Day 16: Behind the scenes on NCIS

1/21/2020: Today we went to the lot for NCIS. We met with Scott Williams one of the head writers on the show. He walked us around the lot showing us various sets of the show like Ducky's Lab, the main headquarters, and their street set. Then we sat and had lunch with Scott Williams and we talked with him about his writing and how he goes about writing scripts and his crazy story on how he became a writer for the show. Then we went and talked to a colorist from Encore who went to TC3.

Day 15: How to get behind the Hollywood sign? Get your stuff stolen

1/20/2020, What a crazy day today was. First we went to Creative Creature Engineering. There we saw the process that artists go through to create monsters for features. We started the tour by talking to the companies owner for almost an hour. Andrew the owner of the company was really cool to talk to because he built his company from just an idea he had into a full fledged well established monster maker. We saw the process from modeling, to casting, to painting, to finishing touches like cloth. After that we went and watched 1917 in theaters. Check my snapchat for my movie review. Finally later that night we met up with a cop that Professor X and Lucas had made friends with. He took us up to a restricted area above the Hollywood sign and we got to see the the whole city of LA from thousands of feet in the air. An amazing ending to the day.

Day 14: The Most Magical Place in the World

1/12/20: We went to Disneyland today which was just another amazing experience to add to the trip. Of course we headed straight for the new Star Wars world in the back of the park. They had really gone over the top with building the area I truly felt like I was standing on another planet. We got to drink blue milk and ride on the Millennium Falcon. After we had explored all that Star Wars had we rode The Haunted Mansion which was my personal favorite ride. We rode Thunder Ridge Mountain, Space Mountain, and the train around the park multiple times. Overall a really amazing day and just so weird to think about that somewhere that huge and creative all started because a man in the 20's was really good at running his animation company.

Day 13: We Got Robbed

1/18/20, This morning we got lunch with director Michael Kehoe. He is a producer, writer, and director of multiple movies and worked on some big movies like Black Panther and Almost Famous. Meeting him and being able to talk to him was how to break into the industry. After that we went to Paramount and got a tour of the lot. We saw where The Godfather and Citizen Kane were filmed which were just so cool since they are some of the greatest movies ever made. Later in the evening we went to the American Legion and watched a previously unseen version of Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush. This was easily one of the funniest movies I've seen in a long time. It was also accompanied by a live piano player which made the night even better. After that we got to go see the projectors and how they work. Of course after that great and interesting day we go out to the parking lot and find that our van's door had been busted open and Lucas's laptop was stolen. Definitely a good ending to a good day.

Day 12: Norman Bates Almost Got Us

1/17/20, Today was the trip to Universal. We were able to take a tour of the back lots of Universal Studios. This means we saw sets spanning back decades. We saw sets from Back to the Future, cowboy sets that John Wayne shot movies on, and my personal favorite the actual set of The Bates Motel from 1960. Seeing the place where some of the best movies ever were filmed really put into perspective why I'm here and why I want to make my own some day. After that we went to Sony Pictures Animation. There we got to talk to a concept artist who showed us her work on a commercial for Hotel Transylvania 3. She talked to us about the various processes that went into creating a animated movie. After that we talked to an animator who showed us how they rig up animations for movement. Seeing behind the scenes and learning about Sony's new animated projects was just an amazingly unreal experience.

Day 11: Mark Needs His Own Show

1/16/20, Today we all piled into the car and drove through the mountains to Malibu. There we went to the Creative Vision Foundation. This company promotes world changing ideas through the use of media. They essentially try to make the world a better place through art, music, film, or a combination of those and other mediums. The company was founded by Amy and Kathy Eldon who's son Dan lost in life in Somalia as a war photographer. After these events his family created this foundation to promote Dan's ideas. We had watched the documentary about him in class and written letters to his mom and sister so meeting them in real life was strange in a way. Meeting someone that you sort of share this connection with for the first time is always odd but greatly rewarding. After that we drove up along the coast line to get back to the CBS lot for our final taping. This time the show was called Carol's Second Act. Again it was a sitcom so just not my sense of humor. But it was the same comedian keeping us entertained as Mom. Mark had me dying from 90% of his lines. He really needs his own show. In terms of what I learned from the set, I definitely noticed more cameras moving around in this one. I paid more attention to what the focus puller was doing after meeting Symon Mink twice on this trip. It wasn't as smooth of a taping as Last Man Standing but it went very fast despite many rewrites.

Day 10: The Price is Right, But is the wait time?

1/15/20, Today's big trip was back to CBS to see The Price is Right. This was a new experience because it was a game show which we hadn't seen being filmed before. It also had much tighter security than the other shows. We had to stand in line for three and a half hours waiting to get into a show that didn't even last half that time. The wait might've been long but the show itself was really cool. Unlike the past shows the cameras were constantly moving. Swinging around to get different angles and getting close ups on various prizes. But similar to Dr. Phil they didn't have chances too do retakes. They had to do all their shots right or risk doing it wrong. Since the show has been on for years they knew exactly what to do which was very impressive. After that we met Symon Mink, the focus puller from a few nights ago, for lunch at the Grove. Talking to him and asking questions was again very interesting and enlightening. He really has an depth knowledge of the industry and it was great to pick his mind about it all. Finally towards the end of our time at The Grove we ran into rapper Lil Dicky which was just crazy, he gave me a high five. Just a great day.