Thursday, October 8th, 2009
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.
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Thursday, August 6th, 2009
We got through two more days at the Oaklawn School, the first being an action-heavy scene where two final zombies attack me and the good zombie, who is called Stupid.
But we didn’t have access to the school this day, so we did makeup beforehand, with Jack and our friend Zach coming to my place to do his prosthetics and Megan going to Wade’s place to do his makeup and our friend Dustin’s. Megan, typically, did fantastic work, and so did Jack (we made a head cast of Zach a couple months back).
We all get to the school grounds in the afternoon and blocked out the action. We started with the action right after I pull a stake out of my gut and crawl on the ground until I run into Stupid’s feet (a really nice dolly shot).
Then Dustin knocks me to the ground and we wrestle a bit until Stupid comes and drags the other zombie off of me.
And poor Dustin! He got dragged so many times this day, but he was such a trouper!! And so was Zach, who waited patiently in his makeup in 90-plus heat (we were in the shade the whole time, but still).
And an action director I am not, but now I guess I am. We did a lot of handheld shots for all the movement, and it worked great. Jerod, again, is simply superhuman.
So we got the stuff all the way up until the mean zombie gets “shot.” Then we’ll pick up Saturday from that point on with the special effects stuff (which scares me — again a new learning curve, but we’re devoting more time to it to get it right).
So it was a great day, and everyone did really good work. Awesome.
We went back to Oaklawn the next day to do another scene that happens after the zombie kill, where Guy’s character, Ray, helps me try to get back to the car. And I knew we were going to have to isolate the scenes along the tree path so we could shoot them without having to have everyone there all at the same time, and I think it works beautifully.
This day, though, was a heavy acting day. And I wasn’t happy with my acting at all until the final few takes. I still wasn’t thrilled with it, but we had to move on, as we were losing light. So it is what it is. I didn’t want it to be too melodramatic, but still effective. It’s a hard line to walk, but I hope I got it right.
After that we got some beautiful stuff with Ray and Stupid saying goodbye. And finally, with Stupid heading into the corn field (which was Wade’s idea), with some amazing, gorgeous light right at magic hour. Very cool.
Then yesterday we headed out to our friends’ farmland near Udall to get some stuff with Guy and Randall on a country road at dusk and then dark.
And getting everyone together and ready to go was a chore. It just is. And Brandon had a last-minute meltdown at work, so he couldn’t go. That meant the people riding with him needed to be picked up. We needed to get one scene right at sunset and it’s an hour’s drive, so I had hoped to leave by 5. After I picked up everyone, we didn’t get out of town until almost 6:30. I blazed on the highway.
We made it to the farm with no problem, then hopped out and immediately got ready to get the shot on the country road at sunset. I’m amazed, but we got it, and it looks great. We lost the really cool light, but we got it and it’s fine.
Then after that, I went to see Sir Chris, who owns the land, and his son Chris, an aspiring filmmaker himself and film critic. Really great guys. I apologized for not doing proper hellos before since we needed to get the shot, but they were both so great.
So was their family. Much later on, Sir Chris’ wife, Teresa, even made the whole crew homemade pizzas — completely from scratch. Absolutely delicious. Their graciousness was warm, inviting and humbling. All because they’re interested in films (the two Chrises were zombie extras for us at the Independent Shoot).
And Sir Chris even turned over an old van he had on his property so that it would look like it crashed. And let us use his power generator that he had parked on the back of his truck so it would be mobile. Incredible.
It was a difficult, unruly shoot once it got dark, though. Jerod was struggling with the lighting and really getting frustrated. And we had some lights malfunction, and we needed every one of them.
But Jerod finally got it to where it would work (though he still wasn’t pleased, but we worked with it), and we finally got to block the scene.
And the generator was LOUD. Really, really LOUD. We did our best to muffle it, but it was still overbearing. Finally, I moved my mom’s SUV and parked it in front of the generator. That actually helped a lot, and hopefully I’ll be able to doctor the audio in post. Scary stuff being so uncertain, but we work with what we have (in my first feature, “Dancing on the Moon,” I had no choice but to leave the sound of a generator in, because at the time I didn’t have the audio skills to fix it). It would be great to have a noiseless generator, but, ah, the benefits of having no budget.
Anyway, we got through the night, fighting off bugs the whole time and dealing with some unruly crew members (that’s a different matter). And Guy and Randall gave great performances. I think the scene is really going to be funny.
It all, of course, took much longer than I had hoped. Especially since Jerod had to leave for Kansas City immediately after we were shooting since he’s working on a shoot today and his call was 7 a.m. That means that he’s working straight through to tonight with no sleep. And Randall was leaving at 6 a.m. this morning for Kansas City, also, but for vacation with his family. I dropped him off at 4:30 this morning. I felt terrible for keeping them both so late, but they charged through it all. Jerod keeps telling me, “Don’t worry about me, I’m in this for the long haul, and I’ll be here for however long it takes.”
And Randall said, “Eh. I’ve done worse with less sleep.” Amazing…
So we had hoped to go back to Udall tonight, but like I said Jerod took that job in KC, which it turns out is fine ’cause it’s rainy. Don’t think we’ll get to do anything tomorrow, ’cause he’ll really need a day off. But then we still have Oaklawn and the bar shoot on Sunday. And hopefully something on Monday, but gotta figure that out. Then Guy goes home, TJ comes home and we regroup after we figure out schedules.
So … a little more done, and much preparation needed for Saturday and Sunday. Stay focused, stay on the road, stay on target. We’re getting there…
-r.
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Thursday, July 30th, 2009
In the overall scope of things, production on “The Dead Can’t Dance” has been relatively trouble-free. Sure there are scheduling problems, there were some special effects problems, there are lots of little things that can, do and will go wrong. We just have to stay flexible, change and adapt. Welcome to the world of independent filmmaking with no budget.
But there haven’t been any true roadblocks, or a day gone completely to hell — until now.
Yesterday we drove to Burrton, KS, to shoot at an old gas station I had discovered a while back. It was in town but set against a large grassy field and on a dirt road. It looked like it was in the middle of nowhere, which was perfect. (Although it didn’t have a storefront, so it wasn’t too perfect.)
We tried for months to get permission to use the gas station, through our Burrton contact, Montie, who said he would be more than happy to help us out (he’s a friend of Jack’s). Anyway, Craig and Brandon tried several times to get ahold of the actual owner but with no success, and Montie didn’t return calls. Finally, though, he did and he told Craig everything was cool with our shooting there. Then we had to switch dates. Craig’s scooter got stolen (which sucks) so he was pre-occupied with other things, so I had Brandon try to call Montie. He did. Montie said no problem, we’re good to go.
So we went. We loaded up everything into three carloads and made the 45-minute trek out.
When we got there, though, it immediately started raining, and I was very stressed out about the weather. It was cloudy with a 30 percent chance for rain. But the rain eventually subsided, and things looked good. It looked like we were actually going to get through the shoot. Awesome.
The gas station wasn’t manned by anyone, people just showed up and got gas with a credit card. And working around them wasn’t easy. When I was there months ago, hardly any cars pulled through. Cars yesterday seemed to come in spurts, so we had to pause and let them do their business, and some trucks rolled through, and nearby there was a man working a salvage yard. All very loudly. And we had some curious people drive through just to see what we were doing.
But we were managing. We got there about noon, were finally set up and rolling probably about 1. Then at one point, an older man pulled up and came over to talk to us. He didn’t seem too friendly at first. I told him we had talked to Montie, and he said, “So?”
Then I further explained what we were doing, that these were the opening shots of the movie and what the story was about. He laughed. And things seemed to be OK. I asked if it was OK if we were there and he said yes. I thanked him profusely, and he got in his truck and left. Cool. Everything seemed all right.
But much later, about 6, he showed up again with a very angry wife. She asked who was in charge, and I went to talk to her. She was very rude, very cross, and I tried to explain that we thought we had permission to shoot there. She yelled at us, and said that we didn’t. We apologized. I mean, it wasn’t like we were trying to sneak onto the premises and get away with something. We had a canopy set up with lawn chairs and a table — we were obviously there.
Anyway, she told us to get off the premises immediately. Again, very, very rude. And it’s their right — it’s their property. It just could have been handled differently. She didn’t understand, and there was no reasoning with her.
So we packed up and left — and our entire day was wasted. To make matters worse, we were probably an hour or two from being finished. The opening scenes of the film would have been shot.
And it’s not like this isn’t hard enough — getting everyone together, coordinating everything, making use of Guy while we have him, working on TJ’s days off, etc. So it was heartbreaking that everything we had done was completely useless. Unfinished and wasted. We can’t use any of it. We have to start all over on that scene.
We all came back with our tails between our legs, and I felt humiliated and broken. Seriously bummed out.
So this day was a low point. And I told everyone I’d rather that this happen now instead of completely finishing the movie and having it tied up in legal matters should they object. In the overall scheme, it’s just one day. But it doesn’t make it any less frustrating. We were so close. But, oh well.
And this is why we always get release forms signed. We always cover our bases, go through the correct channels. This time we didn’t — we relied on what we thought was an insider contact, and it reached up and bit us. A very important lesson learned.
So it’ll take a day for the sting to wear off. I woke up today extremely depressed and doubting myself. What in the world have I gotten myself into? Why did I ever think I could pull this off? How are we ever going to finish this film?
But we will. We will regroup, start all over and find another location, and just forge ahead. Somehow. I’ve had crushing blows like this before and refused to give up, so I’ll refuse to give up again.
But maybe not until tomorrow.
-r.
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Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
So Saturday we were finally at Oaklawn, after having to postpone the shoot there several times in April due to inclement weather.
But the weather threatened to stop us again. I kept watching the weather forecast on Friday, and it was calling for rain. Not good.
I asked Loni, our art and wardrobe supervisor, what she thought about the weather (she knows all about weather and lives on a farm). She said it should rain in the morning but have a break in the afternoon then start raining again in the evening.
So the night before I got little sleep, as I stayed up late going over my shot list, loading the equipment, checking batteries, and then kept waking up about every hour thinking I heard rain. When I really did get up at 8, it was pouring outside.
I had to make a decision, and the calls and texts started flooding in. Were we going ahead or canceling? I decided to go forth since we were paying to have the school for 10 hours regardless. I figured we needed to at least give it a shot.
Then the other worries escalated. What if we got everyone in makeup then it started raining? How would we keep the equipment dry? Would anyone show up to be extras?
I picked up Daniel and we went to the school. We started unloading stuff when the rain let up a little, and Loni showed up and helped us start setting things up in the school’s gymnasium.
Eventually people started showing up, and Craig set to organizing the extras as Jack and Megan and assistants set to doing makeup.
And this is where the crew rocked. Craig, Brandon, Loni and Megan had gotten together and came up with a system of organizing bodies through check-in, wardrobe and makeup. And they came up with a system of auditioning extras and placing them in 3 groups: far away, closer and featured. It really worked beautifully.
But the rain continued to pour. It finally let up around 2. Then another burst of rain passed through then cleared up again around 3.
By this time, Jared showed up with the jib he had to drive to pick up, and now we had around 70 extras — much more than I thought would show up.
Brandon and I took to the playground, where all the action would take place this day, to assess the situation, and I walked through Jared, James, Sam and other crew what would happen and the shots that I wanted.
And we had to get going in case it started raining again. But Loni kept a close eye on the radar and said that we looked good for a few hours, at least. Then everyone scattered to set things up. I announced that we were aiming to roll by 4:15.
Then everything was a flurry of activity as final touches were done with makeup, as Craig put the zombies through warm-up exercises, and as the rest of the crew prepared for the first shot. Now that the rain had stopped, the sun came out and it was amazingly, blazingly hot and humid. But it wasn’t raining, and that was good.
Finally, I called for the first set of zombies. Craig led them out and I positioned them in the playground field and explained what would happen. Then the next set of zombies and finally the last and the principal zombies, who were positioned around the playground equipment.
I explained the blocking. And finally, we were ready to roll about 4:30. The first shot was my character, Dax, and Eddie coming out of the school and seeing all the zombies. Then I tell Eddie to go hide while I distract the zombies. Then I move through the playground and get trapped on the play equipment, all with the 70 zombies moving in closer and trying to get me.
We got the first few shots with dialogue, then moved on to the action of Dax moving down a brick wall. We got some cool POV shots of the zombies, then tackled the hard part. I wanted the rest of the action to be one, long take, having Jared follow me through all the zombies.
I love these kinds of shots, because it puts the viewer right into the action. It seems more real, more urgent. And somehow, some way, it was working.
We had to do it about 6 times, but we got it and checked the shot on monitor. It was going to be very, very cool, and everyone looked great.
All this stuff happens in the script in early morning, so we needed to shoot as close to magic hour as we could. But we were quickly losing the light, and I asked everyone to just hang in there through the heat and get through it. Everyone was truly amazing.
We moved in for some close-up work as the light became faint, and then one final wide shot of the zombies leaving and a rack focus of my running and grabbing a stake in the ground. Beautiful.
Then we were done. In a whirlwind, we got through it all without any more rain and searing heat. And watching the footage today, it looks fantastic.
Yesterday I was pretty sore from so much physical activity of running and jumping (an action star I am not), but today I felt better. Still way tired, but OK.
It was a thrilling rollercoaster ride, though, and an amazing day. It ended on a high note with a good vibe, and everyone was excited and pumped. We finished by eating dinner, which Ann orgnanized, grilling hot dogs for the masses.
Simply incredible. And I can’t reiterate enough that the crew simply rocked this day, all across the board. Everyone was at the top of their game. Somehow we managed 70 extras and achieved some difficult shots all in a very short amount of time under fading light and weather constraints. The film gods smiled all over us (eventually).
I’m very, very lucky to have found such a passionate, committed, great group of people. This film really is going to be very cool.
Thank you, thank you, everyone. You remind me that nothing is impossible.
-r.
Here are some pics taken by Wade (from his Facebook page):
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Sunday, June 21st, 2009
Scroll down for parts 1 and 2 …
DAY 9, SUNDAY, JUNE 14
No extras this day, and again, while it’s fun having them, it was nice to get back to a quieter day.
(In earlier recap, forgot to mention that Karma has joined our ranks now as a P.A. (another holdover from the WAMPA class), and she is awesome. A hard worker, game for anything, eager to learn and she has a nice energy. Great to have her.)
This day we shot main classroom stuff, a lot of dialogue with the three main guys and Clooney, and the big scene when Stupid arrives at the school and scares everyone.
Again, the footage just looks fantastic,and Stupid’s makeup design is phenomenal.
But what really makes it work is Wade’s performance. He’s brilliant. And I can’t put into words how amazing it is to watch your words come to life so vibrantly — and even actually be funny.
Again, people are absolutely going to LOVE the Stupid chaaracter, and that’s all due to Wade. In the film, the zombies are attracted to noise, Stupid has taken over Dax’s radio and shows up at the school only wanting the radio turned back on so it can make it some noise. But since he’s a zombie, ya know, he can’t talk exactly and can only mumble. Plus he’s mostly a zombie so his brain is kind of mush.
So that’s really all that Stupid is doing in this scene, he just wants the blasted radio to make noise. But the guys are scared of him. Stupid lunges for Ray, who hits him with a book, and Stupid falls into the chalk board scarping his fingernails. I LOVE this scene, and thank goodness it works. It’s great. (And I asked Wade early on when I first wrote this if scraping fingernails on a chalk board would bother him– he said no, but it sure bothered our D.P. Jarod).
I was having some trouble with blocking and framing the scene like I wanted near the end of the night, but we got it to work wonderfully. Kudos to everyone on a great day,and especially Wade, who worked late on set staying in makeup for long hours then had to get up and go to work the next day. Fantastic work.
DAY 10, MONDAY JUNE 15
By now we are utterly exhausted and sick, and I feel like I’m about to faint all the time. My head just felt … heavy (no jokes, please).
But I actually got more than a few hours of sleep the night before (like, 5), and slept until my alarm went off. Then I popped up ready to go. It was the final day at the school. We had made it.
Well, almost. We still had to get through the day. We had a scene with Ray and Clooney and Eddie near the school entrance, we only had Clooney until about 4 when he had to go to work, and then after that we still had to shoot a scene with me in a hallway with art on the walls (more on that later).
I got to the school with Guy before anyone else, then Loni and Megan showed up and they immediately began cleaning up the cafeteria, our home base for the week.
While they worked, I went upstairs and examined the hallway where I wanted to shoot. Then I lugged all the lights, equipment, video village — everything that Jarod might need — down to the other hallway,so Jarod could just get straight to lighting when he got there. I also put cardboard all across the exterior doors to block out the light, brought in a ladder to block out light in a nearby stairway. I was already tired.
But no one else was showing up. No Jared, TJ, Randall, Brandon or Craig. The ever cool Marcus was there, of course, playing video games. But then he chipped in cleaning the cafeteria, along with Karma. And we had Chelsea this day for a while to help out, too. But I didn’t really want to bother anyone more than they were already working. Everyone was running on fumes as it was.
So I went back upstairs to strike the main classroom. We had to set the room back exactly how we found it, that meant taking down masking on the windows, putting the desks back in order, putting the posters back on the walls, and returning the rest of the lights and equipment we weren’t using for the hallway scene back downstairs. So I began the labor. Just one more day, I kept saying to myself, just make it one more day. One thing’s for sure (that I learned a loooong time ago) filmmaking isn’t for wimps.
A little while later, Sis brought Sloppy Joes and mac and cheese for lunch, so we dove in, and it was great comfort food. A nice last meal at the school.
Eventually, Randall got there first,then Brandon and Craig who weren’t feeling good. Then TJ. And Jared called to say he was on his way. Everyone had overslept, which was understandable. EVERYONE was exhausted and spent. But again, I said to myself and kind of to everybody, hang in there, I know you have no energy left. Just one more day. Please.
But one we got rolling on the scene, we rocked. Jarod lighted the hallway beautifully (it took place at sunset, and we had what look like rays of sunshine beaming through the windows), there was some nice acting by Guy and Randall and TJ, and we got Randall out by 4:15. Not bad, especially for getting started so late.
After that, we let TJ go, who was done with his scenes, and Guy was done, as well, but he stayed in the cafeteria and worked on his roach headpiece, and helped clean up. By now the ever energetic and faithfully diehard friend Daniel was there, helping to keep things rolling and moving.
There was just one more scene to do for the day, a scene with only me. In the script, Dax goes to find some aspirin because Eddie has a fever. On his way back in the hallway, he gets briefly distracted by a wall covered with art drawn by kids. Each drawing is a picture of what each child wants to be when they grow up.
Art director Loni did an absolutely phenomenal job on the set, cutting out construction paper letters and backing, and had extras do the drawings while they were waiting to be on set. And I wanted the hallway to have red highlights, again to play off the “exit” signs.
And this scene had no dialogue, but was just a simple tracking shot of Dax going down the hallway, looking at the art. I love the scene, because I think it speaks volumes about Dax’s character. He didn’t really get a childhood, he practically had to raise his younger brother while also taking care of his irresponsible parents. And I think the scene also symbolizes the Dax knows he’s not going to have a future. I hope the scene is touching, but just for a moment.
Because tragedy strikes immediately when Dax drops the aspirin and has a back spasm. He must now crawl back to Eddie, and then discovers zombies in the hallway blocking his path.
But we got the difficult dolly shots done, several times, and covered the scene. Then that was it.
We were wrapped at the Independent School. Hallelujah.
I let Brandon proudly call it. We all clapped and hollered. My head rushed, this time from relief and not impending unconciousness.
Then we went to work. Brandon, Loni and Megan had already gone through the upstairs of the school, inspecting the rooms, making sure we cleaned up all the fake blood in the hallways, and that everything was clear and returned to its original state.
Then we all pitched in and packed up gear, loaded it into cars then did one final pass through the cafeteria.
And it struck me that we really done there. I was somewhat sad yet pumped. Seeing everything cleared was bittersweet. We had made it through, literally through blood, sweat, turmoil and tenacity. We were now more than halfway through principal photography.
I can’t thank everyone enough. All the extras, the Independent School administrators, Emily, Julie, Steve, the WAMPA film class, my wonderfully supportive family, the talented actors, and the amazing, simply incredible crew that somehow came to be.
I was telling Jared that fate has smiled many times all over this project. Fate brought us all together. And fate will see us through.
Because while we were triumphant, we were in no way done. There was still a long way to go. But I now knew that it would happen. There was no turning back now.
Everyone followed me to my apartment and helped me unload everything, then we all went to a bar to celebrate. And celebrate we did (I couldn’t remember the last time I had a beer). It was a blast, and the vibe was almost magical. Our heads were spinning from exhaustion, drink and joy. Perfect.
This whole whirlwind experience was a joyride. It was certainly an adventure, to say the least. One I’ll never, ever forget.
-r.
Most of the superhuman crew that got us through the Independent shoot.
The sign in the Independent School cafeteria. I don’t know who did this, but it’s great.
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Friday, June 19th, 2009
(scroll down to read part one first)
DAY FIVE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10
Again, things are pretty blurry at this point, and last week seems like it was last year (time also seemed to not exist at the school, since we were inside practically the whole time).
But we moved forward with the zombie kill schedule for this night. Even though Josh, our zombie, and Jack still hadn’t talked. But we were hoping things would work out.
We went ahead with other stuff this day, too. Chelsea came in to play our school teacher bit role, and she was fantastic. Consistent and no problems. Really nice.
And let me just take a moment to comment on acting:
Everyone’s performances have been great. TJ is blowing me away. Guy continues to be good, even though he still needs a little warming up. And Randall is great as the weird character Clooney, though he has problems typical of inexperienced actors, he shuffles his feet a lot, moves too much and covers his mouth when he talks. Those are all bad things, but he quickly adapts to notes and does fine.
Anyway, we finished in the main classroom upstairs and moved downstairs to the science room, where the first zombie death of the movie would occur. There was quite a bit of dialogue to do before we were ready for the special effects stuff, with all the main characters.
I’m finding that these dialogue-heavy scenes are some of the hardest to block. We basically have four guys in a room talking, and it’s hard to keep the action visually interesting and engaging. And in this scene in particular, the early takes are not going well. The timing is way off, it feels like we’re waiting for each other’s lines, and we’re uncomfortably close to each other to get everyone in frame (it doesn’t look odd, it just feels that way).
Jared helps with some ideas, and we finally get the scene, though it was tough. But we made it.
Then we broke for dinner.
And this is one thing I made sure to do: Feed your crew well. My Sis, Tracy, offered early on to cook meals for the set during the week we’d be at the school, and she did fantastic. I gave her my credit card, and she was constantly running to the store grabbing stuff for lunch, keeping us stocked with sodas and water, and bringing dinner. Her cooking was a hit, and the crew commented that they didn’t know what they were going to do once the week was over. Sis brought spaghetti, Indian tacos, sloppy joes, sandwiches, and much more. And my mom was also just as awesome with goulash, stew and bringing pizzas. I have an amazingly supportive, loving family and I cherish them beyond anything. We stick together.
After dinner, we went back to finish the dialogue in the science room, and Brandon informed us of Jack’s status. He said he probably wouldn’t be there until around 10 p.m., at the earliest.
Arrrgh. So my stress level is pretty high by now, and I can feel my stomach acid burning my throat. But we push on. I frantically try to think what we can shoot in the meantime.
Eventually, 10 p.m. comes around. Still no Jack. He eventually calls again and says it will be midnight. We shoot more stuff in the science room, a scene of the guys up to the effects scenes and directly after, the best we can. We finally get caught up. Brandon hears from Jack.
The effect prop still isn’t ready. It’s pretty apparent that we’re not going to shoot this scene tonight. I say we can instead shoot a scene with Randall (because we only have him so many nights) that occurs in the restroom, though Jack has also done a prosthetic bite mark for Clooney’s shoulder. Jack says he will be in in 20 minutes to at least do the bite wound.
After 30 minutes, we try to call him again. Now his phone is no longer working. We have no idea where he’s at. I have to make a decision. Megan says she can whip up a bite wound for Randall’s shoulder in 15 minutes. I say go ahead, we’ll just have to go without Jack’s prosthetic.
Once it’s clear what we’re shooting, we move lights and the dolly track to the restroom. We’re going to do a mix of existing lighting and gels set to the temperature of the ugly flourescent lights. I was skeptical of how it would look, but once everything was set and lighted, I was in awe. The blue walls of the bathroom looked amazing on monitor, so rich and vibrant, and Jared had an idea for a dolly shot for this scene.
Essentially, it’s just Randall washing his mouth after he’s gotten into a scuffle with Ray. Then he looks in the mirror and sees a bite wound on his shoulder. I wanted it to be one, long take. Jared wanted to use the dolly track, which was fine, and we did some run throughs. I absolutely loved it.
Megan’s rush makeup job was superb (and I wanted the bite wound only partially revealed, anyway), and the tone of this shot is just incredble. Very eerie, very cool. Great work, and this is where jared really shined with some difficult framing and pacing work. It really is brilliant.
So it was really great to end the night on a stellar high note. The scene was a rousing success, and helped us forget all of our earlier struggles. But we would need to deal with them tomorrow. For now, though, we went home, our heads buzzing and our bodies exhausted.
DAY SIX, THURSDAY, JUNE 11
A few days before this, when the weather cramped our style and we weren’t getting to some scenes I had scheduled, we asked the ever wonderful Emily (our liaison with WAMPA) if we could add a day to the schedule, which would make it 10 days, not 9. She didn’t bat an eye at all, and said yes. It still left us with an ambitious schedule, but much more manageable. There would have been no way we could have gotten everything in.
So now, this day was the real halfway point in the shoot. We are all frustrated, tired, a little grouchy and just needed an energy boost. I needed to keep the mood light, and keep everyone pumped.
But honestly, I didn’t feel great this day. I was still battling an impending cold. I became light-headed and everything went white for a minute if I ever stood up too fast after sitting. I was really worried about the effects shots, or if we’d even have them. I was tired beyond tired.
And everything really gets fuzzy around this point on the timeline of the week. The days get jumbled.
But Jack did show up the next morning. Without going into too much detail, he said things would be ready the next morning _ 2 days late.
I had rescheduled the rescheduled stuff, and we moved forward on things. But it was a difficult, very long few days with little to practically no sleep.
DAY SEVEN, FRIDAY, JUNE 12
This is TJ’s 20th birthday! We’re all pumped and I buy a card that everyone can sign. By now, we’re a pretty cool little family. We all know each others’ personalities now and we’re getting the job done.
But I almost completely failed as a director this day. I was really trying hard to keep everything straight in my head, I was still worried about the special effects, and I was also the actor that had to stab the zombie in the neck and head. It was all very frightening and overwhelming, and looking back, I should never have cast myself in this role. I seriously doubt if I will ever act AND direct at the same time again.
But Jack and Megan prepared Josh for the effect. Jack’s mask was very cool, and there was a padded section in the neck where I would stab Josh.
We got started later than I would have liked, especially because we only had Randall until about 10 and it was TJ’s birthday and his friends wanted to take him out. So in addition to the other worries, I was fighting the clock to get stuff with them done first, which meant actually pushing back the effects scene a couple of hours. Not good.
Eventually, we were rolling with the scene. Everything was set up. We put down dropcloths to protect the floor from the gallons of fake blood that we’d be throwing around everywhere. It came down to the time when I stab Josh in the neck.
It was weirdly surreal seeing Josh in complete makeup. I kind of forgot that that was him under there. It seemed like some other random person I didn’t know. (And Josh was a major trooper, enduring the long, long wait and shoot — he was eventually in makeup for almost 12 hours).
So the camera was rolling and I stabbed Josh — just barely keeping the retractable pencil rig in the safety zone where he was padded. And when I stabbed him, we both kind of freaked out and went way out of frame of the shot. And then the tubing got bunched up under my hand, so the blood didn’t flow. It was pretty much an unusable shot.
And I very nearly came close to injuring Josh (he actually said that it hurt, but not that bad, but still — the crew thought I had actually stabbed him).
So we set up to try it again. I stabbed him again, this time keeping in the area that I needed to be in, and the pencil worked with blood flowing out of it. We still moved a little too far out of frame, but at least we got the initial stab. It’ll work.
We reset then shot the stab from several points, and the closeups worked much better. But we’re being very careful to not get blood on our wardrobes (I didn’t want to try to match the blood spurts in other shots, avoiding a continuity nightmare).
We then had to reset for the shots of Josh with a prop pencil sticking out of his neck, then we had to reset when I take the pencil out of his neck then stab him in the head. Whew!
But through all of this, I was too worried about what was happening, and I let the set get too chaotic. It was no one’s fault but my own. I am completely capable of blocking people and noise and chaos out, but it was very frustrating for Jared and Jack, who were trying to communicate over loud noise and talking on the set. I was just trying to get through it all. It was very, very difficult. But we made it through, and Josh finally got to change. I think we wrapped somewhere around 3 a.m., after cleaning out all the blood and striking the science room. Everyone was absolutely spent, especially Josh. I can’t say thanks enough.
He was fantastic, and the scene overall will be very cool, and even funny.
But on this day, I was more of an actor than a director, and that can’t happen. At all.
I went home and processed everything and worked on the next few days’ schedule. I tried to go to sleep about 5:30. For the record, I drank 12 Diet Cokes this day.
DAY EIGHT, SATURDAY, JUNE 13
I wanted to arrive at the school early. This would be another day with zombies, about 15 of them, and I wanted to get to the school before anyone else. I did get there early, but not as early as I had hoped.
Still, it was nice having some solitude. Some quiet before the storm. I sat and ate my muffin and some water. My stomach was not feeling too great this a.m., probably a result of all the stress, very little rest and way too much Diet Coke.
A few zombies did show up, and Megan started to get things makeup things ready. My friend Todd arrived, and we got to talk briefly (we went to our friend Mark’s wedding in Scotland together and ended up exploring Barcelona together — great guy).
But I went upstairs and roamed the hallways. I knew which hallways I wanted to use for these extras-heavy scenes, and went over the action in my head and on the page. I knew in detail the shots I wanted and in what order, to make maximum use of our time and not keep the extras waiting needlessly.
I was going to be extra prepared today. And I wasn’t in any of the scenes today, so I knew I could completely concentrate on directing.
Our new friend Michael returned to set today (he was in the WAMPA filmmaking class, and was a total blessing the weekend before). It was such a pleasure having him again, and he’s a super-hard worker and knowledgable about electric stuff. Amazing guy.
And we had Sam back today, who had to sit out a bit because he was sick. We got word that Roger wouldn’t be back today because he was sick, as well. Throughout the week, it seemed like someone was sick every day. I’m sure it’s because we were sharing germs, not labeling the water bottles we drank out of, and were just constantly thrown together the whole time.
Also this day, I didn’t have to worry about dinner. Jared’s girlfriend nicely offered to bring taco salad and Sam’s mom was making tacos. Very, very cool of both of them. And the food was delicious.
When Jared got to set in the morning, I walked through the hallways with him and Michael and went over in detail the shots I wanted that day. Then he and Michael went to setting lights, while I touched base on other things with Brandon, Craig and Loni.
Before we started rolling, I also held a short meeting with the crew, hopefully to boost morale yet to reign in the chaos from the day before. I reiterated that there were no words in the English language to express my gratitude for everyone’s undying hard work, commitment and faith in the project. And that everyone was doing an unbelievably great job — way beyond the call of duty. But I also needed everyone to do their jobs, and let others do theirs, and that it was imperative that Jarod and I communicate constantly throughout the day without unneeded distraction, that we were going to be doing some very difficult long takes. Let’s run a tight ship today, I said. And we did.
The day eventually was great. Everyone rocked on moving zombies down the assembly line, and having them ready to go. We did run into a major problem with some props (through no fault at all of the art department’s or Loni’s), and some personnel issues. But other than that, the day was rewarding, and we got some great stuff.
And Jared pulled off a shot that I really wanted to work, where the camera follows Ray and Clooney down a hallawy as they dodge and fight zombies. I love shots like that — that put the viewer directly into the action. It works beautifully. It took some detailed blocking and a few takes to work out the kinks, but we got it. We also got some cool zombie deaths, one done in a shadow with blood splattering on the walls, and the other done in silhouette. They’re beautiful. Hallelujah!
It was another long day, and the zombies were gracious about the long wait, but we actually wrapped a little “early.” Everyone was out by 2 a.m.
But this was a very rewarding day. We were spot-on, pulling off what crews more than double our size pull off. And the footage looked amazing.
“It was nice having Rod back in the director’s chair,” Jared said.
But I should never have left.
Last two days to come and a report from this weekend’s Oaklawn Elementary shoot — finally,
-r.
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