A SUPERNATURAL BLOG POST
This blog post is going to be describing my SuPeRnAtUraL day. What does this mean? Basically, my dad (Roger) is the head painter/coordinator on the television series Supernatural. He is currently working on season 13 for the Warner Brothers Network. I was lucky enough to spend a work day with him on take your kid to work day. First, lets interview my dad about his job so you understand what he does.
Q: What are the essential skills necessary to preform your job? What are some of the duties performed during a typical day?
A: The essential skills to preform my job begin with having the skills as a Painter. Although standard painting is one aspect performed often, the majority of the work is based on artistic painting. Scenery on a movie set are broad and intricate. The best description of duties fall under the category of Scenic Artist. I must be able to comprehend and perform work that includes sculpture, Faux Painting realism, portrait painting, backdrop painting, sign writing, vinyl signage, plastering, woodgraining, marbling and many other detailed paint related duties. No two days are the same. I and my crew preform these tasks daily.
Q: What are the academic qualifications for your position?
A: My greatest skill is managing my crew of tradesmen each and everyday. Having the ability to manage them and the shows schedule and deadlines, organizing each set from start to finish, and working in concert with the many other departments which rely on my services and incorporate their needs as we flow as one large conglomerate that becomes one movie.
Q: What are the employment prospects in your field?
A: Academic qualifications vary in this field. Painters have journeyman painters tickets. Artists often have bachelor degrees in fin arts. But most importantly, ability and creativity can belong to anyone with passion for this field of work, therefore credentials can vary greatly, and accreditation is not necessary.
As far as employment prospects are concerned, the industry has been growing steadily in BC for over 40 years. There is no indication of it slowing down as Vancouver continues to produce a top quality product in television and feature films.
It is a multi billion dollar industry continually growing with no end in site. I have connected many individuals with employment as the years have gone by and I will continue to do so as these individuals will replace me when I choose to end my career.
Now, I’m going to break down the busy day we had. First we drove out to South Burnaby to where they build all the things for the sets/props/basically everything you see in the TV show. There is a lot of paint, wood and fancy printing machines here. Also, I did see some other grades 9 there for take your kid to work day here. This picture below, is the name of my dads production company.
Next, we drove out to basically the middle of no where, where a set for the show was being built. This is where the head painter came out in my dad, he noticed the moss on the outside of the house was not well done so he called up someone and they came to fix it. He also was telling me about how he and his crew has 3 days to make the inside of the house basically look like a bomb went off in it. So here is a picture of the set being built from nothing.
And then, we drove by the studio where my dads office is, where the costume and makeup people are (I was really excited to see this part) where some scenes are filmed (and lots more I don’t know of.) My dad sadly then let me know I was not aloud in because recently something changed and now minors weren’t aloud in the building. Something to do with insurance… I do though remember it from when my dad took me there when I was about 8. It was pretty cool. After this, we went for a little walk on the Fraser river and I realized how pretty it is out in South Burnaby.
Finally, the really fun part! We drove out to where they were actually filming a episode. I personally wasn’t very excited because I am a shy person (not really) and I don’t really like talking to new people (I knew I was going to have to shake hands and introduce myself with at least 20 people because they would wonder who is this girl with Roger) This is where I had to turn off my phone and not take any pictures. Because I couldn’t take pictures ill describe it you, there was many EXTREMELY expensive cameras and camera equipment, the actors, the director and set people, and the actual set. Me and my dad stood there for a bit watching them film (luckily my dad knows everyone there including the actors so we weren’t random strangers watching it.) So, I don’t know if your asking this but, did I meet the actors? Yes.
Meet Jensen Ackles, and Jared Padalecki, aka Dean and Sam from supernatural. I watch supernatural occasionally but in no means am I a super fan, meaning I wasn’t making an effort to meet them. I thought actors would be kinda boring and rude because there working and sick of fans, so I was standing off the set just watching. Then something my dad and me didn’t expect happened. They came up to me and hugged me and said hey to my dad (they know my dad) and showed me around the set. They told me to sit in the iconic impala, that’s a big part of the plot of the story and in every episode. They were honestly super sweet guys and made awkward me feel comfortable even around them aka two guys who have 5 million followers on Instagram.
A question I have to answer is: what could I see myself doing in this area of work? I definitely am intreged by the makeup artists that do the actors makeup. Not many people besides friends know I enjoy doing makeup if on me or others, and im not half bad at it. I dont know if what I want to do to become a makeup artist but It definitely seems fun.
This day was overall super cool and I’m lucky to have been able to experience this all thanks to my super hardworking dad. Bye, I’m going to watch supernatural now.