Our June-One Second Everyday

It's half way through 2019 and I've managed to keep up with my One Second Every Day videos. Here is a look at our June. 

Happy 13th Birthday Tyler!

THIRTEEN

A teenager! What?

Our first born is officially a teenager today. He has several film related activities this weekend, which is all he really wants to do for his birthday. Dave and I decorated a little bit for him last night, so he woke up to this.

Ava and Lacy decided they'd make a peach pie today, and they made it entirely from scratch all by themselves. Pretty impressive! Here they are working on rolling out their crust and filling the pie.

They even did a lattice on top. That seems to be the hardest part of the pie, but this time, I didn't help at all!

I know this is a post about Tyler's birthday, and so far all of the pictures have been of Ava and Lacy. Here's just one more....the girls also made an ice cream sandwich cake for Tyler too. Nice job, girls! 

Tyler wanted his actors to come over for his birthday to go over some scenes they'd be shooting soon, as well as maybe work on some of the choreography for the fight scenes. Josh, Matt, and his friend Peyton came over, and we invited Grandpa Ed to join us for pie.

This photo needs some explanation, although I'm not sure I can do it justice. Tyler watched a video about how to do something kind of different with his VR headset. In this picture, Peyton is seeing what Tyler's phone is looking at. So, if Tyler pointed away from where Peyton is looking, Peyton would see something other than what was in front of him. It's the strangest thing! They used it to pretend like they were in a video game, like you were Mario but you were seeing the side view of yourself. Weird, and pretty creative!

Here is Tyler trying out one of his practical effects for his shoot on Monday. It's a device he built to create explosions. He puts dirt or flour into the funnel and then pumps air into the tube. When he pushes the button on the control device, it causes an explosion.

They also came up with a game to play with Tyler's Nerf guns. They stuck a balloon to a headband and one person would wear it while the others would take turn trying to shoot the balloon. It kept them busy for quite awhile, surprisingly. 

Lacy was so funny--she was really scared of these Nerf darts hurting her. I like how she's covering her eyes, even though she was facing away from the shooter.

I had also picked up a few cans of silly string, so they had a little battle in the backyard. They made up some game where I had to hid the 4 cans somewhere in the yard, so first they had to find them, and if they didn't they had to run from those who did. If they got shot with the silly string, they had to sit down because they were out. 

Josh and Matt went home, but Peyton and Lacy stayed with us for dinner. Tyler's favorite restaurant lately has been Teharu, a revolving sushi place. He usually only goes when Ava isn't around because she doesn't really like it there. Lacy is with us for a few days because Hailey has a 4 day volleyball tournament, so she got to try sushi for the first time. She tried it, but wasn't a big fan. I texted Kathy and told her she need not worry about Lacy asking to go out for sushi anytime soon. Peyton wasn't a fan of it either, but at least they both tried it.

This one reluctantly joined us for Teharu, but she managed to find something on the menu (not revolving around the room) that she'd eat.

This is officially the first birthday where my first born is taller than me. At age 13, Tyler is over 5'8" and weights about 165 lbs. I know he probably doesn't want that advertised, but for historical purposes, I feel like it's a helpful thing to note in the blog. When he's 40 and telling his own kid about how big and tall he was at age 13, he can look back in this blog for accuracy. Sorry, and you're welcome.

Official "taller than my mom" photo. 

He still has quite a ways to go before he's taller than his dad. What's our prediction? 10th or 11th grade?

Tyler, you are growing into the coolest young man. It's been a great 13 years as your parents, and we are so proud of the person you are becoming. You have always been so passionate about the things that interested you, and you have put in the work and time to learn everything you can about the film business, which will undoubtedly become your career one day. Not many people can say that they knew at age 13 what they wanted to be when they grew up. We have high hopes for you, young man, and are excited to see what the future holds for you. Happy 13th birthday, Tyler! We love you.

Airplane shoot

Day two of Tyler's big birthday weekend filled with film activities. For a long time, Tyler has been working on a film called Legion of Legacies. You may remember that he shot scenes for it on his birthday last year as well. If you look back at that post, please note how much he's grown in this last year!

One of the reasons this film has taken so long to shoot is that he wrote a script that required a ton of different locations (some of them very complex given his age/resources) and a fairly large cast to coordinate. One scene in particular required an airplane. Yes, an actual airplane. Obviously we don't have easy access to an airplane of any kind, much less the specific type Tyler needed. One day recently, Dave and Tyler stopped out to the Falcon Field Airport, a small regional airport in north east Mesa. They asked there, but they said there are too many rules at the airport and that they'd be better off asking some of the local businesses in the airpark. They drove by a airplane hanger that looked like it might have options, and went inside to talk to the manager. Tyler explained what he was doing, and what he was hoping to find, and the manager was very receptive to the idea. He said he'd give Dave a call when he got a plane in that he thought would work. This place works on small airplanes and helicopters, and they have different ones in there at various times. We were a little surprised about two weeks later when he called and said he had a plane for him!

Dave has been super busy at work lately, so was not able to help out with this shoot, but it was on a Friday and I was off work. Ava and Lacy are the main actors in this scene, but he also needed two people to play the parents (Matt and I), who would sit in the pilots seats and act freaked out when the plane starts to go down. Yes, the plane crashes, and spoiler alert, I die for the second time in this movie. 

Tyler loaded up my car with a ton of gear that he needed, and then headed to the hanger. First, however, I wanted to stop at my favorite new cookie shop to get a little thank you gift for the folks who were letting us use their facility today. I also got a box of cookies for these kiddos. So good!

How do you like my haircut? No no, don't worry, it's just a wig. Like I said, I've already died in this film, so Tyler needed me to look a little different. This was actually one of Joyce's wigs. She gave it to me after her first round of cancer. So, I guess you can say she was with us in spirit today. She would have really gotten a kick out of this kid!

The guys at the hanger were so accommodating! We asked if they had any headsets we could use, and of course they did. It really helped make us look like pilots, don't you think?

Tyler was going to need to put in some clouds and sky "in post," so brought some green poster board to serve as green screen. We didn't ask for it, but they offered to let us turn the battery on in the plane so the lights and screens would turn on. They said we could push buttons (just not a few specific ones). This definitely helped to make it look more real! The pamphlet Matt has in his hands was instructions as to what to do in the event of engine failure. That was helpful! He was trying to figure out what buttons he'd actually be pressing if it was happening.

The shot of me and Matt was pretty quick and easy. We just had to act like we were panicking a bit after realizing we were going down. There was no speaking, and the shot was from behind us. After that, it was Ava's turn. Let me mention here how hot it was inside this airplane. It's late June, and this airplane hanger wasn't well air conditioned (if at all), and their hanger door was open. They had fans running, but it was still warm. Once you got inside the actual plane, it was stifling. And, Ava and Lacy both had to have long sleeves on because that's what they were wearing in all the other shots. Here is poor Ava fanning herself while Tyler was getting set up. 

Next up was Lacy's shots--do you see the puffy jacket she's wearing? It was warm for sure. One of the guys who was helping us out asked if we needed anything, and I mentioned that we were pretty warm in there. He promptly brought us a huge fan and pointed it into the plane. It was much better! I sent this picture to Kathy and she said "is she supposed to be famous." No, but she is supposed to be a rich kid traveling in her parents' private jet.

 The last shots are of the girls together. Shortly after this, they hear a jolt and realize something is wrong with the plane. I think they did a great job acting in this one. This plane was an air ambulance, which turned out to be just right. It had the two seats, which is all he needed, but also had a large space in the middle where he had room to set his camera and tripod. I'm not sure how he would have done it if the plane had been any smaller.

This is Lacy's scared face....

Here's a look at the hanger we were in--and the open door. 

It was a fun little shoot, and it's really cool to see Tyler in his element. We were very appreciative of the folks at Precision Heli Support for accommodating Tyler's request and supporting his project. We're excited to see this project wrap up, hopefully after just a few more big shoots, two of which are yet to happen this weekend. It'll be quite an accomplishment!

Touring the SCC Film School

Today is the start of a pretty full birthday weekend for Tyler. We have a few different things planned between now and Monday that are all related to his movie making. I'm not sure I've written about it before, but Scottsdale Community College has a really great 2 year Film School. Since it is part of the college system I work for, Tyler will be able to attend tuition free, as either of my kids (or me or Dave) could to any of our colleges. It's quite the perk for sure. I know he's only an 8th grader, but he could actually start taking classes at the community colleges in high school if we think he's ready. What I imagine will happen is that he'll take classes at my campus first, the basic classes that he can get anywhere. There are plenty of opportunity for dual enrollment during high school. Once he has his own car, he can think about starting the film program at SCC. 

I made plans for us to get a tour of the facilities and learn more about the program. The exciting part for Tyler was to see "the cage," which is where they store all of the cameras, equipment, and gear for the program. I don't know what 90% of this stuff was, but Tyler certainly seemed to, and it was pretty exiting. The first thing she showed us is this cart looking thing here. I don't remember what it's called, but it runs along tracks and you'd mount a camera on it. It can drive fast next to something moving so the camera follows the thing or person. I also know that it's super expensive and they lease it from a company. Students get trained in using this and all of the equipment here, and once they've been trained, they can check it out for use on their own (school related) projects. 

Ava's pointing at the label on the top of this cabinet that indicates that the prop weapons are stored here. This cabinet is locked up, and students have to have special permission and involve college police before they are allowed to use any prop weapons.

These are the tracks that the first machine run on. Looks like they're for a roller coaster.

She opened up one of the cabinets that held various cameras. Apparently students all learn to shoot with a film camera before they get to use the digital cameras. Here he is holding an old film camera.

There are many thousands of dollars worth of cameras in this cabinet. I think Tyler's jaw dropped when he started reading the labels. They're some of his "dream cameras," and he'd just get to USE them when he's a student here! On the bottom in those larger boxes are the really big cameras--one is called an Red Epic, which he's always talking about. It's only about $30k, so no big deal.

The woman that was giving the tour was so helpful and informative. She worked in the film industry in California for a long time before coming to this area. She seemed very knowledgeable about the business, and I was able to have many of my questions answered about things like whether or not he needs to do film school for a bachelors degree (she said the masters degree is what matters), recommendations for good universities, and more. She also gave us a ton of info about the classes the students take, projects, how they work as teams, facilities they use and so much more. While we were chatting about various aspects of the industry and program, Tyler got asked by one of the faculty members if he wanted to help with something. I'm not sure they actually needed his help, but more recognized that he'd think it was cool to be asked. The guy on the left is one of the faculty members, and the other guy is a student who works in the cage. I bet Tyler would love to have that job in college!

After our time in the cage, she took us a few of the studios they use for the program. This one has all sorts of stage sets that can be designed and rearranged for various projects they may be doing. It also has all the lighting they will learn to use.

This second studio had more equipment for their broadcasting classes, and includes a huge green screen.

There were sound booths with sound equipment they get to use. It was so cool to see all of this, and it was fun for Tyler to get an idea of what to expect when it comes to a college film program. They have a few different paths students can choose to follow, which will determine the classes they can take. They can specialize in one thing, and get certifications in other aspects as well. You can visit their website to see info on the programs offered.

Gotta love these faces they make when I ask them to take a picture. Ava was a trooper during all of this, but I think she was done being patient by this point. This was a fun day! I'm excited that Tyler could have the opportunity to start his education here at SCC, home of the Artichokes!