DAY 16

This is a long one. 

The Set General’s lair is the starting point for our brave little convoy, heading up to Wrightwood, where we’ll be spending the day and(and night) shooting in and around town.

But there’s a lot more goin’ on than just driving up to said location. The General has the camera out and begins shooting actors in the van, getting some plates too.

It looks like it’s about to rain at ANY moment. Typical, for this production.

We arrive at the comfy mountain abode of Suzan, Kelly, Zeke, and Dekland Jones. Multitasker Suzan has homemade cinnamon rolls a waitin’. Kelly is gathering gear. Zeke correctly explains how we should shoot the first scene. Dekland is dressed as a space man. Another actor arrives and away we go to the first location.

An ice cream/candy store, where production must keep stopping sos customers can get their treats. The freezers keep making lotsa noise, so we gotsta keep shutting ‘em down. Zeke and Dekland get yet ANOTHER gig, extras, but keep going CRAZY cuz they’re not supposed to be licking their ice cream cones. The camera battery runs dry. The Set General asks for another. The little extra battery has only 15 minutes of juice. Said battery was supposed to be FULLY CHARGED ‘allegedly’. 

Lunch at a local pizza place, where some weird local dude keeps bugging us.

Back to the Jones, where big battery immediately goes onto the charger. But not for long, cuz we is off again for mas shooting, only with very little battery power unfortunately. The Set General gets all up in the actors grills, shoot-shoot-shooting all the way to the next location.

Off a dirt road we’re back to fighting sun and battery life, needing to get everything in just 14 minutes of camera time. It’s windy too, windy and COLD... most of the people in this little production ain’t properly prepared for this kinda weather. Yet everything still manages to get done, with extra special attention constantly being paid to how much juice is left on the battery.

An actor splits for home and everyone else squeezes into the van in search of a few good spots to shoot the final establishing shots, with only about 4 minutes of battery power. Back to the usual, fighting weather, sunlight, and battery time. But as per usual, everything some how manages to get done.

After missing a turn or two, we’re back to the Jones, it’s getting dark, an actor slips on a mound of snow, the battery goes back on the charger. 

A night scene in the van, which is supposed to be parked some where in LA. only we’re parked on a mountain road in Wrightwood, it’s FREEZING and STARTING TO SNOW. Kelly and the General yank out C-stands, flags, Christmas lights, what ever they can to create a place we’re actually not. The camera gets plugged directly into an outlet. It’s still FREEZING. Not many set ups as little snow flakes fall on the crew’s heads.

Back to the warmth of the Jones mountain home to shoot three short scenes, requiring no coverage. First, a simulated television screen, consisting of the General waving his hand over one of Kelly’s lights. Second, some furniture is moved so it ‘appears’ like we’re in another room. Last, on to the bathroom, getting yet another ‘different’ looking location.

Are we done yet? No

While they’re here. Gotta do some wild lines with the actors...

A looooooong drive home.

Are we done yet? HELL NO!

One of the actors still has to run through some streets that aren’t in a little mountain town.

And so ends seventeen hours of movie making fury.

DAY 15

NO RAIN!!!... Finally!!

Everyone’s back at the Set Generals, once again using two cameras. Camera number two this time belonging to Mr. Kelly Jones, who’s arrived from another gig with lots of movie making goodies. Only thing we don’t have is extra people. Case in point being the other half of the love story Suzan Jones, doing sound, operating a camera, holding a bounce card, and rocking the van ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!!

Green screen scenes get wrapped and everyone breaks for lunch. 

Till we all meet again down town, where much to everyones relief Lord and Lady Deal are waiting.

First up. Reshooting a scene from day 3 where the tone wasn’t quite right. Kelly has broken out even more of his toys, but this has gotta be quick. The location we’re shootin’ at also doubles as an alternative church on weekends. Sos weees gosta be beating all that alternative church traffic. But that’s not our only problem... ain’t gonna be much more sun, leaving very little time to shoot a NEW scene, which hasta now be done with very little coverage. 

Bam-bam-BAM

Audio-less scenes at dusk.

Van gets driven back to the Set Generals, sos da General can get picked up, to:

Drive the van back down town for even more audio-less shooting.

The end of ANOTHER long day/night.

DAY 14

The plan is to meet early at the Set General’s for shooting green screen in the General’s driveway. There’s just one problem:

It’s pouring rain..... POURING RAIN!!!!

Everyone goes from having a call to being on call.

Communication keeps going back and forth.. “is it raining over there?”.... “how about now?”... “how about over there?”

Mid-morning/early afternoon the decision is made to just chance it. Raz is there first, informing everyone that some of the streets around the General’s are now completely flooded. Everyone arrives ready to start shooting. ONLY:

It’s raining again... but not quite as much. So the General and Raz build a ‘rain protector’ for the camera. Raz has brought his too, so we’ll be getting lots more coverage.

The WHOLE Jones family make the one and a half hour drive. Zeke and Dekland push the van to create the ‘illusion’ it’s actually driving. Kelly mans one of the cameras. Suzan does make up, sound, and set photography. Raz is still there manning the other camera. The Set General’s going between DPing, babysitting his daughter, and heating up pizza for lunch.

Shoot, shoot, SHOOT till it’s too dark. Then on to another day.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 13

First day back after the dreadful down time starts at six in the morning in the lovely hamlet of Palmdale. Everyone meets at a local Burger King, which soon doubles as a production office/make up trailer. Lady Deal has made all us movie banditos maps of todays first location on a deep desert highway. The exact number of cars needed from of our fleet is figured and away we go.

The Set General as per usual picks the spot to stop and shoot, which we do. But there’s a problem.

We need the road to be empty in both directions and THE CARS KEEP A COMIN’. There’s lots of starting, stopping, and WAITING! The only scene where the road doesn’t have to be completely empty is one where one character is pointing a gun at another character. So STILL gotta stop and pretend like we’re just hangin’ each time a car, truck, or SUV goes by. And then:

A STATE TROOPER STARTS DRIVING UP... we’re done... DONE!!!

Aren’t we?

The General gives the uniformed driver a little ‘dude I know you’re gonna shut us down’ wave. The Trooper waves back and keeps right on driving. COOL!!! We finish up with no more worries. Cept for the worry of time, cuz as per usual... we are behind.

Half the posse wraps, more actors are waiting at a predetermined location, and we have a HARD OUT. So gotta move.

The players for round two all meet up and head over to a location our little production was rained out of three weeks ago. The Set General finds the exact same spot we were last time, and then:

In a moment of inspiration everyone’s favorite General hops a fence, climbs a steep hill with the camera, and gets a super killer establishing shot. We press to the finish line, fighting passing traffic, a pedestrian who looks like Big foot, but mostly TIME. Hard outs suck, but we ain’t got no studio $... now do we.

photos by Suzan Jones

DREADFUL DOWN TIME

Pretty much all that’s left is exteriors and green screen, also to be shot outside. We plan our week. AND THEN:

RAIN... can’t shoot! But that’s not all. Not by a looooong shot.

ONE OF OUR ACTORS ALMOST LIKE, DIES... for real...

Dude was getting only a couple hours sleep for way too long, coupled with massive stress along with an inherited heart condition caused a trip to the emergency room where our friends heart was almost stopped and then started again... we now have a lead actor out of action indefinitely. The movie takes a back seat cuz EVERYONE feels our friends health is of paramount importance.

Production’s on hold. Actor availability and weather has NOT been our friend.

It takes weeks to start up again.

DAY 12

Alas, the rest of this shoot must now be finished without the brave and powerful full time help of the Real Deal, in demand dude got a good paying gig. Yet, the mighty Deal hath still pledged to help when ever he can.

It’s freaking POURING RAIN when everyone meets at the location PRAYING for a little blue so we can shoot. Three actors will be wrapped(actually two won’t, but this won’t found out till later). It’s cold, the rain continues, and there’s no were to hang except under this adobe porch. A coffee and gas run is taken by Kelly Jones, where being in deep valley, takes like, forever to find any petrol, it’s now POURING so hard one gets soaked to the bone just going from Kelly’s car into Jack in the Box. Then, on the way back, ANOTHER PROBLEM:

The Kelly mobile as run over something, that or some pan-like thing fallen off the bottom of his ride. Either way Kelly’s transpo won’t move with that pan-like thing stuck to the bottom of it. The Set General does what he can in the POURING rain, SOAKING the General. Kelly joins him, getting soaked too. Said ride finally makes it’s way to under a small part of the balcony for a closer look. We’ve also been let into a dry area to chill.

Still POURING we got a crew and some actors, but can’t shoot a damn thing. But can so SOMETHING, Suzan Jones needs ta snap a few pics to be used in the movie later. The actors for that show up in the still POURING rain and a little photo shoot commences.

Three hours later, nothing’s been shot, and then:

A patch of blue. IT’S FINALLY STOPPED RAINING!!!!!

The van is quickly parked, green screen set up, actors in. We proceed, shooting each scene one side and side at a time, fighting bursts of light rain all the way. It gets done and everyone’s off till we meet again later at the next location.

The Jones’ head to the Set Generals where a hot lunch, proper English tea, and wonderful conversation ensues. Until:

Everyone meets back up at the next location. Lord and Lady Deal are there for this round, much to everyone’s joy. City streets can be seen from the windows where we’re shooting the first part of the scene. The rain has given them a ‘wet down’ look, greatly enhancing the production value. We move downstairs for the next part, where Lady Deal, White Gold, and Suzan Jones are all extras. Suzan wears a hat so as not be recognized as another character in the flick.

Camera rolls, actors act, we wrap.... little knowing DISASTER is about to strike... which shall be saved for another post.

photos by Suzan Jones

DAY 11

LA is exited at FIVE IN THE FREAKING MORNING to set up our base camp/location deep in canyon country, the actor driving the van/prop/location has ONLY gotten two hours sleep. TWO HOURS SLEEP, and then:

The freaking van/prop/location’s engine light goes off. The van has to be pulled over. A frantic call goes into Kid Friendly, who says ‘proceed’. Proceed we do, only now the van is driving like ka-ka. Base camp is way up a hill, which the van is not able to really chug up. We stop again. Call the Real Deal, who already at the base camp shows up with the Set General. We try again, BARELY making it to base camp. After some consultation, it’s determined the van is just low on gas and the problems on the hill actually had to do with gas moving around in the tank. WE HOPE!

Once settled Lord and Lady Deal go to scout another location. Everyone else heads down the road to get gas for the van. The van gets gassed up and everything seems fine. THANK GOD!

Stop number one, first scene of the day, just happens to be by a big transformer(great for sound, NOT) and a rehab center, where the sound of people rehabbing is heard, loudly(great for sound, NOT). But we don’t have any studio $ or any $ for that matter, so proceed. The Set General uses a lighter to simulate heat coming off the ground, because it’s supposed to be quite hot, but is actually quite cold.

We shoot the next scene, still near the transformer(great for sound, NOT), simulate an actor pissing with a water bottle, shoot a train, and then go back up the road.

The next scene is much longer, so gets broken into three parts, and then:

It starts RAINING!!!!! We somehow manage to get through the first part of the scene, fighting-fighting-FIGHTING rain all the way, but can’t go on with the second part, cuz: 

WE GET RAINED OUT and gotta go back to base camp/location :(

COSTCO SANDWICHES

Another scene with animals, fish, in a tank. The actor in this one, who’s been affecting his voice for his character, is bending down, unfortunately making him not able to affect his voice properly. It takes ten takes to figure this out. 

We get to the last scene of the night, an indoor/outdoor one, BUT: 

IT’S STILL FREAKING RAINING!!! But we don’t have any studio $ or any $ for that matter, so proceed. The Set General stands out in the rain set generaling. One half of the love story is doing sound as the other half is acting. The Set General’s impulsively commands an actress to slam the door, almost wreaking an expensive audio cord, making half of the love story explode, the other half is still acting. The sound of the rain hitting the gutters is ALL OVER the dialog. MORE to deal with in post. But we don’t have any studio $ or any $ for that matter, so proceed.

We finish, it’s late, and now the actor who’s STILL had only two hours of sleep has to drive the van/prop/location all the way back to LA for another day.