W2 - Wendy to the Second Power

Hey, we didn't get started filming Sunday until 9:00 a.m. but we STILL managed to get all the scenes filmed by 6:00 p.m. Woo-hoo! Now the tapes have been given to Stephen to convert and edit on his Sony Vegas machine. I'm not sure how long that takes, but man. They anticipate the final film will be right at 10 minutes, and we shot about 3.5 hours of film. Do the math!

Sunday was the day for filming close-ups of the two sisters as they argued in their car. The car for this shoot was a character unto itself -- a Volkswagen "Thing" from 1979. Original owner, who just happened to be Cathleen, our crafts services person (food and drink!) and the assistant producer. It started life as a yellow "Thing" with a ragtop, but her being a woman marine, she painted it camou colors. It's a chuggy, smelly, putt-putt kinda car, too. And it's been in 5 movies already! People kept stopping and asking how much to buy it, too.

When the script calls for the windows to open and cigarette smoke to flow out, instead they had the actors open the ragtop and throw it back. The two sisters stood up in the car to do their scene with the cop (since the windows of the Thing don't roll down; they lift away!). It was funky and funnier than how I'd written it. For some of the dialog, the ragtop was down and the car engine was off (the engine noise would be laid in later in editing as a background sound) with the car being pushed for four blocks by sweating production assistants (PAs). Before the PAs pushed they all had to smoke cigarettes and puff into the car interior. So they were sweaty and stank of tobacco!

Oh, and in the backseat were the cinematographer Randy and the sound guy Peter. And in the tiny boot area was the director Angela! Hah!!

( Go here for a crew list and a photo... )