DAY 5

It’s 6AM, everyone’s up and ready to go... EVERYONE. Better, cuz there’s a loooong scene to shoot before the Set General flies away to the deep south. Luckily, the set’s still pretty much set from the night before. So away we go, right into:

A strange little interlude where a mentally challenged man/child wakes up, only to discover he can now speak like Richard Burton, emoting woes of his condition, while taking a girl prisoner at gun point. Yes. There’s more sets up than usual, along with a long soliloquy complete with dolly push. The little crew catches fire as do the actors, and we reach our goal of finishing the complicated(for this shoot) scene before the Set General jets away.

Kelly Jones of Kelly and Suzan Jones a love story tags in as DP and Suzan Jones of Kelly and Suzan Jones a love story tags in on boom AND sound. They’re two boys Zeke and Deklin(sp?) tag in too, fanning fog, listening for trains, and holding big white cards. Next up, a scene with Yak, who just flew in himself, to act and do just about every other job on the set. 

We begin outside, only to discover there’s a nosy neighbor hanging around, watching us, GETTING IN THE DAMN SHOT. The Real Deal makes his approach, and somehow gets that guy the hell away from us. Thank you Real Deal. But wait, if he wasn’t real deal enough, dude then spends the next half hour following the actors as they walk and talk with one of those big white cards.

Our peppy little production team goes inside, where the camera gets set WAY up on top of a ladder, looking like it’s gonna fall any moment and ruin the whole shoot. But wait. This is Kelly Jones, master rigger, camera ain’t going NOwhere. Block, light, and shoot.

PIZZA

Time to switch sets, of course there isn’t nearly enough lights. So AS USUAL, make due with what we got. Like a tidal wave of gripness all decks on hand start dressing and lighting. The master contains six characters with lots going on. We block, figure out the shot list.... oh shit, guitars and amps need greeking. Back to the scene, or scenes cuz we’re doing several. We blow through, one, two, three scenes. Ultra handy Cousin Nick mans the dolly, Kelly operates, Suzan is booming, the actors are, ah, acting. This last shot requires perfect timing. Seventeen takes later: 

Cast and crew all gather round the monitor to watch the magic. There’s laughter and high fives all around. A GREAT WAY TO END ROUND ONE OF SHOOTING!!!

photos by Suzan Jones