OpenFire On Set

Last Night...

2009-10-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

Last night's shooting went very well...all things considered. One of our lead actresses was sick and unable to be on set. If that wasn't enough one of our supporting cast members (who had some lines) became ill while on set so we had an interesting start to our evening. We had to shoot "around" where our actress would have been. We always had to frame our shots so some one was blocking where she would have been sitting had she been there. We'll have to come back and do some pick-ups so that when the scene is edited, it'll look like she was there all the time and we just chose not to show her all the time. It's complicated.

I had three Monsters last night, they're essential on night shoots. We had burgers, fries and coleslaw for "lunch", and fish and fries for "dinner". Due to rain we had today off, but we're back tomorrow working from three to three again.

I got a few pictures which are below. Most were taken while it was still light outside. I'll take more tomorrow.

The courtyard where most of the wedding scene will take place.

These stickers tell the DP what kind on filter is in the mattebox.

Amy Sanderfur, our B camera operator.

The slate and camera log sheets.

The hard drive.

The operator's view.

Monster...handy on day shoots, vital on night shoots.

Grip Village

The Producer, Andy Dean.

The DP, 1st AD, and A camera operator having a chat.

The Last Week...

2009-10-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

Well, my weekend is almost over and the last week of the shoot is beginning. As I mentioned in my last post, the rest of our shooting days will actually be nights. We will be working from 5:00 p.m. one day to 5:00 a.m. the next day. It's a little strange because when you're working days, you arrive on set and leave the set on the same day. When you're shooting at night, you arrive on, say, a Monday afternoon, and leave on Tuesday morning. It kind of throws your perception of time off a little. It also means you have to reset your body clock. Tonight (Sunday) I'm going to stay up till at least an hour after midnight so I'll get to bed much later than usual. As a result, I'll wake up much later and my body will be ready to go for a regular day.

A Picture...

2009-10-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

First Night Shoot...

2009-10-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our first night shoot. We started the day at three o'clock in the afternoon and wrapped for the day at three o'clock in the morning. I prepared for this by staying up very late Thursday so I would sleep in Friday. I woke up around eleven thirty Friday morning so my body was rested up for another twelve hour day.

Shooting at night is actually a lot of fun. It's a completely different atmosphere. Since it's dark outside, everything we're shooting has to be lit so it's almost more of a party feeling on set. Smaller lights here and there, the big 18K (18,000 watt light) suspended from the crane about forty feet in the air...it's a whole different ballgame. I'll take some pictures Monday and you can all see for yourselves how cool it looks.

It cools down quite a bit at night, so everyone brought something warm to put on once the sun went over the horizon. Thanks to the cool weather, the bugs weren't nearly as bad as we were expecting them to be. We're in the middle of a swamp/bayou and we are literally surrounded by water, so if we do get some warm nights, it's going to get ugly.

Monday, we are going to shoot the wedding scene that takes place near the end of the story. It's going to be the toughest scene in the entire movie to light and shoot. There will be about 50 extras, plus the cast and crew so the logistics involved are going to be much greater than in the past. Hopefully everyone will be in a good mood and things will go smoothly. If things go well, it will probably be the most beautiful scene (from a camera and lighting perspective) in the entire series.

Okay...those of you who are wondering what a shower curtain is are about to be enlightened. It is a very thin piece of light diffusing material that is placed in front of a light to help soften the light.

Next Quiz: What's a wild wall?

Another Good Day...

2009-09-30T19:14:00.000-07:00

We had another good day today. We were able to finish all our scenes for today and we had time to shoot some inserts. Just in case ya'll don't know what inserts are, they are shots of people or objects in the scene that can be inserted into the finished scene to help complete it, better convey the message of the scene, or give the viewer some sort of inside information about the plot. Anyway, tomorrow is our last scheduled day of shooting from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Starting Friday we'll be shooting through the night (from 3:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.) which means it'll be much cooler (maybe a little cold), there'll be a lot of mosquitoes, everyone will be a little crabby about halfway through the night, and I'll have to drink a lot of Red Bull. Ah, well, such is the price.

Another fun question: What's a shower curtain?

FYI: The answer is not a piece of plastic that prevents water from flooding your bathroom floor while you take a warm relaxing shower after a hard day's work.

A Great Day...

2009-09-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today was a really good day! We finished everything we were supposed to shoot today and had some extra time to shoot inserts. (Do any of you know what inserts are?) The weather here is starting to cool off a little which makes working outside a whole lot more enjoyable. I'm still having a lot of fun.

Almost...

2009-09-24T19:05:00.001-07:00

Today, we almost got lucky. There was a 50% chance of rain today and the sky was clear till about 3:00 p.m. when it started to drizzle. At 5:15 p.m. we decided to wrap for the day since any chance of the rain clearing was gone. We had two long scenes to finish today and we got about halfway through the first scene. Progress is progress so I can't complain to much. It is supposed to be sunny this weekend so we'll probably end up playing some catch up.

Quick Update!

2009-09-16T20:15:00.000-07:00

Once again I must apologize for taking so long to post. We've been filming on an interior set since Monday. Quite a bit of rain has come in and we're going to be inside again tomorrow. I've got to go to bed, but I'll try to post again tomorrow night.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

2009-09-08T18:50:00.000-07:00

I guess I owe an apology to all my loyal blog followers but I've been very busy during the last week and I spend most of my day's off sleeping and doing homework. Which explains why I haven't been posting as much as I probably should.

To bring you up to date, we are currently on schedule thanks to everyone's hard work today. We ended last week behind by half a scene and so we had to finish last week's scene and do the scenes that we were scheduled to shoot today. The last four shooting days we have been getting interior shots and so tomorrow we're going outside to get some reverses (Do any of you know what that means?) and some small scenes that take place in a courtyard. Sunscreen is a must on days when we shoot outside. The temperature is usually in the eighty's with at least 70% humidity.

Well, I'm doing the driving tomorrow so I'd better head off to bed.

Last posts quiz answers: 1. Pancake is a 1/8th apple box. 2. An apple box is a hollow box made from plywood that is about 18x12x8 (LxWxH). They are used for stools, stands, mounts and more. You can never have to many apple boxes on a set.

This post's quiz: What is a hi-hat?

The Beginning of Week Two...

2009-09-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Everyone was a little sluggish today (three day weekends can do that to you) but we finished the day on time. We are now done shooting interior shots for several days. Tomorrow we are doing several shots at wells inside and outside the village, and Thursday we're doing some shooting on top of the city walls.

I'm still having a lot of fun and learning. On the last two shooting days I've gotten to do some focus pulling for some master shots, inserts, and reverse shots. Focus pulling means you are focusing the lens for the operator. On "real" film lenses like the one's we are using, there is no auto focus and the operator is to busy watching the composition of his shot to focus the lens himself, so the focus puller does it for him. So far I've done well and they haven't had to do extra takes because I broke focus.

Answers to last quiz questions: 1. A stinger is an extension cord. 2. A put-put is a generator.

New quiz questions: 1. What is a pancake? 2. What is a full apple?

Week One Is Over...

2009-08-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

Well the first week's in the can and we're still on schedule, ready to roll Tuesday. I've been having an amazing time, learning a lot, meeting and networking with great people, and getting to work with some pretty amazing equipment.

Quiz: 1. What is a Stinger?

2. What is a Put-Put?

2009-08-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

Dan and I spotting Paul and Amy (our two camera operators) on a two camera shot.

2009-08-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

Holding the camera.

2009-08-27T19:27:00.000-07:00

Me and Dan Zapata, another 1st AC. Part of your job as 1st AC is holding the camera for the operator between takes.

Our Director...

2009-08-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Jim O'Keefe, our Director. If Jim's not happy, no one's happy.

Another Picture...

2009-08-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

The first order of business every morning is unloading the camera truck. You have to be very careful with the cases. Some of the cases contain over a quarter of a million dollars worth of equipment.

Our DP...

2009-08-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

Mike Peckham, our Director of Photography.

Another Picture

2009-08-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

I'm in the grey t-shirt in the center of the picture. I'm standing next to the camera cart...where all the action happens.

A Picture Of The Set...

2009-08-27T19:10:00.000-07:00

Second Day, First Jib Shot...

2009-08-25T18:24:00.001-07:00

Today was slightly more eventful than yesterday. The crew is starting to gel more everyday and things are going well. We shot four scenes today using mostly handheld and some shots on sticks, the Steadicam, and one jib shot (which I was able to pull off...more on that later). All of our scenes today were exterior and three of the four were dialogue. We were shooting in a open air market and so there were lots of extras and animals running all over the place. Thankfully everything went smoothly.

Ok...here's the scoop on the shot I took. The Red Camera (www.red.com) was set up on the end of the Jimmy Jib (www.jimmyjib.com) which was built out to twenty-four feet. The Director and DP (Director of Photography) couldn't agree on what angle they should use so the decided to do two takes, one the Director's way and one the DP's way. The shot ran something like this. First take: A high locked off shot, nothing interesting. Second take: The DP wanted a little more motion so I started out high with the actress staged under me. As she moved up the street, I boomed down to about eye level during their conversation. Toward the end of their conversation, she and another actress begin to move toward the camera and then run out of the frame, under the camera as I boom up. The shot was simple, but should cut nicely into the final sequence.

So there you have it. The second day of the shoot and my first shot. I am getting some pictures from a friend on set who has a camera, but until then, here are some pics that dad took on his phone.

Me, resting the camera.

As 1st/2nd AC part of my job it to take the camera from the operator at the end of each take to allow them to rest and focus on the next take or shot.

We had two camels, two donkeys, four sheep, five goats, and three pigeons on the set today.

Today's quiz: 1. What are sticks? 2. What is a Put-Put?

Yesterday's answer: The Martini shot is the last shot of the day. We were thinking of calling it the grape juice shot since this is a Christian film, but that didn't fly.

First Day Of Shooting

2009-08-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

The production phase has officially started. We rolled our first scene at 9:30 this morning. It was a courtyard scene that told the story of the rich man and his servants to whom he gave money. One doubled his masters money and so on...you know the story. We then moved to an interior dungeon scene which was shot completely handheld. I was the spotter for the primary camera operator which was a fun and chalenging job. It involved steering him around or away from obstacles (the set, cables, etc.) and holding the camera between takes. It was cloudy today, but it was still very hot inside the dungeon. When you are using lights which have bulbs the size of volleyballs, things don't take long to heat up on interior shots. One of the lights here (a 12k) is four feet across, it can literally turn night into day. Anyway, after our dungeon shot, we moved to an exterior shot in a courtyard. The scene showed the release of the man who we filmed in the dungeon scene. It involved a Condor (A lift) shot, and a Steadicam shot (Which was pulled off by Andy.). It went very smoothly and we were able to take the Martini shot at 6:00.

Can any of you guess what "the Martini shot" is...take a guess and I'll tell you tomorrow.

I'm sorry about not posting pictures yet, but I have zero time during our work hours to take pictures. I'll try to take some and post them ASAP.

Shooting Starts Tomorrow

2009-08-23T18:40:00.000-07:00

Ok...pre-production is officially over and we start shooting tomorrow. I am leaving our appartment at five o'clock tomorrow morning for the set. My official title is Steadicam/Jimmy Jib intern and Camera Assistant.

I have some pictures, but my camera is on set. Dad took a picture on his phone of a portion of the set we're not using, but it's still pretty cool.

The set covers over six acres, but we are only using 1-2 acres.

Be sure to follow my Twitter page. I'm tweeting from the set.

If you have any questions be sure to post a comment.

Comments and More...

2009-08-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

I apologize to anyone who tried to post comments. You should be able to now.

I just finished putting in two fourteen hour days and will be putting in another six hours tomorrow getting ready to start principal photography on Monday. Monday is when the shoot officially starts. Right now we're in pre-production. I've been running skidsteers, repairing water coolers (which are vital pieces of equipment on set since all water on the set has to be brought in), setting up craft services tents, and doing any number of small jobs for Andy (The producer), Matt (The client producer), Annette (Casting Director, Key Makeup Artist, Andy's wife, and the keeper of the checkbook), and just helping out wherever I can. I just found out today that we are allowed to take pictures of the set, equipment, etc. so I'll start taking pictures and try to post them when I'm not sleeping, or working. I've also started a Twitter account which I will be updating "Live" from the set. It is, www.twitter.com/openfireonset.

The Bear Has Landed

2009-08-21T05:55:00.001-07:00

Last night we rolled into Shreveport at 11:00 p.m. and arrived at the the condo where I will be spending the next seven weeks. I'm headed to the set with some of the crew around 10:00 a.m. this morning.

Testing

2009-08-18T15:36:00.001-07:00

Stay Tuned!!