4/19/2015
Day four had the potential to be a helluva day. It was hot off the heels of day 3 - a day that I ended after 11.5 pages shot in 11 hours, covered in cat hair and knees screaming bloody murder.
We needed to black out windows since the party we were shooting was taking place at night. Now, this got us in trouble last time (see: Day 2 on how NOT to piss off landlords). We put garbage bags up on the front door and left a note with a happy face on it asking for understanding. Thankfully, it was received.
There was also the challenge of extras. We needed extras on day 4, even more than we needed for day 3, and it was dubious if we were going to get the number that we needed them and when we'd be able to get them. They trickled in through the day and by the time we got to shooting em, we only had to use 2 crew members as stand-ins.
The third matter was the nature of what we were shooting. Long takes on a Steadicam do not an easy day make, especially not with a lot of people. But with our extras in position we went with it. We got some good shots, and a few that I think I'll be cutting into my reel.
It was packed full of scenes and the shot list was crazy but we got there early, got the set lit and decked and got to work. The first half of the day was a little rushed, but we got a key shot in before lunch that allowed for the after-lunch shooting to go a lot smoother.
We finished the day about an hour early and headed home. On the cab ride home, I realized one of the things that made things a little easier to handle and crank out. Sure, we had a lot to do this weekend. It ain't every set you're on where you knock out 20 pages over 21 hours in 2 days of shooting for a total of 34 shots. At least, I hope it isn't. Anyway. I owe a lot to the crew, but the talent deserves a shout out, too.
When you're working with a lot of people, getting to the point where they read well as a group together onscreen can take extra time, and that's time that we don't have. Because everyone here is working because they want to (re they're doing it in their free time and not being paid), no one really has it in their schedules to have dedicated rehearsal time. We all have jobs, some of us have more flexibility than others, but when it comes down to it, the weekends are really the only we got. This group, though, has been working together for a while and they know each other. They're all buddies and the script is written to play off their personalities and their existing relationships with each other so they read as buddies and not just a rag tag bunch of actors thrown together day of.