So, I obviously never got around to updating my previous post concerning various terms we use on set, and I’m little inclined to do so at the moment. I will however; be more than happy to tell you that on the way home from the set, our executive producer’s ML blew a tire on the 20 bypass coming from Goshen...ish... (I never seem to know exactly where it is that we’re going to end up.) And even though I have changed (or helped change) a tire on several occasion, (in a skirt and heels no less) I still felt like a useless girl. There was a very nice highway transport worker that did pull over and offer us assistance by way of a log and a piece of metal to brace the SUV on the gravel while we changed the tire.
In other news...I’ve decided that if they want to add “baby wrangler*” to my ever varied list of on-set duties I will not complain. Alicia and Michael (Mikey)’s young son, Jack is simply the most adorable child ever. And now that he’s no longer scared of me, it’s amazing! I’ve regressed to the most un-intelligible of baby talk, silly songs, and collection of baby slobber over my fingers from feeding him pears. There’s basically a intense competition on set to be Jack’s favorite, and after today, I may have a chance, although he adores Lydia (our production manager) who played momma bird over the camping weekend, and Isaac, (our alternate A.D.)-they both fell asleep on the couch today. And come on girls, as embarrassing as this statement might be (to guys)-is it not too adorable to see guys who love kids?
*wrangler: someone who is charge of overseeing a group of items, job often includes careful maintainence, a watchful eye, and troubleshooting. (ie. Children and animals)
Moving on: Crafty (i.e. Beth and I) is really becoming something of an art form. We have personal culinary allergies and preferences memorized, we’re garnishing sandwiches, and today we realized the true reason. We’re destined for food service. Both of us keep ending up in jobs where, even inadvertently (such as this one) we’re serving food. However, as much as we love to complain that we’re only fit for manual labor- I know we both really find joy in preparing and serving food. And on that note, I can’t say enough about our amazing catering staff, which consists of the wives of the director and executive producer (and a few other volunteers), who between them are caring for at least...8 children, various “real life” issues and preparing food for 25 to 30 people every single day! It’s mind boggling!
I’m beginning to realize just a little of how much everyone, especially has learned doing this project. The majority of the crew is pretty new to the business of film making, on this scale, and so often we’re flying blind in every department. Despite some glitches, some bumps in the road, we’ve had surprising little trauma. We’re all pretty dead on our feet, but morale is high, tempers are checked, and some people even *T Money, cough, cough* find time for cartwheels. In some ways, coming to the last two days of filming is a bittersweet experience. These are the sorts of people whom I would always love to work with- and yet I think we all realize that what we’ve experienced this last month and some is the exception rather than the norm in the world of film-making. If only everyone could be so lucky.
I realize we’re not all perfect, and there are plenty of things we could improve on-and I think we will, people are already talking about the next project with enthusiasm- and not in the manner of someone who’s just ready to leave this experience behind or put it on the shelf. Sadly, you, the reader, doesn’t seem the simply brilliant process that I get to witness for some 12 odd hours of the day. Everything from the now-almost seamless way the crew functions as a mobile unit, to the sheer talent and artistry that these people are blessed with- from quality acting, excellent writing and directing, to the stunning photography of DP Dave, our cinematographer! And it’s a pity that when the masses finally watch the credits roll that titles like : “Script Continuity” “Production Assistant” and “Assistant Camera” will go by without most of the audience realizing the hours and hours of dedication and hard work that went into those jobs. And why? Because those are the jobs that no one notices unless you screw up, when you realize that the chair was on the other side of the room, or that someone forgot to take down the sign “Bathroom this way”out of view of the camera. And yet our crew is made of so many of these people, who hands down are often the most chipper people on the set.
At the risk of sounding mushy, I’ll miss this experience partially, because I don’t know when I’ll have the particular privilege of making art with people like this, in this particular way, again.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Flying In
No, despite appearances, we’re not running a charter service, although it sometimes feels like we should on the long treks from the RV to the set. But “flying in” is when someone brings an item or person, as the case may be from wherever they are to the set. Why we call it “flying in” I’ll probably find out several months after we wrap.
And on that note, I’ve realized that while I’ve picked up the various lingo that we use around the set, it’s often rather confusing to the average person I’m regaling with my exciting and glamourous tales of movie making (read slogging through cold swamps, nodding off on a golf chart in a nauseating chemical garage, and navigating dubious plumbing in the various spots that are labeled “bathroom.”). It does amuse me what we call various things on the set, for instance:
C-47s (clothespins used to hold lighting gels* onto the 2K’*s, 5K’*s, par cans*, and other lights.)
* pieces of clear or opaque colored plastic that are held over lights to fake effects like sunset, midnight, and scary green swamps
* Various types of large and powerful lights that usually take up an insane of electrical power.
Picture’s Up! (We’re ready and in position to shoot the scene)
Mark it! (Hey Caleb, get in front of the camera with the clapper* and call out the scene information.)
* The classic black and white square board that contains all the pertinent information about the film and that particular scene.
~~~~
Yeah, so honestly this was supposed to be longer, but I have to get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow to be on the set, so it’s going to have to be finished at a later date...but it was going somewhere...I swear...
And on that note, I’ve realized that while I’ve picked up the various lingo that we use around the set, it’s often rather confusing to the average person I’m regaling with my exciting and glamourous tales of movie making (read slogging through cold swamps, nodding off on a golf chart in a nauseating chemical garage, and navigating dubious plumbing in the various spots that are labeled “bathroom.”). It does amuse me what we call various things on the set, for instance:
C-47s (clothespins used to hold lighting gels* onto the 2K’*s, 5K’*s, par cans*, and other lights.)
* pieces of clear or opaque colored plastic that are held over lights to fake effects like sunset, midnight, and scary green swamps
* Various types of large and powerful lights that usually take up an insane of electrical power.
Picture’s Up! (We’re ready and in position to shoot the scene)
Mark it! (Hey Caleb, get in front of the camera with the clapper* and call out the scene information.)
* The classic black and white square board that contains all the pertinent information about the film and that particular scene.
~~~~
Yeah, so honestly this was supposed to be longer, but I have to get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow to be on the set, so it’s going to have to be finished at a later date...but it was going somewhere...I swear...
Silk Trees Personal Ads:
The crew of Silk Trees is awash in not only amazing talent, but good looks and winning personalities. I, as a member of the elite team of craft services, have taken a moment to find out a little more about each of them. (A Work in Progress,so no panicking if your name hasn't shown up here yet.)
Scott Zimmerman (Grip/Electric Swing/Location Scout/Special Items Wrangler) is the master of all things that could potentially explode. He has been more than gracious providing us with all manner of power for all our coffee percolating and dinner heating needs. (Not to mention making sure we don’t short out every plug on the set.)
Scott, is known for his love of gatorade and strong dislike of bananas (which he maintains should never be put in dirty pudding.) He does not really enjoy long walks on the beach, due to sand getting between his toes. Scott’s greatest ambition is to open a “porta potty” (or alternately, potta porty) business: “Scotty’s Potty’s, We take your crap.”
Andy (Brent) Snyder (Head of Wardrobe) is a multi-talented thespian who managed to appear in a production of Godspell at a local theatre, design our movie, and break his wrist! Even though we missed his presence early on in the shoot, we’re more than happy to have expertise around, and I personally employ him as my chauffeur for all manner of errands on set.
Andy hates stewed okra, and is very grateful that we have yet to serve it on the set. He is a big fan of our coco crunchies cereal which he maintains may be better than the original brand. He occasionally enjoys a long walk on the beach, provided a beach is available. Andy notably gave away an entire bag of socks reserved for an character to the wet and freezing crew, which we appreciated beyond measure, but left him with the dilemma of finding new socks that evening.
Lydia Flemming (Unit Production Manager) who started her career in performance with stints both as a gymnast and as the co-captain of her cheerleading squad, tirelessly keeps up all organized and in check. You can usually find her running about the set, or lately, napping on the RV bed, since she probably hasn’t had a full night of sleep since a month before production started.
Being in the RV, Lydia is privy to the plethora of delights crafty provides (say that ten times fast), but claims to enjoy our fresh fruit salad the most. And like everyone else on set, hates running out of bottled water (usually because it means she has to figure out how to get more). She would gladly enjoy a long walk on the beach with her dog, any day now.
Chauncey Taylor (Boom Operator/Production Assistant)is possibly one of most scatterbrained crew members (aside from yours truly) and can be either found on set, boom in hand or hanging out in the RV, often offering to “babysit” it on nights when we have to leave it on location.
Chauncey often laments that this is “dry set” and threatens to abscond with the wardrobe vodka used for cleaning and sanitizing costumes (except that wardrobe doesn’t actually have any cleaning vodka on set). Although Chauncey claims he will eat “practically anything” he’s a big fan of beer and humus, both of which he wishes we had more of (or at all) on set, along with exotic items like lobster, sushi and steak tartar...sadly Goshen is not as cultured as Columbus and we are unable to procure many of these items. Chauncey would rather ride his bike than walk along and beach, a fact that is probably due to his birth via midwife. (Because we know all people birthed by midwives enjoy riding bikes along the beach...)
Bradley Potterbaum (Visual Effect Supervisor/Web Design)is one of the ubiquitous Potterbaums and my co-hort in crime when it comes to things like blood and other gory matters. This may be because he claims to have almost died several times... which is apparently no big deal “that’s boring, I need a cool piece of random piece of trivia about me.” Despite the fact that he always slams the RV door, we’re fond of him here in Crafty.
Bradley, unlike most 20-somethings wishes we had less junk food and more fresh items- a problem we’ve attempted to rectify, quoting apples and flavored fresh juices as his favorite menu items. Bradley enjoys an brief stroll along the beach with his lovely, newly wed wife, Emily.
Michaela (Kayla) Potterbaum (Locations Manager/Set Photographer), Bradley’s older sister is a seasoned world traveler with several countries under her belt, she’s even had the honor of being pickpocketed in Andsterdam Of course, her brilliant artwork graces the official Silk Trees blog (www.silktreesmovie.blogspot.com). Kayla is often hard to get a hold of, but is hands down our directions guru, and you’ll probably speak to her at least once if you get lost trying to come visit us on the set.
Kayla’s favorite “crafty” moment was actually a make-up moment where upon yours truly shot out of her chair from a dead sleep, grabbed her kit and ran on set before she fully woke up, upon hearing her name called over the walkie. On the flip side, she was none too happy when crafty left to change locations, leaving her with no coffee maker and a crew full of people going through caffeine withdrawal. Whether she enjoys long walks on the beach remains to be seen.
Josiah Burdick (Writer, Producer, Continuity) is one of the ubiquitous Burdick siblings (and the baby of the family) on our set, can be seen running hither and yon...in fact I’m not sure what he does half the time...other than practically everything.
Josiah enjoys his bagels with not only butter, but also cream cheese, but dislikes having to pick tomatoes out of the salad. (Hey, we can’t have everything we ask for.) Josiah was born in the fair month of October, yet in a summer home on Lake Ontario, one month before his niece ( our location manager.) And he does enjoy long walks on the beach.
Scott Zimmerman (Grip/Electric Swing/Location Scout/Special Items Wrangler) is the master of all things that could potentially explode. He has been more than gracious providing us with all manner of power for all our coffee percolating and dinner heating needs. (Not to mention making sure we don’t short out every plug on the set.)
Scott, is known for his love of gatorade and strong dislike of bananas (which he maintains should never be put in dirty pudding.) He does not really enjoy long walks on the beach, due to sand getting between his toes. Scott’s greatest ambition is to open a “porta potty” (or alternately, potta porty) business: “Scotty’s Potty’s, We take your crap.”
Andy (Brent) Snyder (Head of Wardrobe) is a multi-talented thespian who managed to appear in a production of Godspell at a local theatre, design our movie, and break his wrist! Even though we missed his presence early on in the shoot, we’re more than happy to have expertise around, and I personally employ him as my chauffeur for all manner of errands on set.
Andy hates stewed okra, and is very grateful that we have yet to serve it on the set. He is a big fan of our coco crunchies cereal which he maintains may be better than the original brand. He occasionally enjoys a long walk on the beach, provided a beach is available. Andy notably gave away an entire bag of socks reserved for an character to the wet and freezing crew, which we appreciated beyond measure, but left him with the dilemma of finding new socks that evening.
Lydia Flemming (Unit Production Manager) who started her career in performance with stints both as a gymnast and as the co-captain of her cheerleading squad, tirelessly keeps up all organized and in check. You can usually find her running about the set, or lately, napping on the RV bed, since she probably hasn’t had a full night of sleep since a month before production started.
Being in the RV, Lydia is privy to the plethora of delights crafty provides (say that ten times fast), but claims to enjoy our fresh fruit salad the most. And like everyone else on set, hates running out of bottled water (usually because it means she has to figure out how to get more). She would gladly enjoy a long walk on the beach with her dog, any day now.
Chauncey Taylor (Boom Operator/Production Assistant)is possibly one of most scatterbrained crew members (aside from yours truly) and can be either found on set, boom in hand or hanging out in the RV, often offering to “babysit” it on nights when we have to leave it on location.
Chauncey often laments that this is “dry set” and threatens to abscond with the wardrobe vodka used for cleaning and sanitizing costumes (except that wardrobe doesn’t actually have any cleaning vodka on set). Although Chauncey claims he will eat “practically anything” he’s a big fan of beer and humus, both of which he wishes we had more of (or at all) on set, along with exotic items like lobster, sushi and steak tartar...sadly Goshen is not as cultured as Columbus and we are unable to procure many of these items. Chauncey would rather ride his bike than walk along and beach, a fact that is probably due to his birth via midwife. (Because we know all people birthed by midwives enjoy riding bikes along the beach...)
Bradley Potterbaum (Visual Effect Supervisor/Web Design)is one of the ubiquitous Potterbaums and my co-hort in crime when it comes to things like blood and other gory matters. This may be because he claims to have almost died several times... which is apparently no big deal “that’s boring, I need a cool piece of random piece of trivia about me.” Despite the fact that he always slams the RV door, we’re fond of him here in Crafty.
Bradley, unlike most 20-somethings wishes we had less junk food and more fresh items- a problem we’ve attempted to rectify, quoting apples and flavored fresh juices as his favorite menu items. Bradley enjoys an brief stroll along the beach with his lovely, newly wed wife, Emily.
Michaela (Kayla) Potterbaum (Locations Manager/Set Photographer), Bradley’s older sister is a seasoned world traveler with several countries under her belt, she’s even had the honor of being pickpocketed in Andsterdam Of course, her brilliant artwork graces the official Silk Trees blog (www.silktreesmovie.blogspot.com). Kayla is often hard to get a hold of, but is hands down our directions guru, and you’ll probably speak to her at least once if you get lost trying to come visit us on the set.
Kayla’s favorite “crafty” moment was actually a make-up moment where upon yours truly shot out of her chair from a dead sleep, grabbed her kit and ran on set before she fully woke up, upon hearing her name called over the walkie. On the flip side, she was none too happy when crafty left to change locations, leaving her with no coffee maker and a crew full of people going through caffeine withdrawal. Whether she enjoys long walks on the beach remains to be seen.
Josiah Burdick (Writer, Producer, Continuity) is one of the ubiquitous Burdick siblings (and the baby of the family) on our set, can be seen running hither and yon...in fact I’m not sure what he does half the time...other than practically everything.
Josiah enjoys his bagels with not only butter, but also cream cheese, but dislikes having to pick tomatoes out of the salad. (Hey, we can’t have everything we ask for.) Josiah was born in the fair month of October, yet in a summer home on Lake Ontario, one month before his niece ( our location manager.) And he does enjoy long walks on the beach.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Life on the Set: Monday, April 23, 2007
7:30pm- Wisler and I ogle at the large and impressive abode that will be our "Dr. Mallard home" location. It was fairly impressive at the onset, and then we went into the fully finished basement...
7:35pm- our location manager, Kayla, informs us that sadly no, we can’t use the state-of-the-art home entertainment system, complete with a screen the size of one of my apt. walls and the newest technology. There is a brief moment of mourning by the crew. We are reminded, despite appearances, we are here to make movies, not watch them.
7:40pm-I say hi to a couple of the crew guys, including Loren, our asst. props manager, who offers me a smoke, and in our running gag, exerts peer pressure. I tell him, I’m not starting, I’m trying to help someone quit, and besides, his argument is shoddy. He pouts, claiming it’s not fair, he’s a social smoker, and I tell him, that even I, learned to do things on my own, like going to the bathroom without my girlfriends.
7:50pm-Lydia, our production manager informs me that, our Craft services manager, our executive producer’s wife, Becky forgot to organize things before she and Mark left on a conference for several days. And also, since we won’t have our beloved RV (those of us in wardrobe, make-up, and craft have gotten quite attached.) We’ll have to haul everything out of there and into the house. Our script supervisor, Charity and I jump in Mark’s Mercedes (that he just happened to leave for all of to use, oh horrors!) And run over to their church where the RV is parked and load the SUV to the gills.
8:12pm-Charity and I realize we’re out of bottled water, chips, cheese (for the white chili that’s for dinner) clean knives and we have a bunch of dirty dishes that need washed. Over to Mark and Becky’s place it is...we pick up a bunch of key limes for kicks-and run into our director’s wife, Bethany, who’s helping out with craft- she’s got cornbread-Yippee!
9:10pm-Beth Houston, Anna Marie (our P.A./Make-up Assistant) and I play "diner" by taking orders for bagel sandwiches and making coffee. We agree we need little blue dresses, aprons, and chewing gum.
11:00pm- Our Dr. Mallard is AWOL. There is a more or less controlled panic as we figure out how to get him to the set faster. This is handled with much more aplomb that it would have been a couple weeks ago. Just one of the many signs of how much our crew has learned since the beginning.
11:30ishpm-They’re shooting upstairs and the crew downstairs has found the mud pie. Several of us have also requisitioned cushy pillows and are laying around the amazing basement reading from the family’s stellar library or watching "Lock, Stock, and two Smoking Barrels" (which they get away with by putting it on Chauncey’s IMAC instead of the bigscreen.
1:15am-Our multi-talented and dry-humored P.A. Brian helps me carry the dinner in from the workout room (careful to avoid the full-sized wrestling mat and the various Purdue paraphernalia) because Beth is hashing out the rest of the shoot with Andy, our head of wardrobe, and Anna Marie has gone...somewhere, possibly out for a smoke.
1:30am- Our crew actually gets to sit down and have a meal together. The atmosphere is jovial, for the first time in quite a while, shooting is going fairly well. We get in a lively discussion about movies that suck, and everyone agrees that the Chili is amazing.
5:20am-The crew upstairs is hard at work, the rest of us with nothing to do are collapsed all over the place like some sort of bizarre youth group lock-in. Lydia is asleep on the floor beside her printer, the call sheets for the next day still shooting out on the floor beside her. Our props couple, Erin and Eli are curled up by the bookshelves reading. Brian is on the stairs, manning any incoming requests and working through "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea", Andy is snoring away to the tune of Sunset Blvd. his chopstick to scratch his itchy skin under his cast still curled in his hand, J, Anna Marie, Loren, and Chauncey are trying now to watch Office Space with the sound off, and Beth is curled around a support post, gently snoozing. A few moments later, Brian, Bradely-our FX guy, York (Andrew), one of our PA’s who hardly ever sits down and myself amuse ourselves by coming up with nonsense games using mini-basketballs and pool balls. That lasts about 20 mins, ‘till someone upstairs calls for bottled water.
6:30am-We’re wrapped early and everything gets carried out of the house in record time-and without damaging the house, shocking! We stand in the early morning dark, a warm wind blowing and talk shop. While we’re loading up, two large deer wander through the backyard, Teresa and Caleb have a backboard-jumping contest, and we discuss a couple of New York moron actors that have broken our copyright by re-enacting a scene from our movie and putting it on youtube. Apparently, they tried out and didn’t make it, and now we’re worried it’ll create bad press, so we’re gonna try and put our own PR and ask them nicely (at first) to take their stuff down. Wisler and I turn down an invite to hang out at the Goshen Steak N’ Shake wanting neither to spend money, eat, or have to drive that far home, for that matter.
7:00am-Wisler drops me off after a fairly involved and coherent conversation about writing classes at Bethel, I dump my stuff in the corner and crawl into bed. Now if I can just sleep a decent solid amount of hours until I have to go again at 6:45pm.
7:35pm- our location manager, Kayla, informs us that sadly no, we can’t use the state-of-the-art home entertainment system, complete with a screen the size of one of my apt. walls and the newest technology. There is a brief moment of mourning by the crew. We are reminded, despite appearances, we are here to make movies, not watch them.
7:40pm-I say hi to a couple of the crew guys, including Loren, our asst. props manager, who offers me a smoke, and in our running gag, exerts peer pressure. I tell him, I’m not starting, I’m trying to help someone quit, and besides, his argument is shoddy. He pouts, claiming it’s not fair, he’s a social smoker, and I tell him, that even I, learned to do things on my own, like going to the bathroom without my girlfriends.
7:50pm-Lydia, our production manager informs me that, our Craft services manager, our executive producer’s wife, Becky forgot to organize things before she and Mark left on a conference for several days. And also, since we won’t have our beloved RV (those of us in wardrobe, make-up, and craft have gotten quite attached.) We’ll have to haul everything out of there and into the house. Our script supervisor, Charity and I jump in Mark’s Mercedes (that he just happened to leave for all of to use, oh horrors!) And run over to their church where the RV is parked and load the SUV to the gills.
8:12pm-Charity and I realize we’re out of bottled water, chips, cheese (for the white chili that’s for dinner) clean knives and we have a bunch of dirty dishes that need washed. Over to Mark and Becky’s place it is...we pick up a bunch of key limes for kicks-and run into our director’s wife, Bethany, who’s helping out with craft- she’s got cornbread-Yippee!
9:10pm-Beth Houston, Anna Marie (our P.A./Make-up Assistant) and I play "diner" by taking orders for bagel sandwiches and making coffee. We agree we need little blue dresses, aprons, and chewing gum.
11:00pm- Our Dr. Mallard is AWOL. There is a more or less controlled panic as we figure out how to get him to the set faster. This is handled with much more aplomb that it would have been a couple weeks ago. Just one of the many signs of how much our crew has learned since the beginning.
11:30ishpm-They’re shooting upstairs and the crew downstairs has found the mud pie. Several of us have also requisitioned cushy pillows and are laying around the amazing basement reading from the family’s stellar library or watching "Lock, Stock, and two Smoking Barrels" (which they get away with by putting it on Chauncey’s IMAC instead of the bigscreen.
1:15am-Our multi-talented and dry-humored P.A. Brian helps me carry the dinner in from the workout room (careful to avoid the full-sized wrestling mat and the various Purdue paraphernalia) because Beth is hashing out the rest of the shoot with Andy, our head of wardrobe, and Anna Marie has gone...somewhere, possibly out for a smoke.
1:30am- Our crew actually gets to sit down and have a meal together. The atmosphere is jovial, for the first time in quite a while, shooting is going fairly well. We get in a lively discussion about movies that suck, and everyone agrees that the Chili is amazing.
5:20am-The crew upstairs is hard at work, the rest of us with nothing to do are collapsed all over the place like some sort of bizarre youth group lock-in. Lydia is asleep on the floor beside her printer, the call sheets for the next day still shooting out on the floor beside her. Our props couple, Erin and Eli are curled up by the bookshelves reading. Brian is on the stairs, manning any incoming requests and working through "Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea", Andy is snoring away to the tune of Sunset Blvd. his chopstick to scratch his itchy skin under his cast still curled in his hand, J, Anna Marie, Loren, and Chauncey are trying now to watch Office Space with the sound off, and Beth is curled around a support post, gently snoozing. A few moments later, Brian, Bradely-our FX guy, York (Andrew), one of our PA’s who hardly ever sits down and myself amuse ourselves by coming up with nonsense games using mini-basketballs and pool balls. That lasts about 20 mins, ‘till someone upstairs calls for bottled water.
6:30am-We’re wrapped early and everything gets carried out of the house in record time-and without damaging the house, shocking! We stand in the early morning dark, a warm wind blowing and talk shop. While we’re loading up, two large deer wander through the backyard, Teresa and Caleb have a backboard-jumping contest, and we discuss a couple of New York moron actors that have broken our copyright by re-enacting a scene from our movie and putting it on youtube. Apparently, they tried out and didn’t make it, and now we’re worried it’ll create bad press, so we’re gonna try and put our own PR and ask them nicely (at first) to take their stuff down. Wisler and I turn down an invite to hang out at the Goshen Steak N’ Shake wanting neither to spend money, eat, or have to drive that far home, for that matter.
7:00am-Wisler drops me off after a fairly involved and coherent conversation about writing classes at Bethel, I dump my stuff in the corner and crawl into bed. Now if I can just sleep a decent solid amount of hours until I have to go again at 6:45pm.
Life on the Set: Saturday, April 07, 2007
5:15am- I duck back into my considerably warmer apartment to grab a scarf. It's acutally snowing outside. IN APRIL. This should not suprise me, but at this hour I'm quite displeased with the thought of shooting the alley scene in this freezing weather. If only the windchill won't be so bad. Not to mention, there goes all the lovely spring flowers. ARGH.
7:22am Bagel in hand, I take Mikel Wisler's car and Anna Marie, my assistant and trek over two blocks to the director's house where his wife and the two leads are babysitting a plethora of small children. Alicia, in the first stages of pregnancy warns us she may have to run and puke in between make-ups. The director's daughter nearly maims herself on my hot curling iron. I realize I haven't yet had coffee. We finally finish making the ladies beautiful and run them around to the bar/resturant set. I drop everyone off and go fill up the car with gas.
10:00am. I realize that it's only ten a.m. Do I have time for a nap? I make some calls, only to realize that not only is everyone on Easter Break- they're probably all still in bed at this time on a Saturday Morning.
12:35. The crew realizes they're not getting lunch 'till 3pm so we can finish all the shots we need to before the bar opens up for the evening crowd. Beth Houston and I (Assist. wardrobe and make-up respectively) have now also put on craft services (i.e. food detail) duty in light of the fact that our craft services chic is needed more urgently as a Grip on our badly understaffed crew. (I forgot what a grip does, but it has something to do with lighting...right?) Beth and I make a massive amount of sandwiches. There's a brief panic as we realize that Jed, our director is allergic to peanuts and we try to make sure we don't contaminate the knives.
12:55 . In boredoom I make some phone calls. No one's really home AGAIN, including the actor who's tattoos I need pictures of- I research some more tattos and for the upteenth time this week try to locate my missing airbrush.
3pm: During the lunch hour Jed holds an impromptu meeting with the three actors who will be in the alley ambush scene, Bradley the FX guy, Mikel our AD, David our amazing DP (Director of Photography) and me. We watch them go through the stunts and we talk make-up. I'm finally feeling like I have a purpose, and that I'm possibly alive.
6:37pm. We've gone through the scene a dozen times already- and the temperature is dropping in the alley by the minute. Not to mention the wind tunnel effect we're getting down the street. Next door a punk/worship band is practicing their set (they refused to leave) and we've given up and are just filming sound right over it. I'm currently cold and displeased as the blood make-up has gone from my usual subtle style to something more akin to Tarintino...this may have something to do with lack of communication with my assistant. I have SO much to learn. The boss likes it anyways and uses the oppurtunity to give the actors a chance to really wail on the poor business man-victim walking through the alley. It's currently so cold I have to recruit P.A.'s (production assistants) with warm hands to hold my make-up as I work because it's starting to congeal and freeze in the containers.
7:22pm. I have ceased to feel my fingers and I can't stop shaking- I can't imagine what the poor businessman is feeling, out in the cold in only a light jacket and no gloves or hat-covered in sticky fake blood and being shoved against brick walls. We've called for the "martini shot" (the last shot of the day) so many times we're starting to refer to it as the "bloody mary morning after shot." By the time Mikel our A.D. (Assistant Director) yells "It's a wrap!" I ready to drag the actors back to the warm RV to peel off their make-up.
9pm. I'm finally in my warm apt, clad inPJ's with leftovers in my tummy. THANK GOD. And now to do it over again.
7:22am Bagel in hand, I take Mikel Wisler's car and Anna Marie, my assistant and trek over two blocks to the director's house where his wife and the two leads are babysitting a plethora of small children. Alicia, in the first stages of pregnancy warns us she may have to run and puke in between make-ups. The director's daughter nearly maims herself on my hot curling iron. I realize I haven't yet had coffee. We finally finish making the ladies beautiful and run them around to the bar/resturant set. I drop everyone off and go fill up the car with gas.
10:00am. I realize that it's only ten a.m. Do I have time for a nap? I make some calls, only to realize that not only is everyone on Easter Break- they're probably all still in bed at this time on a Saturday Morning.
12:35. The crew realizes they're not getting lunch 'till 3pm so we can finish all the shots we need to before the bar opens up for the evening crowd. Beth Houston and I (Assist. wardrobe and make-up respectively) have now also put on craft services (i.e. food detail) duty in light of the fact that our craft services chic is needed more urgently as a Grip on our badly understaffed crew. (I forgot what a grip does, but it has something to do with lighting...right?) Beth and I make a massive amount of sandwiches. There's a brief panic as we realize that Jed, our director is allergic to peanuts and we try to make sure we don't contaminate the knives.
12:55 . In boredoom I make some phone calls. No one's really home AGAIN, including the actor who's tattoos I need pictures of- I research some more tattos and for the upteenth time this week try to locate my missing airbrush.
3pm: During the lunch hour Jed holds an impromptu meeting with the three actors who will be in the alley ambush scene, Bradley the FX guy, Mikel our AD, David our amazing DP (Director of Photography) and me. We watch them go through the stunts and we talk make-up. I'm finally feeling like I have a purpose, and that I'm possibly alive.
6:37pm. We've gone through the scene a dozen times already- and the temperature is dropping in the alley by the minute. Not to mention the wind tunnel effect we're getting down the street. Next door a punk/worship band is practicing their set (they refused to leave) and we've given up and are just filming sound right over it. I'm currently cold and displeased as the blood make-up has gone from my usual subtle style to something more akin to Tarintino...this may have something to do with lack of communication with my assistant. I have SO much to learn. The boss likes it anyways and uses the oppurtunity to give the actors a chance to really wail on the poor business man-victim walking through the alley. It's currently so cold I have to recruit P.A.'s (production assistants) with warm hands to hold my make-up as I work because it's starting to congeal and freeze in the containers.
7:22pm. I have ceased to feel my fingers and I can't stop shaking- I can't imagine what the poor businessman is feeling, out in the cold in only a light jacket and no gloves or hat-covered in sticky fake blood and being shoved against brick walls. We've called for the "martini shot" (the last shot of the day) so many times we're starting to refer to it as the "bloody mary morning after shot." By the time Mikel our A.D. (Assistant Director) yells "It's a wrap!" I ready to drag the actors back to the warm RV to peel off their make-up.
9pm. I'm finally in my warm apt, clad inPJ's with leftovers in my tummy. THANK GOD. And now to do it over again.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Monday, July 03, 2006
I realize I'm really bad about posting on new blogs. And it seems I've got a dozen of them.
Please, please, please humor me and take the following survey, which will serve as much needed fodder for the humorous book about food I'm writing. And get your friends to take it as well.
More pertinent items to follow.
Click here to take our Online Survey
Please, please, please humor me and take the following survey, which will serve as much needed fodder for the humorous book about food I'm writing. And get your friends to take it as well.
More pertinent items to follow.
Click here to take our Online Survey
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