04/15/09
908pm

I went for a little run this evening after getting home from work and I saw someone crossing the street who looked an awful lot like Glen Ford. Turns out it was Chuck and I sat and talked to him for a moment and he asked what happened with the blog. I hadn’t realized anyone was reading it, so I figure I’ll sit down and finish up what happened with the shoot.

Mike came by early to break down the set at Lupe’s and do what he could with the Receptacle. The little girl, Sydney, showed up with her mom while Andrew and I were trying to light the kitchen without blowing out the fuses in the house. Amber, the makeup artist who was helping us out, was working on Laura and Sujin was getting Phil together. Steve B came by and was helping Mike dismantle the Listening Room. The panic was on me; I had the boards up on the door but it was a snatch and grab deal, I hadn’t planned everything to a “t” the way I’d done with everything else. It was a dreamy sequence, so I figured it needed to be shot differently - not so controlled.

This is really where Andrew and Sujin rose to the occasion, and Andrew especially would prove valuable beyond words as the day continued. I found myself suddenly unsure of where to go, once we’d gotten the few shots I knew were essential. Sujin was great with Sydney, who turned out to be an incredibly professional little girl who happened to be unnaturally adorable. Andrew is experienced with documentary filmmaking, and he put it to good use with a handheld technique while they went about the motions of interacting. We gave Sydney a box of crayons and she went to work on one of my sketchbooks while we danced around the lights and wires in the kitchen. There was only one electrical blowout, fortunately.

We did a wardrobe change and went into the second half of the “family”’s day, it was oddly fortuitous that their clothes were color coordinated for each day, something that wasn’t planned as well as it happened. Laura was a pro with Sydney, Sujin was beating Phil up and ripping his crap suit up for his homeless experience. I told them that we needed to smear some peanut butter on his face, rub some vinegar in his eyes and take a hammer to remove a few of his front teeth but they were having none of it so Sujin did it all with makeup. He looked fantastic and I didn’t even have to beat him up at all, unfortunately. I kid.

For the last shots of the movie we needed an idilic home to shoot in front of, I’d boarded it in front of a fence - the kind you find on the north side but not down here in Pilsen where we were shooting. Andrew and I walked around the neighborhood and found a great yellow home with a well maintained as though it were straight out of a storybook. We set the shot up quickly, there was foot traffic everywhere and the girls were waiting in the wings for the okay. Steve and Mike were carrying reflectors for the low natural light we’d have to work with, it was gray and overcast but thankfully not raining. Since we didn’t have permission to shoot this house we wanted to snatch it real quick and with little attention. I saw this fella walkind toward us. I was preparing to wait for him to walk through the shot before we could continue and instead he walked right up to the gate we were in front of and opened it. He looked at me, silent and with a big stupid grin on my face, saw Andrew with the camera on the tripod, flanked by two degenerates with square white boards, and Phil leaning against his fence with crap all over his face - dressed in a filthy, ill fitting suit and clutching a busted briefcase. I said, “Excuse me sir-” He nodded, smiled, and said, “It’s fine, go ahead” like we were a bunch of silly kids and went into his house. It was a great moment.

We got our shots and packed up, thanked Laura and Sydney and her mom. Everyone was fantastic that morning and, though I had been bitch slapped by my unpreparedness, things seemed to have gone well. Since then I’ve looked at the footage from that morning and it looks great. The only thing that didn’t work was the sound, but I was holding the boom mic the whole time so I’ll take the bullet on that, glad to. As Andrew is fond of jokingly saying, “We’ll fix it in post”. God, I hope we can.

The first half was over. Andrew went to drop off some of the equipment that was so generously donated to us by several people who we will list soon on the website, once we get all their info. Phil stuck around to do his voice-overs, and Mike and Steve had just about knocked out the set and done all the clean-up at Lupe’s. My friend Nathan Leuking had been kind enough to lend us an automobile, compliments of his parents. I signed the makeshift contract, signifying that I, Jim Terry, was now responsible for any damages done to their vehicle. Smart son of a bitch. He split and we got ready for the second half of the day. Shooting in the streets.