Sometimes you just can’t avoid it, a show gets behind and have must push through to the wee-wee hours of the morning to get through. Having just finished one of these nocturnal marathons, I have a few things to keep in mind so you don’t lose your mind.
- Drink Water – It’s tough to communicate when you feel when your mouth feels like a cotton ball factory.
- Drink Caffeine – Duh! But watch out, that pep-me-up can turn to a twitchy mouse hand before you can say Red Bull.
- Don’t Disco Nap- 20 minutes of shuteye between renders may seem like a good idea, but it can sometimes take hours to fully wake from a 15 minute nap.
- Have Dance Party – Crank up the tunes (the headphone rule is suspended during an all-nighter). Some quick David Lee Roth style “Panama” kicks will really get the blood flowin.
- Write Stuff Down – It’s easy to forget junk when you are dazed from lack of rest. A simple check list could keep you from losing faith in yourself.
- Get a Ride – After 20 – 30 hours at work you are not qualified to operate heavy machinery. Have a friend or spouse pick your sorry ass up.
- Keep it Lite – Don’t loose your cool. It’s better to get slappy and goofy than to start snarling and drooling like a caged coyote.
- Call a Time Out – Talk about something other than the job for 5 minutes or so. Sometimes you just need to flush the VFX garbage out of your mind with small talk.
- Fresh Air is Good – Step outside and take a deep breath. The cool fresh air will wake you up. If you work in Hollywood proper, beware of fumes from nearby crack pipes.
- Get a Good Nights Sleep – After the all-nighter is over, don’t just flop into bed with your clothes on. Go through your regular bedtime ritual (jammies, spider-man toothbrush, whatever) that way your body knows to calm down and finally get some rest.
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If you are working an all-nighter or chronic ridonkulus OT it means someone did something WRONG. Someone mis-estimated labor time, or task difficulty, or materials, or contingency for changes. When again in right mind, try and identify what caused the situation so that it does not occur again Careful consideration of all possibilities (like last minute client changes) will reduce the chance of this kind of abuse reoccurring too often. Also get really good at your job so that you can command a salary that makes such things financially unfeasible.
Yes, all-nighters are not a workflow no matter what some facilities think. Charing or the OT helps but once in a blue moon you do get a client that will go to red alert mode no matter what the cost. I also noticed that all-night flail fests tend to occur early in one’s career. Students and interns are especially prone to horrendous time management.