Filed under: How To's
I’ve taken public transit 6 times, which is fewer than some people take it in a week, but I’ve gotten enough experience to tell what it’s like.
***Update: A car is required in Los Angeles if you want to have a normal job and any social life. People’s tolerance for the carless lasts for about 4 days.***
–In General–
Public transit is a decent alternative to car, but does not replace it. Your destinations and residence will determine if you need an automobile or not.
The LA Metro is also not pleasant to women. Often times, you’ll need to walk semi-far after using a bus/subway, and you may be walking to or waiting at a stop at night. Chicks should probably have a car, unless you’re the sporty type.
–The Buses–
The bus system is as good as the bus system in New York or Chicago. It transports people with lower income (those who can’t afford a car), and you have to wait for it to arrive. They take a little longer than a car, but sometimes can be as fast since you don’t need to worry about parking at your destination.
A map of buses that come every 15 minutes.
Each boarding is $1.50, unless you have a transit plan. The LA Metro system has monthly plans starting at $75 (break even around 50 boardings), and weekly and daily plans as well. They’re meant for people who have a routine Monday – Friday job, which is rare for people who just moved out here.
I haven’t taken them at night yet, so I don’t know if they become scary or not. They’re less frequent, of course.
–The Subway–
The LA subway system is the best subway I have ever been on. It has a been an awesome thing to ride and is the best form of transportation (besides car [and is sometimes better]).
The NY subway system is a bunch of small, crowded hallways that smell like hot garbage. The Chicago subway system is outdoors in one of the coldest places in the country.
Like entering Spaceship Earth. Or something at Epcot.
In LA, however, it’s like entering a Disney ride. The hallways are 2x to 3x larger than NY’s and everything is actually clean. A lot of people bring bikes aboard so they can ride away after getting to their stop. It’s built into the California rock foundation, so rails are able to be placed above & below each other at transfer stations.
The weirdest part: it’s free. Of course, it’s technically not free, but LA uses the honor system. The turnstyles will let you through at any time of day without paying. They want you to pay (hence the plans), but there’s no real downside to not. The point of the subway is to get people off the roads. Theoretically, an attendent could come by and check tickets, but it happens rarely. (I haven’t seen anybody doing that).
Here’s a story that talks about it: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17390428. Even though this was written in 2007, the honor system is still in place.
The subway map. Notice large areas of white.
The downside is that the subway doesn’t go everywhere it needs to. It doesn’t go to Santa Monica or most areas in the surrounding radius of downtown.
But, if you live near a station and have to routinely go to places that are near stations, it’s awesome.
–Hidden Transportation Issues–
So, depending on your lifestyle, it’s possible to not have a car here. However, you will run into problems.
1) Your Car Friends Will Hate You – Over time, you will lose the good will of your car-owning friends. Whenever there’s something social, you may ask for a ride and this will eventually be all you are known for. A group of friends cannot be your alternative source of transportation.
Social situations include getting to and leaving improv shows, going to gatherings (football games), getting home from someone’s house after spending the evening there, etc. There’s a lot to do here, so get used to traveling to it.
2) The Buses and Subways Don’t Go Everywhere – You will need to go some place that a bus or subway does not go to. And you’ll be effed.
3) Jobs – Some jobs may not happen if you don’t have a car. This is most obvious if you can’t get to work (see #2) or if your job sometimes requires you to have a car. I recently had some trouble after booking a PA job when I was told part of my job would be running around to get stuff. I’ve spoken to the hirer since then, and I’ve almost got it fixed. But that will happen to you.
So, those are my public transit thoughts. You need a car eventually (to not be a half-person), but not immediately, depending on where you live and need to go.
On Monday, I will be showing everyone what I’ve been working on for the last 6 months.
Since February, I started making a documentary about my friends who were going to the 2011 College Improv Tournament. It can be seen at WhetherTheWeather.com starting August 8. While I have been around several video and live productions, this was my first time being in charge of a full-fledged project. I’m still alive, but a production always shows you the areas where you were underprepared. Here’s what I learned, and some general thoughts.
This group portrait hangs in the hallway outside the iO Chicago practice rooms.
The First Time You Do Something, It Won’t be That Great
I overheard a friend who wanted to get a screenplay developed. He mentioned the idea to his girlfriend and she said, “I believe in you and I think you can do it, but it will be your first screenplay. It’s not going to be good.”
WOW. That’s the wisest thing I’ve heard in 2011. It’s absolutely true. The first time you do anything, it’s not going to be good. The best you can do is put in extra effort so that it at least looks like it’s your second time doing it.
Great things are made by people who have done similar things 30 times, 80 times, 1,000 times before. The first thing they did sucked, and it sucked hard. If you’re making something for the first few times, put all you can into it, but it’s probably going to be less than impressive until you learn how not to make bad things.
I had a few clips of this place as b-roll. Without an extra person, I didn't have the energy to get more b-roll, which I found is super useful.
Have as Many Cooks as You Have Dishes
The biggest issue I faced was that 98% of the production “team” was just me. I planned, contacted, interviewed, shot, edited, and made everything. To drive the point home further, let me use capslock: I made EVERYTHING. (except the music)
While this does make some things easier (no differences of opinion), it means I had to focus on everything at once. Once something was planned, I had to go shoot it. Once the shot was set up, I had to decide which questions to ask. Once the rough version was edited together, I had to color grade it. As is typical with me, I committed to more than I was ready for and had to develop bigger focus-marathon muscles to get it done.
Having someone else to trudge along with me through the snow-covered city of Chicago would have been a huge relief. Back in Florida, having someone else who was dedicated to giving their time during editing would’ve been extremely useful.
Some of the creative mis-steps of the piece are due to a lack of quality time to reflect on the project. While a dedicated director would be focusing on who to interview (such as other CIT teams), I didn’t have time to imagine a better documentary as I was filming the Sunday Group backstage. Similarly, more complex interview segments could’ve been built by a dedicated content manager, instead of someone who was fixing the sound and simultaneously deciding which interview answer works the best.
I actually have very few photos from Chicago simply because I was entirely focused on video. My brain just couldn’t handle trying to get photos as memories in addition to getting to the next interview.
One of the few pictures of myself in Chicago. My feet were crying.
Making Something Great is Really Hard
All of us watch extremely high-quality shows and movies all the time. We horribly take for granted that those creative pieces took a team of people months to create. As an audience, we don’t have the chance to see the gigabytes of crap they delete on their way to the final product. I’m sure the big studios delete terabytes of crappy media before the final version is released.
Think of the latest great thing you’ve seen and think about the different parts of it. Every element (the actors, scenery, music, special effects, even camera cuts) all have to put in the movie by a person. Someone, somewhere, decided that Voldemort’s head should be full of veins. Someone, somewhere decided that the Tale of the Three Brothers would be told mostly in silhouettes.
More often than not, we respect someone’s creative choice because we realize how effed they would’ve been if it hadn’t worked out.
Chicago is Not That Great
This may be really controversial, but I just don’t like Chicago. One of the toughest challenges of this project was trudging around the Chicago winter and standing on a platform 30 feet in the air, waiting for the trains in the cold. Everything was wet. I was miserable anytime I was outside at night.
Before you decide to move somewhere, go there first! I thought Chicago was a viable option after I graduated, but I just can’t stand the cold. I’m probably spoiled, since I live in Florida, but no amount of improv can replace going outside in shorts, sandals and enjoying a breeze.
You’re Showing Your Project to the World
The glory (and bane) of the Internet is that everyone sees everything you put on it. Realistically, the word “everyone” is less scary than realizing specific people are included within “everyone”. Who cares what everyone thinks? What does the head of iO Chicago think? What do the people in TSF think? What does that one person you admire who could potentially give you a job think?
All those people are included in “everyone”. And all those people have opinions that they can tweet at you.
All these people are awesome and know so much about improv.
Overall
It was very worthwhile endeavor. I’m glad I go to go. I’m glad I got to create something that a bunch of young improvisers can benefit from. It’s another feather in the cap, and I’ve got so much free time now that it’s done.
