DAY 15 – July 12, 2008
There's something to be said for setting a firm deadline and saying “I'm going to start on X date, no matter what,” and then move heaven and earth to meet that self-imposed deadline, rather than wait for everything to be perfect – because things will never be perfect, and if you wait for perfection then you'll never begin. I learned this the hard way in film school.
But there's also something to be said for giving yourself time to dot your i's and cross your t's, and not going off half-cocked and underprepared. On Saberfrog, I started shooting with an incomplete schedule and several small roles still not cast, thinking that I could plug the gaps as I went along. Of course, once I started shooting there was no time for casting or any other additional planning. I'd gotten off lightly for most of the past two weeks, as friends or friends-of-friends were able to step in just in the nick of time. But by today, my luck had run out.
Today was Saturday. The last day of the two-week marathon. I had planned to film a scene in which J.D.'s character, Josh, goes to a sci-fi convention and learns, to his horror, that his favorite author has died. This was an important exposition scene which sent Josh on his soul-searching journey.
If you've ever been to at least a medium-sized sci-fi convention held at a hotel or convention center, you probably know that there tends to be a “main” room – a big auditorium where the really famous or important guests appear onstage – and then there are smaller rooms where discussion panels take place. The latter are sometimes well-attended and sometimes not, depending on whether the event in the main room is a bigger draw.
The scene I'd written had Josh walking in during a poorly-attended discussion panel and – after comic banter with the cranky panelists – learning the terrible news. In addition to its plot significance, it was one of my favorite scenes in the script, partly for the characterization and dialogue and partly for its satirical take on fandom. And there was a room in the Tobey Village space that would have been perfect to stage it.
But I would be unable to shoot this scene today, for the very simple reason that I didn't have any actors to play the panelists or the (small) audience. I had no choice but to cut the scene for now, and think about where and how to film it later on.
I also had no one to play Liz's boss during a flashback scene in which Liz's character, Laurel, gets fired. In this case, however, I was able to devise a crafty solution. Scrapping the scene that had been scripted, I filmed an improvised scene from the boss's POV – a handheld shot storming into a room and arguing with Laurel. Liz and I did five takes, improvising different dialogue each time. (I would later dub someone else's voice over my own – I'd intended Laurel's boss to be female.) While it's preferable not to have to resort to such shenanigans, this turned out to be yet another example of necessity forcing us to come up with something more unusual and interesting than what had been scripted.
Next, I filmed some extra material of Karyus for the scene filmed on Day 2. I couldn't show his face because he'd shaved since then, but I recorded an extra line of dialogue that had been skipped on Day 2 (and would have to be delivered offscreen in the finished film), and I also filmed his hand picking up a prop. I'd had second thoughts about an action performed by Karyus' character in that scene – I was worried about the thematic statement it would make – and so I had thought of a slight alternative that might be less morally ambiguous, which would require changing only one shot. I ended up not using this alternative in the finished film, because the original gag was just too good. Plus it seemed foolish to worry about mature and upright behavior in a character played by – and written for – John Karyus.
Then I filmed a brief flashback scene of Liz and Reuben in a park. A very short scene, and I couldn't tell you where we shot it, because I don't remember. There were kids playing, which made it hard to get a good sound take, but that's all I can think of to say about that.
After this, it was off to Monroe Community College again, this time to film a classroom scene. For this scene, at least, I had extras to play the student audience, although some doubling up of actors was again needed to make the crowd look a little bigger than it was.
This scene required a number of students watching a video on an auditorium screen. I brought the pre-recorded video on a miniDV deck, but found that I didn't have a needed connector to patch my deck into the classroom's media system. Local video-production guru Derrick Petrush – who I don't believe I'd ever met before today – was an extra in this scene, and he saved the day by rushing home to get his own supplies while I concentrated on getting other shots (that didn't require the video feed) until he returned. Derrick also provided mad skills that helped to make a particular special effect (which I won't spoil here) more convincing on camera than I expected.
I also shot a much shorter scene of a classroom flashback. I won't say much about this scene either, except that it offered an opportunity to show off some of the effects that Tom Gleason had created for Day 2 but which had gone unused due to the scheduling challenges of that shoot.
After this, several of us – myself, Karyus, Derrick, Liz, and Wendy – went to TGI Friday's to celebrate. For me, and for most of the lead actors, the shoot was far from over, but for Karyus this was it. He had finished his scenes and would be flying home on Monday.
I first met John Karyus at RIT, where his John Belushi-esque persona made him a frequent character actor in other students' films. It was my dream to one day cast him in a major role in one of my own films, and now that dream was achieved. Not only did he deliver the goods as a comedy actor, but he was a tremendous asset behind the camera, helping with lighting and sound (he'd been a boom operator today and on Day 5, and perhaps on other days that I can't remember) and also helping me to build the sets.
But his contribution to the film goes deeper still. John and I have been friends for over ten years now, and the long conversations he and I have had over the years – about school, about work, about movies, about culture, about life – gave me a lot to think about, and were a major influence on the themes, tone and direction of Saberfrog.
Showing posts with label tobey village. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tobey village. Show all posts
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
25 Months Ago: Day 14
DAY 14 – July 11, 2008
Friday. The last weekday before I go back to work. It was also the last day of shooting on the main office set at Tobey Village, although I would manage to squeeze a little bit more use out of the space before checking out.
Wendy, in the role of Aymee, finished her office scenes today. One of these scenes co-starred Reuben as the younger, louder Terrance, dressed in a bright lime-green shirt and a dinosaur-print tie, while a dinosaur toy is visible in the background. Another amusing bit of set dressing which seemed funnier at the time than it probably does in the finished movie.
Co-starring in this scene was yours truly as Aymee's boss. The scene required Aymee's boss to lose his temper and strike her, and although Wendy wouldn't actually have to be touched (with the right camera angle, you can miss someone by a mile and it still looks good, especially with a sound effect added), I thought she would be more comfortable if someone she knew and trusted were to play her hostile boss. I asked her if she would like me to play the role, and she said she would.
I'd acted in films before – including my own – but for this film had decided it would be wiser not to give myself one of the main roles in the film, but instead to wait and see if a smaller part (such as this one) needed to be filled or recast quickly.
Giving yourself a leading role in your own movie might seem like a good move in terms of scheduling – you're the one person you know is always available! – but if you don't have a big crew and are doing a lot of things yourself then it's probably not a good idea. You won't look your best if you're running on four hours of sleep a night and working up a sweat all day (unless this suits the character somehow), plus you have enough on your mind without having to give a performance and memorize lines.
In fact, I had a fair amount of trouble knowing my lines even for this small scene, which made me all the more impressed at how well the cast was coping with the complicated dialogue I'd written for them.
A good thing about casting yourself in your movie, though, is it means someone else gets to man the camera for a change. I think Wendy and Reuben took turns during my shots, or just turned it on during shots where all three of us were visible.
After filming my scene, I recorded the “slap” sound effect by slapping my own hand. Hard. It must have hurt (I'm not visible on camera in the raw footage for this, but Wendy's expression indicates that she's reacting to my expression after doing it) but it made for a good sound effect.
I think I was a bit miscast for this role – the character should really have been a big, square-jawed, SUV-driving macho yuppie guy, not a skinny little Turlough lookalike such as myself. But it wasn't the only character to veer slightly away from the script concept as a result of casting against type, so I'm probably wrong to worry.
Friday. The last weekday before I go back to work. It was also the last day of shooting on the main office set at Tobey Village, although I would manage to squeeze a little bit more use out of the space before checking out.
Wendy, in the role of Aymee, finished her office scenes today. One of these scenes co-starred Reuben as the younger, louder Terrance, dressed in a bright lime-green shirt and a dinosaur-print tie, while a dinosaur toy is visible in the background. Another amusing bit of set dressing which seemed funnier at the time than it probably does in the finished movie.
Co-starring in this scene was yours truly as Aymee's boss. The scene required Aymee's boss to lose his temper and strike her, and although Wendy wouldn't actually have to be touched (with the right camera angle, you can miss someone by a mile and it still looks good, especially with a sound effect added), I thought she would be more comfortable if someone she knew and trusted were to play her hostile boss. I asked her if she would like me to play the role, and she said she would.
I'd acted in films before – including my own – but for this film had decided it would be wiser not to give myself one of the main roles in the film, but instead to wait and see if a smaller part (such as this one) needed to be filled or recast quickly.
Giving yourself a leading role in your own movie might seem like a good move in terms of scheduling – you're the one person you know is always available! – but if you don't have a big crew and are doing a lot of things yourself then it's probably not a good idea. You won't look your best if you're running on four hours of sleep a night and working up a sweat all day (unless this suits the character somehow), plus you have enough on your mind without having to give a performance and memorize lines.
In fact, I had a fair amount of trouble knowing my lines even for this small scene, which made me all the more impressed at how well the cast was coping with the complicated dialogue I'd written for them.
A good thing about casting yourself in your movie, though, is it means someone else gets to man the camera for a change. I think Wendy and Reuben took turns during my shots, or just turned it on during shots where all three of us were visible.
After filming my scene, I recorded the “slap” sound effect by slapping my own hand. Hard. It must have hurt (I'm not visible on camera in the raw footage for this, but Wendy's expression indicates that she's reacting to my expression after doing it) but it made for a good sound effect.
I think I was a bit miscast for this role – the character should really have been a big, square-jawed, SUV-driving macho yuppie guy, not a skinny little Turlough lookalike such as myself. But it wasn't the only character to veer slightly away from the script concept as a result of casting against type, so I'm probably wrong to worry.
Monday, August 9, 2010
25 Months Ago: Day 12
DAY 12 – July 9, 2008
When I first met Reuben, he had his hair braided and he looked very sleek and no-nonsense. When I bumped into again, some days or weeks before the start of the shoot, his hair was unbraided. I thought the unbraided hair made him look younger and more casual.
For this reason, Reuben would have his hair unbraided to play his younger self in flashback scenes, of which there were three to be filmed today.
The first was of the young Terrance quitting his job. The second was a brief interview scene. The third was a college office scene with John Sindoni.
Then, with moody lighting, we filmed several closeups of Sindoni – lines of dialogue as well as cutaway reaction shots – that had been missed on Day 2.
We also got a shot of Karyus's character being interviewed.
Not a lot to say here, as all of these scenes were quick and simple to shoot.
When I first met Reuben, he had his hair braided and he looked very sleek and no-nonsense. When I bumped into again, some days or weeks before the start of the shoot, his hair was unbraided. I thought the unbraided hair made him look younger and more casual.
For this reason, Reuben would have his hair unbraided to play his younger self in flashback scenes, of which there were three to be filmed today.
The first was of the young Terrance quitting his job. The second was a brief interview scene. The third was a college office scene with John Sindoni.
Then, with moody lighting, we filmed several closeups of Sindoni – lines of dialogue as well as cutaway reaction shots – that had been missed on Day 2.
We also got a shot of Karyus's character being interviewed.
Not a lot to say here, as all of these scenes were quick and simple to shoot.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
25 Months Ago: Day 11
DAY 11 – July 8, 2008
With all of Karyus' present-day scenes completed, he went and got a shave and a haircut so that he could play his clean-cut younger self in flashbacks.
We filmed a scene in which the young Bert walks through a park, contemplating his destiny. A funny, improvised shot had Karyus sleeping under a strange tree, like a fairy-tale troll, but this shot didn't really fit and I ended up not using it.
Next, we returned to Tobey Village to film a scene of Bert being fired from his old office job. We went to some trouble to dress Bert's cubicle as a squalid pig-sty, which I thought was hilarious at the time, even if it doesn't quite have the same impact in the finished film.
J.D.'s character, Josh, was in this scene, as was an obsessive engineer whose cubicle was next to Bert's. Originally I'd wanted someone older for this small role, to clearly differentiate him from the main cast. But this was another role I had trouble casting, so J.D. came to the rescue by bringing his friend and co-worker Michael Sackley onboard, and Michael had a lot of fun with the part.
I also had failed to cast an actor as Bert's manager, so Jesse Conklin, who'd played Josh's boss the day before, became Bert's boss as well, in another piece of serendipitous continuity.
The events leading to Bert's termination were being narrated by present-day Bert, so Karyus and Mr. Conklin were required to ad-lib some material that wouldn't be heard by the audience. Of course, this improv material was funnier than expected and I ended up using some of their dialogue in place of the narration that was meant to cover it.
Another funny ad-lib occurred between J.D. and Karyus during an establishing shot, and I'm pleased to say that it is featured in the finished film. While J.D. did a terrific job on this movie as a dramatic actor, it's kind of too bad that this character didn't give him more chances to show his comedy chops.
With all of Karyus' present-day scenes completed, he went and got a shave and a haircut so that he could play his clean-cut younger self in flashbacks.
We filmed a scene in which the young Bert walks through a park, contemplating his destiny. A funny, improvised shot had Karyus sleeping under a strange tree, like a fairy-tale troll, but this shot didn't really fit and I ended up not using it.
Next, we returned to Tobey Village to film a scene of Bert being fired from his old office job. We went to some trouble to dress Bert's cubicle as a squalid pig-sty, which I thought was hilarious at the time, even if it doesn't quite have the same impact in the finished film.
J.D.'s character, Josh, was in this scene, as was an obsessive engineer whose cubicle was next to Bert's. Originally I'd wanted someone older for this small role, to clearly differentiate him from the main cast. But this was another role I had trouble casting, so J.D. came to the rescue by bringing his friend and co-worker Michael Sackley onboard, and Michael had a lot of fun with the part.
I also had failed to cast an actor as Bert's manager, so Jesse Conklin, who'd played Josh's boss the day before, became Bert's boss as well, in another piece of serendipitous continuity.
The events leading to Bert's termination were being narrated by present-day Bert, so Karyus and Mr. Conklin were required to ad-lib some material that wouldn't be heard by the audience. Of course, this improv material was funnier than expected and I ended up using some of their dialogue in place of the narration that was meant to cover it.
Another funny ad-lib occurred between J.D. and Karyus during an establishing shot, and I'm pleased to say that it is featured in the finished film. While J.D. did a terrific job on this movie as a dramatic actor, it's kind of too bad that this character didn't give him more chances to show his comedy chops.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
25 Months Ago: Day 10
DAY 10 – July 7, 2008
Today was a Monday. Perhaps fittingly, we spent it filming several short scenes at the Tobey Village office set.
I bought some office equipment at Office Depot to provide a little more set dressing, and also bought a pair of reading glasses for J.D. to use as a prop. Karyus helped with some last minute set-building before the shoot.
The footage of John Sindoni's scenes from Day 5 turned out to have flickering light levels, due to a bad fluorescent bulb in the set for his office. So we reshot those scenes today.
Next, we shot a brief scene of Reuben speaking to a college secretary. I had been unable to cast the role of the secretary, so Wendy read the lines off-camera. I was planning to replace her voice later, but would ultimately decide that having Wendy in this dual role had a certain logic to it (you'll understand when you see the finished film … maybe).
We then recreated the moody blue lighting of Day 2, and shot some close-ups of Reuben that I hadn't been able to get on that day – a missing line of dialogue and some physical actions.
After this, we shot an early scene of J.D.'s character, Josh, being let go by his boss, played by Jesse Conklin. Mr. Conklin was one of several actors (Anthony Owens was another) who approached me for a role in response to a casting announcement I'd made through Rochester Movie Makers. More recently he revealed to me that this was his first acting role in a movie (he's been in several local productions since), but that wouldn't have mattered even if I'd known. I just thought he had a solid, dad-like quality that made him perfect for this part.
For scheduling reasons, the shoot had been largely Karyus-centric so far, so it was good to finally do a scene which centered on J.D., who was, after all, the lead actor. It was also the first scene of the shoot in which he got to do comedic acting. Although J.D. had no lines in this scene, his Gromit-like facial expressions and body language spoke comedy volumes, so not many takes were required.
I wanted the costumes and set design to be bland and monochrome, to communicate the dullness that Josh's life has become. This was the first scene of the shoot to make use of the main office set, and it occurs at a point in the script when the office is relatively bare. That made it the perfect choice to shoot first, since I was still in the process of assembling the set and acquiring decoration for it. By this point, making the movie was like building the railroad track a few feet ahead while driving the train.
After filming this scene, I put tape marks on the floor to mark the tripod position, as I would later need to match this camera setup with a similar shot of a younger J.D. at his desk, during happier times.
The shooting day concluded with a simple close-up of Wendy's character being interviewed.
Another good day.
Today was a Monday. Perhaps fittingly, we spent it filming several short scenes at the Tobey Village office set.
I bought some office equipment at Office Depot to provide a little more set dressing, and also bought a pair of reading glasses for J.D. to use as a prop. Karyus helped with some last minute set-building before the shoot.
The footage of John Sindoni's scenes from Day 5 turned out to have flickering light levels, due to a bad fluorescent bulb in the set for his office. So we reshot those scenes today.
Next, we shot a brief scene of Reuben speaking to a college secretary. I had been unable to cast the role of the secretary, so Wendy read the lines off-camera. I was planning to replace her voice later, but would ultimately decide that having Wendy in this dual role had a certain logic to it (you'll understand when you see the finished film … maybe).
We then recreated the moody blue lighting of Day 2, and shot some close-ups of Reuben that I hadn't been able to get on that day – a missing line of dialogue and some physical actions.
After this, we shot an early scene of J.D.'s character, Josh, being let go by his boss, played by Jesse Conklin. Mr. Conklin was one of several actors (Anthony Owens was another) who approached me for a role in response to a casting announcement I'd made through Rochester Movie Makers. More recently he revealed to me that this was his first acting role in a movie (he's been in several local productions since), but that wouldn't have mattered even if I'd known. I just thought he had a solid, dad-like quality that made him perfect for this part.
For scheduling reasons, the shoot had been largely Karyus-centric so far, so it was good to finally do a scene which centered on J.D., who was, after all, the lead actor. It was also the first scene of the shoot in which he got to do comedic acting. Although J.D. had no lines in this scene, his Gromit-like facial expressions and body language spoke comedy volumes, so not many takes were required.
I wanted the costumes and set design to be bland and monochrome, to communicate the dullness that Josh's life has become. This was the first scene of the shoot to make use of the main office set, and it occurs at a point in the script when the office is relatively bare. That made it the perfect choice to shoot first, since I was still in the process of assembling the set and acquiring decoration for it. By this point, making the movie was like building the railroad track a few feet ahead while driving the train.
After filming this scene, I put tape marks on the floor to mark the tripod position, as I would later need to match this camera setup with a similar shot of a younger J.D. at his desk, during happier times.
The shooting day concluded with a simple close-up of Wendy's character being interviewed.
Another good day.
Friday, July 30, 2010
25 Months Ago: Day 3
DAY 3 – June 30, 2008
On Day 3 I checked out a rented lighting kit from Hahn Photographic to use over the next 2 weeks. (Day 1 was shot with available light, and Day 2 was lit using gear available at the location.) Today was also the first day of my 2-week rental of a vacant space at Tobey Village Office Park to shoot various office scenes; this first week would involve piecemeal construction of the sets, with the actual shooting to take place the following week.
In terms of actual filming, Day 3 was pretty light, and consisted of a brief shoot at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, made possible by Liz's connections in the Buffalo arts scene. We used a small room at CEPA to shoot a brief scene in which Karyus' character, Bert – employed as a university videographer – is instructed by his director to log and digitize some footage.
The director was played by Roberto Petrilli, a professor friend of Liz's. Roberto – who is from Italy – became the first of many supporting actors in the film to ad-lib embellishments to his dialogue, finishing his single line with “comprende?” After a few takes this changed to “capisce?” which I remember being uncertain about because I associated the word with stereotypical movie mobsters. But I must have warmed to it, because that's what I ended up using in the finished film.
With some tight reframing I used the same room to double as a TV control room, for some cutaways in which Roberto's character directs Bert during recording of the aforementioned footage (which would be shot the next day).
Finally, I shot one more scene in this room, of Bert working at his computer, editing some different video footage from a later scene. Because this room had a large glass window facing a hallway, I was able to shoot this scene from the hallway, with the camera facing through the glass so that Karyus's grinning face was visible from behind his computer screen (which wasn't actually displaying anything anyway).
If you've seen any edit of the finished film, you may have trouble placing this last scene. This is because the scene was never used. Although many scenes in “Saberfrog” were shortened during editing, this is the only filmed scene not to appear at all in the finished movie.
It's unlikely to appear as a deleted scene on a DVD or Blu-ray, though. Unless your idea of entertainment is seeing a static shot of John Karyus sitting at a computer with a goofy grin on his face. Hmm, maybe it is.
On Day 3 I checked out a rented lighting kit from Hahn Photographic to use over the next 2 weeks. (Day 1 was shot with available light, and Day 2 was lit using gear available at the location.) Today was also the first day of my 2-week rental of a vacant space at Tobey Village Office Park to shoot various office scenes; this first week would involve piecemeal construction of the sets, with the actual shooting to take place the following week.
In terms of actual filming, Day 3 was pretty light, and consisted of a brief shoot at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, made possible by Liz's connections in the Buffalo arts scene. We used a small room at CEPA to shoot a brief scene in which Karyus' character, Bert – employed as a university videographer – is instructed by his director to log and digitize some footage.
The director was played by Roberto Petrilli, a professor friend of Liz's. Roberto – who is from Italy – became the first of many supporting actors in the film to ad-lib embellishments to his dialogue, finishing his single line with “comprende?” After a few takes this changed to “capisce?” which I remember being uncertain about because I associated the word with stereotypical movie mobsters. But I must have warmed to it, because that's what I ended up using in the finished film.
With some tight reframing I used the same room to double as a TV control room, for some cutaways in which Roberto's character directs Bert during recording of the aforementioned footage (which would be shot the next day).
Finally, I shot one more scene in this room, of Bert working at his computer, editing some different video footage from a later scene. Because this room had a large glass window facing a hallway, I was able to shoot this scene from the hallway, with the camera facing through the glass so that Karyus's grinning face was visible from behind his computer screen (which wasn't actually displaying anything anyway).
If you've seen any edit of the finished film, you may have trouble placing this last scene. This is because the scene was never used. Although many scenes in “Saberfrog” were shortened during editing, this is the only filmed scene not to appear at all in the finished movie.
It's unlikely to appear as a deleted scene on a DVD or Blu-ray, though. Unless your idea of entertainment is seeing a static shot of John Karyus sitting at a computer with a goofy grin on his face. Hmm, maybe it is.
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