Day 40 was brought to us by the extremely helpful Town of Saugus, who had previously allowed us to shoot in the town center. The Town Manager, Andrew Bisignani, as well as the chief of police, James McKay, were very generous in giving us access to our choice of rooms in the Saugus Police Station and made it one of our quickest most efficient shoots to date.
We had our smallest crew to date (me, Maura, & Mark), and we worked hard and quick to make it go effortlessly that night. We had a reunion with Mr. Tom Mariano (yes--that one!) and, you know, Jim. We did a quick pack-up of the car and drove the five minutes to the station to begin the shoot.
We were also very lucky to have Sgt. Mike Stewart as our detail and tour guide for the night, and his excitement about the movie and the performances and shots he saw--as well as our inclusion of him as an extra--was contagious. He was really great to have around. Maybe I'll start having him come to all the shoots. Instead of the rest of the lame-o's I'm stuck with. My apologies to those non-lame-o members of the crew: you know who you are.
Mark & Maura busted out some really good lighting, even though my first instinct was we didn't need much. Dumb instinct. Our white balancing left something to be desired (like white balancing), but we made it all work well.
As the scene got underway, the actors did a great job with their parts. Tom not only supplied his generous amount of bloopers, but he also did really well at connecting with the part as the interrogating officer and he suggested that it would be more intimidating and natural if he stood very close to Mitch. That worked out great, and you could tell both performances were even better because of it. Jim, as always, was able to do the Mitch-blow-up great and I really like that the scene plays out with him getting so angry--like a caged animal--and how easily he dismisses Ally's intentions. I was also struck by his nuanced take on a line that I forgot was a lie but his very subtle read on it was note-perfect. We also did a take or two at the end with Tom's detective being more soft-spoken and I really, really enjoyed that too. Good work, boyz! It's also amazing how much authenticity we gained by having Det. Stewart walking in the background--it was awesome!
Then when we moved downstairs, Maura got the perfect shot of Jim waiting on the bench: his face in sharp focus, with Tom approaching in soft focus, racking slightly to his gun and badge as it enters the frame. There was one take that was just the perfect rack. And then Maura decided to turn the camera on. Despite there being an awful lot of Tom crotch shots (more than I prefer) for the night, our shots were very good that night. Also we had a great extra, Jack, who as usual I called something else once or twice, but then once I got his name down, we were golden. Det. Stewart was so excited about our cool shot, that he called another officer over to watch how neat it looked. Basically we rule.
We were done ahead of schedule, we had a good time, and we got very good footage--thanks again to the 2 crew members, the 2 actors, the 2 extras, the 2 Town of Saugus benefactors, and the me (of which there is only one, thank the Lord).
Our Day 39 happened on a hot and humid Tuesday afternoon, and I have to again give huge thanks to Lou's friend Sue for hooking us up with a terrific (and wonderfully air-conditioned) location. It was our second and final night in the basement, and we were moving like a well-oiled machine. There was a lot of preproduction and planning, and yes the master chunk board and post-it storyboards were there, to make sure everything went like clockwork: which it most certainly did.
Stacey & I met up with Lou at the wrong gas station in Hopkington, and made our way over to the location. We quickly brought everything downstairs and began setting up, and who showed up almost immediately but...Rajah?!!! I was very happy. This was great news for us because the four of us were able to light the room appropriately, block the positions out, and even begin shooting some of the opening shots (for Scene 2 in the movie), where we see the whole expanse of the room, and insert shots of the pool table, the bar, the entertainment center, etc. Rajah was angry with the daylight, but Lou's suggestion of lining up the liquor right by the window, seemed to satisfy Rajah at least a little bit. He was also very excited about using both more basic, flatter lighting for the shoot, and a second camera to shoot everything in video which meant we got double the footage (or took half the time, depending on how you enjoy doing math). Essentially Rajah was gearing up for his trip to Israel in 16 hours, and my theory is that that's why he was so quick and happy and scarily positive about everything. I'm going to plan a trip to Israel for him after each shoot. :)
Mark and Maura arrived, and we had already finished all of our shots that didn't involve actors--unless you consider liquor an actor, which I do to a degree because tequila keeps telling me it's my best friend. It wasn't even call time for cast yet, and we were ready to shoot Suzanne's extreme close-ups which will be some of the first shots you see in the movie. It went really well, and as we were completing those, our first additional cast member, Susan Wornick showed up and was camera ready in about five minutes; no delays. We went and got her out of her trailer (a bench near the pool table), and immediately started in with her reaction shots. Reactions shots are just about the dumbest thing to shoot when you haven't yet seen what you're reacting to, but she did a great job running the gamut of what we'll need to cutaway to, and it was very exciting that we were already speeding through things and getting great footage!
Then Tony the Diva showed up and, as you know, that meant we all had to pay tons of attention to him. I can't be sure but I think he insisted that nobody address him while he was getting into character, or look him in the eye, and Stacey, Susan and I gamely complied. Man, he's pretentious. Also not only did he not wear his fantastic pants, but he decided to dress wearing what I like to call "crazy shorts," which thankfully were not in the shot. He did have enough sense to ask "what his frame was," so that was really helpful.
Then we were ready to begin the second half of the scene (easy to jump ahead when you've got the chunk board and the storypost-its!) where Maxine swoops in and tries to diffuse the situation where Suzanne hates her room--though Paul absolutely loves it. This was a VERY fun scene to shoot. We had the wonderful combination of the blooper twins (Stacey & Tony), coupled with Susan who had a series of lines that weren't really in response to anything, making it really difficult to remember their progression. However, all three of them did an excellent job, exactly as I would have expected. Maura and Rajah shot with both cameras, so that the scene can play out in the beginning of the film and during the viewing party, and Mark had his hands full logging every timecode on two cameras and slating perfectly for later sound-syncing purposes. Young Loubert sat at the top of the stairs and made sure a stationary light didn't move. I got made fun of, as is the norm.
Quite honestly, though, I am so happy with how this scene turned out, and I absolutely loved the dynamic between the three actors--Stacey was great at showing her utter disdain for the room (with some very funny lines), Tony showed huge enthusiasm for the new sportsbar that he loves, and Susan did a perfect job of making Maxine responsive to their polarized reactions, and was very convincing as a host who is genuinely trying to coax a more positive response from her guests. I am really looking forward to editing this one, because it is really entertaining.
From there we moved onto a very quick sequence where Maxine asks a question of Dina for the taped segments of the show. It would come as a surprise to nobody that both that and the next four voiceover segments that we had Susan read were spot-on--exactly as we wanted them. The only problem was that somebody, and I won't say who, left her cell phone on and ruined take after take with the incessant ringing to which I threw down my headphones and said, "Listen, [anonymous news anchor], the rest of us are trying to shoot a movie here, so could we please try to be professional?!" To which the unnamed news anchor denied that there even was a ringing phone, so I had to believe her since she is a trusted source of information, unlike Rajah and Lou who are just complete liars.
And with that, we were done with Susan for the day. It was really great fun working with her, she did an excellent job, and we're all excited to have her back for her second day. She really made the scenes feel authentic, and I hope she had as good a time as we did. After she left we had enough time before Sari arrived to shoot the first part of the scene, with Paul & Suzanne's initial reactions to the room, which were so much fun to watch, as usual. What can I say--I really enjoy seeing Tony play ridiculously happy, standing right next to Stacey playing seethingly angry, and the two of them did a great job in what is essentially page 1 of the script. Kudos to them. Also, I'm almost positive they laughed a lot at each other--just like real spouses do!
In the meantime, Sari arrived, got dressed as Dina--the very hands-off Southern designer--and was ready to go with her response to Maxine's question about how she liked working with Mitch & Ally. A quick note of thanks here too to Rajah, who moved like lightning and was very excited to be shooting in a fun reality-show way, to Maura for manning the main camera and sound and helping us move quickly throughout the night, to Mark for the aforementioned thankless task of logging twice as much stuff, to Lou who as usual seems absent until you need him and then he's right there to quickly help the very next set-up happen instantaneously, and to Stacey who jumps from one side of the camera to the other effortlessly, and did so throughout the night. I do feel the need to single all of them out now, because when a night goes as smoothly and (ahead!) of schedule like it did, it's because everyone is going above and beyond.
We got Sari into position, and she gave her response to the question great--with the right mix of joy and exuberance (how many times can I use that word in one blog) that makes Dina so great. We settled on the right version of Southern accent for her to do--somewhere in the middle of the range she described as Scarlett O'Hara to Forrest Gump. It worked really well, as did the next scene we did, which is going to be cut with the couch-moving scene we did with Jim & Amy a week ago. As they're struggling to lift and move, Dina stands their describing her vision, and I thought Sari did a great job with this. It's going to be very funny when we put the two together. And then we were done with Sari, again, ahead of schedule and were all VERY pleased with everything we'd already accomplished for the night.
Our remaining bits were to be lit dramatically, like our previous basement shoot, and again it was achieved largely with a very yellow light and shadows. Super cool looking. Stacey envisioned the lamb shank shot to be a close-up of the plate as she walked with it, and then Rajah tilted up to her face as she said her lines. It was excellent and I must say I love the version Stacey did when I had her kind of whisper her lines. I am really impressed by how Stacey, Maura, and Rajah were able to make this basement look so stylistically haunting last week, and then match it so well for this shoot. We then did the same thing for a shot of Suzanne descending the stairs to do laundry, which took a very long time to set up and get right, but I think it absolutely achieved what we wanted. And our final shot scheduled was Suzanne at the bar, that from the look of it will be equally great, sad, full of meaning, in no small part due to the actress and to the shot and lighting which just enhanced it all.
We thought we were done but Diva #2 suggested an additional shot with a more lit Suzanne on the stairs to make up for a shot in one of the montages that I had confused. It was not only the right choice to do it, but her performance in that simple shot was amazing, and the reverse shot that Rajah and I both wanted to do is a perfect lead-in to it. I have no doubt we will be using this in the film and, as I feel after most last-minute additions, I almost can't imagine the movie without it now.
So we all packed up as quickly as we always do, and headed outside into the cool 90 degree night, where we "thanked each other for tonight," as we always do, and headed our separate ways--some to the North Shore, some to Israel, some to get lost somewhere in between. It was a great afternoon/night shoot, and again I have to give big thanks to the talent (Susan, Stacey, Tony & Sari) and the talented crew (Rajah, Maura, Lou, Mark, & Stacey) and to our location, and to aspirin--in that order.
Our Day 38 was by far one of our smoothest shoots to date. We were very lucky to be allowed to shoot at Hunt's camera store in Melrose, which aside from being a very easy commute for us, is also a perfect location. I had procrastinated contacting them for, like, ever. Twice I had been in the store and gotten the manager's name (once on Rajah's insistence), yet still I procrastinated because I was always focusing on bigger shoots. Anyway, I talked to the manager who very generously accepted our request and, as we later found out, whose wife was one of Stacey's favorite teachers in high school. Very small world.
It was a 3-hour shoot--so the plan was for everybody to get there at 8 and be out by 11 when the store opened on Sunday. We had a busy week leading up to the 3-hour shoot, with Jim & I location scouting for the dinner date scene in Beverly & Newburyport on Wednesday night, the camera store scene rehearsal with Mark and Stacey on Friday night, and then a follow-up/final decision location scouting trip to Newburyport on Saturday night with me, Stacey, Mark, Jim, Michael, and Maura (fyi, we've made our choice, and it's gonna be great). Oh, also on Saturday, Stacey & I did some rewrites for the Space Invaders scene(s), and on Sunday night more of the same plus some dinner date rewriting. So though we only had the camera rolling from 8-11 on Sunday, it was a very busy Jonesy week.
I was extremely glad we did the rehearsal for the camera store scene on Friday because Stacey, Mark and I were able to block it all out, see what worked and didn't, and even practice it with Frank's Rubiks cube playing the part of film cannisters. It was very believable. I wonder if Mark ever solved that cube... In any event I felt really prepared for Sunday, thankfully we had Maura spend the night to make her morning commute much nicer, and we also had the assistance of Max, Michael and a surprise visit from Lou (!) I panicked that we weren't going to have any crew since Stacey & Mark are often my back-up helpers and Rajah wasn't available, but they were the stars that day, and I didn't want them lifting one of their pretty little fingers (even though they did). But without the M's and the Bert, it could have been a stressful shoot, so my big thanks to them.
OK, now I've written a thousand paragraphs and the shoot hasn't even begun yet, but frankly there's not a lot to say. It was honestly one of my favorite shoots to date--I thought Stacey & Mark gave really great performances, I was so happy with the shots we got, the location was perfect, the extras and costumes were authentic, the crew worked quickly, and I was relaxed the whole time. Who could ask for anything better? We were inspired as soon as we got there to do a shot using the security camera monitor, but had to wait until one of the Hunt's employees came back from Dunkin' Donuts to set it up (he and another employee came early to assist and be in the background). So we threw ourselves right into the heart of the scene with the main dialogue between Suzanne and Todd.
Maura did an excellent job on camera that day and we started with a 2-shot (with huge snazzy photos in the background) that I thought played out extremely well. More and more I find myself doing the 2-shots or wide shots just for safety, and knowing that we might not use them for more than a second, but I was really happy with the performances that Stacey & Mark gave in it and can envision us actually sticking with the shot for a little while. It does help to see the two of them connect--Todd talking like an insensitive but chipper boob, and Suzanne cutting him down with sarcasm and eye daggers. We also got a good blooper on the first take with Mark not very adeptly catching the film cannisters.
We moved on to the closer shots of Todd & Suzanne, that went very well, although I wasn't happy with the lighting on Stacey's eyes for her shot. But where were we to find a reflector screen to bounce some light? About thirty feet away. There are many perks to shooting in a camera store and this was one. I think the screen helped, although I'm not sure how much, but it did give Max some additional screen time every moment he decided to let his body enter frame just for fun. He's such an attention hooker. We finished the single shots and I was very happy with the performances by Stacey & Mark--I always kind of thought of the scene as mildly throwaway (it's there to break things up, suggest later plot points, etc.), but having shot the scene I'm really proud of what we did and think it's very strong.
Then we got to do the money shot. I believe it was Maura who suggested that we see if the security camera monitor could be turned on, to begin the scene, and indeed it could. We moved the camera all the way back, got the background in soft focus, and the camera and monitor in sharp focus to show Suzanne looking into it before moving into her first position. Stacey came up with the blocking of having Suzanne look into it to fix her hair, which was way better than my idea. So I had her start the scene way out of frame by the front door of the store, which means the scene begins with a tight shot of the security camera monitor and seeing Suzanne approach on it, she (perfectly) looks at the cameras for a second, looks into the camera (eerily foreshadowing), fixes her hair looking into the monitor, and walks over to the other camera area. It is one of the most exciting shots to me that we've done because it looks awesome, it was super creative and collaborative, and when I saw it play out I was shocked at how identical it is to a very important recurring shot we have near the end of the film. Huge props to Maura, Stacey, & me for that one.
As usual, it was quickly nearing the end of the shoot, so we did some super fast set-ups for the final section of the film. And I mean super fast, because other Hunt's employees were beginning to arrive, and we really needed to finish. The team worked crazy efficiently, and we got single shots of Stacey and Mark, a 2-shot of them, and cutaways in no time whatsover, with extremely good extra work by the Hunt's employees in the background, and effortless movements of the camera, mic, monitor, etc. by Bert & the M's. We finished, packed up, and were out of there about ten minutes before the store opened. And, no, we didn't steal anything.
So, in summation, it's too bad and slightly ironic that we don't have many photos from the shoot at the camera store, but given that our top photographers were acting as D.P. (Maura) and Todd (Mark) and Suzanne (Stacey), give us a break alright. That being said, I loved the camera store shoot, and am so glad the actors did such a great job, we got so many terrific shots, the crew helped us get out early, and Hunt's provided us with the perfect backdrop for the day.
Day 37. A night of so many top secret plot twists, that what the hell can I actually blog about? We made Amy eat lamb shanks. The end.
OK, I probably can say more than that. But forgive the vagueness--so much of the night (like the Finale day on the Cape) would reveal too much. I can say that the location was secured by Lou a long time ago, and we are so thankful to have been able to use the space. It was absolutely perfect. We couldn't have one custom designed better.
Our preproduction for this night was intense and I have to give huge thanks to Stacey for storyboarding so much better than I do, helping me organize the schedule, and taking on the huge headache of capturing footage and burning onto a DVD. That's our own personal hell, and of course by "our," I mean Stacey's, because I always find something much more pressing to do when it's time to physically transfer footage onto a DVD (I'm pretty sure the kitchen table needed an awful lot of wiping that night). In addition, Maura was a huge help for the shoot, stepping in when Rajah was not going to be able to make it, and she and I went through all of Stacey's storyboards and came up with the best ways to shoot what we intended. In the end, Rajah did make himself available for the shoot, which was great because we were able to get really dramatic visuals for crucially visual scenes for the beginning, climax, and end of the movie--which was absolutely a team effort by Stacey and Maura's initial lighting set-up, and Rajah's perfectionist tweaking and shots so that our collaborative vision was totally achieved. Hey, did you know I'm a perfectionist too? It's in the paper, so it's true (much to the surprise of everyone I work with everywhere).
Since I seem to be structuring this blog more along the "starting with the shout-outs" method, I also need to really thank Lou for this bulls-eye of a location, and to Mark for running through all of it in advance with Maura, Stacey, and me. We were super prepared, and I think it's why things went so smoothly. Jim rearranged his schedule at the last minute to be available for the shoot and Amy went through our punishing night of shanks and other things like a trooper. Basically everyone is great.
Maura, Mark, Stacey & I met in the morning for breakfast at a series of closed-down restaurants. It was funny for the first few, and then kinda annoying by the time we got to #5. But there we were at Friendly's, talking storyboards and script rewrites, though our comedy-of-errors breakfast trip took so long that we were now working off the lunch menu. After we finished, the four of us had some time to kill before Lou arrived in town, so we found a field by a schoolyard and soaked up the sun. I soaked up the shade. It was a relaxing and probably therapeutic way to start the shoot.
We met the Bert and got to the location. It was perfect. Stacey & Maura immediately began monkeying with the lights, Lou & I worked on connecting the DVD player and other nonsense, Mark set up equipment...we worked like lightning. By the time, Amy arrived, we were essentially G2G. We began with the aforementioned "lamb shank" scene, which went great. Rajah arrived and we moved onto a series of shots that were actually envisioned way back in April on the Cape when Tony, Stacey, & Maura came up with a new and improved way to start off the movie. Jim & Mark also came up with some good ideas with how to start--ultimately we opted for the other way, because it will really grab the viewer. All ideas in brainstorming are valid, except my version that was in the script which was terrible like I am. We were able to get rid of the completely unnecessary voiceover--rule #1 in basic screenwriting, as it is.
The opening shots are absolutely terrific. Again, the execution is due to some really great work by Rajah, Maura, and Stacey, and no small amount of patience on Amy's part. They are so important to the movie because they need to convey one thing in the opening, and yet make sense in a completely different context for the climax of the film. We definitely nailed it.
For the whole night we ended up shooting a lot more efficiently (and getting a lot more coverage) than I think I intended, because with each different set-up it made sense to shoot moments from each scene from that vantage point. We got the DVD running, and moved onto some great revealing shots, the always-favorite Suzanne moment, and a bunch of other stuff I just can't say. We tried doing a dolly shot with the wheelchair, but it didn't work. Rajah insisted doing a dutch angle (we should drink every time he suggests a dutch angle) and a very slow zoom (drink every time I tell him we're not going to be zooming). However, he did the zoom, and I must say it looked pretty good. For safety, Stacey tried a 1-2-3 series of widening shots, and I gave a handheld version a try as well. Mark also had a really good idea about dollying in, zooming out that he wasn't happy with, but I'm glad overall we tried for this important scene a variety of dramatic ways to do it.
Oh, the cake! I forgot about the cake. It had been around for months--in Amy's house, Tom's dad's house, Maura's house, our house, and now at its final resting place. There was some really funky mold going on in it.
We then finished up with a series of very dramatic shots that would be used in a very important sequence, in which I had Amy run the gamut of expressions. She did an excellent job, and I know it's going to cut together really well with the other important shots in that series. Again, we had a total success.
Then we made Amy & Jim move a couch several times because it was fun to watch them lift heavy things...oh, and it was part of the script. I'm really not that sadistic (lamb shanks and hot dogs aside). After that, Stacey had the brilliant suggestion to shoot some fun moments for the Space Invaders show that could be used as part of the "finishing touches" shots they always have on those shows. Having Mitch & Ally rack up balls on a pool table then high five, place pillows and a blanket (say it like Jim) on a couch and then collapse on it very cheesily, place a Giggle sign up on the wall, etc. etc. it was the perfect way to end the night. It was fun, the two of them had a great time doing it, and it's going to be even more fun editing that stuff into the final film.
So we called it a night as we tiptoed out and drove off into the moonlight which was, incidentally, not green at all.
Overall, Day 36 was the most memorable day of shooting ever. My sincerest thanks to EVERYONE who was a part of it, and who helped made that day so special for The Joneses and for the birthday boy (aka Smitty). So, in no particular order, my huge thanks to: Stacey, Jim, Maura, Mark, Rajah, Lou, Max, Michael, Tony, Amy, Frank, Jane, Ken, Kevin, Leila, the Shalkoskis, Craig, Tony's mom, Marsha, our friends from Cataldo Ambulance, Kelly's Roast Beef, the town of Georgetown, Jim's pals, Sally Applegate, and every wonderful extra who gave up some of their Sunday to be a part of this amazing day! I'm sorry if I forgot anyone--it was a true group effort and I appreciate every one of you.
So to sum up the day is hard because it was so long and eventful. We had food catered by Kelly's, which was excellent! We had much of the cast and crew bring boxes of stuff to make the yard sale authentic, which it totally was--although big props on props to me, Stacey, Jim, and Maura who brought boatloads (or carloads) of stuff to make it look perfect. Stacey had Jim bring out a cake to surprise me for a mini-birthday celebration (and it really was the most memorable birthday I've ever had; I can't wait until I turn 22!). There were hilarious performances, terrific dramatic moments, so much fun and sunburn, and that was all before the excellent nighttime shoot with the Cataldo Ambulance that Dan was able to arrange for us. We had Sally from the Georgetown Record covering the film, and what a good day to be there for it. And throughout the day, we had extras from the neighborhood and beyond that relaxed in the backyard under the Shalkoski tents and were always available for whatever scenes we were shooting. It was incredible.
The day began with me and Rajah pulling up in my packed car and found that Mark, Max, and Jim were already posting signs (at 8 AM) of where everybody could park. Maura and Stacey followed soon after and everyone got to work setting up the many tables, designing the layout on the lawn, Max was pricing everything (at dirt cheap prices), and Lou surprised us by showing up earlier than expected, with no sleep--which is of course something he takes care of on the shoot. Everything was off to a great start. While everyone busted out quick work in the design of it, under Maura's & Stacey's leadership, since the three of us had planned it extensively that week, Rajah and I began doing trial runs of Chunk 1, which was the tracking shot of the whole yard sale. We were shooting it through the sunroof of the Mini, and got the right speed and everything. What was kind of comical as we did this dry run was that a whole bunch of our actors (I won't say who but one of them is an R.N., the other was wearing a shirt that said "Frank the Tank" and a third was Kevin Cirone) kept regrouping in the middle of the street that we were driving down! But none of them were killed during our practice and that made me happy.
CHUNK 2: In classic production fashion, we soon realized that many of the extras wouldn't be showing up until noon, so of course we would skip over Chunk 1 and start with Chunk 2. People, don't you understand there's a method behind the Chunk chronology?! Ah, well. That meant leading off with Kevin & Tony, the stars of Chunk 2. Their scene was super hilarious. Kevin could barely keep a straight face when he had to say, "How dare you, sir," which I think is one of the reasons why I wrote that line--I like watching him try to not smile. It's an awesome scene--Stacey and I just realized a few weeks ago that Victor should be at the yard sale since he gets all their leftovers, and he and Tony had an absolute perfect rapport as Victor with his hurt feelings and Paul who didn't want to hear anything about it. For that first scene, Rajah also broke out his big white screen thingie that blocked out the sun perfectly. Max and Frank got some serious arm muscles/fatigue holding it up, but it worked very well.
CHUNK 3: Ally picks out a jacket and discusses it with Suzanne. Not a lot of meat to the scene, quite honestly, but a great establishing one and a great job done by Stacey & Amy. We started with a cool close-up on the garment rack (yay, I didn't call it a coatrack for once!), with the clothes being pulled over to reveal Ally's face looking through it. We did this scene relatively quickly, because my leading ladies knew what they were doing, save for a bit of a dyslexic twist Amy preferred on the "Cash for Crap" line. Kevin loaned his considerable height to be screen-holder #2.
CHUNK 4: Ken Flott gets his big break! We rehearsed this also newly written scene between Ken & Kevin, in which Mr. Franklin (who is a professional yard sale customer) mistakes Victor for somebody that works at the yard sale and proceeds to ask him about many different items. The joke is that Victor dissuades him from buying almost everything. We ran through it a few times to see if we could punch up any of the jokes. Ken added a bit about a crockpot, to which Kevin added that it was "not for sale," both of which were exactly what it needed. Really really funny. We also didn't know how to end it, so we came up with Victor answering Mr. Franklin's query on the electronics table with "...bit of a gamble," to which Mr. Franklin responds "I like to take chances," and then Kevin (uncharacteristically trying to have the last line :) ) came up with the dramatic pause before saying, "You're alright." This scene is terrific--the performances were so funny, and they both made me laugh a lot. Rajah tried to do an old Western showdown shot, which might have been nice, but potentially would have been over-the-top anyway, so I wasn't mad at the fact that he couldn't get it. It was a good idea. As it is, the scene will work more than fine.
CHUNK 1: This was Rajah's and my tracking shot, establishing the yard sale sign and balloons, and then driving along the street to see the front yard revealed with all its tables and customers. We had some funny business that I hope you see with Jim's friend choosing between an axe and a table full of figurines, and Marsha eyeing a motorcycle helmet. Rajah and I did the shot at a few different car speeds and zoomed in at different levels, and from what we saw when we looked at the takes, it looked great. The extras were KEY in this scene, and I'm really glad they were there.
So we had blown through our first four chunks, which Rajah and I (but mostly Rajah) decided should have another form of measurement. 4 chunks = 1 load. You can write your own joke now. Meanwhile we broke for Kelly's lunch and the aforementioned surprise birthday cake, which was really sweet on the part of my awesome wife, with help from my arch nemesis, Jim. It was great taking some time (albeit only about 10 minutes) to talk to everybody who was waiting so patiently in the backyard tent area. I really think and hope most everyone had a great time that day.
CHUNKS 5-8: For the reader's (and writer's!) sake, I will begin mashing chunks together. If you're eating while you're reading this, my apologies for saying "mashing chunks." What's important is the next section was all the big screen debut of Jane Reardon, R.N., and Frank Tarara (who followers of this blog know has been a member of our crew since the beginning). Frank was given the part of Ben long ago, and we asked him to be part of the crew; Jane (who is friends with Frank in real life, unbeknownst to us when we cast them as girlfriend and boyfriend) has been in California for most of the shoot, and was dying to be back in time for the yard sale scene. So this was a momentous day for both of them, and they had rehearsed their parts as the yard sale customers (Danielle & Ben) who recognize Paul & Suzanne from "Space Invaders," get excited, insult Suzanne, meet Mitch & Ally, get even more excited, and insist on taking pictures with them. I must say, humbly, it's a really funny part of the script, but I'm not exaggerating to say that Frank & Jane blew us away. Take after take, hilarious. The first time we heard Ben's name shouted a second time by Jane, we were all in stitches, and each repeated take was just as funny. Also, Frank added some really funny business about Ben trying to quickly solve a Rubik's cube so he didn't have to buy it, which I thought was great. And as perfectly over-the-top as Jane is as Danielle, Frank also was wonderfully subtle as the guy whose girlfriend has a big mouth.
These chunks began with Stacey & Tony doing their awesomeness by discussing the yard sale and Suzanne's reluctance to even be having it, with a great response by Paul. When Danielle & Ben come over the rapport between the four of them is just comic genius. Huge props again to Jane & Frank for being so funny, Tony for being a great straight man with Jane, and Stacey for providing the right dose of outrage that sends them running across the street.
CHUNKS 9-12: The sun was finally waning, which was good in that we didn't have to cover the actors with the screen anymore, as we approached the magic hour, but we also knew we still have a huge amount (or a load) to shoot before it would be just too dark. The lighting ended up being perfect for the next, very important section, but we really had to hustle. I believe I may have blown my air raid whistle more than once, as fatigue began to set in.
So basically the climax of this sequence occurs when Suzanne & Paul hear Danielle's screams from across the street and find that Mitch & Ally have set up a yard sale table of their own. Which featured the Ultimate Sweater Machine--who would not pay top dollar for that? Paul & Suzanne storm over to Mitch & Ally and confront them. I've always loved this part too because I completely understand where both Ally/Mitch and Paul/Suzanne are coming from in the fight. Also, we had more hilarity from Danielle & Ben meeting these "celebrities" and taking pictures with them. Kudos to everybody, I hear from Michael who was working sound that some of the offscreen dialogue between Jim, Frank, and Jane was really hilarious. The funny parts are also so important because this scene has SO much tension in it, and was my favorite dramatic part of the day. I loved seeing the four leads get to rip into each other, and I can't emphasize enough how when Stacey & Tony entered the frame and played that anger so honestly, I couldn't stop smiling from ear-to-ear. Though I already knew it, this was why the entire yard sale sequence existed, and I was so excited that their performances were even better than the script. Seeing the two of them there seething at Mitch & Ally, I could just feel how completely pissed they were, and this scene did so much to bolster the relationship between Paul & Suzanne, and gave Mitch & Ally a chance to be "the good couple." So good. Just wait until you see it.
The last part of the chunk was really pretty rushed. We had dismissed most of the extras for the day, because they had been there for so many hours, and we needed to show a huge gathering of customers around Paul & Suzanne (now wearing their Space Invaders outfits--which it was the first time seeing those and I absolutely love them--thank you Lou & Stacey). Filling in as extras were the Shalkoskis (hooray!), Leila, Michael, Maura, Jim's pals, Max, Frank, and I'm probably forgetting someone, but we were able to arrange them so that it looked like a big group. Stacey & Tony did another great job, sticking it to the neighbors, and it was even a lot of fun getting the murmuring sounds of the crowd. We then shot the scene prior to it with Amy & Ken having an exchange about his yard sale purchase conquest that was really funny, and added to Ally's outrage and Mr. Franklin's utter sliminess. Unless that was just Ken's utter sliminess. He's very method, so it's hard to tell.
Whew. That's it for the chunks. I hope all of this makes sense and, I must confess, it's taken so long to chronicle all of this that we've even had a whole other shoot in the meantime, it's been eight days since the yard sale scene, so my memory is spottier and I'm probably leaving out too many important moments, especially the funny ones behind the scenes. But because I don't want to be writing this particular day's blog still when we've wrapped the whole production (and also I think the photo section for this day fills in a lot of the blanks), I will begin my wrapping up soon.
Epilogue Chunks: We took a good half-hour break (and finished cleaning up the yard) and then Rajah, Mark, Lou, Max & I began lighting for the great ambulance scene. We were SO lucky to have Dan from Cataldo Ambulance generously donate the ambulance for two hours and he and his partner brought a level of expertise we could never have faked. The lighting and the overhead shot that Rajah came up with: absolutely brilliant. My jaw dropped when I saw it--one of the best shots in the film and I can't believe we got it. I asked tons of questions about what would be the natural actions for taking someone away in the ambulance, and our Cataldo friends took us through the motions exactly. Of course we had the issue of the stretcher being so new that it didn't want to collapse very easily, but Tony was the only one to feel the brunt of that jerkiness. Sorry, Tony. Hope you enjoyed all that extra oxygen!
So we shot quickly and thoroughly, and my God the footage impresses me. We had a nighttime audience of the Shalkoskis, Sally from the paper, neighbors, etc. as the ambulance lights lit up the driveway and we shot the scene with Paul being carted away while Suzanne, Mitch, Ally, Todd, Renee, Victor, and Andy all watch in sadness and shock. Stacey really wanted to do a shot that mirrored Rajah's inside-the-hearse shot, which was a very smart move, and the shot Rajah got from inside totally captures Suzanne's fear and her tender side, and the tension from the rest of the group over this unfortunate turn of events. Though we had wrapped several of these actors before, it made it so much more authentic that everyone was there that night, and after it we did officially wrap Andy, Victor, and Renee (so sad!)
Many went home, some of us were too wired to leave, so Jim, Max, Rajah, Mark, Maura, Kevin, Stacey & I stood around for another hour and made weird jokes and had celebratory beers. We earned it. Everyone earned it that day--really our most memorable shoot. Again, if your name is listed anywhere above, I thank you so much for making it so terrific. And if your name isn't listed, but you were there...my bad. Maybe you should have been more memorable.
