CollisionWorks

Supposed to be the last night of shooting on Daniel's DV short last night, but it took longer than anticipated, it was very cold, and I got worn out -- or whatever you call it when you do enough takes in the cold that you can't think straight anymore and begin to forget where you are entirely when "Action" is called ("wait, what? why am I standing on this stoop? why am I holding a scarf in this hand? why is there bright light on me?").

So we're coming back tonight to do the one-shots of me in the kitchen scene, which are all that remain, but which will probably require many many takes of me slowly going crazy, at varied levels of incremental looniness.

Not many pictures from last night - my camera battery died early on (maybe from the cold), and I was in most of the shots, but I got a couple. Here's the reverse angle in the basement scene, after the Director of the slasher movie calls cut and we see the ultra low-rent production (as Sally McKleinfeld and Jenny Tavis get onscreen cameos as boom and camera operators, joining Michele Schlossberg as Production Manager):

And here's Daniel and Sally getting Michele's entrance onto the stoop, right before my camera battery went out:

Came home to more and more casting worries. I can cast just about all of the roles in my own four shows except for one major one in Ambersons that I may have no one for (I thought I'd have someone, but it looks to not be working out). This is really good and I should be happier, but that one part frustrates me. I saw plenty of good people at my auditions, and more good women than I have parts for, but NO ONE at all right for this part. I've got some time, but I'm a month behind where I want to be (if still a month ahead of where I usually am).

And Penny Dreadful, which of course is what's coming up immediately, is having bigger casting worries. As Berit says, I need to just calm down and keep working, it'll work out fine (a lie, really, it works out fine maybe 87% of the time. maybe.). Yeah, I just want to get it right. The idea this year was to get everything done much MUCH more in advance than I'd ever done before, and it's getting to be just much more.

Which reminds me - I've been so worried about the rest of the casting that I've been neglecting getting Harry in Love, which is fully cast, in motion. Two of the cast members are still busy on other projects, I think, and can't do anything right now, but I should be checking in with all of them . . .

Meanwhile, back in the iPod (25,154 songs), here's what comes up as I write:

1. "A Man and a Woman" - Sir Julian - Ultra-Lounge 11: Organs in Orbit
2. "That's Why They Call 'Em Moms" - Peer Pressure - S/T 7" EP
3. "I'm Free" - The Who - 09/29/69 Amazing Journey Live at Concertgebouw Amsterdam
4. "Take Me Just As I Am" - Lynn Collins - James Brown's Funky People (Part 1)
5. "Anna (live)" - Arthur Alexander - In Their Own Words - at The Bottom Line
6. "Butsi" - Las Comadrejas - We Are Ugly But... We Have The Music
7. "Suzie-Q" - The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones No. 2
8. "Monsieur Dupont" - Sandie Shaw - Those Classic Golden Years 04
9. "Good Gin Blues" - Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band - mix disk from my Dad
10. "Shortnin' Bread" - The Fabulous Playboys - Lost Legends of Surf Guitar

A pretty laid-back, relaxing mix. Nice.

The cats have been little darlings recently, especially Hooker, who won't leave me alone and just wants hugs and affection all the time. Usually when I'm trying to type on here, or make notes in a show notebook, or read some research material. Not a good combo. Finally got some new shots of them, though.

Hooker on the windowsill, for once not interested in my attention:

And Moni on the couch, wanting a bellyrub from Berit:

And both of them, curled up on the bed, almost under the pile of scripts and show notebooks I was coming in to get:

Finally, ladies and germs, please welcome Mr. Trav S.D. to the blogosphere with his new home in the orthicon tube, Travalanche!

Last night, the first day of a three-day DV shoot for a short-short piece by Daniel McKleinfeld. Quite fun, actually.

Three scenes, three locations (all in and around Daniel and Sally's home), one per day. Nice and leisurely, really.

I don't think I'm supposed to describe it in any detail, but it involves the cast and crew of a small, lousy little slasher movie behind the scenes on the set - so the photos of us behind the scenes aren't too different in some ways from what we were shooting. I was performing in the piece as the writer/director of the crappy movie and was also acting as what the Brits used to call (in one of my favorite now-obsolete job titles) "Lighting Cameraman" - that is, I lit the sets but didn't touch the camera at all except to check exposure.

Daniel asked for Cassavetes-realism for the scene of the crew talking about the film in the location's kitchen, so we lit it pretty much with practicals, with 250w bulbs in the fixtures, with a few 40w and 60w as fill light on faces here and there. We're shooting 24fps video, which requires light something like shooting 400 ASA 16mm movie film, to my eye - much more than the DV I've shot before. Looks lovely, though, the 24fps.

For the other two scenes, I have to light realistically again on the front stoop of the building at night - just pumping in more light to look like the real thing, with fill again - and I also get to light the scene from the film-within-the-video, in the basement, where I get to do deliberately bad, Friday the 13th/80s slasher movie lighting: general, low, unjustified midnight blue glow with impossible-in-reality slashes of green across it and silly patterns of red thrown against things. I enjoy imitating silly lighting - maybe 'cause I actually somewhat like the extremity of it sometimes and enjoy the chance to go overboard. And more so.

It was a fun group and a fun shoot. Here, Daniel watches his wife Sally throw blood on Jessi Gotta in her prom dress (she's the "victim" in the slasher film):

Jessi - who played the Ophelia-figure in my production of Havel's Temptation and Ophelia herself in Ian W. Hill's Hamlet - knows how to act in a bloody prom dress, going all coy:

Daniel (on camera) and Sally (on boom mic) set up the two shot of Danny Bowes (making, apparently, his film/video debut as the "Killer" in the slasher film) and Michele Schlossberg (as the production manager):

Daniel wasn't noticing where he was walking so much as he set up another shot, and kept walking further and further back into Michele's space, where she had tried to wedge herself out of the way. It was suggested that Michele treat the director as they like to be treated, and she obliged - Sally was amused, Daniel remained oblivious:

It took forever to get the right frame for this shot - Daniel looks for just the right place for the two-shot of Jessi and Josh (real-life gore makeup specialist playing it onscreen) as he applies latex to her neck:

Oh, great - I get to do the lighting I like at the end of the scene! My character, deranged, sees everyone in the room laughing at him in distorted, expressionistic shots. So we got to go for that Murnau-Last Laugh effect by having Daniel come in close and hand-held on everyone in the room one-by-one as I shook a 250w bulb in a cliplight at them from a short ways away - looked great through the lens, looked kinda silly on the set (Sally took this shot):

Leaving shortly for auditions for my own shows - back to the video shoot tomorrow and Thursday. More photos then.