Week 6 Gallery

The Week 6 Gallery is here:

The Hood Mount

By Tony Vallone story, screenplay, associate producer

Last night we needed to film more car driving stuff. This time we couldn't be bothered with our trailer because we had three scenes to film and needed something quick and dirty. The solution was renting a hood mount that we could use for the camera and the lights but still allow our actor to drive. A self-contained car rig is not hard during the day but at night you run into some problems.



See all that crap? It needs to live on the front of the car, between the driver and the innocent pedestrians. The big light also blinds anyone in the car so you need to mount it high enough so that the driver can see. But the higher it is the less light actually reaches actor and they become a nice white spot on our negative.

Another problem is rolling the camera. Some camera packages come with remote start/stops but ours did not. This meant we had to stop the car, run to the front, roll the camera, run back into the car, drive, film, stop the car, and run to the front, and stop the camera. What this means is we have about 30 feet of film where the actors are sitting in the car and someone can be seen running around.

The third problem is power. Lights typically use more power than a regular car inverter can provide. This night we actually used very little power but only realized we needed any at all after I had assembled the hood mount. The hood that the battery is under. We decided to toss a small generator in the back of the truck with our sound mixer and hope for the best.



Usually the solution to most of these problems is having the actors towed by a truck with everything we need on it. But we didn't have the time or the resources for it. Our solution was to cross our fingers and drive at 3am (home to very little traffic, most of it drunk).

Luckily we made it. However we must have seen about 10 cop cars on the same road as us. We were pulled over once but were let off. In LA we would have been in jail.

The Cowper House

By Tony Vallone story, screenplay, associate producer

The past three nights we filmed at the "Cowper House". The Cowper house is a house we rented in Palo Alto to be used primarily as housing for our actors and as a set for a few scenes. We shot 4 days at the Cowper house - one way back with Autumn and Johnny and three this past weekend. When we shot this weekend we had to re-dress the house to look as it did when we shot at the house earlier. This was a big task for production design. But it paid off.

Since the location was fixed for three days it meant we did not have to break down the set each night. Set up and break down usually takes 4 hours every shooting day and is really stressful for everyone involved. It also contributes to our need to rush production throughout the night. The last three days we were able to leave and return each night like civilized filmmakers. Most people received over 6 hours of sleep!

Shooting at a house also provided glorious luxaries like clean and working bathrooms, warm seating areas, power, and a kitchen. One morning I stayed an extra hour on set after everyone left because I was comforable, lazy, and had no need be anywhere. Maybe for our next project we'll shoot in a sound stage and film-make like kings!

A Message From Clara

By Clara Aranovich third assistant camera

So I guess being buddies w/ Tony and Brad back in our Palo Alto High School days payed off for this little aspiring filmmaker... because as of last week I joined the happy crew of this feature. For now I'm acting as the first and second AC's (re: whole camera dept), assisting the remarkably knowledgeable Eon... since everyone (including the Rachels and Matt, whom I all loved) is gone.

We've been shooting in the Cowper house (a house on Cowper Street) for the past few days, finishing up Alec and Anthony's sequence. The crew continually seems to vary in size from day to day, but it works since the small location lends itself to a leaner group (re: Crew Lite). It makes me wonder how things were back in the earlier weeks, with the full cast and larger set-ups.

What's nice about this location has been our ability to walk off it without striking everything and having to rebuild it all in the morning. Although the neighbors seem to hate us and the sprinklers make for some unwarranted excitement.

Either way, things have been going well for me, at least. I spend lots of time with the camera which I love, but ultimately seem to have been designated 'Head Massage and Head Scratch Giver'... at least people are nice to me? And when I'm not relishing Aaron's easy laughs at my Borat impression, Brad's self-proclaimed 'racial slur genius,' assorted flatulence, or Ian Dickinson's "Picture is UP, picture is UP!!!"... I am simply soaking in the niceness, niceitude, and niceity of being on the set of Palo Alto... and I'll be sad to have it end.

It really is such a pleasure to be back in the company of other cinematically-minded peeps-- especially these ones :)

Yours,
Clara "Click-Clacks" Aranovich

Autoshop

By Tony Vallone story, screenplay, associate producer

We shot at my old High School's auto shop earlier this week. We couldn't have dreamed of a nicer location. I'll let the photos speak for themselves.