During my nearly two and half months in Vancouver I had the privledge of being a part of two student productions at Vancouver Film School. In the first, mentioned above, I was the squirrel puppeteer, an extra, and just a general production assistant. In the second, “Rear Ended”, I got to be an extra.

Working on a movie is unlike any other job I’ve been on. The actual work of shooting the movie is shortest part of the process. This work is crammed into the least amount of days possible so these days usually end up being 12 or 14 hour efforts. So, yes it’s tiring, but it’s not the constant work one would think. Each person has a specific job on the set and that job cannot be done constantly, so there ends up being an awful lot of down time. I personally found this aspect of it frustrating, especially when a shoot was behind. This basically means that if one person does not do his/her job efficiently then the whole show can be bogged down. I don’t know of a better way to do it though, at least at the student level.

The other aspect is how tedious the entire process is. From taking the same shot from eight different angles to making sure a character looks the exact same in each of these shots, there is a lot of precision needed to pull it all off. The goal of a film maker is to never unintentionally pull you out of the film, they want you to be immersed at all times. Errors in continuity (a character leaves a room and all of a sudden he changes clothes) can take a viewer out of the moment and remind that they are actually watching a film. This is not a good thing. The larger and more complicated the movie is, the harder this becomes.

A lot of planning is also needed. The director needs to have an idea in his/her head how the movie will look when it is all done. This means mapping out each and every shot. The worst part though (in my opinion) is that even with all that planning, if the movie is edited poorly then it will look bad.

Speaking of time and planning, the VFS films are a maximum length of 10 minutes including titles. The crews have five days to shoot all of this, sounds easy right? It’s not, they needed all that time. I was just amazed at how long the lighting set up between shots can take. It is a very drawn out process.

Being on the set and being a part of the process makes the film viewing different too. I have seen a relatively rough cut of Scott and the Squirrels. It just seemed so short compared to the amount of effort put into it. When the credits rolled my first thought was, “Wow, that was it?”. Everything was there, the whole story was told, it just flew by.

It was certainly interesting to get a glimpse at the inner workings of a movie set and I definitely enjoyed my experience. Would I want to work in film knowing what I know now? I’m not sure, it would definitely depend on what I was doing and how involved I was. For the part of the film I was involved in, it was a rush. It did not matter what I was doing as long as I was doing something. When the director yelled cut and everyone agreed it was perfect it made me feel very satisifed and excited. In most cases at work you do a good job and your boss gives you a pat on the back or best case scenario you get a raise or a promotion but you can never really relive that moment of success. With film you can. That one scene you nailed is now preserved and can be watched over and over again.

I think that was the best part of it all for me; I got to understand why these people do what they do and why normal jobs would never work for most of them.

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1. snatch arrives in vancouver
2. Shitty Movie Monday
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Seeing as I am in Vancouver, Canada Day is all the rage here (sorta). I find it rather suspicious that “Canada Day” (their independence day, even though they didn’t have the balls to fight for it) falls so close to a real holiday, July 4th. April and I decided we still would like to see some fireworks… but there were none to be found. You heard me, there were no fireworks on July 1st in Vancouver. I’ve since read that Vancouver has had fireworks in the past but did not this year for whatever reason. This is serious weak sauce.

About the only other thing patriotic I saw (other than sales at various stores) was a list of 139 reasons to love Canada in the Vancouver Sun (the fish wrap in these parts). Why 139? Canada is apparently 139 years old now.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=3698f108-5803-4735-9abc-68398f1f90f6&p=1

That’s the list. I’ll just highlight a few (note, in typical canadian fashion, the list is in no particular order, why the hell did they bother numbering it).

1. The Toque – a canadian humor site that is really nothing more than a The Onion rip off. Weak

47. Celine Dion – any list that includes her as a positive is automatically stupid

14. Perogies – last time I checked perogies did not come from Canada

34. Beer – “just some things we do better” Now while I’ll admit that mainstream Canadian beer is generally more flavorful, but more flavor is not always a good thing when the flavor sucks. Don’t believe me? Take a swig of Kokanee and try to tell me its better than beast or natty in the realm of cheap beer. When the flavor is bad, less flavor is a good thing. Furthermore, I’ll put American microbrewers against the best Canadian microbrewers.

116. Beaver – “Because, as a national symbol, the eagle is just so obvious”. Perhaps the eagle is obvious because you wished you had thought of first rather then a beaver (thus making yourselfs the butt of various sexual jokes). Eagles kick ass and take names, beavers build little dams and look cute… I’m going with the eagle.

The rest of the paper was filled with reports of how the rest of world looks at Canada as a good place, how their independence was peaceful, and various other meaningless things. In the end, Canada Day seems like less of a celebration of independence and more of an attempt to boost the nation’s self esteem when compared with the USA.

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As I went on up the street I noticed that traffic was partially stopped as well. Idiots from all corners of the drive were dancing in the street waving Italian flags. The road was basically shut down. When I exited the cafe about an hour later after a wonderful breakfast, I saw police cars and uniformed police officers. I thought to myself, finally, some law and order. Nope. The police had blocked off the road and were allowing the celebration to continue. On down the street six public transportation buses were grounded. The buses cannot simply go around because they run on electric power and cable lines are only on Commercial. Thank God I didn’t need to go to work or anything.

So what happened? Italy beat Australia.

Now as a sports fan I’m all for fan celebration. I’ve done my fair share of storming the field or taking to the streets after a big victory. Usually this activity is done near a place of importance for the team that won (on campus). I would not consider Commercial Drive the Vancouver campus for Italy or any other team for that matter. I also only take part in this type of extreme celebration after a big victory like I said. If Italy had just won the World Cup I would have no issues. They beat Australia. When I think Australia, I think kangaroos, boomerangs, and Paul Hogan driving a Subaru. I don’t think soccer.

I think the following pictures do more than enough to illustrate the idiocrasy of this situation.

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The Nanaimo (pronounced Nuh-Nie-Mo) Bar is a little dessert about the size of a brownie. It has a firm chocolate cake bottom, some type of delictable custard middle, and a smooth chocolate top. Don’t be confused though, the bar is very rich but it is not overly chocolately. It is quite creamy and very soft in your hands, you can’t hold one for very long or you’ll make a mess. Sometimes they are served chilled to keep them firm or eaten with utensils.

The Nanaimo Bar comes from the city of Nanaimo here in BC. The city webpage even has an official recipe! At least here in Vancouver, they are readily available at various coffee shops and restaurants, I even had one at Quizno’s!

I’m currently trying to figure out a way to bring some home

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1. People here cannot drive. April and I have discussed this in length. We’re not saying the driving situation is much better back home but the drivers are certainly better. Atlanta and Raleigh drivers simply choose to ignore the rules and do what they want, this makes them bad drivers. Vancouverites simply do not know how to drive plain and simple. They do have several things working against them though; the metric system, a lack of stop signs (a lack of signage in general), and the stupid stop lights that flash when green.

Also, someone needs to put out a general public service annoucement about horn usage while driving. In my first week here I heard more usage of automobile horns than all other combined uses in my life. A good example was riding with April on my first day here. We pulled up to make a left hand turn onto street at a red light. There was a clear sign in front of us stating that no left turns were to be made between the hours of 4 and 7 pm. The clock in our car read 6:55 pm. After much moral dilemnia we decided to make the turn anyway. So the light turns green and the car behind us proceeds to lay on his/her horn. Ok, that’s fine, he/she was simply expressing his/her discontent with our decision. The lanes beside us were open and the driver could have easily gone around us. Nope, he/she decided to use his/her horn several more times for exceedingly long intervals until we turned. We got one more blow of the horn as we turned and the vehicle sped onward down the street. If this same behavior were carried out in Texas for instance, there would have been a body or two to dispose of. Personally I’d rather have road rage induced murders than inconsiderate drivers that don’t know how to use their car horn.

2. People are rude and inconsiderate. Think about this situation, you are walking down a hallway and there is someone else coming toward you. You both go to move but you end moving the same way. You each share a smile and maybe a laugh and then go about your way. This same situation in Vancouver, I’m coming down a hallway with a Vancouverite coming the opposite direction. The Canadian lowers his/her head and increases their velocity to ramming speed. I jump out of the way before getting toppled over.

Even walking down the street people are cold and uninterested in what’s around them. If you stroll down Peachtree St. and happen to make eye contact with someone they are likely to give you a little smile or at the very least a nod of approval. If you make eye contact with someone here you get a cold, souless stare.

3. Thoughtful public transportation is a good thing. Let’s face it, MARTA (Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) is a joke. Thank God the train goes to the airport or it would be uttlerly worthless. There has been talk of a train system in Raleigh and most of the plans I’ve heard about do not include an airport stop. Now, readers, before you get all high and mighty and try to trump me by pointing out that Vancouver’s SkyTrain has no airport stop, I’m very aware of this fact. The SkyTrain, however, goes about everywhere I would need to go in the greater Vancouver area or at least gets me close enough to walk. It takes to my wonderful basement apartment, it takes me downtown, and it takes me to one of the largest malls in North America.

The greatest thing about the SkyTrain is that it depends on the honor code to make sure you pay your fare. (Being an honorable Southern gentlemen I purchased monthly passes for myself and April at the start of the month.) There are plenty of little machines to buy a ticket for the train and a bus ride but the only thing making sure you have purchased one of these tickets is a menacing sign that reads “Fare Paid Zone, proof of payment required”. The buses work the same as elsewhere in which you must pay the driver before you enter the bus.

4. Canadians are very private about their restrooms. It is a rarity to find a restaurant with a public “washroom” (as they are called here) if you are walking along a main drive or strip. Quite a large number of eateries will have signs that clearly state “no public washrooms” or at best will require you to ask the cashier for a bathroom key, gas station style. Now I understand why the owners of such establishments do not want everyone coming in off the street and using their restroom. The bums here are not just lazy con-artists like the ones in Atlanta, they are junkies. People are afraid if they have their restrooms open to all then bums will wander in and use them as their own private Wonderland.

There is a simply solution to this problem. Instead of taking the Nazi approach and saying, “no public washroom”; these owners could simply say “washrooms for paying customers only”. Wow, you can let your customers relieve themselves and keep bums away, who would have thought? Stupid Canadians.

Overall there are plusses and minuses to living here. The cost of goods is much higher and most of this can be correlated to the 7% general sales tax and the 7% British Columbia sales tax. This brings the sales tax to a whopping 14% on most goods (not all goods and I still have not figured out what qualifies for the tax and what doesn’t). I’m not sure how the real estate market is so I cannot comment on the overall cost of living.

As I wrote back in March, the cost of beer here is also ridiculous. I think a heorin habit is cheaper than drinking in most of the bars as evident in most of the bums here. $4.50/glass and $14/pitcher is not a good deal for a domestic beer and some bars push this as their “special”! I regret not taking better advantage of the quarter draft Tuesdays in Richmond.

There is a wide selection of organic foods available which is pretty cool. There are tons of fresh produce stores close to me as well. I was also happy to find a little shop down the street from me that makes it’s own pasta. Their spinach fettucine is excellent and I can’t wait to try their fresh ravioli. I was a little dissappointed in veggie burger selection at the local Safeway supermarket though. The Kroger I frequented in Atlanta had several different types to choose from and I only saw one kind at the supermarket here. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong place or need to go to a different store.

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Why am I here?

This one is easy. My girlfriend has been a student at Vancouver Film School (VFS) since January and will be until December. I want to enjoy my last summer as an irresponsible college student. Why the hell not go to a new place?

How long will I be here?

The current plan is for me to leave here and return home on August 7th. I’ll spend a couple weeks in Raleigh then pack it up to move back down to Atlanta.

What am I going to do here?

Well, I consider this a vacation. April, however, still has class most days, so I will need something to do during the day to keep myself from going crazy. I’ve been looking at some part time job opportunities. My job criteria is: a cool/laid back place, zero responsibility, and only work week days (no nights, no weekends period). When running over this criteria in my head, the job that seems to pop up the most is “bus boy” or the more versatile “bus boy/dishwasher”. I have no problem doing a job like this and the opportunity is actually somewhat exciting! I do have different job prospect though, cigar store clerk/salesmen (saw the ad on craigslist yesterday). I don’t even need to say how badass that job would be!

Anyway, since I’ve got time on my hands during the day, I’ll try to keep my posts more regular. I will still be on IM and will regularly check my email. I have my cell phone with me but obviously will not use it except for emergencies (I don’t want to know what Verizon would charge me for Canadian usage). I do however have a Vonage phone number that is a local Atlanta number and I have a Canadian cell phone (Virgin Mobile pay as go sort of thing). Just drop me a line if you want either of these numbers.

I’m living in a pretty swank little neighborhood and it is a lot of fun to just walk around right now and explore things. Things are different on the opposite corner of the continent and I’ll be sure to let my readers know what I find.

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I really liked the walking nature of the city. At least from her place downtown, most anything we needed (with the notable exception of a supermarket) was within walking distance. It wasn’t just the poor college students walking either, everyone did. For some reason I really liked this concept of being able to just walk around rather than being forced to drive.

Obviously it helped having several destinations to walk to. There were a lot of neat little bars, shops, and cafes in her area. This is probably the biggest part of Vancouver I would like to translate to Atlanta (or I guess the southeast in general), just walking.

The variety in the city was another thing I liked. I’m used to the suburbia hell that most of America has become, but Vancouver was different. Sure there were a lot of the big name stores if you went into the mall, but there were a lot of unique little shops and places to go into all around. I like to support locally run businesses and these seemed to be the norm in the downtown area. For instance, I walked into a store that did nothing but sell buttons (like for shirts and stuff). It was a little weird but how many other button stores can I say I’ve been to?

There were other things I like and disliked about the city, but these were the ones that stuck out in my head. Also, I haven’t even spent two weeks total in the city between my two trips so it would be hard to make a lot of judgements about it. I’m definitely looking forward to spending an extended amount of time there this summer. If nothing else it will be another just another living experience, which is important as I try to figure what I’m going to do with my life (graduation is right around the corner).

As of now, if you are ever in the area, I recommend you check out Vancouver.

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It was a good trip overall. Obviously the main focus of the trip was to see April but I also got to experience the city and get a feel for life there (which I’ll get plenty of this summer). It’s a different place for sure. How so? Well I’ll give you my impression.

First off, April lives in downtown Vancouver (the Gastown area for those that know the city), so that is what this impression is based on. Also, her part of the city is not the nicest part. She lives on the edge of a tourist area right where it starts to get seedy. Not that the area is unsafe, but it looks a lot worse than it is. To be frank, it looks like shit.

This leads me to my first complaint; the bum problem is monumental. Atlanta has a lot of bums but it does a good job of cleaning them off the street (to where? Who knows. I’m waiting for Soylent Green to hit the market). Vancouver needs to take a lesson from this. People do not like to step over sleeping bums on the sidewalk or being hit up for change at every corner and bus stop. To Vancouver’s credit the bum problem seems to disappear when you get to the nicer areas of downtown. So I think it is just concentrated near April because that is where a lot drug dealing takes place and most of the bums are junkies.

My second complaint is the price of alcohol. I was under the impression that Canadians were big drunks and beer flowed like water, apparently that stream stops somewhere east of Vancouver. Since when is $3.50 a pint a special!? Ok, so beer cost a lot in the bars, just go the grocery store, buy it yourself, and drink in the comfort of your own home, right? Wrong.

There are no grocery stores downtown (no gas stations either). There are these little corner grocery places and some shops that sell groceries so you can get food, just not beer/wine/liquor. Even outside of downtown grocery and liquor stores are sparse. By now you are thinking, people have to get beer somewhere and they do. Some of the bars do “carry-out” beer. I did not investigate this but I’d imagine it’s the doggy bag of the bar world. I’d assume the price is the same or more than what you pay inside, which brings me back to the price of beer in bars. All the local beers I tried were very good though, so that’s a positive.

Those were pretty much my only complaints. Sure things are pricey but I chalk that up to being downtown and the lack of big chain stores like Target and Walmart to drive prices down. There is also the issue of coin money versus paper money (I can’t stand coin money) but that is a Canadian thing and not specific to Vancouver.

What did I like? I’ll post that in part 2 sometime later.

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