I knew it must be the week that something was due - even if I hadn't been told that the undergrads all had a massive project (ie something they were supposed to have been working on all along and now should be a massive journal of essays and responses) due on Monday, I probably could've figured it out on my own. Why? Because every night people would knock, come in, and just hang out in that I-have-something-I-REALLY-should-be-working-on-but-I-really-REALLY-don't-want-to-face-it kind of way. The boys built a massive "fort" in the top floor common room out of the couches, chairs, curtains, cardboard, etc - basically whatever they could drag in. (I won't even begin to mention what all we discovered was living underneath said couch...) Everyone who came in had to try on Mione's corset for the film shoot. 
Lars built a trebuchet out of my slide rule and some cardboard. We watched countless movies. To be honest, this worked out great for me, as I'd had crits the week before, and thus only had to get the costumes for the film shoot done - so all I needed was some entertainment and my thread and needle. (Lars chucking bits of paper across the room while Julia pulls Patrick into a corset, it turns out, is quite a bit of entertainment) :)
This week, however, the film shoot finished, the Wider Picture project was turned in, I went to Bath, and basically we spent the first half of the week with everyone finally being able to breathe again, sleeping for most of the start of the week, and vowing never again to procrastinate. Which, naturally, meant that Ciaran and Lars would come knocking thursday night with A Plan. (Lars laughing heartily while clutching his whiskey bottle, Ciaran giggling like a schoolgirl) They were going to make a short film for fun, and wanted to know if I'd be in it / help with costumes.
I hate to spoil it before being able to provide a link to it, but as they're quite serious about their editing (Lars assembled four different versions today, tonight they're going to be working on color editing, tomorrow on sound design), so here's the plot (so as to illuminate the last line of my last post, and explain why I currently have a headache): A girl is sitting on the beach, lonely and sad, writing a letter which she places in a bottle and places into the waves, which gently take it away. Elsewhere, a guy (Will - also looking sad and lonely) notices said bottle lying on the beach, picks it up, opens it, reads the message inside and smiles quite sweetly. He turns the note over, and writes a reply message, sticks it into the bottle, and with a very hearty throw chucks it back into the ocean. The shot cuts to the girl, staring thoughtfully out to sea, awaiting a return message ... until the bottle flies in and smacks her across the forehead - shattering - and she drops down unconscious. The credits roll over a shot of her feet lying motionless in the surf. What they have edited thus far is absolutely beautifully shot, with the punchline shot absolutely hilarious. :)
So, the boys descended on Thursday night and pitched this - as you may have guessed, my first question was, "Umm... you really want to break a bottle across my forehead?!" After a brief discussion of shooting it so the camera goes *past* my forehead, we looked up the recipe for sugar glass online and, well, thus began the two day period of my room smelling thickly of sugar. :) Sugar glass is a special effect prop, made simply of sugar, water, and gold syrup brought slowly to a boil, then poured into a form where it solidifies, is bendable for a short time, then becomes quite brittle and shatters easily, all while being a nice semi-opaque color. We experimented with a couple different recipes, creating a bunch of pieces, then larger pieces we molded around wine bottles wrapped with tinfoil. (The first night, Ciaran went to bed while we were still waiting for the pieces to finish cooling - a few minutes after he left, Patrick, Lars, and I pulled a large piece off of the tinfoil, went up to his room, knocked on the door, and smashed it over his head when he answered) We ended up with two pretty decent "bottles" of sugar glass - one as a safety close-up (because it was very thin and shattered as we were taking it off of the bottle) and one as a long-shot (much more intact). We gave both a light tint of green watercolor, and huzzah!
That said, what was my first concern really wasn't anywhere near the real "horror" of the shoot. While I should preface this with the fact that I really did have a great time, I nonetheless should recount that, after staying up 'til nearly 6AM with a whole gaggle of people watching Eddie Izzard and making the bottles, we were up and rolling at 8AM. We wandered down to the beach, everyone wrapped up warmly (please remember that we are still hovering around freezing DURING THE DAY around here, and especially on the beach where the wind chill makes it worse...) I was dressed in cargo pants and a short-sleeved, light-weight cotton top. And barefoot. Lars, bless him, was quick to race over with the fleece blanket between shots, but I nonetheless, after filming the first shot, found myself wading thigh-deep into the channel to deposit the bottle into the waves. A few minutes later, I was having bottles thrown at my head (which I barely felt) and falling with a thud to the ground (which I absolutely did feel, as my head smacked the sand each time rather harshly). After this, Ciaran walked up and asked if he could get a shot of me lying down, with the tide rushing over my feet. I stared him down for a moment, wondering if I really valued my friendship with these guys enough... :) But I did - down onto the sand, "knocked unconscious"... unfortunately, we underestimated the tide line, and the surf ended up coming up past my shoulders, completely drenching my back and filling every clothing item with ten tons of sand. (Which is all currently in my shower - heee)
After this, I was pretty much covered in every piece of clothing the guys had brought, wrapped up in the blanket and towel, and set down to "warm up" in the sun while they filmed Will's bits further on down the beach. They fortunately filmed him throwing the bottle into the surf last, because on the last shot, the mouth of the bottle broke off - losing us the cork and completely destroying the note. (whoops) We hiked back home, where I changed into dry clothes, stuck my feet into warm water in the sink, and noticed red blots all along my hairline - where the sugar glass had actually cut me. (double whoops) To be fair, they had brought along a first aid kit - I just hadn't even felt anything.
Flat 4 becoming the film production room, as Lars went about editing the footage while Ciaran popped in and out to check in - and I went about "reading" in my easy chair for a few minutes, before saying screw it, and taking a nap. :)
For now, I need to pack and plan my transport into London tomorrow - from the 19th through the 25th, I'll be in London, dressing "Les Miserables" on the West End. (Woot!)
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