April 6, 2009
746am

On Saturday night Sujin and I sat down and looked at the rest of the footage. I was nervous about sound and whether we’d gotten enough footage but afterward I was excited and ready to start cutting. She’s doing the editing, however, and we needed to back everything up first - which, with a USB port, says it will take 30 hours. We did the first half overnight and continued the next night. We’ll begin cutting on Wednesday, the alotted timespace we’ve given ourselves so we don’t get helplessly behind on Real World matters.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two weeks since we finished shooting. Everything had been geared so intensely on that weekend that now it’s gone there’s a sort of hazey dullness in my mind. That Sunday was something else. Everyone showed up around eleven and started getting ready, Mike had knocked out the walls in the Listening Room. It wasn’t how I imagined it but it was close. If we’d had another hundred bucks and one more day to set it up the thing would have been remarkable, but it was great what we had. Mike did a hell of a job, never having done anything like this before. Andrew was impressed, which put me at ease about it. There was a feeling that I hadn’t done enough on it but I had to let that go.

Meanwhile Mike went to work on the Receptacle while Andrew set up the lights in the Interrogation room. He’d brought along a friend, Euri, who helped him set up an overhead while we plugged up any light coming in through the windows with massive sheets of heavy black plastic. He took two c-stands, which are handy collapsing … well, stands… that have grips on their top that are priceless and essential on every set. They are used for lights, holding odds and ends, the heads can be removed and they are some of the first things you need if you’re going to do the job right. Andrew used two of them at full extension and put a length of 2X4 that Mike had fastened together between them with Chuck’s help. This extended over the interrogation table and wala, he hung his light from that makeshift contraption and other than a few adjustments here and there the lighting situation was pretty much taken care of and it gave us the mobility we needed to get our shots and move quickly. A pro, I tellz ya.

We hammered through the interrogation scene, Phil’s makeup and hair were giving us some consistency problems but I think it’ll look fine in the finished product. What a damned trooper he was. I stuck that funky hockey helmet on his head, it had to be tight and uncomfortable -not to mention claustrophobic - for a good thirty minute stretch. I kept calling, “Phil, how you doing in there, buddy?” I’d get the muffled reply, “good, man”. I wanted to tell him he could kick Peter Weller’s ass but I didn’t think anyone would get the lame reference. Aside from that he’d truly nailed his lines, he was a rock. We did the wide shots first, then the Boss/Collector shots, then Phil’s stunt scene, getting his head slammed into the table and having a drill jammed into the back of his neck. Prime. I was glad to get that hockey helmet off set - I think there was dried blood caked on the inside of it, but don’t tell Phil.

Everyone was great, Tim was secure and in character, and though there were some people talking and there was a lot of foot/car traffic outside we were able to get mostly usable sound. The sound thing killed me. Anyway, we wanted to get the Collectors out of the picture as soon as possible so we got their scenes as much out of the way before lunch as we could, which was fantastic. Moving like a clock. The grub was out of sight, ridiculous. We had Italian beef and eggrolls (yeah…) at the house, and Lupe surprised everyone by creating an incredible buffet-style Mexican feast and opened her home up to all these strangers. Oh yeah, and out of nowhere Rick, our Associate Producer, pops onto the set with two or three buckets of fried chicken. It stank up the room fierce but it was a nice gesture, even though the PA was smearing chicken grease all over the actors’ faces.

After everyone over-ate we got back to business.

The second half of the day went pretty smoothly, we got Tim’s last scenes out of the way, he nailed them. We all shook hands and he was done after a few voice overs, which were harder to do than I’d expected. I’d spent quite a bit of time with the actors doing their scenes but none of the straight reading-type dialog and it took a few times, what with random noises here and there and getting the reading from a page sound out of there.

Andrew had the listening room pretty well set up and we went to work. Again, Phil was 200% and the rest was checking shots off the ‘boards. It got around five, six o’clock and people started running out of gas or had to leave to their lives. Chuck handed the boom mic to Euri, everyone got quiet for some reason. Euri maneuvered through the lights and wires toward him and he said, “Now pay attention, here’s how you do it. You see this button here? You turn that off when you’re not using it, otherwise the battery will die. That’s… pretty much it.” He handed it to him and everyone was busting up, we all needed a good laugh. It was great to have Chuck on set, he was a bigger help than I could have hoped for and I was sad he had to leave. Others split at the same time, catching a ride with him.

I was disappointed to see all the manpower cutting out so close to our finishing. I’m not talking Chuck, he’d done more than his share but I’m talking people that offered to help out with “manpower” issues. In the end it was Euri, Andrew and myself lugging all that equipment out of there at the end of a long night. I feel bad about this minor resentment, but I figure when you say “whatever you need I’ll do it” I get it in my head you’ll be there. Otherwise, say “I’ll have to cut out early” and I won’t have it in my noggin that you’ll be there to the end. I dunno.

The listening room stuff is fantastic. Everyone did a great job, Phil was about as heroic as could be, muscling through some awkward moments and getting toward that actorly “emoting” moment. We were all beat by the end of the night, which ended about eight o’clock. We left all the equipment in the living room of our house and said our goodbyes - Monday was the last day of the shoot and we had to meet back early in the morning.

I was worried about Monday. I wasn’t concerned about Sujin or doormen or money or cameras or the actors or anyone other than me. We were dealing with a child and a woman (I have very little experience working with either) and we were going to be outside for most of the day in unsure weather conditions. I slept little that night and my confidence took a beating.

April 2, 2009
655am

Spent a good couple hours last night, reviewing footage. Boy, I think it looks good. There is enough in there to piece together a rather thrilling bit of movie, I think. I believe.

Last night Sujin and I logged the footage from the first day, going over and doing what a script supervisor generally does on set. We’d passed the duty onto someone but I’ve done it myself and if you’re unfamiliar with the process, having someone dump the challenge in your lap and say “do this, that, and these - okay, ready?” is not very fair, which is what we did. I don’t really mind though, it’s nice to look at all the footage again and be surprised at how good I think it looks. We were checking out the work from the first night, up in Melanie’s and it reminded me of how crazy I was getting.

Waiting for those goggles was killing me, and I ended up going downstairs to have a smoke and wait and Steve B pretty much rolled up once I’d extinguished the butt. We went upstairs and put the goggles on the fellas and then the breathing apparati, which I’d finished up the night before. The velcro straps were giving us a little problem, but with some finagaling we got them all attached and ready - though I am not sure how truly comfortable they were for the guys. Steve was game, following Paul’s lead and everyone went into trooper mode.

One thing I was worried about was sound, but out of nowhere came Jonathan, who had rented us the lens. He brought along his sound equipment and just kicked ass with it - I was paying strict attention to it last night. He’s a DP, but he just had such a great attitude that he said, Okay, I’ll do this for you - no problem. He knew the language and ettiquette of a set and was more helpful than three of me would’ve been. He had to leave around ten, and we were beginning to run late so SB took him in Chuck’s Cruiser again while Chuck, another champion from the unknown, took the sound duties.

By the time we’d gotten to Tim’s extreme close up, I was beat. We’d done the scene from several different angles, and each time we did a new set up someone asked if it was the last. I was getting angry, I didn’t know where half the people were some of the time or where all the people were some of the time, or where all of the people were all of the time. I think Abe Lincoln said that. I’ll be in your movie, if you be in mine. I said that. Sorry, little Dylan rip-off there; at any rate my brain was beginning to fry and I was incredibly aware of people looking at watches, yawning, etc. Those who didn’t do any of that jazz were quickly becoming my favorite people in the world.

When we finally finished and everyone went home it was about eleven-thirty. We cleared the gear from Melanie’s joint and made plans to meet at my house at eleven the next day, Sunday. My confidence was a little shaken but I felt good about the footage and Chuck gave me a lift home in the Cruiser and we talked about the day and he felt, for a first time ever directing with an actual crew, I did okay. I thanked him for everything and when I got home I sat up for another few hours putting the shot list together for the next day.

March 31, 2009
812am

Took on some extra hours this week to catch up a little on some bills; a good friend of mine just had horrifying surgery that went about as poorly as it can and he’s going to be laid up for a while. Yesterday was a miserable one - finding out about his condition left me in a quivering state of nausea/dread. He’s an avid movie lover and introduced me to classics I’d never have unearthed, lending me films from his collection ranging from Audie Murphy to Busby Berkley and CB DeMille. It was from him that I learned about “Battleground” and Errol Flynn and how truly fantastic William Holden used to be. I knew him from “Network” and my all time fave “The Wild Bunch” but didn’t realize what a charmer he was… I hope my friend gets well, and can move on after such a bad diagnosis.

I took quite a bit of those old films with me while we were shooting “Window”, in my noodle, in the spirit. The Boss has more than a little bit of 50’s era Sterling Hayden to him and I cannot help but be influenced by the low-angle claustrophobia of Orson Welles… when we broke down the “bedroom” set and began moving things around for the “Apt.” scene, I scoped out the kitchen and it was as barren and sterile as I could have hoped. Andrew set up the camera and the lights and I ran through the single, uncut shot he’d be doing. Sujin got him suited up and did his hair and I was suddenly at ease. He had turned from my buddy into the Agent and when I looked through the monitor at him walking into that monochromatic kitchen (especially through that wide-angled lens we’d rented) I was knocked out. We took the lens off and moved on to some close ups and cutaways, things seemed to be moving rather well.

I was so wrapped up in things that I didn’t even notice that someone hadn’t shown up. We were finishing up and preparing to shoot the stuff with Tim and Phil, which would include (at the end of the scene) the arrival of the Collectors. We only had one. I failed to notice that Paul was the only one sitting back there, that the fella we’d interviewed two nights before and enthusiastically promised to be there on time was nowhere to be found, not even a phone call. I made some frantic calls to all the people I knew who were taller than me but it was useless, everyone was busy.

Then Steve, who Andrew had brought along as an assistant, wandered into my view. I grabbed him and said, want to be in a movie? He’s about as tall as I am, and with a shaved head we threw him in a jacket and nodded. He’s fairly laid back and said, “Sure” and we had our second Collector. Now came the rest of the costume, the uncomfortable breathing apparatus I’d put together from some oil filters and velcroe and speaker wire. Then the goggles, underneath -

The goggles. We forgot the goggles at home. I had a moment of panic, seeing everyone around waiting. We’d eaten already, were set up with the shot and we didn’t have an ESSENTIAL prop. I blew up at Sujin like a rank amateur, like some hotheaded pig knuckle and she sent Steve Bruce back to our digs to grab them. Chuck tossed him his keys and said, “Careful with the Cruiser” and smiled. I felt like a turd for losing my cool and apologized to my producer for pulling a tantrum move.

The damage had been done. She gracefully accepted my apology but I’d crossed a line, I’d pulled a diva move and there was nothing I could do but learn from the lesson and move on. We sat and waited for Steve to drive halfway across town and find the junk. We’d already sent someone back for the hat I’d forgotten and it wasn’t a short little milk run. I ran through the scene with the actors just to do something but they knew their shit so really I was just trying to breathe calmly and not look out the window every five seconds, glance at my phone to see the time and hear that eternal, dramatic ticking clock pounding in my head as everyone began to grow restless. I saw Jonathan looking at his watch. I was ready to claw my eyes out and began cursing Steve in my mind for not having Nightcrawler-style teleportation skills. I would’ve chanced Seth Brundle’s teleportation device at that moment if I thought it would speed things up.

tbc