I have to apologize, I have no photos from this day. I'm ashamed. I wish someone had taken some, it was just a very busy, stressful day. It is a crazy adventure, so please read!
Thursday: The last day to film, the last day to edit, and by far the craziest day we have experienced so far.
I hate reminding everyone this, but it's important to the day, so I wanted to say I barely slept the night before because of my stomach. I was still sick. I woke up in the morning and felt completely awful. I couldn't stomach anything and as the morning progressed I was in complete pain. Esme and Melissa told me a trick that helps their stomachs: boiling rice and drinking the rice water. So they asked Chuy if she could make this and she did for me.
Esme and Sarah started the day talking to the kids to motivate them while I sat there doing anything I could to help; which was designing some things that Melissa would make for the kids. When it was time to start filming, Oscar and I had our work cut out for us. We were to film the ending, refilm some of the middle parts, reshoot a few of the green screened shots, and have all the kids' parts organized so we could write out the credits. Not only did we have a lot of work to do with the kids, but we also needed to work with Mauricio's friend who was the musician and record and let him know the kind of music both movies needed.
So as we started to film the ending of the movie, our cameramen decided they didn't really feel like working. We convinced them to stick around and shoot a few things, other times, Oscar took the camera and did a few shots. However, as I sat to the side going over the shots we needed to do, Oscar was doing some of the shooting, most of the direction, communicating with the actors, and still making sure I was alive. It was ridiculously stressful as kids would walk in on the scene, or not feel like working. We understood that it was the last day and everyone was just ready to be done, but we needed to get through today. We got to the ending just as our ghost decided he didn't want to be our ghost anymore. So we quickly recast someone from Esme and Sarah's group. Then we had to reshoot all of the other ghost scenes with the new actor, which took up more time.
Chuy later made some herbal tea for me. She had told us around the first day that she knew about herbs and natural cures. It was amazing to see her figure out the problem and procure a solution to my stomach. Although I didn't eat lunch, the pain stopped, so I was somewhat happy. Around three we finished filming everything. Exhausted, but so proud we dismissed the kids and told them to get ready for the big debut of their videos tomorrow. We had so much to do and on top of everything else everyone at Ceracaly wanted to throw us one last hurah. So we had to plan food, a time for the party, people to invite, as well as finish the movies tonight.
I knew we had a lot to do and I also knew we'd be up most of the night so I went to catch an hour nap before the craziness began. When I woke up I found Oscar and we started working on our video. Sarah was working on hers, Esme went back and forth between helping Sarah and Melissa.
We worked for a few hours as people started to head over to the party. Around 9 we decided to pack up our things and head over. The drive was about a mile down the road to the place where we swam in the natural springs and as we slowly drove down that dirt road, insane lightning lit up the sky. It was highlighting the dark night in every direction and we were in the perfect place to watch. When we arrived, we greeted everyone that we had come to know and love during those two weeks. It reminded me of those movies where the main character meets everyone they had met throughout their journey. There were also new people, friends of Mauricios there to help celebrate. Food was being cooked on this MASSIVE grill, beers were given out, and everyone laughed and talked with one another.
The storms prevented us from having a pool party when we arrived, but after a little while, the water was turned on and they set to filling the great tub up with water. I believe they got it a third of the way full, and had some people swimming in it before the water was turned off due to the storm. It was a shame we couldn't stay and swim, but we were all also aware of all the things we needed to do for the films. Dinner was incredible grilled meat with guacamole, and cheese. At this point, I was running low on energy from lack of food, and it was the last night there, so I sort of just ate and enjoyed it. I'm so glad I did, because the memory still makes my mouth water. It wasn't long after eating that I wanted to get back to editing. I thought since I wasn't drinking and I was done eating, I might as well start while the others enjoy themselves. I set up in the dining room and Sarah joined me soon after. She was working on some cool effects for her movie and needed Oscar to help her. So I set to color correcting the entire film, working on audio levels, and working on completing the story.
We worked like that for a few hours, looking up every once in a while at the party, smiling and laughing at everyone having a good time. Some people thought we were working too hard, Julio brought us some grapes to snack on and told us to come back to the party. The house was open, so it's not as if we were isolated from the party, just in the next room. I made sure to throw limes to the dogs and enjoy their company as well.
Around 1 I knew I didn't have a lot left to do without the help of Oscar or the internet, I wanted to work on the title page and browse some typefaces, and Oscar still had work to do with aftereffects. So I decided to pack it up and go back to Ceracaly to use the internet. Now for those of you who have never worked with video, you don't know how long it takes to pack everything up. We have to save files, safely eject the hard drive, wrap cords, unplug from outlets, close down computers, pack them into bags...the works. Not to mention we had to say goodbye and express our gratitude to everyone who came.
It was around 1:45 when we got back to Ceracaly. We got inside only to realize that the electricity was out once again. It was extremely frustrating and a little ironic that we started and ended this trip with the power out. We huddled into the kitchen to talk about our options. I could work on the computer for a little while but the battery in my mac was funky and it would be no time at all before it just died. Then someone got the generator up and running! So we set up shop just off the kitchen, unpacking everything, and plugging things into the generator. The room was lit by candlelight and we set to work. If you've never worked off a generator, let me tell you, it's loud, it smells like gas (because that's what it runs off of), and it's a little hard to work on audio stuff when it's blaring in your ears.
Either way, twenty minutes later the generator shut off. There wasn't enough gas in the tank to keep going. So we started packing up again and discussing our options. Sarah and I decided to go back to the place where the party was and check to see if there was electricity. We were pretty sure there was because it didn't go off when we were there for the party. So everyone went up to our room and we started packing overnight things. I knew I wanted warmer clothes, maybe a blanket to nap while the video rendered, etc. We went into the car, drove the mile down the road and saw the house lit up with lights. We went up to the door, with Mauricio close by and stood in the pouring rain as we knocked. The guy who hosted the party had had a little too much fun and was most likely sleeping it off. So we banged on the window, called his name, I even did my terribly loud whistle. We waited to see if anything would happen. After standing in the rain for 15 minutes, we gave up and drove back to Ceracaly. At this point we didn't know what to do. The men of the group, after much discussion, decided they were going to try and siphon gas out of the gas tank to put into the generator. I think everyone tried, but for some stubborn reason, no one could get it to work.
So here we are, it is 5 in the morning, we have no power to work on our movies, a massive amount of work ahead of us, and we were all extremely exhausted. I don't know who finally came to the conclusion, but no one argued with them. It was decided we would sleep for two hours and at 7 someone would drive to the gas station to get some fuel for the generator.
I collapsed in my bed, I'm pretty sure I was fully clothed and passed out for the few hours we were allowed. Such is the life of a filmmaker.
