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August 2nd was a great day for me. During the first half of that day, I observed “scoring” for the first time, which was my favorite memory while working on
The Guardian. I had been told that scoring is one of the most exciting parts of the movie making process, much more so than filming or editing. If I had to describe a scoring session, I would say it's almost a little like the Academy Awards. There is a full orchestra and the movie is projected simultaneously on a screen. They dim the lights, then the red “recording” light turns on and the orchestra starts up. When you see the opening scene of The Guardian, you will be hearing the music I heard being recorded live on the stage. And if you haven't seen this movie yet, I promise that you will love it just as much as I did when I saw it!
The second half of August 2nd was the party in West Hollywood for the FYI contest. A famous French Canadian singer named “Morganne” and her band played jazz music that evening. I accidentally asked a famous movie star, Sean Young, who was standing next to me to take a picture of me and somebody else with my camera, since I didn't realize who she was. I got a chance to speak for a couple minutes to thank all the people and companies involved with the contest. I thought I was free for a while, but I was immediately interviewed twice by different TV stations. One of the news anchors, Ted Garcia of KTLA, was kind enough to send me a tape of the newscast, although I haven't tracked down the other one yet.
It was fun to be on the set of the third Pirates movie,
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I made it to that set while they were filming the scene with Jack Sparrow and a white-haired man. They are in a room down inside the boat talking and then some sort of explosion or cannon goes off. The director blew a fog horn (those things at basketball games) when the explosion was supposed to happen. That loud noise scared all of us every time and got the actors to react as if there really had been an explosion. It also scared the cameraman, which made the camera shake as well. I was later introduced to Johnny Depp in person. He was such a nice guy!…no ego whatsoever. He shook my hand a couple times and was patting me on the shoulder. I guess he treats everybody he meets like they're his friends. He asked me how long I had been on that show, and I told him that I wasn't on that show in particular and that I was just with Disney in general. He was like “oh, same thing…” in that exact same pirate voice he does on screen. His gold teeth are definitely real! He later did a shot during that same scene where he would start off by looking out a window holding a fan, and then he would turn around and read his line. The camera wasn't pointing directly at the window, so I figured I could watch from right outside the window. Whenever he was waiting for them to say action, he would look at me right through the window and I'd always take a step or two back…I felt like he was trying not to laugh sometimes. That day was also the day that I walked into Disney and everybody told me they liked my picture in the “Hollywood Reporter” that was taken at the party in West Hollywood a few nights before. I wasn't sure what they were talking about at first, but then they showed me a copy of it…hilarious…
Recently, a reporter asked me “what are you discovering, and what are your overall impressions of Disney?” I said that I hadn't realized how much genius and hard work go into the many different aspects of the jobs when they make a movie. The different “color timers” use their unique talents to get just the right skin tone in every single shot before it gets released. Many people help to churn out one brilliant script before any of the production even starts. Others have the ability to watch a short clip on a monitor and identify with their naked eye where every miniscule piece of dust is. I also didn't know that there is a person named “Doc” who is known as being the best person in town for ADR. The several “shows” that I was on all used Doc for their ADR. I think that's representative of how every single Disney show has the best of the best working on it, in every department. I used to think that people in Hollywood simply had “good equipment” to get a professional-looking product. But now I'm seeing how many extremely hard-working people it really takes to get a professional end product. Movies aren't the result of just having good cameras or equipment, they're the result of hundreds of creative people laboring for many thousands of hours. All that hidden effort creates an illusion of glamour for the consumer. Next year when I watch the Oscars, I'll be thinking about the tremendous team of dedicated people that it takes to make a great film.
I'm so thankful for everything that has happened during the past several months. I know that God has a plan for us, and it is awesome to see how He has let this past summer unfold for me. This experience has also been proof to me that hard work does eventually pay off. There's no magic to success, even at Disney! There were many times in the past when I found myself spending hours upon hours upon hours editing volunteer projects for people and I often wondered if people realized the great
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