Shooting a Movie in Hollywood

Last weekend, I went to LA to play a small role in an independent film that my twin sister, Amy is starring in.  Not every day that you get to film a movie in Hollywood - especially when you're an engineer, so I thought this was worthy of a blog entry...

I got into LAX Friday morning, and had to drop Amy back off at work, and then was told I'd have to find my way to her apartment and PARALLEL PARK all by myself!  It stressed me out immediately, and it didn't help that on the way there, I guess I was driving a bit slow, because a woman decided to pull up right beside me, flip me off and yell obscenities at me for a full five blocks.  Welcome to Hollywood...but I eventually found the apartment and praise the Lord was able to find a spot big enough to parallel park in. 

Amy got let off early from work, so after she took a quick nap (I swear that girl can fall asleep anywhere), we went for a run, and then out to eat.  I found out when I got there that everything I brought to wear to the shoot was inappropriate for the camera.  I didn't know this, but the camera doesn't like red, or black or white, or things with a sheen, or things with layers, or things with too much texture, or too bright of patterns, and the list goes on...SO we had to go shopping!  I ended up just buying a top at Urban Outfitters, that Amy deemed camera worthy.  And THEN we went and saw "Trouble with a Curve."  Apparently Amy's manager represents the young ball player in the film, so it was somewhat of research for her.

The next day we went to the shoot.  The location was a small theatre on a busy street in Hollywood.  When we got there, the director/writer/producer, cameraman, and sound guy were there, already setting up for the first scene.  There were three scenes they needed to shoot ahead of mine, so after I saw what was going on, met the guys, and saw them run through the scene a few times, I left to get my nails done.  It was 11 am, and I wasn't needed til 4.  I was back by 12:30, and did a coffee run for Amy.  It was interesting to see how they shot the first scene, a game show scene.  All they did was hang cardboard hearts from beams on fishing line, and ouila! with enough close up shots, you have a pick-your-lover-type game show!  The director wanted widescreen shots of everyone, but also needed closeups of everyone, and little partial-scenes, so they had different actors off to the sides, or front and center, and ran the scene multiple times, then moved everyone around and ran it again, etc.  It was amazing!  I could see how it could get exhausting, saying the same lines tens and tens of times with the same level of energy!  I could also see how the director had to have "a vision" by putting only what he wanted in the frame and making the audience infer the rest.

Then once that scene was over, it was time for "Krafty" or "Kraft Services," or the food provided to the cast and crew on a shoot.  I actually went with the production manager to go pick up lunch (at 3:30 pm) for everyone, which was fun!  We picked up this Greek Chicken sort of stuff - really good.  While we were gone, they shot a boxing scene, which they created by hanging lights to point into the camera, and had one blue and one red cloth strip to set in the foreground to act as the ropes.  It looked AMAZINGLY like a boxing ring on camera!  Amy and another girl were in a "cat fight" and they each had to deal each other a knockout punch, and then both pass out, so they both had to punch directly into the camera at one point, and Amy ended up hitting the camera and knocked a piece of it off! 

Once lunch was eaten, and the boxing scene wrapped, it was time for MY scene!!!  It was a New Year's Eve Party, and I was a little tipsy, telling Amy's character's boyfriend that though I didn't like him at first, he had grown on me and he was a good guy.  I took out all of the outfits I brought, and the director picked a couple, but the camera man had the final say on what I could wear, since he knew what the camera would "like" and you know what?  He picked a top I had brought with me from the start!  Ha!  I spent a few more minutes touching up my makeup, as did Amy, I got miked up and then we were ready to shoot.  To create the scene, they placed me, Amy and the main actor, Trevor, in the foreground, hung some lanterns from another beam, and put one guy in the background to create the illusion of a crowd.  One guy!  I couldn't believe it could be that simple!  Then they stuck some paper party hats on me and Trevor, and Amy and I were given those little cardboard, plastic blowy things.  Then we were told where to stand, which was very close to each other.  Immediately before the director called action, Trevor pulled up the script on his iPhone so I could memorize my lines one more time.  Then I said the line, Amy giggled a bit, I guess because I'm supposed to play the tipsy girl, and they're playing the indulgent sister and her boyfriend.  I didn't realize she was giggling in character, and I started giggling myself.  But the director liked it, because I guess we both came off a bit tipsy, so we went with it.  I said the line a few more times, and then we switched camera angles and shot again.  This repeated from a couple more angles, and basically I realized that to appear tipsy when you're that zoomed in on, all you have to do is smile and stare at someone without blinking.  So apparently I did very well...  :)  The whole scene took about an hour to shoot, and it was really only one line, so I can imagine how long the rest of the movie takes!

With my scene finished, I was ready to go home, so I took Amy's car to her place and was there not ten minutes when she called to get picked up.  We got home around 6:30 pm, and decided to take a nap and then go out.  I must have fallen asleep around 7, but woke up around 4 am, thinking, "I guess we're not going out!"  Amy was asleep by then so I went back to bed and slept for another three hours!  Woohoo!  I slept for 12 hours - apparently Amy said, yes, an all day shoot really takes it out of you.  She was right!

That's all, I guess.  Hoping to get some still frames at some point for documentation of my first real Hollywood movie shoot!

The First Illness

Over the past labor day weekend, Colby experienced his first fever.  It started Saturday morning, hovering around 99-100, and he was one cranky baby.  I thought he might actually be teething, so we didn't worry about it too much.  We even took him to the neighborhood pool for the first time, which he actually seemed to like.  After an initial wail from the first full body dunk, he began splashing and kicking like a champ.  

But the next day, his fever was more around 101, and he was lethargic and just wanted to be held all day long.  Then Monday rolled around, same story, and Robert and I (spoiled by the normally good nature of our baby) were pretty tired of the neediness.  We discussed taking him to the doctor, but thought they would just tell us he was teething, or that he had a virus, and there wasn't anything we could do about it, other than control the fever with ibuprofen (which we'd been doing).

On Tuesday, I went back to work, and early in the morning checked my pediatrician's webpage which said to call them about any fever over 101.  Colby had been hanging around 102 yesterday, so Robert called and made an appointment for that afternoon - our first doctor's appointment that wasn't a check up!  We also found out that our doctor does not believe that teething causes fever.  About an hour before we went to the doctor's office, Colby's fever spiked to 103, so I'm glad we made the appointment.  Of course, when we saw the doctor, the ibuprofen was working.  He told us what we thought we'd hear: virus.  But we did get a proper dosage schedule for ibuprofen, and realized that while we'd been controlling the fever, we'd been giving him less than half the recommended dosage!  We also found out that at eight months, Colby weighs a whopping 18 lbs 5 oz!  And for a $20 co-pay, the piece of mind that our son, though sick, is fine, was worth it.  No teeth yet, but as of Wednesday, Colby is much, much better - our doctor knows what he's talking about. And we can say we survived our baby's first illness!

 

Here is Colby - the one time he wasn't fussy while he was sick. 

Don't worry, you can't see it, but I'm holding onto him in the back!