Day 5: Garrett Sams: Why, Tysen?

To be honest, for our movie to turn out well, we will need a miracle. It is more likely for Dr. Phil to go back to college to become an actual doctor than for this project to turn out well. That's sad. Dr. Phil is successful, so there's no way he'll go back, and we have 6 hours of footage, so there's no way that I will edit it in its entirety. Why do I have so much footage? Again, I think I am brilliant--the next Hemingway or Speilburg--so I think all my ideas are amazing when, in reality, I am probably 2-for-5 on good ideas.

My day began with me waking up 15 minutes before my scheduled meeting with Dr. Sowell. I have had this meeting scheduled for 2 days, but I was tired, and I snoozed my alarm clock about four different times. I somehow made it to school on time and had time to shower. Wow. That is talent--time talent. On the way to school, I got a call from Ethan Essex. I hung up on him. I could see him calling me, so there was really no point. So, I pulled into the parking lot to see Ethan and Tysen parked next to one another. I am tired of seeing these guys. As much as I love them, I can't go another day.

So we walked into Doc's room and gave him his lines. He asked us if our project was going well. We did not respond to his question. Doc's scenes went very smoothly. Also, today was the first-day Tysen had a spoken line in our movie, and he did fine! He kind of made up for his past mistakes with his deliveries today. What mistakes? Well, today while reviewing footage, I stumbled across a scene in which Tysen, staring directly into the camera, plays with the tripod and talks to himself. I was beyond words. Why, Tysen?  Tysen blamed his mistake on me. He said I didn't correct him during the scene. Ok.

After Doc's room, we traveled to McDonalds to film another scene. I have eaten so much junk food this week. I ate McDonalds and Taco Bell today. My stomach doesn't feel natural. It feels like the way an oil spill looks. Anyway, we were in McDonalds to film one of the many scenes we need to film today, and Tysen ordered two McChickens with only ketchup. Why? He was about to ask for orange juice, but then he realized that he is not 5-years old. We filmed the scene and then realized that a man was in the background. Later, while reviewing the footage, I saw that the man was staring directly into our camera.

After McDonalds, Tysen left us for some reason, and not surprisingly, Ethan and I got more done than we ever imagined. We drove to a park in Clifton and filmed us climb around on the playground. How will you include the park scene, Garrett? I don't know. Please stop asking. I'm really worried about it. I have around 6 hours of footage, and only 2 hours go together. Ethan and I also filmed a scene with Nick Zanchi and Clarke Miller. Nick's dog was acting in an absolutely insane way. It bit me as soon as I walked into the room. That's okay. He didn't break the skin. On another note, Nick needs to feed his dog less food. The dog was quite chubby. Clarke and Nick played park rangers who pulled us over for speeding.

GARRETT, HOW WILL YOU INCLUD--

Stop asking. See above.

I picked up Caroline Doyle at her house. She had nothing better to do, for some reason. She filmed a scene in which Ethan and I drove to Indiana to meet Robert Indiana. I understand how dumb that sounds, and it was dumb. I regretted the decisions to both drives to Indiana and pick up Doyle as I drove over the river. At least I went over the free bridge. On the way home, Ethan and I decided to drop Caroline off at Trinity High School. It was funny to watch Caroline willing exit my car, but it was even funnier to watch her disappear in my rear-view mirror as Ethan and I drove off. Then, we got gas. I was 12 miles until empty. I had been driving around a great deal.

Ethan, Tysen, and I went to Taco Bell to film a scene that, in retrospect, we didn't even need. We had to talk to the manager in order to film inside the "restaurant," and he was kind of what I would call "snippy," but he let us film. Then we ordered food, killing my body and my mental state. When our food came out, I saw my food looked like it had been cooked on hot pavement and was made out of roadkill. I still ate it.

Ethan drove home to take a nap while Tysen was off somewhere, doing something. I stayed home and had a panic attack because I realized that I was a senior.

An hour later, I met Ethan and Tysen at Tysen's house to film a scene. Tysen's dog attacked me. I don't know if I had some sort of scent, but dogs could not keep their teeth off of me. Ethan and I then realized that we didn't have any of the required materials for the scene, so we improvised by saying that the materials were off screen. Oh my lord, this movie is rough.

To film our last scene, we went back to my house and filmed a scene in which we were supposed to eat so many tacos we fell into a fever dream. We were going to use our bag from Taco Bell from earlier as a prop and just say that there were 100 tacos in it. GUESS WHO THREW AWAY THE BAG? That's right. Mr. Tysen Kennedy--right after he lost his keys. Ethan and I had to improvise again. I found leftover Mexican food in the refrigerator and we ate it on camera. I legitimentally felt sick, so I didn't need to act.

When we wrapped filming, I felt a little sad, but I felt more relieved. Ethan went off to some church event, and Tysen went to...I don't know, probably eat or sleep. I saw Ms. Cleaver's play with Claire Williams. As I a writing this post, I am now realizing that I never drove Claire home. In fact, she is asleep in the hallway. I need to drive her home soon. I will wrap this up.

I took away two things in general from this week. Number one: I listened to the entirety of the Beatle's album The Beatles (White Album). I believe it is a strong exploration of personal stylistic development. My favorite songs were "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Glass Onion." "Glass Onion" is a smart song because it pokes fun at the listener. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is great because George Harrison is an underrated songwriter and is my favorite Beatle. I will say, "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and "Helter Skelter" grew on me. Number two: making art is a challenge. what we made is not art. It is entertainment but was still challenging. From scheduling issues to creative differences, we had a rough week, but I think in two months we will have something to show for it. I just need to take a cold shower before I edit it.

--Garrett Sams