There was an ice cream truck on nearly every single block due to the heat conditions. Justina and I sat outside CBS while I ate my chocolate and vanilla swirl and very quickly after that the day was finished. I made it to the bus station by 5:10 and got in my place in line. Not but 10 minutes of waiting, a man comes up and stands behind me, to which we immediately start talking. I have talked to many people at bus stations and on train rides, but very rarely does the conversation go on until we arrive at our destination. Being a Philly local himself, as well as being a chef, we talked about our favorite dining and hang out spots. The talk continued on a variety of topics. I managed to get this photograph of him before getting off the bus.
Second on our stop was the printmaking department. The woman to the right is Valerie. She is one of the many people that work within Laumont. She showed us many of the samples of the different varieties of paper and mediums that it is possible to print upon when working with Laumont. Everything from silk and satins to wood, or even metals. It was really awesome to get to talk to Valerie one and one because of how passionate she was.
Next we were taken to scanning where we met Tom and John. This is Tom explaining to us the difference between the two drum scanners that they have acquired in the department. The scanner (pictured below), and the one he is currently describing was manufactured in 1988 and has not been in stock for quite some time. Needless to say, it is still running strong and certainly does the job.
Continuing on with the tour, Michael and I were in awe of the large format Cruse scanner that Tom and John use for prints that are up to 40" x 60". One of the many artworks that they are working on, which could not photographed out of respect to the artist, was one of the biggest pieces that I have ever seen (and very impressive, too). He had artfully placed a large amount of canon fuses on a canvas and then burned them consecutively. The result was certainly a sight to see. The piece was so big that they had to scan the work of art in 6 different installments.
This is John working away at some negatives that have been given to him by an artist. He skims over each and every one to make sure it is color corrected and without major mishaps.
The next stop on our tour was printing. Almost all of the works that we viewed were large scale, and beautiful if I don't say so myself. Once again, I was not able to photograph a lot due to the amount of work in the room and, of course, out of respect for the artists.
Esteban is the expert in this field and showed us many different prints that had been made within the past couple of months. He explained his processes and what he would suggest to any customer that comes through the office.
This is one of the two printers that they use. The size of the printer alone was something to gawk at.
Framing and Mounting had to be one of my favorite stops of all. The people there were so kind, generous, helpful and full of useful information. The red headed woman pictured above gave us the tour around the department. She explained all of the different options that they have in regards to framing your work. She made up the end of our tour and it couldn't have been sweeter.
Because there was a photoshoot on Wednesday, I stayed at the YMCA on 63rd and Central Park West.
I got my room and decided that because I was not even a block away from Central Park and had never been before that I should hang out there until the sun went down.
While there I watched a multitude of kickball games and met this man, pictured below.
We had stricken up a conversation because of my attempting to catch a moment within the kickball game. He asked me if I was a professional, to which I responded that I would really like to become one. From there, we talked about New York City. I had asked him what his favorite thing to do in the city was and he tentively responded with "walk through Central Park." We talked until the sun had disappeared behind the skyline and parted ways.
The first room that I was given had broken air conditioning and was 90 degrees. It was not until 11 o'clock at night that the situation was solved and I was moved into the room pictured above, where I promptly passed out and slept for four hours.
I was awoken by my alarm at 4:30 am. I got up, threw on some relatively comfortable clothes and prepared myself for the hottest day of the week. I was to meet Heather Wines, the photographer, and Chris Kneller, the LA art director, at 72nd and 5th Ave at 6:00, which was on the other side from where the YMCA was located. If I didn't make it at exactly 6 am or earlier, the two of them would promptly leave me behind. I took off at 5:30 and made it just in time to meet Heather and Chris at our destination.
This is Heather Wines, she has been with CBS for four years now, originally coming from a photojournalistic background. Although we had met before, Heather and I got into really talking while searching Central Park for good plates. She impressed me seeing as she has had almost every job in the business, but suggests television because of its stability.
The point of the shoot was to acquire what they call "plates", i.e. a shot, photograph, etc. of various areas around New York that represent the up and coming television show. This plate above was a spot that Chris Kneller, Art Director, deemed suitable for the upcoming comedy, Partners. Within this photograph, David Krumholz, Michael Urie, Sophia Bush and Brandon Routh will be animated, creating a visual spectacle.
A lot of the time, Michael and I were used as test subjects and would stand within the frame to give Heather a little perspective. Needless to say, the two of us have come to the conclusion that it should be our career of choice.
Soon after, we headed up Central Park West and 100 Ave(s) to shoot some of the houses that resemble the set in How I Met Your Mother. The four of us packed ourselves into a van and were driven around by a Minute Man, notifying him whenever a location was deemed right for the shot. The next three hours in the van were a blast. The four of us talked about a plethora of things such as siblings and babies (Chris had just been blest with a baby girl), NYC vs LA, and stories that Heather and Chris had had from meeting the various stars of CBS shows.
When we finished, it was 11:00 am, but from my silly sense of time it felt like 5 pm. I stayed in the office for 2 hours and then dismissed myself to nap before going off to David Letterman!
I unfortunately was not allowed to take any photographs inside the Ed Sullivan theater, but my experience could not have been more awesome. On my way over to The Late Show a huge storm rolled through the city, one that no one seemed to expect because the majority of the people that I encountered were soaking wet. When I arrived, everyone was huddled under the sign, I was considered a VIP so I was let in with the first bunch. While waiting to be seated, a woman that was also known as a "page" gave us the rules on what to do while experiencing the filming. 1. You must laugh the loudest that you possibly can, David Letterman feeds off of laughter. He does not bring out the good jokes if the audience is not interested. 2. If it isn't funny, laugh now, think about it later. 3. No "Woooooooo"ing, the mics are very sensitive. (To which she let us all get out our last "wooooo" of the night). Fourthly, and the most important rule of all, have fun!
I was seated on the balcony, which is to the employees of the theatre the best seating in the house! Upon sitting down I was surprised at how small the stage and set up was. On television it looks so big and spacious, but in real life everything seems to be cramped and crowded. Everyone was seated and then we were introduced to Paul Schaffer and the CBS Orchestra as well as a comedian who opened the show with a couple jokes.
The special guest of the night was Woody Harrelson, most notable for his role in Zombieland, who was there to talk about his new play that was being opened "off Broadway" entitled Bullet for Adolf. The play is about his experiences with long time friend Frankie Hyman.
http://youtu.be/2vEEdnk6a94
Here is a short clip of Woody Harrelson's interview with David Letterman.
All in all, I had a wonderful time.
Thursday was full of FINALLY finishing the monster that was How I Met Your Mother. Now I just need to finish three other projects...
No comments:
Post a Comment