25 Months Ago: Day 7

DAY 7 – July 4, 2008

Independents (sic) Day!

The main reason that the “Saberfrog” shooting schedule centered around early July was to take advantage of the July 4 holiday weekend. It meant less time I had to take off from work, and a little more time available from the cast.

Early on I'd decided that the morning of July 4, a holiday, would be a good time to film the cemetery scene at Mount Hope Cemetery, since I figured not too many people would be around.

In the past I'd heard from other filmmakers that Mount Hope Cemetery could be discouraging to people who want to film there, but I phoned The Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery and was given a verbal OK. It probably helped that the single scene I wanted to film there was a simple and serious scene with nothing supernatural or anything.

This scene featured J.D., Reuben, Liz, Karyus and Wendy, plus Diane Conway as Reuben's wife. Helping me out behind the camera was Sean Sherman, who would feature in a small acting role two days later; he also contributed his car as an onscreen prop.

Additional props included a fake headstone (made by a friend of Tom's) and a rose (I'd forgotten to get one, and I'm guessing that Wendy was the one who provided it). A newborn baby appears in this scene, played – convincingly, I hope – by a teddy bear wrapped in a blanket.

The fake headstone has a 'deceased' date of 2009 - at that time, one year in the future, since that's when I thought the film would be completed and shown. Karyus suggested I leave the stone there to see if anyone noticed.

All in all, this was (to quote Monty Python) a smashing scene with some lovely acting. The weather was beautiful. It was sunny and not too windy, and there wasn't much noise. The footage turned out gorgeous. Sometimes, things just go right.

After the shoot, I went to Dana and Fran's house. I was still seeking locations for other scenes at this point, so I'm betting my visit wasn't purely social.