‘Deadness in your eyes’: surviving on set challenges students

Some students in Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts spend their weekends working 12-hour shifts on set. CLARISSE GUEVARRA Staff Photographer

Being a student at Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is virtually a full-time job; most students spend so much time trying to tackle the relentless workloads of their respective programs that they might as well be chained to Marion Knott Studios.

When some Dodge students find themselves with a few rare moments of free time, they savor them, divulging in some well-deserved R&R. Others, being the zealous industry hopefuls they are, take those free moments and spend them working on set. After all, you can’t build a resume sitting down.

The work is extremely gratifying but how they manage to enduring those grueling back to back 12-hour workdays can be a challenge.

I tried my hand at being on set three times last semester – I was Second AC on two APs and a grip on a thesis. I was on set for three consecutive weekends and I was so tired after the first I was tempted to throw in the towel right then and there.

By the third weekend, I had resorted to meditating in between setups in a hackneyed attempt to try to muster some iota of energy to keep me going – but even sitting cross-legged with my palms facing up wasn’t enough to save me from nearly passing out under the craft table.

After that experience, I’ve remained in awe of those Dodge students who march off to set week after week; I have no idea how they’re still kicking. So, I figured I might as well ask a few of them to see if I could learn a thing or two about surviving on set.

Calista Kirk, a freshman documentary and broadcast major, stressed the importance of trying to retain some sense of normalcy during her time on set.

“There’s always a lot of food on set,” Kirk said. “It’s enticing, but you also don’t necessarily have to be eating all day. It was nice just to be eating at normal meal times because then it feels like just a normal day going through the cycles no matter what you’re doing or how long you’ve been working for.”

Riley Stewart, a freshman film production major, just finished up “Rosie,” a thesis film, which he worked on as a construction coordinator and production designer five days a week for nearly a month.

“The deadness in your eyes was honestly very painful for me to see, (Riley),” said Lori Sibun-Handler, freshman television writing and production major and Stewart’s friend who worked as an art PA on the same set.

“I always looked forward to the end,” Stewart said. “I enjoy building; it’s something I love to do. I was creating this thing that’s my baby and so just the thought of finishing it and having this thing built just kept me going.”

When asked how he tried to recover after spending hours and hours in the build shop every day, Stewart said he simply didn’t do anything at all.

“I guess it was kind like of meditation,” he said. “I would just lie perfectly still on my bed. I wouldn’t watch a TV show, play video games, do homework – nothing. I’d just stare up at the ceiling and veg out.” “Vegging out” seemed to be a common through line in these student’s strategies for making it through their long weekends on set. “I’m never getting much sleep so I’ve resorted to just trying to take it easy (on set),” Sibun-Handler said. “Thankfully, with being an art PA, you have a lot of free time because once you’ve set up for a shot you’ve got a while until you’re needed again. So, I would take advantage of every free moment and veg out.”

All these strategies seem fairly rock-solid to me; the fact that these students were even willing to tell me about them is proof enough that they work to at least some extent. Maybe with this newfound knowledge, I’ll muster up the courage to try spending a weekend on set once again.