arrghhh

I'm having a very frustrating day in the world of film and my university. Went in early to have our "technical orientation" with the camera dude- who is essentially insane. The camera is from the dark ages and has been reformatted to super-16. Fine, I can deal with that as the last film I worked on was on a super-16mm bolex and the footage came out beautifully. But, apparently the lens mount thing is not right for the lenses that we've rented. Very complicated to explain, but trust me- it's bad. Plus, feel enormous pressure from my AD who is overworked and thinks I'm nuts too. Plus, my professor keeps insisting we try to do the "lost and found" scene in galleries layfatte or something absurdly impossible like that. Plus, the school's budget is mysteriously shrinking and apparently we've got to take it "one day at a time".

Basically, I am happy to have embarked on a project using my school- there are a lot of great people there helping me and they are helping fund it. But, I'm also dying of frustration because I can't seem to raise the quality of my film if I want to make it within the confines on the university. Part of me is just tempted to got out and spend a ton of money renting a half decent camera...but is it worth the $2000 if I can get the crap one for free? These questions of money really get to me. In a way, I think it is completely unjustified to make movies in a time when the money could be much better spent. In a way I want to take advantage of all the resources available to me and milk the system for all its worth. What's frustrating is spending hours negotiating with all these foreign companies, in a language I barely speak, for equipment I've never used....and to have a very unclear notion of how much money I've got to begin with. well, it's just a movie. deep breath. laugh. repeat.