Laryssa, Author at - Page 25 of 26 |

Home » Posts by Laryssa

Canberra

Posted By Laryssa on Apr 7, 2010

I made it to Canberra last night. Sunara and her friend Alec picked me up at the bus station and they were extremely, extremely nice. We ended up going back to another friend of there’s house, where they finished watching “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and Alec explained the concept of “Fairy Bread” to me, which is: -White bread. -Margarine/butter. -“Hundreds and thousands” — or sprinkles, as we call them. They were all shocked that we didn’t have such food in the US, haha. They asked, “What do you eat as a kid, then?!” I had a couple of enlightening discussions with Maria and Jim back in Sydney regarding Barack Obama. They both said that while they were glad it wasn’t Bush any longer, they really didn’t understand the hype and his cult power over so many people. Jim pointed out how he noticed that people who claimed to be “tolerant” and idealists were so rabid against any opposition, thereby making them more intolerant than any of the people who disagree with Obama. I also took a tour of the Parliament House today. It’s amazing — Australia’s government has only been in place since around 1902. They have a House of Represenatives, a Senate, and the Queen (or the Governor General who acts in the Queen’s stead). They also have a Prime Minister, but I don’t fully understand how he fits into the picture. Anyway. I’m running out of minutes on a creepy internet gaming gaming gaming lounge in a basement of a building in Canberra, so that’s all for now! much...

First entry — finally.

Posted By Laryssa on Apr 6, 2010

I’ve finally found enough time to sit down and write about the trip thus far as I’m around the corner from Central Station waiting for my bus to Canberra. Every day I always had a lot to share, but was constantly pressed for time and rationalizing against spending my time on the internet as I’m finally in freakin’ Australia. Anyways! From the beginning, I guess? Note: This is a recap and it’s more for me to remember everything, so it may not be all that enjoyable for anyone else to read. Haha. I’ll try to update more than once a week. March 30th I’d be lying if I said I was excited about this trip during the planning stages. The reality of the magnitude of the trip hit me as soon as I bought the airline ticket and I realized I’m finally going. I was scared to death, and questioned myself every morning if traveling really was what I wanted to do, or if it was only what I thought I wanted to do. Everything quickly turned around when I walked through the doors of Nashville’s “international” airport. I approached the counter of American Airlines alongside a band, which isn’t unusual for Nashville. A few minutes later, I realized it was the Newsboys, who were also making their way to Australia and were on my flight to Los Angeles. Undoubtedly, these guys were the ones who piqued my interest in Australia, and out of all the days in a year to fly to Australia, we were journeying on the same day — I viewed it as God’s way of giving my trip the thumbs up. I also ran into Kurt, a good college buddy and now tour manager of Sanctus Real, who was also venturing down to AUS for the same Christian music festival that the Newsboys were heading to. The flight to LA wasn’t bad, I shared a row with Jeff of the Newsboys, but we didn’t converse past the obligatory “excuse me”s and “thank you”s. I then waited around wonderful LAX for three hours, making it my fourth time in that stupid airport. The flight to Sydney wasn’t bad at all — I watched Zombieland and slept from 7:30pm Sydney time till about 3:30am. And a short four hours later, we glided past the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and landed. April 1st I think the hardest part of going to a new city is figuring out the best way to navigate from the airport to the city itself. At least, that’s always the most challenging part for me! After a little bit of normal confusion,...

2009: work in review

Posted By Laryssa on Dec 28, 2009

Matt Wertz – Everything’s RightOne Night Rodeo – Alive and LivingShoe Carnival SpotDocumentary: Freedom Riders (playing in 2010 at Sundance)Darryl Worley – Sounds Like Life to MeTaylor Swift – You Belong With Me (MTV VMA winner!)St. Thomas Titans CommercialAmerican Lung Christmas CommercialPushPlay – Midnight Romeo Emily Osment – All the Way Up (still photos)MinitMart Spots (x3)Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (Nashville segment – Parthenon)Taylor Swift – Fifteen (first job as a swing; exterior shot on my 23rd birthday)Auburn – Men’s Basketball SpotAuburn – Women’s Basketball SpotAngel Taylor – Like You DoBrandi Carlile – Dreams (Shot in New Orleans)Brandi Carlile – That Year (New Orleans)Reba – Consider Me GoneJosh Thompson – Beer on the TableShinedown – If You Only KnewJustin Bieber – One Less Lonely GirlMiranda Lambert – White Liar (production assistant + extra, haha)Blaine Larsen – It DidBlake Shelton w/ Trace Adkins – Hillbilly BoneA Pure Country Gift (Feature)Shane Yellowbird – music video (forget title)Mat Kearney – All I HaveTough Trade Statistics:Longest Day: Mat Kearney: 7am – 3amShortest Day: Returned a sound blanket to DR&A for a full day’s rate.Coldest Day: One Night Rodeo – 20 degrees (or below) in airplane hanger.Hottest Day: None stick out. This summer was pretty mild in comparison to 08.Coffees Consumed: 132Number of Times I “Copied That”: 2,830Number of Pens Lost: 62Most Embarrassing Moment: Falling asleep during filming of Freedom Riders documentary. Producer didn’t notice or was sleeping herself.Silliest Moment: Dressing up with Michelle in outrageous dresses as last minute extras for Miranda Lambert music video. Or chatting away happily in the back of a transpo van with Neumann about deer jerky while the entire camera department from LA listened quietly (because they were horrified, I later learned).Proudest Moment (In Retrospect): Accidentally pushing Justin Bieber off the sidewalk with a sandbag cart. 2009, you served me well. I met a lot of amazing people, learned so much about this business and enjoyed every morning — thank you, I hope the ride’s just...

Oh, country music videos.

Posted By Laryssa on Sep 3, 2009

Yesterday was AWESOME. And it was a circus. Yesterday was the first time I’ve had the pleasure of working on a country music video shoot that was BYOB (if you can believe that, I suppose before I started working on these videos I assumed they all were). We weren’t sure if we would have enough extras, and the director was prepared to “fake” crowd shots using five crew members if necessary. Lo and behold, about sixty people show up, all with 12 packs of PBR, Miller Lite, Bud Lite, etc — and they’re tanked already. Herding extras is a lot like herding cats anyway, but inebriated ones are especially stubborn. We were finally able to corral them in front of the stage, and they sang along with the artist, thrusting their bottles of beer into the air, splashing beer everywhere. We needed the fifteen passenger van for our final shot of the day, but actually keeping track of the van was a difficult task, as various rednecks took off in it during the shoot to make beer runs. Even the art department tapped a keg by the end of the evening, and the whole warehouse smelled like stale beer by the end of it all. The whole evening was hilarious, scary, and a little...

Some of my favorite music videos.

Posted By Laryssa on Jun 22, 2009

I’ve been working on music videos for almost two years now, and am starting to feel like I have a grasp on this industry. There’s still so much yet to learn, and I’m excited to do more and learn more in the months (years?) ahead. I’m one of the few that LOVES working on music videos. Most people would rather be on a commercial shoot, or obviously a feature film shoot, but to me – music videos are where it’s at. Maybe I’m crazy for enjoying the torture of long, grueling 15 hour days. All that said, I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite music videos. There’s no rhyme or reason to this. The Killers – Mr. Brightside. Sophie Mueller did this one, and it’s amazing. Evidently it’s an homage to Moulin Rouge. I shudder to think how much they spent on art direction and stylists alone. All-American Rejects – Move Along. Adam Gregory – Crazy Days. This is a Wes Edwards video, and it’s great. It’s more of a rock video than country, and that might be why it was so underplayed and unrecognized. The Elms – Hey, Hey. This is genius in it’s simplicity. I remember loving this when it first came out, and as it would turn out, Revolution did this video for $10k. Weaver did this years ago and it made me one of his biggest fans. I still gush to him about it almost every time I see him. Coldplay – The Scientist. Let’s shoot an entire video forwards and then play it backwards. Switchfoot – You Already Take Me There. This video is what turned me into a Switchfoot fanatic, which I guess could serve as proof that music videos can have an impact on people. For years the guys wouldn’t tell whether or not it’s actually them sky diving, and I still don’t know the truth, if anyone actually went skydiving, etc. Lee Ann Rimes – Nothin’ Better to Do. David McClister’s finest. Carrie Underwood – So Small. I’m not a big country music fan, but this song is amazing, and I think the video compliments the song immensely. Michael Jackson – Thriller. I saw this on Pop Up video a couple weeks ago. It had the budget of a million dollars ! – and it is so long it has credits at the end. And I’ve love to learn the dance...