Week five started off with a busy schedule, which I was hoping to have a good night sleep for, but I didn’t find out until 11 p.m. Sunday that I was going to have to be downtown Monday morning at 6:30 a.m. This means that I was going to have to be up at 4:45 Monday morning to catch an early train. Thank you Greg. Fortunately for me, I can take an hour nap on the ride up, so I shouldn’t complain too much.

Man I sure was tired on the train ride into the office.

As soon as I arrived at the office, Ed and I started to unload equipment to bring up to the office. We had a young actress, Whitney, coming in to the office to be our talent for a video. I’m pretty used to loading and unloading the truck by now, but I did have a unique experience while bringing equipment up to the building.

Instead of using the front door and the main elevators, we had to bring the equipment down the side of the building and up through the service elevator. Ok, that doesn’t sound too unique, but it gets better. As Ed and I got to the ramp up to the building, we had a tough time getting to the ramp. There is scaffolding on the side of the building for God knows what. (All I’ve heard about it is that there are workers drilling into the building.) They have little rooftops built so if anything falls, it will not hit anyone down below. Ed and I worked and worked to squeeze the fully loaded carts of equipment through this tight space to get to the ramp. We were pushing and turning and lifting over and over. It was very cramped. Ed decided to go to the front of the cart and pull while I was at the other and of the cart to push. We start to move everything up the ramp and I slip, almost falling back to the ground. Somehow I caught myself, but that wasn’t even the worst part of it. I look down to see what I slipped on, and there was some dog poop there looking up at me. I look at Ed and say, “Wow, who the heck walks their dog way back here in the alley?” Ed was quick to respond, telling me that there aren’t any dogs that come back here. I’m sure you can put two and two together…it wasn’t pretty.

I dont think that anyone ever walks their dog here...

Slating is a very tough, and important job.

Whitney did a great job on her scenes against the green screen we set up in the office. She said it looked like I was a good slate operator too, which made me blush a bit.

Our talent worked out great. We finished the shoot with her fairly quickly, packed the equipment up, and then we were off to UIC Medical Center once again to finish shooting for the Transparent Health Project. Ed and I shipped off to UIC right away and got all the equipment into the hospital. We had asked Tim, one of the doctors working with us, where we should stage all the equipment. All of the hallways are pretty tight, and we didn’t want to leave our equipment in a place where it would be in the way. Tim found us a hallway that he thought wasn’t going to be used, so we staged everything there. Tim ran off to a meeting, and Ed and I waited for Michael and Greg to show up. While waiting, I think everyone in the hospital came through that hallway. And many people came through wondering what movie we were filming. As much as I wanted to tell them we were shooting some important scene for some big film, I didn’t. I still want to do that before the summer is over though…I will.

Scrubs just make you look smarter in my opinion.

We initially set up for scenes in the operating room. This time, our entire crew was wearing scrubs. We were all able to make cameos as extras in the project, but I think Kromm had the best cameo. During a staged operating scene, Michael was in the background creeping through a tiny window. He really isn’t that easy to spot, but it gave me a good laugh to see him in the background.

Getting ready to film in the operating room at UIC.

Reviewing a scene. I had to read the narration out loud to make sure the scene timing was correct.

We finished up shooting there, and Greg, Michael and I hitched a ride with the other doctor we worked with, David. David drove a beautiful Mercedes Benz, which I think Greg partially broke. As soon as we got into the car, the dome light would stay on, and nobody could figure out what was wrong. Greg seemed pretty worried about it, so I thought it would be easiest to blame it on him.

Loading up at 11pm after a 17 hour day of filming

The long day ended late, so instead of heading home to New Lenox for the night, I ended up staying with Michael and Greg downtown. We got back and immediately had a drink to celebrate the end of a long, successful day. We were all starving, so we threw out ideas for food. I don’t think I’m too picky, but I did make sure that they were not planning on having any sort of seafood. Pizza was the first choice, but instead we ordered some Chinese. We all made a giant plate of food, and all talking ceased. We turned on an episode of Deadliest Catch, and just demolished our plates. It was like none of us had eaten anything in weeks. I don’t know if any of us were even breathing. As soon as I finished eating, I had to lie down before I fell into a coma on the couch.

The next morning we took the train into town, and we had a much more relaxed day. I did make sure to grab my McDonalds breakfast to start the day off right. I was busy uploading production photos and videos on to the SolidLine Media Facebook page. I know it sounds like it is a quick task, but when there are roughly 20-30 picture albums, and 15-25 videos to upload, it can take some time.  Plus, Mike Petrik kept bugging me with his silly faces. 

Mike Petrik can be really distracting.

Also, I did get somewhat sidetracked watching some of the Michael Jackson memorial on television, which was ridiculous. I uploaded as many albums and videos until it was time to go, and then I was off to New Lenox and back to cutting grass.  I’ve gotta make some money somehow! All in all, the two days flew by, and the SolidLine crew was able to get a lot accomplished.

cb

You can contact summer intern Mike Radostits (aka “Cornbread”) at cornbread@solidlinemedia.com. 

For more information about SolidLine Media, visit us online at www.solidlinemedia.com.  Or call 312-939-8600.

Copyright 2009 SolidLine Media, a division of KV Media Group, Inc.

We unfortunately didn’t have a shoot Monday or Tuesday, so Tuesday I started off working in the office. At first I wasn’t sure what I was going to be doing. Greg seemed to be living on the phone in the office, Michael was running around doing different things, and Petrik was just real excited because he had an enormous cookie cake left over. I believe Greg bought the cake for Mike because his birthday was over the weekend. The cake was delicious, but way too big. As I sit here writing my blog, the cookie cake still sits on the table next to me, waiting to be eaten.

This is all Greg does all day long...drink coffee and talk to people. Not sure who he is talking to, but I bet its his mom a lot.

A lot of SolidLine clients think Mike Petriks name is Patrick because everyone around the office calls him Petrik. Of course noone ever corrects the clients...

 I wrote my blog as soon as I came into the office, but then I got into some serious business. SolidLine is currently switching their Facebook pages from one to another. They now have vanity websites, so Greg wants everything switched to a new Facebook page for some reason. Anyway…SLM has many videos and pictures on the initial Facebook page, documenting productions and showing off some final projects from the past few years. I was given the job to re-upload these pictures and videos with the same captions, descriptions, locations, and people tagged correctly. Now, this may seem like some silly, quick job, but it is not. When you have to take 31 photo albums, along with over 20 videos, and re-upload them with the correct information, it will take a decent amount of time. I did get quite a few albums uploaded, and only 2 videos. Now, I wasn’t slacking off with the videos, we just kept having trouble uploading the videos. The Facebook page continually froze up, so all we could do was retry to upload the videos.

Check out the new SLM Facebook page and become a Fan at www.facebook.com/solidlinemedia.

We did have a shoot on Wednesday though. I was able to do some traveling again. This time, the destination was Wisconsin!!! Too bad the actual destination was Rockford, IL. I drove up to Rockford myself early Wednesday morning, but this time no McDonald’s breakfast before the road trip. I waited until the Belvidere Oasis on I-90 for my McDonald’s treat.

Well back to the drive. So I had directions to get to Greg’s house for the shoot, but there was a TON of construction on the way up there. I was half asleep, and definitely missed my detour exit that I was supposed to take. Now there is this clock tower that is connected to a hotel, or something, along I-90. It’s north of Rockford. Now the only reason that building is significant is because when I was young, my parents used to take my family to Wisconsin, and that was where we stopped for breakfast every year on our way up. I knew that clock tower was close to the Wisconsin border, so when I drove past it last Wednesday, I knew I was going to most likely be visiting the great state of Wisconsin soon. And with the construction, it seemed that a lot of the exits on the highway were closed, so I had to make a decent drive north of Rockford, just to drive back the same way to get back to Greg’s. I did find Greg’s no problem after I turned around, but I was there by myself.

This is the last thing you will see before you hit Wisconsin. If you are going to Rockford, get off here!

Greg said "just follow the rainbow Cornbread...and he was right!"

Greg and Ed had taken off to go get the truck, so I was able to relax in my car and close my eyes while I waited. That nap was short lived when they arrived about 30-40 minutes later, and the real day began. Ed and I unloaded the truck and set up inside Greg’s living room to interview high school students. While unloading, I was able to get my first look at the retrofitted SolidLine Media golf cart. I should call it a luxury vehicle now. Greg and Michael had it custom fitted with turn signals, brake lights, headlights, and a horn to scare people out of their way. I must admit that it’s a pretty sweet golf cart. I still need to get a chance to get that thing to full power on the road. My day will come…

Here are the new golf cart lights in action in Chicago...

SO Ed and I set up the scene for the interviews. We set up fairly quickly, and after that, all we needed were the students to interview, but they weren’t coming for 90 minutes. While Greg was doing whatever downstairs in his home office (he said he was working…), Ed and I watched some serious Wimbledon tennis action. Both of us agreed that tennis isn’t the greatest sport. Although four students were supposed to show up, only two did. It was a bit unfortunate, but we were able to work around it. Greg actually threw me into the mix to be interviewed…saying “hey, you are a student.”

Here I am doing some lighting and sound tests...

Chelsey, one of the teen interviews, did some poses for her introduction.

Greg really wanted to do a "GO Team" thing after the shoot...it wasn't really that 'inspiring' but he felt good about it...

We interviewed the students, and we were able to break everything down and reload it into the truck by 3pm. Again, another smooth shoot, and another good week at SolidLine Media.

cb

You can contact summer intern Mike Radostits (aka “Cornbread”) at cornbread@solidlinemedia.com. 

For more information about SolidLine Media, visit us online at www.solidlinemedia.com.  Or call 312-939-8600.

Copyright 2009 SolidLine Media, a division of KV Media Group, Inc.

Last week I actually spent some time in the office. Since I’ve started my internship here, it’s been all go all the time. We were doing a different shoot every time I would come in. It was great. We were all over the place. Greg broke the news to me that I would be getting some office time in, but I didn’t know what to expect. I had been to the office before, but one time was for my interview and the other was to grab some water before we shipped off to Notre Dame. So really I hadn’t been in the office yet to work, but I was still looking forward to seeing what it was like when SolidLine wasn’t running all over the country on different shoots. I really didn’t know what to expect. I’ve never really been in an office type environment. I’ve been cutting, trimming, and edging grass for the past three summers, so being inside an office in Chicago was going to be a big change. A cleaner change.

I was a bit nervous going into the office, but I got myself together and finally headed through the door.

I arrived to the office and was not sure where my desk would be, so I waited in the waiting room. But nobody came to get me so I eventually got up and headed further into the office.

The Solidline crew is very relaxed in the office, but they still are able to get things done when they need to be done. We had a creative meeting and talked about upcoming projects. I was also able to watch Michael edit some video, which was overwhelming a bit, because Michael just flies through the editing. I think he was saying about 10,000 words a minute, explaining different things on Avid, but I felt I kept up quite well. Michael did have an issue with captioning for a video, and he got all worked up for nothing. He was worried that something was wrong, or he was sent the wrong thing, or it was something with the time code. We ended up having a brief meeting while he was trying to figure this out, and the actual problem with the situation was Michael’s patience. If we would have just waited, everything would have worked just fine. But we jumped the gun, thought there was some big problem, and we were wrong. Oops. Hey-at least I learned another important lesson about being patient.

Michael got frustrated and I was not sure what to do, so I just sat there.

We also met with the Evans Scholars to discuss a new project about a caddy training video, as well as a video about the Evan Scholarship, which is awarded to caddies that excel. The meeting seemed to go really well, but I thought it turned out to be GREAT because the Evans Scholars client, another Michael, was talking about wanting to get Tiger Woods and Bill Murray to do intros and outros for the video. Now, I don’t know how serious he was about this, but he seemed pretty confident that something could be worked out.

Oh, and our meeting with Mike from the Evans Scholars closed with a bang. My name, Cornbread, seemed to become an official title. I was introduced as the summer intern, Mike, but Greg and Michael told him that I was also known as “Cornbread” because there are 3 Mikes in the office, and “Mike” and “Michael” were already taken. Now I hope you can follow me, but Michael from the Evans Scholars, even after all our talking about the new project, stood up, shook my hand and said, “Hey it was nice to meet you Cornbread.” Greg, Michael, and Ed all got a good laugh out of it, as did I. It was like I was “knighted”, but instead of being called “Sir,” I was going to be known as Cornbread.

Michael and Greg got a kick out of the client calling me "Cornbread"

I did have a slow part of the day, organizing business cards for Greg. He told me he had some business cards for me to go through for him, but when he pulled out three large stacks, I knew the day was going to slow down. He assured me that this was apart of working. It wasn’t going to be all fun all the time, like when we are out on shoots. I was understanding, and I started to get tired after organizing the business card information. I was scanning the cards into the computer, and correcting any mistakes the scanner would make . I thought I would breeze right through it, but I was terribly wrong. Over four hours and 204 business cards, I had finished. I gave Greg his business cards back, but he wasn’t concerned with everything being stored, he was worried about the actual business cards being in the same order as they were when he gave them to me. They definitely were not, but hey, all the information was in the computers.

Scanning business cards is an important job

The scanner only really grabbed about 75% of the information correctly...

We finished Wednesday with a recording session of the talent for the Transparent Health video. It was interesting to see how that was done, because it was over the phone. The talent recorded it, while we just listened in on the phone lines making sure he was at the right pace and correct tone. That went well until Greg laughed at me because I began to give my two cents about the recording. I was asking if he was saying the correct thing, or pronouncing words correctly. Greg, as well as everyone else here at SolidLine, likes to keep things “cool” in the office, so everyone will give each other a hard time so nobody gets too serious. It keeps the crew calm and focused.

We finished off the week with a shoot at UIC Medical Center on Thursday. We were reenacting scenes for the Transparent Health video. I did my usual, unloaded and put together equipment. Oh, and since I’ve gotten such great knowledge on using the slate, I was able to control that for a bit as well. But when they needed more actors for a few scenes, Greg was quick to nominate me as a volunteer. I’m no actor by any means, but I thought I handled myself quite well on camera. I threw on some scrubs and got to work. Now when I say I got to work, all I was doing in scenes was helping a doctor take care of a patient with other doctors and nurses. Greg continued to re-assure me that I was doing a great job, so I continued with my award winning performance throughout the night.

No matter where we go, the truck always looks pretty cool.

The crew gathers to review the production notes and script.

Here I am acting. I should be getting my SAG card soon...

Our clients kids helped us act in the shoot, and of course they loved the slate. I was pretty proud to be Slate Operator at this point.

Mike and Ed obviously called each other the morning of the shoot because they wore the same SolidLine polo...

The shoot went as smooth as it could go, and we got a variety of different shots completed. At 11pm we finally finsihed the shoot. We packed up the equipment, loaded up the truck, and the day was done. Well, I drove Ed home first, and then my day was done. Everything went as smooth as possible, and another week was in the books at SolidLine. 

I am getting pretty good at loading...even at night.

Week 4 is just around the corner…

You can contact summer intern Mike Radostits (aka “Cornbread”) at cornbread@solidlinemedia.com. 

For more information about SolidLine Media, visit us online at www.solidlinemedia.com.  Or call 312-939-8600.

Copyright 2009 SolidLine Media, a division of KV Media Group, Inc.

I only worked one day this week, but that Monday was jammed packed. I drove out to meet the crew at a sound stage in Aurora. I was able to pick up a McGriddle meal from McDonalds, which was a great start. When I arrived everyone said: “Hi Cornbread!” I guess that’s my nickname for the summer.  I think it has a nice ring to it. We began the day around 7 a.m., pulling equipment inside and setting up. Set up was a bit slow because we had some issues with the set we were building, and lighting could not begin until those issues were resolved. It was like a sauna in the studio at first, but then Tom, the lighting director, turned the air down to 68, so then it became freezing, which was ok because I would rather be cold than hot. But I sort of wish I had a jacket…

Loading the gear into the stage.

We set up one camera on a tripod, another camera on the jib, and I worked another camera on the side of the set getting reactions from the students. I felt like an auto mechanic taking the wheels off the jib and putting on the wheels (called Hot Buttons I learned) for the jib to roll on a track. Once we got our set together and set up all our equipment, we were ready to start rolling. Alexis Jones (who was on Survivor!) was the first person we were working with. She flew in from Los Angeles, and she was there to speak to high school students about their future for a new production for the National Society of Leadership & Success (that’s the client).

Here we are finalizing the lighting for the shoot.

The kids were quite excited to meet Alexis in the Green Room after Chuck introduced her!

One of the stage hands was actually ironing this couch to make it look better. I am surprised I didn't get that job!

Here is the set we built, with the kids in place and Alexis warming up

Ms. Jones spoke about some great subjects, which were quite inspiring. While I was shooting the reactions of the students, it seemed that some of the girls were starting to tear up. Ms. Jones definitely worked some magic on those kids if you can bring tears to their eyes just by talking. She really knew how to make someone believe that anything in life is possible. I admit I am starting to think so too!

It was a very intimate setting for the shoot. It worked out great.

After we finished her part, we had an awesome grill session out by the truck. The burgers and polish sausages hit the spot. Greg was a bit worried about how much he should eat, and after we guilted him into eating another polish sausage, he seemed to become a totally different person. He seemed a little upset that he ate it because he was full, but I’m sure he was satisfied with the polish sausage dessert.

Everyone loved the lunch break at the truck, Michaels wife Lindsey grilled up some tasty burgers and dogs.

Looking on during the blue screen filming...by this time in the day I was getting quite tired.

Here I am pretty much just standing in the background.

As the day began to wind down, our crew began to get pretty tired. We had all talked about not getting enough sleep the night before, and after running around all day and shooting all day, it began to get to us. It seemed to really get to Greg. He kept telling me to get up there and slate, which I was trying to do, but I had to re-write numbers and information on the slate. Oh, he also made sure I slated the next shot quicker and quicker, so I became quite good at using a slate.

Manning the Slate is an important job...at least thats what the guys tell me...

We were able to finish everything we needed to, but at the end of the day, we had worked about fifteen hours. I thought I was tired, but the high school students that were in the scene with Alexis Jones must have been exhausted. They rode in from Rockford with the crew, and after they were used as our audience, they had to sit in a green room and the truck for most of the time, which actually think was fun for them based on the fact that both places looked completely destroyed.

The kid actors had a blast hanging out on the truck during their downtime. And they got paid. I wonder if I will ever get paid?

But, more than likely, some of the kids were losing their minds waiting around. As the day went on past 7pm some of the parents were calling. It was cute hearing the parents were worried and wondering when their kids were going to be back to home. It sounds like my mom. She is always sure to make sure that I’m ok and everything is going well at the internship. You gotta love moms. But fortunately for kids, they earned a little money for an easy days work. I, however, did not earn any money. Greg and Michael keep telling me: “Experience is better than any paycheck I could receive.” They are probably right.

I am starting to realize there is a lot of loading and unloading in the video business.

Although the day was long, it was very productive, and a great learning experience. And that’s my 2nd week as SolidLine intern. We will see what next week brings…

You can contact summer intern Mike Radostits (aka “Cornbread”) at cornbread@solidlinemedia.com. 

For more information about SolidLine Media, visit us online at www.solidlinemedia.com.  Or call 312-939-8600.

Copyright 2009 SolidLine Media, a division of KV Media Group, Inc.

My first day kicked off quite well. It was exciting going out on a shoot for the first day. I met the rest of the crew at this condo high rise, and immediately we got to work unpacking the truck and getting it to the 21st floor. I thought the view from the condo was awesome, but we were there for work. Putting all the equipment together was somewhat overwhelming. I hadn’t used any of the equipment Solidline uses, so I was trying my best to remember what went where. The interview for Transparent Health went great, although it was a tough subject to talk about. Mrs. Blackman, our interviewee, did a wonderful job with the interview. When the day wrapped up, it was once again tough figuring out what equipment went in what case, but the crew was helpful. I almost had a heart attack when I was lowering down a C-stand and a screw on the stand used for tightening other equipment down came out, dropped about three feet, and landed on a glass table top. Fortunately for me, the glass held strong, I survived, and the day was over.

I load gear from the truck with Ed while on location in Chicago on my first day.

Heading to Notre Dame was a great experience. I had never been to the campus. We all met up downtown outside the office, and I got my first look at the inside living quarters of the SolidLine Media truck. The truck, bus, or whatever you want to call it was something to see. I loved the set up inside, and it was great having all the equipment packed up in the back. Now sleeping in a Wal-Mart parking lot was an interesting experience, but definitely not a bad one. We parked outside a South Bend Wal-Mart after setting up our cameras at Notre Dame, and we were able to sit around, grill, and get to know each other a little better. I also got to experience the Wal-Mart shopping experience with the team. Greg Vass had a decently bruised ankle, so he rolled around Wal-Mart in a handicap cart. He was excited, and so were the rest of us. Showering the next morning was nuts. Making a warm water temperature was tough, but I figured it out.

Shopping with injured Greg during production trip to Notre Dame

Loading food and drink to the bus in Indiana

They made me take the carts back to WalMart after loading truck

We had quite an interesting shoot at Notre Dame for Learning Point Associates. The day was a bit long, but I was surprised that I was able to use a camera and actually shoot some stuff. Again, a heart attack almost occurred when I wheeled out an enormous cart full of equipment, caught the curb, and spilled it all over the street outside the building. I’m glad Greg was able to get pictures taken to make sure the screw-up was documented.

I knocked over a cart at Notre Dame full of film gear.

I got back on my feet after tipping over the cart and continued to load the truck with the crew.

Here is Greg, Ed, and myself outside the location at Notre Dame. Greg pretty much got made fun of all day by everyone, including the client!

Michael and Greg are obsessed with the golf cart. For real, they take pictures of it everywhere...

Heading out to the Boston area, I was very excited. I always wanted to head out east, but never really got the chance to. The bus drive out there was extremely long. Much longer than I expected. I really underestimated how long it was going to take to drive through the state of New York. It felt like a day in itself heading out there.

Michael Kromm taught me how to fuel a semi truck. 150 gallons goes fast.

Stopping off for the night in Ohio

When we arrived in Boston, we were fortunate enough to stay with a family friend, Ann, that lived right outside the city. We weren’t supposed to be driving the huge truck on her street, so we wanted to sneak the truck into her driveway as quick as possible. Ann had some trees hanging over the end of the driveway at the street, so I was able to take my landscaping experience and put myself to work with Greg…cutting down limbs while Michael drove the truck into the driveway. We did make it in after a while, but I was wounded. A tree branch scratched my face, but I guess it was alright…kept me looking a little tough. I was the odd ball out at dinner. Ann and her husband Michael insisted we ate dinner with them, so they set their eyes on ordering seafood. Now I hate seafood, so I ordered a cheeseburger, which was still quite tasty.

I trimmed trees from the ground in Boston before we could get the truck down the drive.

It was a tight fit for the truck to get through the tree covered drive

Holding trees back from the truck

Greg Vass cuts limbs from the other end of the roof. Not sure why he decided to go up there, especially since he still had the air cast on his foot. But I didn't say anything...

Finally, the rig is parked for the night and the Boston seafood dinner can begin

The next morning at our shoot, everything seemed to go great. We had a small time frame to get things done, so we worked efficiently and fast to get things done. I enjoyed seeing some of Harvard, and the Harvard Faculty Club, where we had our shoot, was a great building to shoot in. I handled the boom microphone for a bit, which was beyond tiring. Standing in those awkward positions holding a mic completely above you’re head was exhausting, but I was able to get it done. We had a great ride back, drove though the night, got back to Chicago at 4 a.m., and called it a successful trip.

On location at the Harvard Faculty Club. Getting ready to boom Dr. Lucian Leape.

Loading the truck on the streets of Cambridge, MA. Then back to Chicago...

And that’s what I did during my first week as Summer Intern at SolidLine Media. I wonder what will be next? Stay tuned…

You can contact summer intern Mike Radostits (aka “Cornbread”) at cornbread@solidlinemedia.com. 

For more information about SolidLine Media, visit us online at www.solidlinemedia.com.  Or call 312-939-8600.

Copyright 2009 SolidLine Media, a division of KV Media Group, Inc.