much needed things, like some BNC connectors, tape, grease pencils, and a brand new slate :) Once we got back to the office it was time to get to work. I put my new purchases to work and started tearing tape for marks, it was as exciting as it sounds, but its a necessary task if you want to be a true AC.

Essentials :) (this is a VERY small portion of the gack I have now :) exciting stuff)

There is a reason for doing this prep (other than Steven and Chris, of course) and here's that reason.

After I finished work yesterday, I made my way over to Joe Sutherland's Rentals to pick up a Sony HDV-Z5U and 2 lav mics. Why would I need all this? Well this weekend I was supposed to be working on a pilot that Melissa Coghlan is producing/directing. So I went to pick up the camera and get a quick walkthrough of everything, then I took everything home and played with it some more to get even more comfortable with it. However, when I woke up this morning there was a text message on my phone saying that the shoot has been postponed until a later date. Downside: I didn't get to do what I was hoping to this weekend. Upside: my step-sister, Jaclynn is visiting for the weekend so LOTS of family time together, my friend Matt is coming tonight, and tomorrow we're going to Kensington Market for "Pedestrian Sunday"...I've never been, but it sounds awesome! 

Anyway, I feel that this post has gone on long enough and it's time for me to not be sitting in front of a computer screen. BYE!  

T minus 15 seconds, guidance is internal

Here's your Hump Day Update!

Last time we talked was Friday, well a lot has happened since then.

Saturday night was a pretty awesome time. Erin had her friend up, I had Matt up, and I was working. You're wondering how that could be "a pretty awesome time"? Well I was working at a bar :) I was hired on (through Melissa) at Grace O'Malley's to shoot the band that was playing, Signal Hill. They're an awesome cover band out of Halifax and they were playing O'Malley's for 3 nights and this was their final night. It was great because while my family and friends got to enjoy my $100 bar tab (which didn't last long) I got to be at a bar, doing what I love, and having a great time. But after shooting on Saturday night, I have a whole list of equipment to invest in.

Sunday (after plenty of sleeping in and relaxing) I headed back to O'Malley's to pick up the footage and audio from the night before. That night was spend importing and starting to edit, and then the real work week kicked in.

Monday was an awesome day, we were shooting in Briscola. In case you haven't been there, heard about it, or clicked the link to find out more, its this really nice restaurant on College. I didn't even get to eat the food but I still highly recommend going there. The shoot was with Andrea Ford and this was our first field segment of the season with her :) It was great because we got to use both the Microdolly and the spreaders! Lots of tracking shots! The place was just stunning to shoot, especially because we were the only people in the restaurant!

Tuesday was... a long day. Tuesday morning I started out at the studio, and was there before 8:45. I balanced my petty cash, checked my emails, and most importantly, went and got a coffee. After helping load in the audience, I worked on set for the first 2 segments and then it was up to eat lunch and off to location to meet Denise. We were shooting a segment with DeeDee Taylor and it was all about lacquer in the kitchen and bathroom. Now what made this day long was that we didn't start shooting until 2pm, normally at that time we'd be able to see the finish line in sight, not just starting. I'm not going to get into any gruesome details about the shoot, but I will say that I didn't get home until 9:15 last night.

Anyone in production just went pffft 12.5 hour day...thats nothing... and you're right, but when your body is used to working a pretty cushy schedule of 9-5 (usually), that 12.5 hour day feels like an 18 hour day. Needless to say after that I went home and slept like a rock. And finally, that brings us to today.

Today was a shoot with design blogger Lindsay and if you go check out her blog, the spaces we shot are right on the front page! Her basement home office, and the newest addition, Oscar's bedroom. Lindsay has never been on camera before and for it being her first time, she's a total natural :)

But enough blogging for me, I have to go edit! See you tomorrow? Maybe?

if i share with you my story, would you share your dollar with me

Today was a very sweet Friday.

This morning I went to work, expecting to leave at about noon to go shoot at a restaurant with Andrea Ford. Well I got to work and that quickly changed, there was a whole bunch of scheduling and rescheduling that took place and a lot of shoots for next week got switched around but you guys don't care about that haha. You care about what I actually did do, and the answer, not a whole lot. I know I probably shouldn't say that but its the truth, my morning was very easy. And then it was lunch time and then after lunch I helped Isabella get the audience giveaway for Monday ready...this meant unpacking boxes and putting the giveaway into the bags provided. Again, pretty easy, but necessary.

But while I was doing that I got a text from Melissa (one of the producers) saying that she had a paying gig for me for saturday night and to call her ASAP... so I did. And now I'm working on saturday night! My best friend/second half/almost brother Matt is coming to town on saturday and we are going to have a great night "working". More details on sunday.

After unpacking the giveaway it was time to head out for our easiest shoot ever. It was the before of a "kitchen" but literally, there was nothing. I mean no counters, no stove, no fridge, no microwave, no sink, no cupboards, 1 electrical outlet and a newly laid floor. How long do you think it would take to shoot something like that... I'll give you a hint... Under an hour. AN HOUR! Never have I ever had a shoot that was load in, shoot, wrap, load out in under an hour. And I mean EVER.

But yeah, that sums up my day... Time to enjoy the weekend!

YTV The Next Star!

So! Remember those YTV Music Video's I worked on? If not, click here.

Well, here's a behind the scenes and the actual music video. Check it out, keep an eye out for me and most importantly, enjoy!

Behind the Scenes!

Actual Music Video!

all he needed was some rockets on the side of a car

Well these past 2 days have been pretty busy, busy but awesome.

Yesterday we were back in Kitchener to shoot the "afters" of the kids bathroom makeover. And as promised, here are some pictures :D

A little "Behind the scenes" action

More "behind the scenes" action

I can't give away the whole room so here's some parts of it... just watch the segment when it airs :)

It's pretty incredible to see what it was, and what it is. But overall an awesome day, full of talking about awesome things...literally. You know The Book of Awesome? Well Jo brought it with her so while Denise was busy shooting beauties, we flipped through the book and would argue each awesome thing, tell a story about said awesome thing, and just generally laugh. We talked about farts for quite some time haha. 

Yup, that pretty much sums up that day haha.

Today could be included in that "Book of Awesome"...ever wanted a room makeover? Well these people did, and they won a little contest...I bet you can guess what happened. And again, here are some pics from today...but I'm not going to give away the whole space. That would be too nice of me.

Great start to the day!

Sneak Peak

His

Hers

I Love Lamp

"Like"

This is literally just the tip of the iceberg....this place looks incredible. Denise's shooting looked just as incredible and this piece is going to come together incredibly. Did I mention, incredible? How about 3 discs full of incredible? Thats a total of about 2 hours of footage for an "after" of a makeover. Not a bad day at all haha. Lots of tripod shots, lots of dolly moves, lots of incredible. Period.

p.s. here's what NOT to do on set.....

This is a picture of me telling Melissa not to take a picture during a take.... Clearly she didn't listen haha.

Anyway, that's all for me tonight, see you again tomorrow :) Or maybe you're reading this "tomorrow" in which case, I'll see you tonight ;) 

anything you need, you can find it at the market

Today... Today... Today was a "Monday" kind of day. You know, one of those days where you don't really feel like yourself. A large part of that feeling is due to the fact that I went to TIFF with my Uncle Bill last night and saw The Lady... It was incredible!!

Here's some snaps!

David Thewlis

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Blurb

David Thewlis...turns out we were sitting almost beside him the entire time

Michelle Yeoh (main actress....also beside us!)

Awesome night! But onto today.

Today was a 2 show Tuesday, with Lisa Worth and her French Chic style for the decor segment. Not much to say about this episode other than.... watch it (when it airs!) After the first show I took Lisa downstairs and helped her load everything into her car. Then I greeted Frank DiLeo and went upstairs to get a cart for all of his stuff but when I got upstairs Denise stole me away before anyone noticed. We went down to the food court for a quick bite to eat and then it was off to the Beaches to shoot with Lisa! 

We were shooting a basement renovation "before" the renovation...I say "before" because it has already started but compared to what it is going to be, its very much before haha. If that makes any sense at all? Lets just say there were some giant holes, some insulation (that Lisa thought was a rat :p), some temporary walls put in place, and lots of work to be done! I really need to take more pictures while out on location shoots so rather than explain the spaces, I can just show it to you. That'd be easier, and possibly more enjoyable for everyone. Goal starting tomorrow: more pictures! 

That sounds good in theory, lets see if that actually happens. Guess you'll just have to come back tomorrow to find out. G'night!

p.s. all of my post titles are song lyrics...props if you can message me with all the songs they belong to

it's about loving what you have

Well today turned out pretty much 100% different than I had expected haha.

The reason I was able to blog and post this morning was because I didn't have to go into work until noon, because we had a shoot scheduled for 5:30pm and we didn't want to be pulling overtime if we didn't need to be. So I did my morning thing, my blog thing, my commute thing and then got to work right at noon :) (I'm always on time... [hopefully])

Since I was only going to be there for the afternoon I got right to work asking around to find out what needed to be done. I headed down to the studio to find Sarah working all by her lonesome so I gave her a hand and after a while people were coming up to me with stuff to do. This "stuff" included going to Lee Valley, DeSerres, and Home Hardware (which were all off Spadina, so that was super handy). This was great because I got to stroll around town and enjoy the weather, all while getting paid. Awesome? Yes! So I picked up everything I needed, headed back to CBC, only to be sent out again.

This time it was to go pick up 2 gallons of paint so our flat for tomorrow could be painted. This wasn't the most fun thing in the world, I had to walk 1.3km (according to Google Maps) there, pick up the paint, and walk 1.3km back carrying these 2 cans of paint. Thank god for red lights (never thought I'd say that...). Again, not the most fun thing to do, but it could be worse...I could have to carry said paint cans for 5km. *shudders* Needless to say, after I got back, I was thirsty, hungry and tired. So I went to McDonald's and grabbed a very unhealthy afternoon snack.

Then it was time to go back up to the studio and paint the flats! 2 flats, 2 coats of paint each, 2 hours = success. However, this speed comes with a price, I was covered in speckles of paint from head to toe. Thankfully I had coveralls on so my clothes can live to see another day. Anyway, I need to get ready for my date with Uncle Bill tonight :) We're going to TIFF and going to see the premiere of The Lady!

Time to get my classy on!

I’m ’bout to call the paparazzi on myself

Wow! Sorry for my lack of posting....

But be prepared to be hit by a semi-truck full of awesomeness.

This week was prettttty sweet! Last Tuesday was a shoot up in Kitchener with Ms. Jo Alcorn. We were shooting the before's of a kids bathroom makeover, which made for a pretty easy day (for me anyway) considering this bathroom is probably the smallest space we have ever shot in. Our day started in the studio, but Denise and I had to leave before the first walkthrough. (More on that later). Then it was off to kitchener, we arrived, loaded in, shot, loaded out, headed home, went to bed (basically) haha.

I did go to bed pretty early on Tuesday night simply because Wednesday.... was our FIRST "2 show Wednesday" of the season! This means early mornings and late nights. I was at work for 7:30 in the morning...the earliest I've been there...EVER. Anyone that knows me, knows I like sleeping, so this was a little difficult to handle but coffee was there for me. Coffee, you're always there for me :). Anyway, our first two shows went great with lots of great segments so be on the look out for it soon! I'm not going to give anything away about the first 2 episodes, but one of them features these little guys:

Set's all done!

Want? Yup!

Baby Bacon x2

 Yes, that's happening.

After the shows on Wednesday, we packed everything back up, moved it all back into the studio for storage and home I went. Wednesday was also the night of the Gemini's, so I may or may not have run into some famous people as I was leaving work. Notable mentions include, this guy:

I wish it wasn't blurry...but that's Dallas Green.

So that brings us to Thursday which was a "day off" full of doctors visits and dentist appointments. Don't worry, I'm all healthy and I have a beautiful smile (but you knew that already). 

Friday was another great day in the studio. In the morning we did more on camera auditions :) More fashion, more fitness, and most importantly more FOOD! I can't get over these segments. They're just so delicious. 

That's a cake... Thumbs Up!

The auditions went until about mid-afternoon and then after the auditions it was time to go to my "other job" and put together IKEA stuff. We also brought up more flats for segments, and I did a few other AC things such as pick up the camera from maintenance and hand over the audition discs to the senior producer, Jen Dick. And that pretty much sums up last week. Except for running into this guy:

Russell Peters!

This week should be a sweet one, we're shooting everyday! (And you may be wondering why I'm blogging at 9:20am, well, you'll just have to read tonight/tomorrow to find out why :D) 

Have a great day!

and I'll be smiling in case they take a picture

Hello again!

It was the long weekend and I took full advantage of that (hence why I haven't blogged till now).

So let's see...where were we? Oh right, Thursday. Thursday was a very busy day but a very awesome day. We were shooting out in Aurora with Lisa Worth, and you remember last season how we shot this amazing home office? Well we were back in that same house but this time it was to shoot 2 separate segments with Lisa. Our first segment was all on how you can bring the outdoors inside, specifically in your sunroom. The second was an open concept living/dining room.

Last season when we were shooting in this house, the client was away on vacation, this season, they were right there with us. I can honestly say they are some of the nicest clients I've met, plus I was/am super jealous of his sports memorabilia collection so it was great to meet him and congratulate him on his collection. After meeting and greeting, shaking hands and kissing babies, it was time to get to work, we set up everything and off we went with our day. It was great working in both of these spaces because it was very open which allowed to use the Dolly a lot! And I mean a LOT! haha. After a 14 hour day (including travel time) it was home and off to bed for a much needed sleep haha.

Friday was a pretty awesome day because we were doing more on-camera auditions. The first round was just the parenting panel...Friday was etiquette, food, fashion, financial and decor. It was a pretty easy day considering it was just set up the camera, the monitor, and away we go. In the morning we auditioned for a new "etiquette" segment, things like texting etiquette (when to text, when not to text), what to do if you have gum in your mouth and need to get rid of it discretely (without swallowing it), that sort of stuff. After that it was the financial segment which taught us about "when should you start teaching your kids about money". After that it was probably my favourite segment... food. We were taught how to make unreal stuffed pork chops...and we were also taught how to EAT unreal stuffed pork chops (the answer to that one... as fast as possible.) They were way too good. Then it was a fashion segment, a decor segment and then lunch. And lets just say my food court food couldn't compare to these pork chops at all.

I'm sitting here thinking about it and I can still taste the pork chops...remind me again why I didn't write down the recipe?

After lunch it was another fashion segment and to end the day... another food segment. This time, cupcakes. Again... spectacular. However, I'm not telling you anything about these because I don't want to also be thinking about those... I just ate dinner and already I'm getting hungry again just thinking about the food I ate on Friday (its now Monday... they're that memorable). After work on Friday it was time to head home for the long weekend full of friends, parties, and cottages. Perfect weekend, now lets get on with this week! I have a few friends in Welland I should probably visit next weekend (Welland-ers....thats a HUGE hint)

Talk to you tomorrow :)