Wednesday, August 20, 2008

 

Cape Fear Community Airport

I need another airport story like I need a hysterectomy. So far, in the past month, I've deal with Dulles airport shipping my brother and his family out of the country. I have also been to the Wilmington Airport (ILM) when my friend Jen came to visit for a week. I also had to make an additional trip to ILM to pick up some tourist junk for my friend Heidi. And in about 10 days I am going to be flying out of ILM to Atlanta Airport (ATL) for my annual trip to Dragon Con.
So I am sure you'll understand that I had to rub my eyes TWICE when I arrived to work this morning only to be greeted by this:
I have to drive by ILM on the way to work, so I had to figure out if I'd made a horribly wrong turn. Or perhaps it was a brutal flash back to when I worked on base and had to walk around and under airplanes to get to my office.
Slowly it dawned on me. I seemed to recall an email sent down last week by our Dean:
One Tree Hill will be using a part of the NA building on August 19th.
As you may recall, they use the rear of the building (across from the soccer field) and make it into an international airport. They will also be doing some filming in the Atrium. This will not be to the extent that it will disrupt activities (library, classes, cafeteria, last drop add session)
For the brief background, there's a TV show named One Tree Hill on the WB network (or whatever they're calling themselves now). If you've never heard of OTH then it is likely you aren't a teenage girl. Apparently the stars of the show are "HAWT" (said in poor Paris Hilton impersonation).
Most folks don't know it but Wilmington, NC is a HUGE film production area. They say that we are home to the largest film studio outside of California, EUE/Screengem Studios (Started by Frank Capra Jr.) For those that were teenage girls in the mid 90's you may recall Dawson's Creek which was filmed in and around town. Of course Brandon Lee died here, and most folks don't know it but Steve Buscemi got into a fight and got stabbed here a few years back. That actually happened a block or two from where I now teach downtown.
Anyway, as you can see they like to film in"Wilmy-wood" and especially the shows that cater to teenage girls. Both campuses (campi?) of CFCC are used, though mainly downtown. I think it's sort of funny that they are using a college as the set for a high school. Ah yes, realism!
So back to the email message. When we saw they were turning our building into an airport, there were lots of questions and confusion. First of all, why not just use the real Wilmington Airport, less than 5 miles away. The answer has three letters: TSA
It's funny that it's easier to turn a school into an airport than it is to film at a real airport. However, those film crews do a darn good job:
I did notice though that they didn't have a Cinnabon like every other airport in the US, nor were there any rent-a-sherpas outside.
As the day went on more and more stuff started piling in. We had HUGE power cables running down the middle of the halls. (Somehow I wondered if this fit into the idea of not being "disruptive.")
Obviously I don't watch One Tree Hill. The only reason I ever watched any of Dawson's Creek was that I had to tape it for my friend Halle who got hooked on it while at Mercer, but moved to Aiken, SC where they didn't have the WB, and thus no Dawson's Creek.
Luckily, I have a new officemate this semester and she admitted she watches One Tree Hill. She says it's neat to see all the familiar places. I suspect that ranks up there with reading Playboy magazine for the articles. After everyone in the office laughed at Jackie, we then asked why they needed an airport. So here's the story, as told by Jackie:
Apparently last season's cliff hanger found the main studly character had flown back from somewhere. As he walked through the airport he called someone on his cell to tell them he'd landed and could they come pick him up. Then the scene changed and somehow they show three different girls phones ring and they answer. So the cliffhanger is: which girl did he really call?!?!?! Oooooohhhhh makes you wanna tune in on Sept. 1st to see right? (Me either.)
Since my office hours ran til 5:30 and they wouldn't start filming til tonight I got to watch a lot of the set up. I noticed a lot of student pulling their bookbags around, which seemed off, until I realized: Airport? Duh! These were the extras, with their "luggage." When it was time for me to pack up and head home I saw one guy with lots of gear on him stand in the atrium and loudly call "Riggers!!" (Again, I suspect that may qualify as "disruptive.") As I watched the riggers gather for their rigging orders, I recalled one of my oldest dreams.
(squiggly lines as the dream sequence starts)
About 3 or 4 years ago, while at MGTC, the local "news crew" (one girl, and her camera) showed up to film a story on the Early Childhood Ed (ECE) program. The Director of ECE, Sharon, was in the cube next to me. The Newsy-girl along with MGTC's PR chickie wanted to film in several locations. Being the gentleman sherpa that I am, I offered to carry her camera and tripod around campus. After we'd wandered all over campus and filmed entirely too much footage, PR chickie thanked me for my help, to which I replied "I've always wanted to be a Grip." As I said this Newsy-chik's head about spun off as she turned to look at me. "Where did you learn about being a grip?!?" she asked, as if I had somehow broken into a secret society. My reply was short and simple: "Movie Credits."
Sadly, I got no credit in the news broadcast. I have asked my friend Andrea, who has her own production company, if I can be a grip on one of her stories. I've gotten no reply as of yet. In all honesty, I'd rather be a Gaffer but that actually takes skill, so I'm pobably out of luck. (Andrea?)
CFCC does have a film department and they actually feed graduates to ScreenGems. So maybe I'll look into taking a few classes.
For now I'll just hang out in the only airport in the US without a Cinnabon or TSA. How cool would it be if you got to take a free class during your airport layover?!?
"I got snowed in in Denver, but I learned to use FrontPage!"

Krystal Lovers like hot buns.

# posted by JasonJ1052 @ 6:20 PM
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