Back from Blackburn!
We’re back from two days in Blackburn, Oklahoma, and it was a success! Not without its troubles, though.
But the first day was fantastic, and really a lot of fun. We rounded everyone up early, and our set photog Marcus even came by and spend the night before so he could be there ready to go in the morning. I got up about 8 a.m. after staying up late preparing stuff and going over final checklists.
Ann and Randall came by, and we had to print off a fake “girly mag” that Randall had designed as a prop, but it was a small delay. The sucky thing was that over the night, Randall was starting to feel sick. But we printed off the mag (and Jerod was running late, he overslept). Then we went to pick him up and were on the road. Guy left earlier to pick up Daniel, and Megan and Loni had coordinated on their own and were off, too.
Jerod rode with me, and we got to spend time talking, and then he went back to cleaning the lens adapter as we got closer (it was about a 2 1/2 our drive). The Letus lens adapter was still giving us problems, but his good friend rewired it for us after it broke, and we had it back in working condition.
We stopped in Pawnee to grab some lunch, then made the short trek to Blackburn. And like I said earlier, there’s no reason to go to this town unless that is your ultimate destination. But it’s a cool little place, and a pretty little town with a little rundown downtown-type area, where the quik stop store sat that we would use.
Once we got there, Jerod said, “This is perfect.” Then he set to work readying the lens adapter while I went in to talk to the owner of the store, Billye Denny.
She was gone when I visited the town earlier, but we had talked on the phone several times, and she seemed so incredibly nice. And she really was just a sweet lady, and just let us have full reign over the place, moving things around, using her electricity, everything. And the town’s mayor, Phil, was there to greet us (he had shown me around before).
I scoped out the place and mapped out in my head how I wanted things to play out (I couldn’t really do a complete shot list, because I didn’t really know the logistics of the location in detail).
Amazingly, we all got there at about the same time. We set things up while Jerod did final clean-up on the camera, and we were at last rolling the first scene, which was with Randall, who by now was not feeling well at all. Poor guy.
But he was such a trouper. It was only a shot scene, that we did with the dolly track, but he knocked it out then went to sleep in the car.
After that, we did interior store stuff with me and Guy, and got some great stuff (there’s a great scene with Ann as a dead extra, very funny).
We freed up Ann around 6:30 so she could hit the grill and make hot dogs for the crew while the rest of us finished up with some detail stuff and close-ups. Then we broke for dinner and needed to get two more quick scenes with my after dark in the store.
Jerod and Daniel set lights, then we rolled. And it looks awesome. Again, it was such a perfect place, and it took forever to find the location that was just right, but this worked out beautifully.
We wrapped about 9, as Billye graciously waited for us then locked up the place as we packed up. We told her good night then headed to another nearby town, Cleveland, where we would be staying. I had wanted to stay in Pawnee, but the only motel was full with construction crews staying there.
Earlier, I told Ann to take Randall on in so he could crash, and she called several times, but I missed the calls (a wrong number on the credit card I read over the phone), but we finally got it squared away.
We had four rooms. One for Randall and Ann, one for Megan and Loni, then two for the rest of the guys. We finally got all settled about 10 p.m., then watched the footage, and then the others went to play cards and hangout while I went over the next day’s scenes.
But it was really a blast, like we were in summer camp or something. Again, a really amazing group of people that are my crew, and we’ve all become such great friends. It just makes everything even better.
The only down side was that TJ had to stay late because of work and was driving my car down to meet us — but hadn’t shown up yet, and his phone didn’t work in Oklahoma. I was getting pretty worried.
But then Guy and Jerod ran into the store, and TJ called Guy right while they were in town (our motel was just on the edge of town). Truly amazing timing.
So TJ got there safe and sound, and everything was good. But I was exhausted. I went to bed as the other guys stayed up a bit in the other room. Maybe was too tired, though, because it was a weird sleep. I kept waking up. And then eventually got up about 8 a.m. to take a shower and get everyone moving.
To my complete amazement, everyone else was already up and showering and getting ready. And Ann said that Randall was still feeling bad, but now was all congested. That sucked, because this was Randall’s big acting day.
And the day was gorgeous. A little cool, but pretty and clear. We made the trek to Blackburn, got set up and knocked out the first scene, while Randall slept in the car.
Then we were ready for his scene. And although I had trimmed it down, it was still going to be a long scene to get through, and I was somewhat dreading it, in a way. It was just driving me crazy also being in the scene and not being able to watch it play out, but the blocking was simple, so that was good. We just had to make sure that we had it covered from enough different angles that it would cut together well and not be too static.
But then the weather changed. Suddenly, the wind picked up and clouds rolled in. Then we could see impending rain, and Loni informed us we probably had a good 2 hours — tops. Dammit. That really sucked, and added pressure onto everything, and we still had a lot of dialogue to get through.
But we kept at it and went as long as we could and dealt with the changing lighting situations — until it did start to pour. And my heart sank. I honestly didn’t know what we would do if we weren’t going to be able to finished the scene. Randall was really sick now, Ann was starting to feel sick and went to lay in the car. For some reason, maybe word got out, traffic was really heavy with people driving by trying to take a look at what we’re doing, random dogs kept getting into the shots, and now rain. AND, as Guy was trying to put away some chairs, he spilled pop all over the front of his shirt. So now there was a big, brown stain right smack dab on his tummy. And the rain kept rolling in. I thought my head was going to explode.
But eventually the rain did stop for a bit, as wiped everything down to not look wet, and we were able to get a little bit more done before it started raining again.
But things looked fairly well on the horizon, with some lights skies ahead, so we just waited. We hit it again when we were able to, and somehow — incredibly — got through the scene.
I think I would have liked to have gotten a little more coverage, of course, but I think we had enough to make it work, because now, at this point, we were also light rapidly. But we wrapped and began to strike everything and pack as Jerod continued on getting some cutaways and B-roll stuff.
Finally, we were all done at about 8 p.m. Not bad in the overall scheme of things. But it was a hectic topsy-turvy day. But we did it. Hallelujah!
Ann, Randall and Marcus headed on back, but the rest of us stayed and ate at a Chinese place in Pawnee before hitting the road back. And we all felt triumphant, almost giddy at what we had just pulled off. It was a great meal, and a great way to end our trip. It was also somewhat bittersweet, because now Loni, Megan, Ann and Randall were now wrapped.
I crossed off the scenes we had shot during the day at the table, and we all cheered. That left only one more scene to be crossed off. Simply amazing.
We finished dinner (and, thank goodness I didn’t get it before the shoot, but my fortune cookie had no fortune in it), then we hit the road home.
It was another great adventure in this long adventure that has been this movie. I just can’t put into words how grateful I am for everyone’s commitment, passion and talent. It floors me.
So, now, one more shooting day left with just me, TJ, Guy and Jerod — all interior car stuff, hopefully on Saturday if the weather holds out. And then: PARTY!!
To be followed by lots of post-production, of course. But it’s all great.
Who needs a fortune in their cookie, anyway? I’m writing my own,
-r.
