Friday, June 10, 2011

Shooting An Affair: Day Six (Is it only day six??)

Back home from another day on the set. We were back on our standing motel set at the studio today, which was nice after all the location stuff we have been doing. This set feels like home. I joked to someone that I especially like directing when I can do it without wearing shoes.

We had a lot to cover, and were slow to get started after a really late night the previous evening, so the day went long. But Friday and Saturday are off days, so going late tonight was an option.

The crew, however, started to get giddy as we rounded 2am. We had cut several people and sent them home since there was no real reason everyone needed to be there til the bitter end. But the ones that remained were so tired that they just had the giggles. They were making strange jokes, having bizarre conversations, and the like. I'm not complaining - it's actually a wonderful form of bonding that reminds me of my college days (and I get to re-experience that a little by working on a film with students as crew). They're fun to be around, and I get to bond with them myself. We form close relationships with the students who crew our films, and I enjoy that. I see it as an extra perk of having them on board.

One thing was especially fun tonight. As we set up a shot of the two main characters chatting with each other through their adjoining motel room doors, I stood back and looked at the room, the layout, the shot. And it occurred to me that this was pretty much exactly how I had visualized it when I wrote the scene. That's a rare treat, so I took a picture.



In addition, tonight we had to put the 'false ceiling' on the set for the first time. One of the angles from which we were shooting was a slightly lower one, meaning we might have caught a bit of the ceiling (or, if it wasn't in place, we would have seen that there wasn't one!). The two pictures below show you the outside view and then the interior view.





The ceiling actually covers a lot more than what it's shown covering here. But some lights that were being used from above blocked it from going any further on this particular setup.

We really hit a wall around 1am. One of the actors was very tired and was having trouble with his lines in a scene he knew quite well. I was considering wrapping for the night, but he insisted on pushing through because we were already set up. After a few blown takes, he got his 'mojo' back, and we were able to finish, albeit two-and-a-half hours after our intended wrap time. Still, in spite of everyone's exhaustion, it's nice to know we made our day.

Drove the 35 minutes home, got stuck in a traffic jam (I think there was an accident on I-35 in addition to the nightly construction), took the trash out, washed some dishes, and sat down to write these thoughts before drifting off to sleep.

We are off for two days, so likely no blogging again til Sunday night or Monday, depending on how things go and how exhausted I am. Thanks for reading.

3 Comments:

Blogger Jonathan said...

Thanks for writing! Get some good rest during your two days off. And enjoy being a shoeless director! ;)

6/10/2011 6:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

matthew brumlow here...and for the record...the gremlin in my head only blew a few takes...we can all thank highway construction, what sounded like a riding lawn mower in the distance (at 3am) and one very loud cricket...for the rest! :) okay...this is grumpy/sleepy sighing off! but i must say...this movie making stuff is fun!

6/10/2011 11:35 AM  
Blogger Chris Hansen said...

I hope my esteemed lead actor doesn't think I was complaining about a few blown takes. A) There weren't many, and B) that's just part of filmmaking!

6/10/2011 11:56 AM  

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