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.