48 Hour Film Project -
Saturday Evening/Sunday Morning
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Shooting for my character wraps sometime around 5:00 Saturday (after
getting out of wardrobe twice!), and I still have a sign to paint
for the "Piccone Ice-Cream Factory". It's for the final
scene to be shot, and we have a little time. I had offered to get
the paint and materials, but I left my wallet at work the day before
and was not able to get to Home Depot before Jay needed me to rehearse
and get into wardrobe.
Crewmember Natalie scoots out and picks up paint and a big pink
sheet of foam insulation, a rigid, lightweight substrate that I
understand moviemakers adore. Painting outdoors, a welcome break
form the fog-filled warehouse, we roll out some yellow/orange paint
that will be the background. The color is called "orange sherbet"
interestingly enough. With her permission, Natalie and I talk about
some topics from The Purpose Driven Life and I discover that
she too is a Christian. Now I know why I liked her right away —
we're family! She chirps away about her life in the UK and the challenges
she's faced since leaving home. She enthusiastically shares how
her prayers have been answered when her finances took a tough turn.
We letter the sign in bright red. Natalie and I are accompanied
by Kyle's mom and dad who barbecue for the crew. Grips, PAs and
talent parade through to dine on pork steaks, burgers and chicken.
Jay, Kyle and Nathan take good care of their people. Breakfast,
lunch and dinner are generously available, and there is always bottled
water and something to bring the blood sugar up. This is probably
something lesser leaders would have ignored or not budgeted for,
but these guys are smarter than that. Tired is bad enough, but stacking
hungry on top of it is to invite doom. We are all well-fed.
Principle shooting continues long into the night. Our script calls
for two kidnap victims who end up in their skivvies and drenched
in blood. Of course, we are not talking about two beer-gutted steelworkers
named Murray and Salvatore. Jay has cast a pair of fetching lasses
who on film should invoke a strong sympathetic response to their
plight. I was and am uncomfortable with this decision, and struggled
with whether this was an appropriate project to work on given my
moralistic views. The scenes are not specifically prurient, I just
think a clever director like Jay could have invoked the same response
another way. I decide bailing out on Jay would be worse than being
in a movie with gore-covered girls, though I may yet regret it.
On a brighter note, my nephew had a great time. While he spent
a long time playing SOCOM on a borrowed Play Station, he helped
build sets, gripped and did yeoman work schlepping for the team.
Our sign is hung, and the crew moves lights, camera and talent
outside for the final scene. Shooting wrapped at 3:30 Sunday morning.
Tim McNabb
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