Day 6 - Last day in the Badlands

God what a beautiful dead guy I am.  This was a little tough for me.  At times we were very close to a 100ft+ drop and it made me a little legless.  A reassuing couple of crewmwmbers kept people safe throughout.

Julia Bennet walking towards camera.  In that there was no artificial lighting, the crew followed with a silver card, re-focusing the light on her.  Again, actors, don't be distracted.  There's a whole bunch of people making the movie.  You stay focused on YOUR task.

The crew prepares the films' climax.  Lighting was spectacular

  

Last day shooting at the Badlands!  This Grand Canyon-esque scene is where Bertha brings Larry for his ritual resting place.  His/my body is to be thrown from this cliff.Tristan and Andrew search for the body after the drop.....kidding.  Tristin will use in post production, Computer Generated Imaging (CGI) to get the image of me being dropped over the edge.

 David Midthunder (Sheriff Highbear) and Julia Bennet (Bertha Constantine) look off and contemplate the accomplishment of the burial.  This was the end of a very long day for crew and Julia.  emotional and physical exhaustion can play a part in your  end result.  Make sure you pace yourself and try not to be "On" all the time. 

You can see through an attatched monitor used by the film crew their perspective of the up coming shot.  This camera is a very high quality digital camera.  It's called "RED".  It corrects some lighting issues digitally, making the work easier.

Day 5 - Just outside of Wall

Sitting against the side of Bertha's pick-up, Larry's (my) lifeless body is about to be filled with unleaded to keep out the bugs.......first layer of grey has been applied......make-up juuuust about done....

Day 4 - Back up photo's

 Top...Rehearsal on Day one with Myself, Andrew, David Midthunder, And Tristan Barnard. Not the earlist conversation by far, but an important discussion between actors and writers can reap benifits in the long run. There are exciting ideas that happen at this stage of the process. This time also facilitates aversion to possible set-backs

In pic #2, with crew looking on, Andrew and Tristan discuss lighting for an early establishing shot in the film. Alot of time is taken to ensure proper result. This is why crew is always at the ready to make minor and ofteen major adjustments. These people doing alot of this work are called "Gaffers", "Grips", and the oft shat upon "Production assistant" or "PA". Don't look lowly on a PA. These people are working their way up the ladder just like you.

The 3rd shot is of of me and Julia Bennet was taken by the archival photographer. It's a scene where she has collapsed on the desert floor and has begun hallucinating. At this time I appear to her as she had last seen me. I begin taunting her playfully and pushing her to keep at her task. I do this 'til she awakens screaming "Go AWAYYY!!" (I've heard that before...) It's a beautiful shot with regards to what it captures and the story it tells.

This last shot is me in test make up.  I have no photos from day 4's actual shooting because I was not called.  These photos were taken off the "Bertha" Facebook page. 

Day 3 Norbeck Pass June 5th

At the Norbeck Pass location just off of "Fossil Trail" in the Badlands, Producer Luke Schuetzel goes over the story boards with 1st Assistant Director Keilin Johnson. The Story boards on a film are basically sketched drawings of the imagined action in a scene. It's a good refernce point to quickly picture what the next shot/idea is. Everyone can use it to their advantage. D.P.s and actors as well see what the director has in mind and can readily go about creating the desired shot.

Here I lie dead in the grass.  This shot is only of my hand and Bertha as she prepares to remove the wedding ring from it.  This is part of the ritual burial that she plans for me.  Preparation for this scene was simple for me, just get my hand made up.  But oddly, I did need to consider "being there" as a character for her character.  And my "being there" was to allow her to fight with my hand to get that ring off.  I did this while, for the moment at least, feigning death. 
 
 

Director Andrew Kightlinger speaks with Park Ranger (Sorry, did not get the name.  Very nice woman though). When shooting with permit on any restricted area's the production staff is held responsible for any mishap or damage to the location. As this site is part of the National Park system, Rangers have visited the set often to check up on the progress of the production. We have been incredibly fortunate with the cooperation of the Rangers and the Park Service here. Not possible without their help.

                                                                                                                                                                

Not sure If this is me at the Okay Corale (sp?) or if I got lost looking for my car at the mall.This should give an Idea of the barren landscape of todays shooting.  If you look closely you can see actors and some crew members treking back and forth to the protective tent, set up for occaisional protection from the sun.

In this scene Julia, Mike Suarez (Boom), Nathan Hultz (seen behind Mike), Luke (Producer in the cowboy hat), and Scott Schulte (with the bounce card)  look on as Tristan and Mike McCoy prepare a shot where it needs to "appear" that Bertha is digging for a secret box.  No digging actually occured as it was National Park property, but they had to make it look like it was about to.  Actually fun to watch this process.

The bounce card that Scott is holding, is an important lighting feature to take available light, whether natural or generated and "bounce it" to where it suits the D.P. best.  These cards are many different colors and combined textures to get the desired effect.  Most are white or tin foil-esque.  Some are round and fold in on themselves too.  As an actor you will probably come across a time where someone may hold one of these things RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSE!  Don't be alarmed.   These are people just trying to get you properly lit.  And amazingly....they're doing it with a piece of white cardboard.
Now THAT'S the movies!!

Day 2 - Badlands

The Badkands - June 4th.  1st day shooting in a hot hot and beautiful environment.  We shot a little off the beaten path of "Castle Trail" off of "Old Northeast Rd".  Frking gorgeous country.

Scott Rasmussen (Camera crew, et al..) has as today's assignment the task of an archival/publicity photographer.  Many movie and television sets hire a professional photographer to take photo's for the producers.  These are for anything they may want them for.  ie. publicity, archives, or posting on their bathroom walls.  Don't be distracted by these people when you see them on set.  At the same time, don't bug them for "copies".  The photo's are the sole property of the producer.  (read the fine print hoss)

Julia get's wired for sound while protecting herself from the sun.  Sound designer Rick Vanness (Sherlock Holmes hat) and Boom Operator (Green "stanley Kowalsky" shirt prepare Julia with a wire lav microphone.  These wired miniature mikes are put in a spot on the body as central and as close to the mouth as possible so as to capture the highest quality sound for each actor.  A caution for the actor is once you are miked, be cautious what you say between shots (especially if you're a wiseass like me).  Also be concious of the fact that movement and brushing your hand or anything up against that mike during a take may well ruin it.  If you must execute a physical activity that creates that problem, then they may have to adjust by using ONLY a boom mike.  On the best sets, they will use both to procure more options.  They are doing both on this set and these guys really know their stuff.  Bravo! 

Make up Artist/Stylist/Wardrobe Supervisor David McCoy (He doesn't do windows) does some final touch ups on Julia before shooting a scene of her dragging my body across the craggy, snake infested path.  You will find on a set that your path is often this:  Make up, Hair, Wardrobe, then to the set.  Usually in that order.  Then once you're on the set, and assistasnt from each department will always be near to make sure that what was established for you in those categories, is maintained.  On this shoot with budget restrictions, David shares this task with only one other, Nathan Hultz Who was hiding behind the grip truck at this particular moment.

In this amazing moment of unity, it seemed as though most of the crew came together to make a very beautiful but simple shot look just like that.  The shot was of Julia (and later i joined the shot, lying in the opposite direction so our heads were next to each other). The camera needed to be about 2 and a half feet directly over the face of the actors.  So Tristan Barnard (Director of Photography) and Peter Wigand (1st Assistant Camera) made a leaning triangle by locking their shoulders together to maintain the weight of the camera and to leave Tristan free to shoot the scene without worrying about dropping the camera on our heads.  (Nice gesture)  Holding Peters' belt is Producer Luke Schuetzle.  I'm not sure who's holding Tristan's belt.  Looking on is Boom Operator Mike Suaez (while he see's the shot set up, he's looking for an unobtrusive place to be where his boom won't cast a shadow)  Also looking on is the other producer Adam Emerson.  An important on-set job for the producer is to make sure that things are moving, the shots assigned for the day are getting done, and that money isn't being lost.  These people have an enormous amount of responsibility on their shoulders cause if things don't get done it's their ass.  So if you see an insane person on a set, sometimes screaming, it may well be the producer(s).   To their credit, Luke and Adam are not screamers......yet.

One last note for a day of potential problems.  And how a good company of level-headed people made it work. 

The night before day 2 of shooting, Julia (Bertha, Title role) lost a crown (tooth) while brushing her teeth.  Now before losing his brain (mind), Andrew, Luke and Adam realized that before it gets fixed (Monday I hear) that there is a way to shoot around it.  They could easily have made it it tragic and they did not.  Kudos!

Also, another star of the film, David Midthunder who you've seen in previous photos, was just cast with a damn good role I hear in a Harrison Ford film.  Yay!  However, it's supposed to start shooting while we are still shooting.  Another potential tragedy.  As it turns out, both producers are willing to give a little to make this work.  The schedule is being adjusted to get Davids' scenes shot a little sooner than planned, and it seems that the movie can hold off for a few days to accomodate "Bertha".  it does NOT always work out like this but it was nice to see that there were no bodies thrown out on the interstate as a result of the fun.

Andrew (Dir) and Tristan Barnard (Direcor of Photography and doubling as the character Tidball in the movie) ponder the inconsistant S. Dakota sky.

D.P. (Tristan) and 1st asst. Camera operator (Matt Klundt) Prepare the camera for a shot of Bertha (Julia). The work on a set is not easy for the crew. They've got tons of things to consider when doing their job. An actor needs to maintain patience throughout and appreciate what they do.

If you work with these people and support their efforts with your commitment to the project, they not only make the project all it can be, they make you look good while they're at it.

Buffalo are all over and dangerous if you get too close. This was taken from a stopped car with a nervous local driver saying, "....better snap that thing off before he gets pissed..."

Something to consider in your plans when shooting on location...look ahead for the local pitfalls and dangers that the local folk probably consider second nature. Today I found out how to avoid rattle snakes hiding places too.

David Midthunder after a scene shot with me and Julia in the "Glacierally warm" water. Holy crap that was cold!

There were a number of things that Andrew K. the director wanted to do with the water shots. But we were quickly running out of light. This is mainly because our other work that day was interupted by very inconsistent skies. So, the lines were consolidated and Andrew and the rest of us put together a way for the action to tell a bit more of the story in a way consistent with and complimentary to the spirit of the script. So the original words and action may have adjusted but the story remained unscathed

Julia and David enjoying some down time.


Today was terrific. We heard out first "Action". Which is something Andrew has had in the back of his mind somewhere since starting this. We also are seeing that we got a lot of work ahead of us in a relatively unforgiving landscape as our next set up is in the Bad lands itself.

Here's the map of the south west corner of South Dakota. For reasons of perspective to those unfamiliar with the area, Mt Rushmore is between Rapid City (the middle of the five pink circles, and Custer the lower left of the five. Here's what they mean. We are staying and having these past two days of production meetings and rehearsals in Rapid City. Tomorrow we move from the lovely "Town House Motel" to our first morning of shooting in Custer. This scene is actually the establishing scene of the movie, exposing the relationships and the love between 3 of the main characters. Basically, swimming and horse play at a remote water hole. Here we see the indominable spirit of Bertha and the playful yet deep rooted rivalry between High Bear and Larry (that's me!).

After we shoot there we're moving to a hotel (Cabins) in wall which is the Northeastern of the 5 pink circles. From there we will begin shooting in the Badlands (Below Wall) for a number of days then finishing up in the North Western circle, near Silver City.

We also did something very important today. The director (Andrew Kightlinger) screened a fantastic grainy old flic put together in the late 70's early 80's (I think) called "Walkabout". It's a story of a couple of kids. One very young boy and another girl who's just come of age it seems. They are lost in the desert of Austrailia and they are discovered and guided by an Aborigine (Spelling sorry) boy who is on his "Walkabout" test of manhood where he must live alone in the wilderness and fend for himself. They all have this fantastic maturing journey. The two English children look for home and find it sneaks up on them in the form of a realization that they had not anticipated. The Native boy/man realizes some maturing elements unfolding in his life too as he processes this new unexpected relationship.

We watched this movie to get a sense of the visceral life in the wilderness and how it seems to draw out our latent abilities. More importantly, how we in our own movie "Bertha" will process love life and death itself. Julia said something tonight after the film that I had never put into words but makes great sense. "You can't enjoy life with out the presence of death" I screwed up the exact quote there but it still made a ton of sense. Without our mortality (In our lives and our characters' lives), we wouldn't have anything to struggle for or to battle against. Knowing that it could suddenly happen to anyone we love or ourselves even, makes us add a pleasant and joyful urgency to our tasks.

Left to right above: Cast member Julia Pachoud-Bennett, Director Andrew Kightlinger, and Cast member David Midthunder.

This morning we got together to take a look at what our different make up and costuming we would be using. For principal characters, the production will provide choices of cloths for the actor and stylist (costume designer if you want to be fancy) to pick from and then for the director to ok. And they may also at this time, may, if need be, test make up. In this case they did need to with me, since part of my role requires a days worth of not being alive. The crew researched the look of a dead guy online. They looked at photos of dead folk. Also Julia has a nack for stage make up and offered her advice on how to create the look.

So They did not need the beard!! and the first photo of an angst-ridden B8s is mid-shaving. The next is while in the middle of being ...well, ...put to death. If any of my students have pertinent questions that you think could help the class if answered, pleeease post a comment and I'll help however I can.

"City of Presidents"?

This statue of Grover Cleveland is looking across the street at a statue of President Taft. As I walked it made me think, wtf? Were they born in Rapid City? As I continued to walk there were Presidents to be found on almost every street corner.

Turns out that the title "City of Presidents" is about 10 years old. It was so named cause there're a numb er of artist/sculptors putting together all the presidents to adorn their city as a tourist attraction.

"I'll meet you over at George Bush around 7."

"...Which one?

Ah, chaos rules the day yet again.

I got about an hour before I go into make up tryouts for my dead and decomposing characters body. Can't wait for that.

I bought breakfast for a retired sailor at a diner this a.m. He did 2 tours during Korean conflict. Nice to meet a hero. Retired 52 years now.

Here's a view of the Planes unloading at Denver airport.

As this blog for the next couple o' weeks is primarily for my class at CP Casting, here's some "here's how we usually do it info".

This movie I'm doing now is what I would call an incredibly "high end" student film. The director has strung together a great cast and an equally talented and committed crew. I've met a few of them and I'm very pleased.

Usually, when a union actor is flown to a set, if it's more than a 3 hour flight, they provide 1st class seating and other amenities, ie: per diem, parking, etc. On this film, we're all working together to get this thing done with considerably less money. We've all made sacrifices to make this great script come to life. for me it was flying from boston to DC to Denver to .....where ever I am now. Other sacrifices compliment this production. I think it's actually a great mindset to have that you should be willing to do a little (or a lot ) extra to make the project happen. When you approach the work like that, you become more involved (at a very basic level) with the creation of the piece and you strengthen your claim of being an "Artist"

No matter how big a star any of you become, be prepared to sweat and struggle on the set, and feel the physical exhaustion that hard work can create. Your work will be richer and more deeply connected. it goes back to a twist on Stanislavsky. He demands that work ethic for sure, and commitment to the role, but I add that the feeling you get from that very commitment and exhaustive "execution of the cfreative process" as an actor, not just as the character, is part of the "method of physical actions" that is the very root of the honest, visceral, and organic life that a living spirit, being character thrives on.

All that said in 2 sentances?

"Get out there and BUST YOUR ASS! You will flourish."

Not angry, just evil.

Help....

Evil B8s?
Looking for a wedding ring for Shooting "Bertha" in
South Dakota. My last wedding ring got pulled off after being tugged on for a looonnng time.

Ready to hit the Black Hills

South Dakota on Tuesday!
Looking forward to shooting, "You don't know Bertha Constantine"
All bearded up. Not sure if it will be kept but good to give the production team something to work with. Fly Tuesday to the Badlands. rehearse on wednesday. This is a bit of a luxury for me. Often times rehearsal is not an option. It's great when you can get a little time with castmates to figure things out.

My 92 year old Dad (Gilman Bates Wilder) who will no doubt outlive me (hopefully) securing Old Glory at his Scituate residence.

His democrat friends said it looked like he was "scewing America" but I pointed out, it was a flag and he was putting it on his garage.