Marculations

Weehaw!

Day two of photography went much better than day one. Seriously. Everything just clicked. We were shooting outside, which is always kindof a, pardon the pun, crap shoot. But, the sun cooperated. It was blistering hot, but this is El Paso, so it’s always blistering hot. (Incidentally, I’m really starting to like it here.)

The first obstacle of the day was one of the principals. We were headed out to set at 7:30am, and she had to be gone by 11am. She had some dialogue, and she was in quite a few angles. Yuch. And, she was a little late, because of traffic. BUT! We got it done. Miraculously. She was seriously getting into the car moments before she needed to be gone. We got it, though, and we never have to get it again.

After that, it was an uphill battle against our lead passing out from heat exhaustion. His costume is so big and bulky, and he’s a pretty hefty guy to begin with, so we have to be super careful. Again though, we got it all, and it was quite beautiful. We’re pretty much shooting this whole movie through a 50mm lens, which can be good and bad. If you’re close to what you’re shooting, it’s great. If you’re far away… not so great. It took a bit of time to adjust, but we’re rocking and rolling now. Setups are taking far, FAR less time, and we’re moving through the work day without skimping on anything we genuinely need.

Our Assistant Director is awesome as well, even if she does give the impression that, among other people, I’m not needed on set. (Much love.) Incidentally, I think that’s the hallmark of a great AD — even if she isn’t playing, and feels like the crew isn’t necessary, she still gets the job done like a pro without constantly complaining or trying to wrestle control away from anybody. She definitely makes it a joy to be on set.

What really capped off the day, though, was the “kickoff party” to celebrate principal photography officially starting. Although we’ve already shot two days, tomorrow begins our long stretch of full days, during which we’ll shoot the bulk of the movie. We had most all of the cast and crew at the party tonight, which blew my mind, because I had no idea how big the cast and crew were. So many people! It really helps add to the pressure — we have to do a great job on this.

Overall, the party went great. In anticipation of everyone coming over, I ran upstairs to the editing bay and secluded myself with umpteen DVDs full of the footage we’ve shot so far, so that I could edit the sequences we’ve already shot and show them to the assembled crew. I got them all done, and it went over great. It was awesome to screen a little footage from the movie to everyone, and hear them laugh and clap. Our director/producer/movie god Brooks also gave a speech that really helped motivate everyone, including myself.

We’ve assembled a fantastic cast, an amazing crew, and we’ve got a solid script. We’ve already got shots “in the can”, and it’s only going to get better from here.

Highlight from Day 2:

Actor farts during take, and keeps going. Fart makes us laugh so hard, we keep it in and use that take when editing the sequence.

What I Was Called on the Slate Today:

Fun Dip! (I’m wearing a blue Fun Dip hat on set. It soothes me.)

Today was our first full shoot day on Whip Cracker. It was scheduled to be a short, easy day — three scenes at one location, a quick scene at another, and a quick scene at a third.

Overall, it was a great day. A skeleton crew was up at 5am to load the trucks and haul the gear off to the location. The first shot, a dolly shot, took way too long to set up and execute. The subsequent shots took just as long. They were all amazing, but it was just… too long. In the end, we trimmed some angles from the final scene and made it out only one hour behind.

The final location was scheduled to be at a highway overpass. It seems pretty damn obvious NOW that it was a stupid, stupid location. Of course, at the time, it seemed cool. Here’s a tip — you can’t record sound under an overpass. We relocated to a much more controlled environment, and with the time we had left over from cutting a scene out, we had plenty of time to improvise.

Improvisation is a great thing, especially when you have a team of funny people standing around. The script called for a rather mundane, but plot-advancing discussion between one of the supporting characters, and a “strange bum.” With some improv, some handwritten script pages jot down in the back of the equipment truck, some quick trips to the store and some great actors, we turned the “strange bum” into a named character with some hilarious lines, and a boring sequence into hilarity.

We headed out to the first location just after 7am. We wrapped just after midnight.

No shooting tomorrow — just rehersals all day.

Good times.

Highlight from Day 1:

Catrina, the Assistant Director, forgets what comes next… bear in mind that this is after we’ve been shooting practically non-stop for 9 hours.

Catrina: “Lock it down. Picture’s up.”
Marc: “Picture”
Catrina: “Sound”
Andy (the Boom Operator): “Sound okay”
Catrina: “Roll camera”
Marc: “Rolling rolling”
Catrina: “…oh god, I forgot what comes next, I’m serious, I forgot”