Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Meet me in St. Louis

Echo Lake, a film on which I was DP (& a Producer), continues to kick butt. It has most recently been selected to the St. Louis International Film Festival.

Congratulations to our Director, Jody, our star, Sam, as well as the rest of us slightly less important, but still pretty cool people.


TV Series in Europe


In an attempt to be fancier and more modern with my work, I will now tell this blog what it is I am up to.

Dear Blog,

I am currently in Europe shooting a TV show. Not just any TV show, mind you, but a half-hour historical comedy set in medieval times. The show is called Skanderbeg and is filming in Albania.


For those of you like me who wouldn't count geography as one of your strong suits, Albania is sort of located in between Greece and Italy. The food style and level of deliciosity™ would support that fact, which has made it difficult for me to maintain my weight. The last time I shot a project in Europe, I put on a great deal of weight, so I am working hard not to let that happen this time around. The Health app* on my iPhone tells me I'm raking in Steps by the dozen, so hopefully I'm safe. However, we're just over a week into a 5 week shoot, so there is much room left for error.

I have been here for a month and have had too many adventures to tell any thorough tales, so I will simply say that we are attempting to do something very special here. Our director's goal is no less than creating the greatest TV show in Albania's history and my side goal (after helping him achieve his goal) is to make the greatest looking show in the country's history. We may just be on the right track.


For now they have asked us not to share too many images from the show, so instead I will share something significantly more boring: A Lighting Map.


My crew (in both Camera and G&E) is way understaffed and very short on equipment, but boy are they nice. The G&E crew doesn't speak much English, so when they are available, my AC and AD serve as translators. When they aren't around, I summon the power of expressive hand gestures and sound effects created with my mouth to communicating with greater and greater efficiency. That's one of the reasons these maps are important.

There are many things to discuss, but for now I must finish my Raki (an Albanian staple) and prepare for another day of genius-making. Thanks for listening, Blog.

Sincerely,
- Andy Rydzewski






*If you have met me in the last 6 months and have had a conversation longer than 10 minutes with me, it is likely that I have brought up "getting my steps." It is my favorite and should be your favorite, too.