Pay You Back

This holiday I have had a lot of someone saying to me "I've got this" and me reaching into my wallet saying "Oh, you sure" and them saying "Of course!" Or something to that effect. A lot of people doing nice things for me and then saying "Don't mention it", "Of course", or (in Danish) "It was only so little". I started to feel like I've been building up a lot of "karma debt" and it was worrying me. But not because I was going to be attacked by "bad karma" to balance it off. Just that I feel uncomfortable when I'm indebted so much to so many people.

Last night, in a cab ride home from a pub, I offered my cousin Leanne some money to pay for a little bit of it and she reluctantly accepted, explaining to me "But you're the visitor," which started to put things in perspective for me.

I will pay people back. In some form, some day, somehow. Right now, I don't have the means. I have yet to work a proper long-term, full-time job to accumulate enough money that I don't have to hoard it for personal expenses. I have yet to become a rich successful filmmaker, and at the moment I don't really have anything grand to offer except for my presence and my time.

So in the meantime, those who have given me so much - my friend Elliott and his family, my friend Anna and her family, my English cousins in Brighton/Hove and Titchfield, my friend Paul from travelling, and my friend Vilhelm and his family - will all have to wait. I can give little things - little presents I found, maybe buy a drink or two, or give something I've owned for a while that I don't need anymore but might be nice for them to have. In a way, it's all a motivator for me to make a lot of money or have a nice home - so I will have something to share when the time comes.

So I will not forget! When you come to visit me in Canada, or wherever I may be, I will return the favour (either personally myself or with my lovely family). And when I get a good solid long-term full-time with benefits sort of job... 

I will buy the drinks and pick up the cheques.

House-Hopping In Europe

I love it. And as a result, I have promised several families that they are welcome to stay at my home (rather, my parents' home) when they come to Canada. Right now I am staying with my friend Anna's family in Borum, a village just outside of Aarhus, the second major city in Denmark (it's sort of the "university town"). This is the second Danish family I have lived with since arriving in Denmark. And they're certainly not the last family I'll be staying with while I'm in Europe, or even before the end of the holidays.

On Monday morning, I will be taking good ole reliable cheap RyanAir to Stansted Airport in England to stay with my relatives (on me pa's side) for the week surrounding Christmas! After that, I ship off to Stockholm to be picked up in the middle of the night by my friend Vilhelm to stay with his fam for the week surrounding New Year's. And it looks like he'll have at least one other film school friend joining us.

When it comes down to it, there are two main reasons why house-hopping is the best. One of them is logistical: it saves money. If I stay in a hotel in Aarhus, Brighton, (I will be in a hotel for my few days in London but that's still being with family), and Stockholm, it'll be mega-expensive. But if I stay with families, then my rent and food expenses are drastically reduced (or eliminated!). It means I have money to spend on touristy things, like visiting the Gamle By (historic town) in Aarhus! I can spend my money on these things.

Secondly, staying with a family is way more fun than staying in a dumb ole hotel (exception: if you are staying in that hotel with said family). You get to have family dinners, go to family outings (e.g. family birthday parties, holiday celebrations like St. Morten's Day), and talk to the families about cultural/family things ("Oh you do that here, too!", "Interesting! In our country we do things this way," etc.). It's harder to get those interactions in hotels or hostels. You have to work for them.

So this holiday, I will be a loving member of... three families. I plan to join many more before heading back to Canada in the summer.

Feeling Like A Filmmaker

Up until now, I’ve felt only like a film student. I have studied different aspects of film, tried some things out with my personal 10-minute project, and done exercises in editing, sound, and directing.

However, this past project, the 5-minute short story adaptation, has felt different. The music video was the first project where I felt everyone in the crew put in at least 100% effort, but this project is where I felt everyone became, or at least aimed to be, 100% professional. Dev and I discussed the logistics of his script and really worked hard to make it the best it could be. Merissa toiled endlessly to make sure we could shoot in the locations I wanted and that we had everything needed to make our film the best it could be. Vicky and I worked together to make sure we had good storyboards and a clear idea of how the film should look, then she and Anna set up the lights to make sure we had an actual professional-looking film. Anna set up radio mics and placed the boom strategically to make sure we had great sound. Simon then spliced the best bits together to make each cut flow smoothly, pace the film appropriately, and develop the emotion within the story.

And me... I looked at the monitor and yelled “Action!” and “Cut!”

This, of course, isn’t all that everyone did. We had a very small crew, so some had to fill in for extra job roles, of course. But it really felt like everyone worked hard to make a proper film and that, in the end, that’s what we got.

And so now, at least for me, I feel the bar has been raised. Sure, we might not be able to get this level in our course exercises, but those are for learning. The film projects are for applying what we learned. So my goal for my future projects: to be at least as good as our 5-minute. Of course, maybe I’m hyping up our specific film too much and people will be disappointed.

...But I don’t think so...