There is an abject bleakness in the life of the hero of the movie we are making. This is his bleak little house.

The bleakness is so intense that it leaves burn marks.

Our hard-working lead-actor takes a moment to enjoy a snack – the perfect antidote to bleakness.

You’d think Hanna would be immune to it by now, but Maxine has managed to confound her yet again.

Sam treks back from frolicking (yes, there was actual frolicking) in the waves.

Our hero, Jack, played by Nik, accosts a stranger, played by Jacob, on the street in Half Moon Bay.

It’s safer if you just plant your feet and let the sawdust pile up.

Nik demonstrates just how much he must suffer for his art.

Max has finally gotten a good night’s sleep so she and Hanna both get the joke.

Sam has been transformed into Emma, the hard-luck mother of Jack.

The second unit director (Theo) goes over the scene with his actor (Sam) and cameraman (Jacob).

Emma’s hair is particularly dramatic when aloft.

Theo and Sam review the take to decide whether they need to try another one.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the first unit is filming. Chad has agreed to play guitar-playing homeless guy (and comes complete with guitar-playing ability!). Nik is solidly in character.

Julie tries to help with some camera deployments from the paraglider, but the wind dies and she lands on the beach. The second unit comes to her rescue.

On the way back from the beach we try one last strategy – direct deployment of the camera over the edge.

There’s no doubt that the right soundtrack is essential for any movie. Fortunately there are many musicians in the house.

On location in Pacifica.

For almost half an hour, the sun shone down on Tinkering School – it was spectacular after eight days of solid overcast and fog.

Unaccustomed to the sunshine, a tinkerer stumbles around the kitchen in search of breakfast.

After four takes, Nik lands the fifth one perfectly. Cut and print. Let’s set up for the next one!

We’ve all had to learn not to look Nik in the eye while he’s acting – and then we wonder if that happens on big movie stages as well.

The new go-cart is the lightest (and certainly the loveliest) ever built at Tinkering School.

Theo takes the new cart a little ways up the hill to see how it handles the bumps and the turn at the end of the driveway.

When we planned the Masters class, one of the most frequently requested items was “a day to just lay around and do nothing.” At one point or another almost every tinkerer could be found snoozing somewhere.

In preparation for the “Build a Movie Studio” project that starts tomorrow, we set out to create a story that we can use to write a screenplay. To begin, we all draw random scenes that we think would be interesting to film (one to a sheet) and then lay them out to create various stories. Check out our awesome scene sketches.

Not content to just waste the day doing nothing, Hanna, Maxine, and Theo continue to work on the cart that they started yesterday.

Nik climbs on board to experience that new car smell and get a feel for the controls – which shouldn’t take long because it has no brakes.

The new cart carries a more refined version of the rope-and-pipe steering mechanism from two years ago. This one has the prickly part of velcro wrapped around the steering column to reduce rope slippage.

The open frame design has served to reduce the weight of the cart tremendously. It’s going to be fast, but will it hold together?

Forcibly recruited for a quick test of Theo’s underwater camera housing, the rubber ducky makes his inevitable daily appearance.

A textbook example of inquilinism – a hermit crab has made a home in the abandoned shell of a snail.

The balloon rubber-banded to the top of Theo’s box allows him to access the shutter control on his camera (it also gives Gever a squirt of adrenaline every time he submerges it).

We don’t have a story for this one, it’s just too nice to leave out of the blog.

Suckers, tentacles, crazy coloring – the whole nine yards.

We load up for the drive to the testing grounds for the albatross and the (still very ugly, but charming) glass bottom boat.

Isaacs Albatross takes flight, camera on board.

Hanna makes a few tweaks to Doctor Phil (the camera) and her robocam.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly present some of the finest tinkerers it has been my privilege to work with (oh and some mighty fine collaborators too). Hanna, Maxine, Leo, Jacob, Isaac, Theo, Sam, and Nik, with Julie and Chad helping out.
We had to take the group shot in mid-session this year since some of our tinkerers are leaving early