Our Boys of Summer...

Saturday, five of our crew members graduated PCT: Asa Kelley, Jean Chargois, Michael Blakesley, Brian Kehoe, and Dan McKim. I attended the afternoon commencement and I couldn’t help thinking about the fortune I had to meet them and have them on our crew. They represent not only some of the best that Penn College has to offer but the best walking representation of what America’s future looks like.

A little background... in early Sept 2004, I approached PCT with a project to co-produce 5 commercials for the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra. The WSO asked me to consider doing these spots pro-bono and I thought it would be a great opportunity to involve the PCT students in the Media Media Communications Program. This gave them production experience, some reel that got airtime, and I got a physical (equipment) production partner. It was a win-win all around. Other great PCT folks like Dr. Jill Landesberg-Boyle, Veronica M. Muzic, Nick Vitterite, Bruce Huffman, and the great Chris Legarski made it happen from their end. Kudos to the college, they’re under-appreciated.

To a man, not one of the students had any commercial production experience, much less were they prepared to be on a set that basically mirrored a union set. As the A.D., I worked them as if they where on a pro set so the next guy’s set that they're on, no matter what happened, their heads would be above water. Not once did they falter. For example, on the first commercial, we did three days worth of work--north of 50 set-ups, with an inexperienced crew and limited equipment... in 12 hours!. The one skill that got them through my lunacy was their attitude. For producers and production managers out there, I can’t stress this enough: make sure that the human components are in place before you pull the trigger on personnel. The old rule of “measure twice and hire once” saves a lot of heartache and provides great ‘set culture’, especially on a low budget set. When you hire great attitude, you can teach them anything.

We will continue to work with Jean and Asa who will stay in town, but the other boys will be in VA., MD., and York, PA. It was a distinctive pleasure--thank you for your faithful service--Onward and Godspeed.

Carlos


Technorati Tags: Documentary, Penn College, Williamsport, PA, Filmmaking