Second unit is for the birds

Today I reshot the microscope focusing shot. Originally I just shot some stars under plexiglass and planned to fake them coming into focus using a blur but it didn't look good. So I had to rig a contraption that held a lens eyepiece on a tripod over a star while I focused the camera. It looks fine. You can see the focus change from the glass to the star but it took so long. First I had to make the lens rig (with masking tape of course). Then I had to get the Omni light out of the garage. Then I had to bring out the black cushions that I use for a background, arrange the stars and change the miniDV tape which on the Sony means taking the camera off the tripod base because the tape loads from the bottom! Then in post I realized that I lit the stars from the wrong side so I had to flip the image. All this for one stupid 4 second shot. No wonder it's taking so long to finish this thing.