The last shot, after the nighttime bonfire scene on the beach, was in a sodium-vapor-lit corner over by Little Coney, with the members of the bands, hanging out after their gig.
The beer was live, and the mood a bit giddy. The cops had just put out our bonfire, which we'd mounted in the lower half of a Smokey Joe buried in the sand, and now most of the crew had gone home and it was Iain and I with a small gang of actors and a few rats on the rocks below.
No one was in the mood to be placed or blocked, so I walked away for a moment to fiddle with the camera, and just turned it on a few times. Werner Herzog said in one of his DVD commentaries that he always runs the camera for an additional minute to catch the actors/performers when they think they're done being scrutinized. I haven't got the budget for an extra minute, so I have to pretend not to scrutinize the first time.
Film is at Alpha waiting for telecine, but transportation issues prevent me from getting over there in a timely fashion. It might not be until the end of the week.
Anyway, once telecine is done, I will start posting screen caps to this blog. I will also post some more "behind the scenes" text to illustrate those caps.
Meanwhile, back on earth this morning, I brought back the light kit and the audio gear to the Northwest Film Forum. (I'll be using my own gear for additional ambient sound). The NWFF is an amazing resource, dare I say -- one of a kind? Everyone there is helpful and friendly (Dave Hannigan. Adam Sekular. ) and with not much work I filled out a grant application that is actually designed to enable people to get the grants to use the gear, rather than keep undesirables out, and my gear package was amazing. They even provided me with a backup Bolex when I needed it (see below) and had some extra 16mm cores to give me when I ran out the night before the shoot.
HOORAY FOR THE NORTHWEST FILM FORUM.
Now that the shoot is over, it actually isn't. As is typical (I think) there are a few small pickups to get.
One was supposed to be shot today, a reshoot of the bike riding scenes from the Bolex that I think blew its pressure plate so gave us unusable images.
Last night the weather report said it'd be thunder storms, and at 7am it was dark and ominous.
I called off the reshoot. And then the sun came out and it stayed pleasant through the day.
Dammit.
But we've had such amazingly good luck this shoot with the sunny weather we need that I am not complaining.
It only seems that way.
But even before we reschedule those pickups, I'm starting on the next big thing, which is music.
Specifically, I have to start working on some more songs to fill in the "radio" parts of the film where we don't have real bands.
Also, we have to record the actual vocal tracks for the Clanking Chains material, and we have to record the bonfire songs and possibly Farrah's track.
Stay tuned.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
lots of shooting, working hard, updates to come!
So the good thing is that all my time is going into production, production-related things, and the movie. The bad news is my normally high standards of reporting are now about at zero.
I will be updating this site retroactively at the end of the month, after things have settled down.
At that time, I will have something interesting to report, and how.
You may also "like" me on Facebook.
thanks,
Erik
I will be updating this site retroactively at the end of the month, after things have settled down.
At that time, I will have something interesting to report, and how.
You may also "like" me on Facebook.
thanks,
Erik
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
telecine day 2+3
All footage looks great from Alpha Cine's telecine
Man, that Vision3 film is amazing, there is more detail in the twilight-shot scenes than I saw with my naked eye. And that was with the slower 250D film. I wonder if it'd be worth using that tomorrow inside the cupcake joint instead of 500T....
Also the Bolex HR 16 is officially a "go" camera - the footage looks great and it's a lot better for handheld.
Next shoot is tomorrow, very busy.
Man, that Vision3 film is amazing, there is more detail in the twilight-shot scenes than I saw with my naked eye. And that was with the slower 250D film. I wonder if it'd be worth using that tomorrow inside the cupcake joint instead of 500T....
Also the Bolex HR 16 is officially a "go" camera - the footage looks great and it's a lot better for handheld.
Next shoot is tomorrow, very busy.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Mondo Beacho days 2 + 3 shoot
A gloomy week leading up to Saturday day 2.
Vague weather promises of a "partially cloudy" for the shoot Saturday and Sunday. A few years ago, summer in Seattle started out very promising and then fell apart in august.
But then again, during most Seattle summers, August is simply hot n' sunny.
But then again... we will see on Saturday.
Saturday
EARLY CALL for first big scale cast/crew shoot on Sat, met at production house to get/finalize the BULK of the costumes.
(Cool and better-than-I-could-think-up props already delivered from Jennifer Dice)
Morning is dark and cloudy. Promise still pending.
Down to the beach with Jon, who helps me stake out the set and then stands watch for hours until we're ready. Thank you Jon!!
Also thank you to Karin Rathert and boys, in town to help with production/be extras. Stayed at Production House.
Also thank you to add'l extras: director's kids and friends Andrew, Jenny, Joe, Caroline, Babu and Jeannette.
Evaluating the sky every 20 minutes or so. Weather report unchanged, clouds remain thick and dark.
Co-producer Anna also serving as costume co-ord, props co-ord in addition to producer and creative consultant ongoing. Also holding down the fort and providing off-production support like crazy. THANK YOU ANNA.
This morning, Costumer Barbara in the house also. Clever and lovely stuff going on right and left.
Makeup Carmen, she with atom bomb blast on the arm, doing a great job and hey, she actually staffs her dept. for the days that she can't make it herself. Gotta love that extra perk.
So far we've also had Marina and Joul. (sp?) All very charming and talented.
8:45, Gloomy morning and waiting.
Sun makes a spot in the clouds at 9 ish, and we give it a "go" 10 minutes later.
By the time we're on the beach the sun is out in much of the sky.
Not warm though. Not yet.
Actor playing "Dave" is stranded in Oregon, engine dead.
Hardworking AC Iain agrees to stand-in, lying down as the "feet" of Dave in shot. Thank you Iain.
[**addendum: "Dave" decided to quit by not returning any phone calls or email. Classy! Maybe he got locked in the car somewhere... Fortunately, we were able to rent drums for a day and Mel offered to step in. and it is Mel Café who is whaling the drums in the final film**]
Actor playing "Charles" is a no show. Email later says couldn't get off work. What about tomorrow, when we'd also scheduled possible pickups for today if cloudy (we'll need them anyway, it turns out).
No response.
Sun out, shots go beautifully. Camera works perfectly. AC Iain and I have a good rapport going and he can pretty much do anything.
Later, the response from "Charles" is that he's available after 3... starting from Tacoma.
So with traffic, really, the best case scenario is he shows up at 430.
Obviously we can't stop everything just for one shot if/when he happens to arrive.
Q: What to do now?
A: continue to move on, get everything else.
Later, running solo with just Sarah and Ahren, we steal the Bolex shots on the marina. (well, not really stolen, but that's another story).
Shots seem to go very well, hard to tell with the puny viewfinder.
Handheld with the Bolex is a LOT easier/more graceful than with the otherwise-superior-in-every -way Aaton. Hmm.....
AD Mel keeps us on the clock. Mel is a guy at home with the machine -- balances calm reliability and production oversight for such a youthfully enthusiastic guy.
Actors Sarah, Ahren, Riley, Maya, and Emily -- consistently excellent performances and screen presence. Hard working -- but easy to work with.
Drama stays on the screen, never once on the set.
Ya dig?
Part of my job is to keep that hard/easy atmosphere going, but man, it's been easy so far.
Sun remains out for the rest of the day.
We get a lot done. Everyone exits production house in good spirits, albeit kind of exhausted and fried by the sun.
After an hour of decompressing, I sadly respond to Charles actor email (there was never a call).
I simply tell him we can't surgically insert his scenes into the shoot day, and having missed this day (a good portion of his role) it isn't going to work to have him in the film.
So now we have no Charles.
But wait...
Game volunteer again, is hard-working AC Iain
Now aka: "Charles" -- thank you Iain!
Sunday
Sun is out first thing, as promised by Seattle Times, Weather Channel online, Weather Underground online, Accuweather, and the US climatology report.
We begin by picking up the few shots we missed on Saturday due to late sun, absent Charles, and one insert /re-shoot for a slight wardrobe malfunction.
Morning on the now-crowded beach is more complicated w/o Jon to keep place for us, but Seafair downtown has syphoned off a lot of the usual crowd considerably. Lucky lucky.
Get our "Charles" pickup. Iain is very different, but he is believable, and that's the end of that concern.
Here's a different one: the restrooms at Golden Gardens beach bathhouse are all closed for some sort of plumbing disaster.
Glad the production house is 5-minute drive away. (however, parking and hauling gear add about 15 minutes to that, so...)
Still on the beach. Several shots take a bit longer than they should because I continue to underestimate the level of precision needed for a surgical pan at full zoom.
Dammit, I am working that knowledge into later shots that day and rest of shot list. (starting Wednesday!)
As we exit Golden Gardens for the day, a truck is unloading 10 porta-potties The deodorizing chemicals smell horrible.
Group splits: a trip to production house for mag reload/wardrobe change (and nap for Maya) --- while Sarah, Ahren, David (location sound ) and I, go to public pier to pick up the last Bolex shot on the Marina.
Crab fishers in our spot. All over the place, actually.
I'm coming back later to get ambient footage of these guys, I swear.
Anyway, new spot on public pier is probably better than the original, but a bit of added work on framing, plus uncertainty which lens on the turret... blah blah blah.
This is kind of a difficult scene for the actors. All about body language, once again. A certain je ne sais quoi (sp?) is required. First couple takes are good, but I think we can get better.
Sarah sees a seal in the water. I run over to get footage, winding the Bolex as I come. But it wisely ducks out before I arrive.
Four takes, David waiting patiently with naught to do. Audio has been sounding great and David is great guy to have around in general. Getting a LOT of ambient. Perfect for a beach movie of the mind, yes?
Ironically, we're planning to some ambient MOS footage of David juggling on the beach after the main production is over.
On the fifth take everything comes together, and it's beautiful.
Then we find a shady spot for wild takes of "Leif Erickson" bit shot yesterday on Bolex (camera is too loud for audio recording).
We still make it back to Little Coney before the rest of the crew. Milkshakes for actors and everyone else. Probably just in time. "Hangry" is the new word. Only used in concept, though, not acted upon.
Spend a lot of time with the Little Coney shot.
This bit has always been a bit optimistic in favor of "it'll work"...
It worked in rehearsal, in a black room under the earth, with some reblocking and moving around of dialogue.
But on set the dialogue doesn't seem right again, too on the nose, and the location is giving us too few options...
I am running out of new ideas and time, but really have to at all times avoid the whif of cliché, and it's feeling like we're trapped with what we've got.
Work with actors, suggestions for Iain and Mel.
Over and over we try new things.
Schedule is getting tighter. It's later than I thought. Dialogue modified.
Then again. And again.
New frame - out with the perfect frame, in with the perfect frame PAN TO story-relevant frame. Better.
Another new frame. Better.
New dialogue for new frame.
Better! But still...
Finally it clicks and all of a sudden it's perfect and hey, it's late enough now that the light looks awesome behind the actors. Not exactly time of day-accurate... But :
"No one will ever know" -- Ed Wood.
Next is downbeat scene on sidewalk, under shade (a relief). A big scene. Disappointment and confusion.
That goes very well.
Ahren and Sarah. Yes!
Then straight to Ballard Surf while Mel exits and returns with Anna (with all props and costume on hand in in head) with now-awake Maya.
We are trusted by Andrew the owner with putting away the boards, and locking up when we're done, and with being on roof while Andrew and Hansa are gone to dinner.
Holy cow.
Thank you Andrew!!
(We are meticulous.)
Wardrobe change in the dark surfboard closet. "Better than the port-a-potty," Sarah points out.
Getting later ... Mel suggests we blast through all shots then eat dinner.
Cast and crew are game.
Sun is setting quickly. Surf board inventory shot harder to frame correctly than I thought. Actors nail it each time.
Up on the roof next. Lots of hauling. Faster, faster.
By the time we are set to shoot the master, we're down to f5
By the time we move to the FAV. Valerie shot, we are down to f2-something.
MAG CHANGE! --- Iain works like a lunatic, taking care of camera in general while I remind the actors that we are rushing but THEY do not have to rush, this shot is very important and we will have the light we need (that last bit: a small lie, we may not)
FAV Noelle shot, literally 5 minutes later, we're at f1.4
Two minutes later, second take of same is at f1.0 -- and underexposed a bit for the mighty Aaton lens now, but we get it.
Sarah and Maya nail this sensitive scene again and again. Makes me a bit sad, even watching it from behind the camera in these conditions.
We wrap and eat dinner by the Surf Ballard firepit.
It's 930, I think? by the time we are unloaded for the day at production house.
Drop film at Alpha Cine around 1130 pm.
A perfect day of shooting / acting/ everything, as far as these things go.
Thank you thank you again, cast and crew.
Vague weather promises of a "partially cloudy" for the shoot Saturday and Sunday. A few years ago, summer in Seattle started out very promising and then fell apart in august.
But then again, during most Seattle summers, August is simply hot n' sunny.
But then again... we will see on Saturday.
Saturday
EARLY CALL for first big scale cast/crew shoot on Sat, met at production house to get/finalize the BULK of the costumes.
(Cool and better-than-I-could-think-up props already delivered from Jennifer Dice)
Morning is dark and cloudy. Promise still pending.
Down to the beach with Jon, who helps me stake out the set and then stands watch for hours until we're ready. Thank you Jon!!
Also thank you to Karin Rathert and boys, in town to help with production/be extras. Stayed at Production House.
Also thank you to add'l extras: director's kids and friends Andrew, Jenny, Joe, Caroline, Babu and Jeannette.
Evaluating the sky every 20 minutes or so. Weather report unchanged, clouds remain thick and dark.
Co-producer Anna also serving as costume co-ord, props co-ord in addition to producer and creative consultant ongoing. Also holding down the fort and providing off-production support like crazy. THANK YOU ANNA.
This morning, Costumer Barbara in the house also. Clever and lovely stuff going on right and left.
Makeup Carmen, she with atom bomb blast on the arm, doing a great job and hey, she actually staffs her dept. for the days that she can't make it herself. Gotta love that extra perk.
So far we've also had Marina and Joul. (sp?) All very charming and talented.
8:45, Gloomy morning and waiting.
Sun makes a spot in the clouds at 9 ish, and we give it a "go" 10 minutes later.
By the time we're on the beach the sun is out in much of the sky.
Not warm though. Not yet.
Actor playing "Dave" is stranded in Oregon, engine dead.
Hardworking AC Iain agrees to stand-in, lying down as the "feet" of Dave in shot. Thank you Iain.
[**addendum: "Dave" decided to quit by not returning any phone calls or email. Classy! Maybe he got locked in the car somewhere... Fortunately, we were able to rent drums for a day and Mel offered to step in. and it is Mel Café who is whaling the drums in the final film**]
Actor playing "Charles" is a no show. Email later says couldn't get off work. What about tomorrow, when we'd also scheduled possible pickups for today if cloudy (we'll need them anyway, it turns out).
No response.
Sun out, shots go beautifully. Camera works perfectly. AC Iain and I have a good rapport going and he can pretty much do anything.
Later, the response from "Charles" is that he's available after 3... starting from Tacoma.
So with traffic, really, the best case scenario is he shows up at 430.
Obviously we can't stop everything just for one shot if/when he happens to arrive.
Q: What to do now?
A: continue to move on, get everything else.
Later, running solo with just Sarah and Ahren, we steal the Bolex shots on the marina. (well, not really stolen, but that's another story).
Shots seem to go very well, hard to tell with the puny viewfinder.
Handheld with the Bolex is a LOT easier/more graceful than with the otherwise-superior-in-every -way Aaton. Hmm.....
AD Mel keeps us on the clock. Mel is a guy at home with the machine -- balances calm reliability and production oversight for such a youthfully enthusiastic guy.
Actors Sarah, Ahren, Riley, Maya, and Emily -- consistently excellent performances and screen presence. Hard working -- but easy to work with.
Drama stays on the screen, never once on the set.
Ya dig?
Part of my job is to keep that hard/easy atmosphere going, but man, it's been easy so far.
Sun remains out for the rest of the day.
We get a lot done. Everyone exits production house in good spirits, albeit kind of exhausted and fried by the sun.
After an hour of decompressing, I sadly respond to Charles actor email (there was never a call).
I simply tell him we can't surgically insert his scenes into the shoot day, and having missed this day (a good portion of his role) it isn't going to work to have him in the film.
So now we have no Charles.
But wait...
Game volunteer again, is hard-working AC Iain
Now aka: "Charles" -- thank you Iain!
Sunday
Sun is out first thing, as promised by Seattle Times, Weather Channel online, Weather Underground online, Accuweather, and the US climatology report.
We begin by picking up the few shots we missed on Saturday due to late sun, absent Charles, and one insert /re-shoot for a slight wardrobe malfunction.
Morning on the now-crowded beach is more complicated w/o Jon to keep place for us, but Seafair downtown has syphoned off a lot of the usual crowd considerably. Lucky lucky.
Get our "Charles" pickup. Iain is very different, but he is believable, and that's the end of that concern.
Here's a different one: the restrooms at Golden Gardens beach bathhouse are all closed for some sort of plumbing disaster.
Glad the production house is 5-minute drive away. (however, parking and hauling gear add about 15 minutes to that, so...)
Still on the beach. Several shots take a bit longer than they should because I continue to underestimate the level of precision needed for a surgical pan at full zoom.
Dammit, I am working that knowledge into later shots that day and rest of shot list. (starting Wednesday!)
As we exit Golden Gardens for the day, a truck is unloading 10 porta-potties The deodorizing chemicals smell horrible.
Group splits: a trip to production house for mag reload/wardrobe change (and nap for Maya) --- while Sarah, Ahren, David (location sound ) and I, go to public pier to pick up the last Bolex shot on the Marina.
Crab fishers in our spot. All over the place, actually.
I'm coming back later to get ambient footage of these guys, I swear.
Anyway, new spot on public pier is probably better than the original, but a bit of added work on framing, plus uncertainty which lens on the turret... blah blah blah.
This is kind of a difficult scene for the actors. All about body language, once again. A certain je ne sais quoi (sp?) is required. First couple takes are good, but I think we can get better.
Sarah sees a seal in the water. I run over to get footage, winding the Bolex as I come. But it wisely ducks out before I arrive.
Four takes, David waiting patiently with naught to do. Audio has been sounding great and David is great guy to have around in general. Getting a LOT of ambient. Perfect for a beach movie of the mind, yes?
Ironically, we're planning to some ambient MOS footage of David juggling on the beach after the main production is over.
On the fifth take everything comes together, and it's beautiful.
Then we find a shady spot for wild takes of "Leif Erickson" bit shot yesterday on Bolex (camera is too loud for audio recording).
We still make it back to Little Coney before the rest of the crew. Milkshakes for actors and everyone else. Probably just in time. "Hangry" is the new word. Only used in concept, though, not acted upon.
Spend a lot of time with the Little Coney shot.
This bit has always been a bit optimistic in favor of "it'll work"...
It worked in rehearsal, in a black room under the earth, with some reblocking and moving around of dialogue.
But on set the dialogue doesn't seem right again, too on the nose, and the location is giving us too few options...
I am running out of new ideas and time, but really have to at all times avoid the whif of cliché, and it's feeling like we're trapped with what we've got.
Work with actors, suggestions for Iain and Mel.
Over and over we try new things.
Schedule is getting tighter. It's later than I thought. Dialogue modified.
Then again. And again.
New frame - out with the perfect frame, in with the perfect frame PAN TO story-relevant frame. Better.
Another new frame. Better.
New dialogue for new frame.
Better! But still...
Finally it clicks and all of a sudden it's perfect and hey, it's late enough now that the light looks awesome behind the actors. Not exactly time of day-accurate... But :
"No one will ever know" -- Ed Wood.
Next is downbeat scene on sidewalk, under shade (a relief). A big scene. Disappointment and confusion.
That goes very well.
Ahren and Sarah. Yes!
Then straight to Ballard Surf while Mel exits and returns with Anna (with all props and costume on hand in in head) with now-awake Maya.
We are trusted by Andrew the owner with putting away the boards, and locking up when we're done, and with being on roof while Andrew and Hansa are gone to dinner.
Holy cow.
Thank you Andrew!!
(We are meticulous.)
Wardrobe change in the dark surfboard closet. "Better than the port-a-potty," Sarah points out.
Getting later ... Mel suggests we blast through all shots then eat dinner.
Cast and crew are game.
Sun is setting quickly. Surf board inventory shot harder to frame correctly than I thought. Actors nail it each time.
Up on the roof next. Lots of hauling. Faster, faster.
By the time we are set to shoot the master, we're down to f5
By the time we move to the FAV. Valerie shot, we are down to f2-something.
MAG CHANGE! --- Iain works like a lunatic, taking care of camera in general while I remind the actors that we are rushing but THEY do not have to rush, this shot is very important and we will have the light we need (that last bit: a small lie, we may not)
FAV Noelle shot, literally 5 minutes later, we're at f1.4
Two minutes later, second take of same is at f1.0 -- and underexposed a bit for the mighty Aaton lens now, but we get it.
Sarah and Maya nail this sensitive scene again and again. Makes me a bit sad, even watching it from behind the camera in these conditions.
We wrap and eat dinner by the Surf Ballard firepit.
It's 930, I think? by the time we are unloaded for the day at production house.
Drop film at Alpha Cine around 1130 pm.
A perfect day of shooting / acting/ everything, as far as these things go.
Thank you thank you again, cast and crew.
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