This weekend was dedicated to a new character, Tommy. I don't wanna give anything away about the character or the plot, so I'll just make with a quick cut to the photo teaser:
This weekend also made use of interesting props. Props which we had searched high and low for and found only one. Props which used to be in such abundance we took for granted that we'd find one. And thus a bit of a script change was necessary. Below is a photo of said endangered prop.
Even as my cell phone sits next to my keyboard, I am still shocked at the absence of the payphones in a city. Where once fathers made sure their daughters kept a quarter in their shoe for emergency calls home, now cell phones exist even in the hands of the middle school set. Where once was a haven for untraceable nefarious calls, is now a necessity to re-write the goings on of criminal activity for the low budget filmmakers - us. The result actually did turn out pretty cool, though. It's funny how boundaries will turn out a better alternative than you would have ever thought about prior to said boundary.
New player in town
More of Archie's place
Qelsi focuses on her scene...
as our director, Chris Durham focuses on the shot.
Meredith and Eric run through their lines before we begin shooting.
And just so we're sure, What day is it Glenn???
It's Cowboys Game Day!!!!!!!Archie's House
As you all know we're getting the ball rolling again on "The Betty". We got back to work last month and we're hoping to keep the momentum going throughout this month of September.
Today we assembled a small version of the crew and shot some footage of scenes taking place in Archie's house. We had a good day and by the time we wrapped we were very satisfied with what we accomplished.
I made sure to get a few production stills of the day, so here's a sneek peek at how we put things together.
Meet our new toy. We were fortunate to score this wheeling base for our camera tripod and it was beyond wonderful for the shoot today.
Two shots of Archie and Oatmeal thinking about their problem the best way they know how - with a case of beer.
Meet today's Set Supervisor. Maizy was gracious enough to let us take over her home for the shoot.
That's all I have for now. We'll continue to keep the sneek peeks going while we're shooting, so stay tuned for more.
Back to the Yard
Our return to the location we started "The Betty" on was somewhat less grandiose, but nonetheless a rewarding shoot. This time we had a crew of three and knocked out a single scene. It was an exercise in flexibility for sure. I scrapped the shot list as soon as we got into the converted container "office" because there was no way to make the lighting work the way I had visualized it in my head. It was narrower than I'd imagined and more run-down than I would have liked.
Working to a schedule though, we shot till about noon and we'll have to make another trip out there. two more scenes (one very short) in the container/office and one outside it, with a few pickups and we can scratch that location off the list.
I started cutting together a rough cut to see how the shots played together and I'm pretty pleased with it. We shot entirely with available light, setting a desk next to one of the windows, and the results, particularly on Greg's face, look great. I'll post some grabs soon.