Day 2 of production

Day 2 went like this.

I get to the meeting spot early again and notice only one person there today. Everybody else trickles in. Meeting time is for 6:00 and by 6:15 we are still missing a few people. We start making some calls and realize one of the crew just woke up. We figure it will be easier to drive across town to pick her up in my car then to wait. Darn, this means we are late again.

We get to the location and we have two things to do. We have to set up for the dinner scene at a location next door while shooting an outdoor scene. It seems a like everything is going well but a little tension is building. People are tired from yesterday but still, spirits are high.

We manage to get these great dolly shots inside the kitchen and we only break one thing. A clock from the rental house. Oh well...that's why I have a contingency section in the budget. Art dec did feel bad but stuff happens.

After the kitchen shots we head back to the original location and set up for the next scene. The actor in this scene is fantastic. I gave her a lot of freedom to add lines here and there and some of them were gold! I think it's going to be a really funny scene. We all had to cover our mouths a few times to hold back the laughter. Even our lead actor broke character a few times because of the great things we were getting.

The day continues... after lunch things start to slow down. I'm not sure why but we had so much to shoot and we just could not keep up. At one point I find a quiet spot and hide. I'm looking at the story boards and I'm trying to cut out what I absolutely don't need. I have to take a few key scenes and rework them. This is really tough of course because I'm moving things around to make it work but I can't see big picture. I'm staring and staring at these story boards and looking at the script.... I'm sweating. I need to cut some stuff but what?

Finally, it hits me. In fact it came to me in such an exciting wave that I became really pumped to get this new way on film. Less shots and more punch! Perfect. It's great because this is the climax of the film and I was really worried.

Everyone slowly trudges along and we get shot after shot. Then comes time to film the big finale. It involves "something" in the oven and we need smoke. We are basically burning newspaper under the camera to get smoke effects but when it comes time to film the actual oven, we need there to be more. So we make this tin tray and put it in the oven, throw some newspaper in there and light 'er up!

Now let me just say that nobody thought there was much in there. We start rolling. The flames look great on film. The smoke is great. The flames or looking really good, nice and big. Big flames....uh oh....

Now I'm thinking to myself: If I call cut, we won't be able to get the shot, If I keep rolling we risk a fire.... The shot is good so I keep rolling. I can feel the crew staring at me waiting for me to call cut. I'm still rolling....

Finally I call "Cut" and the crew get to work, they drag the tin tray out of the oven and into the sink, smoke fills the house, the fire alarm goes off! Everyone grabs flags and opens all the doors and windows and starts fanning out the house. Oh yeah and it's probably 10:30 at night now so neighbors I'm sure could hear this all and are wondering if they should call the fire department.

After the excitement I decide we need to have a meeting. Things are getting late and we only have this location untill we leave for the night. We have to be elsewhere tomorrow. so I explain we have 2 options. We either Finish shooting tonight what we need or I have to organize another at another time to come back and finish the job. If we finish tonight, it means we won't finish before 1:00 AM. The crew are clearly spent and completly exhausted as am I. The crew talks a bit and come back. They tell me they will stay to fiish the job provided I get some beer and choclate. DONE!

We shoot till about 1:00 AM and start loading up the bus. Now the issue is once we pack up the bus and head back to Montreal, we have to stop by my place and bring everything inside so we can leave the bus outside for the night. Then in the morning pack up the bus all over again and head out to the new location. This blows! I'm thinking about how to avoid this when the bus driver comes to see me. He tells me he is going to just sleep on the bus.

This guy is going to sleep on the bus to save everyone two painfull hours. Maybe cause I was tired or maybe cause I was releived but as soon as he told me that I started to well-up. I could not beleive that he was willing to do this for the production.

we get back to montreal and it's 3:00 in the AM. I drive people home and as I get to my last destibation (Faisal the producers house) I say decide to sleep over which will save me a half hour drive home plus another half hour drive back there in morning. I think I get to sleep around 4:00 am. Faisal is still working on call sheets when I crash. My dreams are even stranger than the night before's.

The next morning I wake up, turn my cell phone on and hear this from the bus driver:
"ADAM!!! I've been trying to call you all night. This is not a joke. we have a huge problem... The radiator from the bus has a huge leak in it. I've been trying to fix it but it just keeps spraying. It's thanksgiving Day at 6:00 AM and I can;t find a mechanic... we may not have a bus today!"


I feel my teeth clench.