Scene
Int: A large turn of the century warehouse in Hannibal Missouri

To say the warehouse was full from top to bottom is an understatement.  The crew, Tina, Mike, Maria, Tim, Kelly, Karen and I jumped in, and in just three days, I can say that warehouse is cleaner and better organized than it’s been in a long long time.  I can’t think highly enough of these people. It was a dirty, nasty, back breaking job, and not a single complaint.  Finally…trust.  No more questions.  No more “Why?”

Saturday wound down with the first viewing of the rough cut of Spring for the whole crew.  They finally got to see where we are going with this whole thing.  After a very open and honest critique session, where every one talked about what they liked and what needed tweaking,  the evening wound down with Rock Band2 and alcohol.  Lots of it.  The rough cut  must have been pretty good, because they dug in Sunday with gusto, even though most of them were hungover, and all of them were sleep deprived.  We got finished early, and started the drive back.

So now we wait for several of the prop items we have ordered to come in, and we are GO!  And we’ve cleared the hump.  Two segments left and the intro shots, and we are finished.  The hard parts really are behind us.

More to come.

Scene
Ext: Bruns’ Bridge Franklin County, Missouri

We had spent weeks driving to remote locations looking for the perfect bridge. And when we finally found Brun’s bridge, our mind was made up inside of 20 seconds. It was THE bridge we wanted. And now all we had to do was shoot the scene.

So last weekend was the logistics nightmare that made me loose sleep. It was a series of shots that we had tried to film, and had to scrub once already..because we didn’t have enough people there to make it look convincing. After a sleepless night, and a lot of worry, we showed up, got the cast in wardrobe, and we had enough extras show up. We were GO!

Justin, Tina and Karen all did makeup, which took almost 5 hours to do foreground, middle and background zombies, we had shot the lead in, and we were ready to go.

First off, let me say, I admire my cast immensely. These are the people that are breathing life into these characters, and they are putting it all out there. Whether we do it in one take or eighteen. They are willing to deliver exactly what I have in my head, and I feel like a proud parent. I am constantly impressed with the depth of talent we have in the cast. There are some truly exceptional performances in this, and I when this is all said and done, I want all of them to be able to go on, and do any project they choose. I’ll be spotlighting several of them in upcoming posts.

But the extras. These are people that drove out to the middle of nowhere, to spend hours being slathered in latex and fake blood, and waited for hours to be included in this project, without knowing much of anything about the project. That is a whole different level of dedication. More than that, several of them have shown up multiple times. And they’ve been willing to do take after take, hold a mouthful of fake blood (which is just nasty tasting, even with the artificial cherry flavoring) until just the right second, and jump into freezing water. And all that for a few seconds on film, and their name in the credits.

Not only are they great for just showing up, but occasionally, you’ll get great stories.   This is an email we got from Jeff Bateman, who’s shown up twice to zombie out for us:

“I was coming into Union when i passed a cop..doing 50 in a 40…he immediately hit the lights and filpped his car around….I thought..”no freakin way am I being pulled over looking looking like I just hacked up somebody…smoked crack and then ate them!”..I pulled over in the gas station parking lot and the cop comes up..and i shit you not says..”what in THE fuck?”…I immediately blurted out that i was in a zombie movie being filmed here. He was like….”Really”….sarcastically at that… Anyway he turned out to be pretty cool and let me go without a ticket…we had a good laugh about it when I got out and showed my full zombie look….I wished i would have taken a pic with him..would have been good for the movie outtakes!!”

And just to round out the tales of Union Missouri Law Enforcement, when Tim and Maria came over on Wednesday night, they told us that they too had been pulled over.

Tim and Maria where driving on Hwy 50, and Maria told Tim to slow down.  They were coming up on Union.  As they came up over the hill, a police officer heading the other direction whipped around and pulled them over.

Tim pulled over, turned his engine off, and placed the keys on the dashboard of the car.

The officer came up to the car while Tim was searching for his insurance card.  The officer came to the window and asked “Do you know why you’ve  been pulled over?”

Tim answered, “I don’t. I’m not from around here, and I’m working on a film that we’re doing…”

The officer said’ “You were going 55 in a 45.”

Tim acted surprised because he was surprised. Tim was a bit nervous  as he told the officer “I’m getting a little freaked out here.  I can’t find my insurance card.”

The officer asked, “What kind of film is ths?”

Maria calmly explains, “A zombie film”

To which the officer says’ “Oh.  That’s cool.  I just pulled someone over that was in zombie makeup.”

To which Maria proudly responds, “Oh, that was one of ours!!!!!”  beaming with pride!

The officer starts laughing.

Tim asks, “Was his name Jeff?”

The officer responds, “Yeah, I think it was…. When I first pulled him over, I thought he had food all over his face.”

The officer said, “I’ll give you a warning. for speeding, and not having your insurance card.”

So thanks to the Union police department for letting what seems like half cast and crew off with a warning.  I’m sure he won the contest for the best stories as the station that evening.

Scene
Ext: Hwy 141

Because luck is something we’ve never experienced, naturally,we got pulled over on the way home for having trailer lights out.  When packing up for  Sunday’s shoot, the trailer had popped off the truck, and destroyed the socket for the trailer.

Now, just to set the scene for you, we’re both exhausted, Karen is slathered in fake blood, we have 4 canoes and camera equipment, props wardrobe, sound equipment all packed into the truck, and the lights kick on. So I pull over to the shoulder and park. As the tired wears off, and I start to realize how this might look.

“Sir, did you know your trailer lights are out?”
“Yes sir, the socket for the trailer got ripped off, when we were packing up to come home.”  Karen hands me the socket, and I hold it out to the officer, who takes it examines it quickly, and hands it back.

“Do you have your drivers license and proof of insurance?”
I hand him my liscense, and my insurance card.

“Sir this is expired”
Oh shit… is what goes through my head.
Karen takes the card from his hands, and glances at it. “Oh, this is the old card, but the information on it is correct.”

The officer stands back. He rests his hand on his hip. Yes… right about where his gun is.
“Ma’am… What’s wrong with your hands?”
I can physically feel my heart push up into my throat.

Karen says “Oh, no. I’m fine. It’s fake blood.”
The officer furrows his brow.
“We’re making a movie…” she says.

He gets that ‘yeah, right’ look on his face. Relaxes a bit.

“Is that marijuana I smell in the vehicle?”
It occurs to me, that there’s a filter from a cigarette burning in the ashtray, and her and I both have been standing over a fire in the middle of nowhere, and a lot of the stuff in the truck is a bit soggy…. it actually does kind of smell like marijuana in the car…. oh fuck.

“No sir. I was just smoking a cigarette. But you’re welcome to search the truck if you’d like.”
He shines the flashlight around the truck.

“Have you ever been arrested sir?”

Can’t wait to see exactly how I look in an orange jumpsuit. Thank god James is a lawyer…

“um… nope.”

“Just wait right here.”
He walks back to his car.

I can only imagine the scenarios he’s putting together in his head:

I beat my wife whenever we go canoing…
No.
We’re stealing canoes, and she cut her hand during our speedy getaway…
No.
Karen is an axe-murderer who targets people canoeing, and I help bury the bodies, and she keeps the canoes as trophies.
That’s it! That’s what we’re getting booked for.

“Where’s the script and the storyboards?”
“Right here?”
“Good!”

A few very tense minutes pass. He comes back. “Here’s your license sir.”

“We really are making a movie.” I hold the script and storyboards up. He takes them and flips the binders open, then hands them back.  He realizes we really are telling the truth. “I’m not going to give you a ticket, but you might get one from someone else on the way home.”  I say thank you and shake his hand.  He could have been a jerk.  He could have gone through everything in the truck, and left us out in the cold to repack it.  So, here’s a big thank you to the Manchester officer who’s name I was too freaked out to get.  I’m sure he had the best story at the station Sunday night, at least in Manchester.

When he walks back to his car, I release the brake, and pull off. And as soon as we’re back on the road, Karen and I both burst into uncontrollable laughter.

But even this isn’t the funniest story from this Sunday…

Scene
Ext: The Reiker Ford Access Point

And at last, we come to the end with most of our Summer cast. James, Nichole, Ben, Elyse, and Derek have all finished their shots for this segment of the film. We now just have one scene and one shot left, and after that I don’t ever want to see another fucking canoe for as long as I live. I don’t want to be near anything with water, and I don’t think I’ll ever feel the desire to swim again. I’m pretty sure the rest of the cast feels the same way.

The last shot we have is a night scene, so as long as it’s warm enough that you can’t see people breathing, we’ll be done with one more shooting evening, and then… we’re off to Hannibal to start shooting fall.

This weekend was a lot of shuffling to get the last bits done. James and Nichole’s final shot in the segment involved driving for an hour and 25 minutes to location, to set up for 40 minutes, to shoot about 1 minute of footage. One take is all we had, and thankfully, one take was all we needed. They were in the water, and out, and up the hill to change in seconds. We should have brought a stop watch. Troopers from start to finish. Never a scheduling issue.  Always know their lines.  Terrific performances from start to finish. These are the kind of people you want to work with.

It makes me a little sad that we only have one more scene to shoot with them for the third segment.

After Saturdays long prep but short shoot, we headed out on Sunday in the afternoon to shoot the last few shots with the rest of the cast. And Elyse, our youngest cast member for this segment, shined like crazy. We did a reshoot of her death scene, and then she got herself cleaned up… and we’ve discovered that her hair is either steel or fiberglass, because there is no way to actually mess it up. I think it’s made of the same stuff that they use to make Tempurpedic beds, because no matter what you do with it, it somehow remembers exactly where it was, and it just naturally falls right back into place. I’m sure she’s probably the most hated girl in her school. That girl who has porcelain skin, with no blemishes, and perfect hair.

So after that quick reshoot, she washes her hair with bottled water, combs it out, puts her headband back on… and viola…like it never happened.

After all that, she patiently waited. And waited. And waited. And waited, for us to shoot a very quick scene, of her throwing up. Now, we’ve all seen people get sick a million times. And when someone throws up in your house, it’s very different than what you tend to see in the movies. It’s the typical, mouth full of mush, cough, cough spit. I wanted this shot to look real. So there she is, sitting in the canoe, in shorts and a t-shirt and it’s cold… like 35 degrees cold. And we do the first take.  Okay.  Eh.  Then a little directing, and Elyse is ready to go again. “Try to cover your mouth, and then throw up through your fingers….”

The best part of the take. Elyse, holding her finger up to say “one second” while she daintily takes her finger and wipes the corner of her mouth before diving right into this great spew of vomit… I tell you, there are days when I love this gig.

One  shot with the extras (okay, three, but who’s counting….), who have been patiently waiting in makeup for their moment, and we’re packing up to head home.

The only thing funnier and more fun than the evening of shooting. The ride home… more on that later.

Scene
Int: The same non distinct kitchen.

As Karen and I run around like idiots getting wardrobe and props and everything together for tomorrow, she answers the phone over and over and over again getting all the extras for tomorrows shoot.  This should be our last day time shoot for the Summer segment, and is by far the most complicated shots in the film.

While she’s busy doing all of that, I sit editing spring.  No… I didn’t get it done for Halloween.  That’s due to the flu that I got.  When the temperature broke I thought it was over with.  It wasn’t.  So I spent the majority of this week feeling exhausted or nauseous.  Fun!  That’s also the reason for the lack of updates.  I’ve dropped 11 pounds, and I really didn’t need to, so I’m a little woozy from the whole thing.  But fortunately I didn’t get anyone else sick, and I’d still rather be ill, than deal with all of the details that Karen had to deal with this week.

We tried to shoot this last weekend, but just didn’t have the extras we needed show up, so this weekend Karen went gangbusters in making sure we had enough extras to get the shots we needed, and so have the cast and crew.  Everyone is lining up people so we can make these last shots as good as they possibly can be, and I’m so pleased with the effort they’ve all put in.  It really is wonderful to have such a dedicated group of people working on this project.

Speaking of dedication, I want to give a mad shout out to Derek, with our very first behind the scenes video post.

Once you watch the video, you’ll understand….  So without further ado, I’d like to introduce our first behind the scenes segment entitled “What Does It Take To Be An Actor?”

Thanks again to Derek for being dedicated enough to let us get it right…

And we have almost 3,000 people following the blog now.  That’s unique visitors, not visits.  So hi and thanks to everybody that’s following along.

Scene
Ext: The Rikerford Access Point

It was supposed to be a horrible wet crappy weekend.  So despite all of the horrible weather that was supposed to completely ruin the weekend for shooting, we watched the weather forecast until the last minute and went out with the mindset of we’ll shoot what we can shoot.

I didn’t sleep worth a damn.  Decongestants always make me twitchy.  We started the morning pre-dawn, I wasn’t feeling great.  Running a slight fever, and my head felt like a brick.  No time for being sick.  So I got up, medicated, showered and got dressed then went out to turn the truck around to hook up the trailer to it… Smash!!!   Backed right into a neighbors car that was parked in my blind spot. Yes, stupid, stupid me. I should have checked, but in my defense it was dark, and it was a black car.  This is not how you want to start your morning… trust me.

Got the insurance information taken care of, got the truck packed, get the trailer hooked up… and we’re off.

When the sun started to come up, and it looked overcast and ready to rain.  The hour and twenty minute drive to Union (yes Union, Sullivan has officially been left behind).  We got to the filming location, the sun came out, and not a drop of rain fell.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  We shot all day Saturday.  All the way up til Derek took the first spill in a canoe.  No dry wardrobe, no more shooting…

So we went Sunday as well, with a similiar forecast, and again, not a drop of rain.

So much good stuff this weekend.  Even though by Sunday night I was running a fever of 102 (I’m sure standing in a cold river all day didn’t really help), but here it is Tuesday, the fever’s broke, I sound like hell, but I feel pretty damn good.

More on this weekend to come, just got to play catch up.  Plenty went wrong, but so much went right, it really didn’t seem like a big deal.

So I’m looking at the forecast, again and again and again.

Our 40% chance of rain, jump to 60% and now sits at 70% for Saturday.  And 40% for Sunday.

Not feeling very witty at the moment.  Just hoping that low pressure system stalls out or shifts, even if only for a couple of hours.

There’s an hourly breakdown of chance of precipitation:

6 am   60%
7 am  70%
8 am  70%
9 am 50%
10 am 40%
11 am 40%
12 pm 40%

and that’s as far as they go hourly…  Maybe we’ll luck out and after noon the chance will drop to 30 or 20%.

So the question at this exact moment is, do we go and try and shoot, maybe squeeze a take in during a lull, knowing full well that it will be a lot of sitting around, and waiting for the weather to be right?  Do we just scrub the shooting day?  I am hating every minute of this.  And knowing we had perfect weather last weekend only makes this worse.

The rational side of me says, “If it rains, take the weekend and go get prepped for segment 3. It’s just one weekend…”  The emotional side of me screams “Screw that.  Get segment 2 done.”

Update
Something may actually go right.  The chances of rain have dropped back to 40% for Saturday…YAY!

Scene
Int: A small office desk in the middle of the night.

So I’m sitting going through the footage, finishing up the rough cut of Spring.  I wanted to get it ready to show the crew on Halloween.  Karen is asleep on the floor behind me.  She tries to stay awake and occasionally tries to answer a question.  The answers make no damn sense.  She’s sleep talking.  I keep asking questions, mostly for my own amusement.  “Should I use this take… or this one.  What do you think?”, I ask.  “Someone needs to drive the truck.” , she answers.  I wonder what she thinks I asked…

After about 4 hours, I decided to set spring aside, and take a look at some of the Summer footage, and as one thing lead to another, starting syncing up sound and video, which of course lead to me starting to edit the first scenes together.  And it all just looks so damn right.  Maybe Summer isn’t cursed.

It was apparently exactly what I needed to do.  It’s one thing to shoot and record a scene.  It’s all pieces.  Imagine trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle, and you have to make each piece, and that’s about as close as you can get to it.  Sure you have a script and a storyboard, but those are just blue prints and once you get on location, they get downgraded from blueprints to guidelines.  There’s an organic process that goes on in between. It doesn’t actually become something until you start cutting it together.  And seeing where we are with it, and how it all flows together I’m in a much better mood.  I glance at the clock and  it’s 3:20.  Maybe it’s time for bed.

The forecast is still calling for a 40% chance of thunderstorms this Saturday.  But that’s a 60% chance for dry(ish) weather.  Still watching the forecast intensely, and hoping that I have more footage to edit together after this weekend.

Fingers crossed.

I’m not happy about having to stand in even colder water, but hey, I’m in waders.  Most of the crew just go in their shorts or jeans, and they tend to get right in.  And I’m pretty sure the next vacation anyone on the crew takes will be in a desert, where it’s hot and dry.  I hear Death Valley is nice this time of year.

I’ll be back to editing Spring together tonight.  I really want to watch it all the way through and check the pacing.  Then it will be round two, where it’s snip a few frames here and there, followed by a third round I’m sure.  But those few frames here and there matter.   There’s two pickup shots that need to be done for Spring, but those can be shot anytime.  By my math it’s roughly 1.5 hours of editing time for about one minute of screen time, and yeah, it’s about as much fun as dental work. But,  Trinka is just so damn fun to watch on screen.  I’m delighted to have gotten to work with her on this.

Sorry this is such an incoherent mess, my brain is having trouble staying on a single track today.

Scene
Int: A dimly lit office with no windows.

So the last major bit of filming for segment two was supposed to happen last weekend, when it was 77 degrees and sunshiny.  Now we’re planning on getting a lot done on this Saturday, and so far it’s not looking like this Saturday isn’t going to cooperate.  The forecast (at the moment) is calling for a forty percent chance of thunderstorms this Saturday, and Sunday.  So I’m anxiously checking the weather every few hours, and hoping something pushes the rain off at least one day.  Hell, I’ll settle for the rain being pushed off til Saturday night.

So don’t forget to go to http://www.weather.com and vote in the poll for “No Fucking Rain” this weekend:

If everything goes right this weekend we’ll only have one last scene to shoot.  If it doesn’t… well… I really don’t want to think about it.  Next weekend is Halloween, and then we’re in November.

On a lighter note, this marks the one year anniversary of beginning this project.  October of last year was when the first draft of the script was completed.  Granted we had 17 drafts of the script, but October of 2009 was the first.  The final draft was completed on April 4 of this year.  And another bit of  news, the Library of Congress sent us our official copyright this week for the screenplay.  So we’re all squared away with the paperwork.  Funny thing is, when you first apply for your copyright, you’re very excited.  Seven months later, when it arrives, you just open the mail and think “Wow, that took a long time.”  But we’re officially on file with the Library of Congress.

I know it’s not much of an update, but for right now all we can do is watch and wait.

Scene
Int: An office. Two people stare at a phone waiting for it to ring.

So they’ll be no filming done this weekend.  Two cast members had others things scheduled, but we knew that, and had  planned on shooting around that.  No biggie.  Then a third injured himself.  Scratched his eyeball.  We were waiting to see if he would be able to shoot.  We hoped he would.  There’s no swelling.  It looks bloodshot, but we can shoot the other side of his face and hide it, but the pain is unbearable.  And Karen knows how bad it can be.  A few years back, she got a paper cut on her cornea.  Actually sheered a small piece off.  If your done wincing over the thought of a paper cut on your eye… on with the show…

So next weekend is do or die weekend.  I have a knot in my stomach at the moment.  And to add insult to injury, I wound up missing a life-long friends birthday party because I had to wait for that phone call.

So now it’s 10:30… the party is nearly over.  Now, I get to sit and stew.

As I start to piece this all together, realizing that the finish line is in site, the delays just feel that much more intense.  It all boils down to getting everything but the very last scene done next weekend.  It’s either that or it’s time to make some real hard decisions.

Did I mention summer is fucking cursed?

At this moment, if we were on set, Nichole would just look at me, smile and excitedly say “Jaws!”

Deep breath.

Get everybody calmed down.

Don’t look at the clock, or the calendar for that matter.

Looks like we’ll take the weekend and start prepping to shoot Segment 3…

Scene
Ext: The Welkenford Access area, a scenic area along the Bourbeous river

So last week was all about prep work, and making all of our problems go away logistically, which involved a lot of effort, and a lot of shouting matches, and a lot of serious discussion.  I’m glad the cast isn’t privy to some of the behind the scenes stuff, because there really is a lot more drama behind the camera than in front of it.  So after some serious discussions and some hard decisions, and some very, very, very late nights (some ending past 4:00 am) we finally got all of our shit together to proceed.

Sunday rolls around, and while we had some folks show up late, and some extras that didn’t show at all (hey, it happens, and it’s not like I’m known for punctuality, so I ain’t throwing any stones), but we finally got moving again.  After the way the shooting day ended everyone seemed a bit deflated (more on that below).  But coming back to the house, and getting everything unpacked at around 1:00 am, we started pulling footage… and what we got was sublime.  There’s one scene we didn’t get to film all of, and one scene that will require a reshoot but 75% of what we shot was looking damn fine.  We are officially past the half way part.

And then there’s the trooper of the day.  A tiny girl of 19 named Chelsea.  Who showed up to be an extra (again!), and sat in makeup for an hour, so that she could stand in a freezing cold river,  go completely under water,  for one shot of her looking up directly into the camera.  The very definition of dedication.  I’m still amazed that she did it, not once, not twice, but five times.

So we set up for the first night shot, which was just two characters, and the performance was absolutely brilliant, until the fucking light died… GRRRRRR.  Issue #1 to deal with this week… reliable portable lighting…

We decided to skip to the next scene.  Which would be the last group scene with everyone in it.

Apparently there’s not much to do in Sullivan MO, because we’ve now run into drunks while shooting three separate occasions.  And I don’t mean guys going down to the river to enjoy a beer.  I mean sloppy, piss your pants, barely able to stand up drunk.  The first shooting day in Sullivan we ran into the first three, and they didn’t cause any problems… just wanted to see what we were up to.  I thought it was just a fluke.  This past Sunday, we ran into one drunk guy driving his jeep.  Though I’ll grant he was okay and didn’t cause any trouble, but I wouldn’t have asked him for a ride. He stuck around to see what we were up to, and wished us well when he left.

Then, of course, there was the hoosier in his piece of shit duelly who threw a hissy fit because we didn’t get a car moved fast enough for his liking.  He apparently is the kind of douche nozzle who thought it would be fun to go get a few of his inbred friends to come back, and then proceed to blare shitkicker music, and generally be a total fucktard by making absolutely sure we weren’t going to get any more shooting done.  T went over and had a brief discussion, they agreed to be quiet, which lead to Mike yelling “Quiet on the set.”, and they got quiet, then decided to start throwing rocks in the water…

We had three people in makeup, and were ready to shoot a blood bath of a scene.  But there was no shooting the lead in… So, we called it a day.

As soon as we started packing up, he left, but not before his buddy had a chance to spray some of the cast and I with gravel from his super bitchin’ Ford pickup truck.

Ah… the glamour of movie making….

I’m sure he spent today patting himself on the back, and joking with his friends about how cool he is, and how he went down to the river and fucked up the shooting of a movie.

But the footage we did get was all worth it (I hope the cast agrees when they get to see it all put together).  There are some great moments in there and it all looks great.  We have a replacement second camera person in Maria who has a great eye.  And we’re nearly back on schedule, but more importantly we have all of our big issues solved behind the camera, so while I knew this portion of the film was going to be a logistics nightmare, we can relax a little bit knowing that all of those issues have been addressed.  Now it’s just a matter of getting the rest in the can.

So for everything that went wrong, there was a lot that went right, and we’re slowly but surely getting this thing wrapped up.  All in all, a good bad day.  Or a bad good day… either way… I guess what really amazes me is to think this was only our fourth shooting day for this segment, though I’m sure the cast and crew feel like it’s been an eternity.

Scene
Int: The same kitchen

Yes everything was a mess last weekend, but I’ve hit my second wind.  Okay, it’s more like my seventh, but who’s counting.  Sorry about the lack of posts this week, but we’ve been using the time wisely, and prepping for a long shooting day.  It’s time to make up lost ground.

The upshot to having a bad filming day is you get an opportunity to redo the things you weren’t happy with…

That being said, we took the opportunity, and redid Oscar.  Don’t ask.

Anyways… here’s Oscar 2.0

and away we go…

Scene
Ext: A large VERY WINDY private lake.

Easily the most frustrating weekend since we’ve began.  As Karen (the trooper) put it “The summer cast had there ‘Walk to the Barn’ scene”.

Everything that could go wrong did.  We had to scrub Saturday, because, while the sun would peak out from time to time, the damn wind refused to let up, making every bit of audio absolutely useless.  It was like trying to shoot in a wind tunnel with a truck driving through.

Sunday looked beautiful.  It was nice and sunshiny, though cool.  Alright who the fuck am I kidding, it was down right cold.  The thermometer may have said 62, but the wind and the water made it feel like -20.  Just a fucking miserable day.

Then there was the seemingly constant airplanes.

I should have kept a running tally on how many times we were just getting ready to shoot, and just as we were about to roll, what sounded like the scream of a Messerschmidt had everybody relax into a slump.

And then just as the wind calmed down,and the water was smooth,  and the air traffic slowed, the gun fire had stopped, the extras were in makeup, and we had everybody, and everything across the lake, and the sun was setting beautifully in the distance …THE BAND started playing.  And you thought the fucking turkey was out of nowhere…

So, I did the only thing I could do.  I looked at the extras in zombie makeup, with the sun in perfect position, and I yelled action.  And each and every one of them delivered, in spades.  So no matter what happens, we have that scene in the can.  I like it so much, it may wind up being on our final poster.

And while we intended on shooting the one night scene for this segment this weekend, by the time the sun went down, I just couldn’t do it.  I’m standing on a muddy bank, looking at the cast that are all dressed in summer clothing, and the only thought that went through my mind was, “Fuck this, I’m done.  There’s no way I’m going to do this to these people.”  I was good and pissed at our seeming lack of progress, and I’m sure all of them were thinking the same thing: “Are we done yet?”

For anybody who thinks acting is an easy gig, try acting like you’re warm.

To my cast.  Thank you, thank  you thank you for all your hard work and I’m sorry.   this weekend was just shit.  And James, thanks for the directing juice.

I still have to go back and get the trailer and the truck…and we’ve lost Kelly til the end of October.

But the forecast for this weekend says its supposed to be partly sunny and 80 degrees.  Time to get back up, dust myself off and start swinging again…

Scene
Int: A dimly lit office, in the middle of the night.

First things first… Holy shit, that was fast.  We hit 500 readers 3 days ago and I thought that was a milestone, but we’re already over 600. So, hello everybody, and thanks for stopping by to read my ramblings as the show goes on, and even when it doesn’t.

Things have gone so well, that I actually don’t know what to write about today.  How’s that for a good week!  Next week they’ll be plenty to write about.  I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.  But this weekend it’s supposed to be kind of dry, somewhat sunshiny and almost warm, so it’s the best filming day we’ve had yet!   Hey, it’s just the kind of luck we have.  And we’re over it…

So I think I’ll dedicate this one to my mom, who has actually volunteered to be one of the zombies in the movie.  My dad has an allergy to latex, which pretty much put the kibosh on him making an appearance.  But, I will say, there’s something fun about talking your mom into being in a movie she would never actually watch.

Okay, let me rephrase that, because now, she has to watch it.  And then she has to confess to her friends “Yes, my son made …that…”  And then she’ll probably have to apologize.

I don’t mean that in a bad way.  She’s the person that introduced me to The Exorcist, and The Omen.  She definitely appreciates a good horror film. She’s also the reason I still watch black and white films, and the reason why I will stop whatever I’m doing if I find “The Razor’s Edge” with Tyrone Powers and Gene Tierney.  If you’ve never seen it, it’s a different kind of movie.  So much so, that it’s hard to fathom that it was made in 1946.  It’s really where I started to appreciate dark personal dramas.

For those not familiar with the movie, it’s about a World War One vet who comes back from the war, and starting in the roaring 20’s begins a search for meaning, which is scoffed at by his socialite friends.  It’s pretty much the juxtaposition of The Great Gatsby, not that there’s a lack of love for F. Scott Fitzgerald… but given the choice, I’ll take The Razor’s Edge.  It’s less mystery and more personal.

In a very tangible way, my mom is the reason this movie is written the way it is, and I can’t thank her enough for introducing me to some of the films I probably never would have watched if she hadn’t been my mom, and for shaping my sensibilities.

I hope when it’s all said and done, that the movie roots show through.  I hope people get it.  I hope she gets it.

Alright.  I’ve rambled enough, but hey, it’s cheaper than therapy…

What? You think I didn’t realize it was Tuesday, and I needed to do a blog post?  Having hit our 500th reader (in just 20 days no less) how could I not.  So to the folks out there following this, a big hello and thanks!

Scene
Int: A 100 year old barn, surrounded on three sides by trees, nearly completely isolating it.

When things don’t go right… like this past weekend… I tend to look backwards, and occasionally need my rose colored glasses smacked off my head.  Fortunately there are multiple volunteers for the job.  So as I stand in the middle of the nondistinct kitchen, upset with all the shit that kept us from filming this past weekend, and as I start to wax on poetically about filming the first segment of the movie, I can almost hear the whoosh of 4 hands swinging back, cocking in preparation to knock those  rose colored shades off.

It’s a weird thing.  When you’re out there in the 100 degree heat, and the humidity is 70%, and you’re in a giant barn ( that took a month longer to find than you expected)  with no air conditioning, it sucks every bit as much as it sounds.  The only thing that sucks more is when it starts to cool down at night, and then, when it hits the dew point, everything is soaked. You forget about being up for nearly 24 hours straight, or not getting a chance to eat one day or the three weeks it took to clean the barn out and get it ready for filming. The 25 bails of loose hay that had to be removed.  The poison ivy.  The damned gopher that would make fresh new holes that  needed to be filled in every week inside the barn.  Walking across that field 30+ times.

As The Mike would say,: “I love shooting, I just hate all the bullshit you have to do before you start filming.”, which I think sums it up perfectly.

Don’t get me wrong.  The crew isn’t a bunch of crabby people.  (I’m crabby, but only on Thursdays.)  When they see the rough edits, they all agree, all the bullshit was worth the effort.  They, like me, would just like one shoot to happen that didn’t have all the headaches.  I hold out segment three of the film like a carrot.  Reminding them that it’s one location, and indoors, with air-conditioning.  Weather won’t matter.  Heat won’t matter.  It will be a nice leisurely shoot.  This is right before I remind them that the big challenge, segment four and the fun that the winter shoots will be.  (I can almost hear the hands whooshing)

And let’s not forget the funny moments… like Dennis going into the gas station, and forgetting to take his prop gun out of his holster.  Or Trinka, at the same gas station a week later with a giant black eye make-up and wanting to see how real it looked, so she decided to act like a battered woman.  Chris’ coffee cup confession, and Joe who can fall asleep sitting up, but you don’t have to worry about it until promptly at 3:00 am.  All of them were a blast to have on set.  The behind the scenes footage is priceless!  They had the tough job.  Helping set the tone and the pace, and I really think that’s the key to this movie.

When you’re reviewing the footage, and editing it all together you seem to forget just how much bullshit was involved in getting that footage, and all that’s left is the sunny after glow.  The people making this with me care, and it shows.

So a big shout out  to Trinka, who really did give it her all every time she showed up on set, and Joe and Dennis and Chris who spent all those nights out in that field, hoping to hear that magic phrase “Moving On!” take after take after take.  And especially to Stan.  Who spent two hours getting put into makeup each time before we shot, and then put on quite possibly the stinkiest wardrobe in the history of film.  I know you guys haven’t seen the footage yet, and I hope when you do that you’ll agree with everyone else that is was worth it.

So for now, as much as I want to be out shooting the rest of segment two, I’ll be content to finish editing part one, and hoping everything goes right this coming weekend.

Scene
Int: A darkened office in the middle of the night.

I’m learning to hate Thursdays.

Fridays are the day you spend running around with your head on fire.  You have so much to do, that you don’t have time to think about what your doing.  That’s what Thursdays are for.  It’s the weekly dousing yourself in gasoline.

It’s not a coincidence that I’m writing this at 3:44 in the morning.  It’s also not a coincidence that I’ve had my weekly hyperventilating, full on spaz attack freak out. I’m not an arguer by nature.  I don’t actively seek out conflict.  I’m a orderly kind of guy.  And that’s what makes Thursdays so hard.  It’s getting everything ready for everybody, and making sure we have everything we are going to need when we get there on Saturday to get started.

I’m not big on anger, but I am particularly susceptible to frustration.  That’s the one that gets me to raise my voice.  It’s not a yell.  It’s more like a plea. I hope they know I’m not yelling at them.  I’m venting.  It’s either that or an aneurysm.

A place for everything and everything in its place… It’s one of those life lessons my father drilled into me.

I hate putting anything off until the last minute.  I hate not having a plan.  I hate not knowing exactly what we’re setting out to do, and roughly how long it should take to get done.  I know I suck at getting to places on time, but once I get there I want to know exactly what steps A, B C, and D are.  I’ll probably always need to work on my punctuality.  Sorry in advance.

But, I also realize that for this all to work, and turn out well, that we all have to know exactly what’s happening and when.  Planning is vital.  And I’m sure to some of the folks on the crew, I seem a bit obsessive about it. (I’m sure some of the cast have noticed too.) If they wonder why I’ll always look exhausted when we shoot, this is why…

When I get everybody to the location I only want them to focus on what’s happening in front of the cameras, and not worrying about  “how are we going to do this with that…”

When I have those “off in my own little world moments”, it’s normally me taking mental inventory.

So far everything has worked out.  I really should learn to relax a little bit, and enjoy the ride.  I really should trust the folks on the crew better than I do.  I know they know what’s expected, and I know they know how to get it done.  It’s just their process doesn’t always dovetail into my process, and that’s the source of the frustration.  I know they want everything to go right too.

And I know after reviewing last weekends footage, that this is turning out spledidly.  I really couldn’t ask for a better cast.  It may have sounded like I was gushing a bit in the earlier blog post, but the performances are really wonderful, thoughtful and nuanced.  It’s a rare thing, to go back after the adrenaline has cooked off and see that what you have on film really is as good as you thought it was, and the credit is all theirs. Nichole, James, Ben, Derek, Colby, Benton, Elysse and Melanie take a bow.

And then there’s the moments like these, when I’ve had my mental meltdown.  And after being talked down, realize that the situation is never as dire as I thought, and I feel like an ass.  The apologies really are sincere, but I always feel like they’re inadequate.

When all is said and done, we’ll shoot what we can shoot, and I know that it will turn out wonderfully.

Like I said.  I’m learning to hate Thursdays.  I hope the crew doesn’t learn to hate Thursdays too.

I said warts and all.  Well, here’s a wart.