Sunday, May 3, 2009

Filming, Les Stroud, and Procrastination



(Hit the play button)

So this morning I happened to wake up around 5:30. On any normal day I would roll over, dive beneath my covers, and fall back into my dreams. Today, however, I pulled myself out of bed thinking, "How many times will I get to see a sunrise in Paris?". So I heated up some joe and popped in a few raisins to energize for the uphill trek. I left the warmth of Jacques' apartment and went out into a scene I had never encountered before: a melange of the night club crowd returning home or getting some sustenance, and the morning workers opening up shop. I weaved through different groups and started up rue Lépic towards Montmartre. After a few blocks I decided that it would be selfish for me to keep this experience all to myself...and it'd be more entertaining to make a short film out of it. So I documented my journey in the style of Survivorman on the Discovery Channel. I could have woken up Stephen to bring along and handle the camera, and thus be more like Bear Grylls, but Les Stroud is way cooler. He's more hardcore because he goes out all alone.

So there I was just like Survivorman, clinging to life while surviving in the streets of Paris--such a harsh environment. I reached the summit and took in my prize: a spectacular view on the city as it rises. I certainly wasn't alone in this moment though. There were several other wandering figures pumping music from their car, swaggering down the steps after a long night, searching through the trash left by last night's young crowd for forgotten cigarettes. I soaked it in for a while and then moved into Sacré-Cœur for a taste of mass and then returned home to make the movie and put off writing my photography paper. Ahh the fruit of procrastination.

1 comment:

  1. Alex, that's an awesome video, man. I realize you probably had to set the camera on the ground for most shots, but the angles really added to it. Well done my friend.

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