Today was shower day. You may wonder why I don't take showers everyday. I'm essentially allowing my self to sleep in an extra hour on days I don't shower then showering the next day when I've caught up on some Sleep Debt.
But by the end of the today--I felt the shower had been in vain.
We met at Wendy's--of course Jack was a little late so the crew was sitting around chatting and I decided to dump the previous day's footage. Just when I had five second left, Jack shows up and says--"Come on guys!!" I rush to put the computer and hard drives away but by the time I'm packed and ready to pull out--Jack and company are long gone with a few cars in between us. I eventually call Jack and find out the name of our destination--GPS 1, Jack 0.
We're shooting in the same park as before but now our usual cameraman/glide-cam operator is not present. This leaves me to do the dirty work. I've expressed before that I'm not a fan of the glide cam and was extra irritated when Jack insisted on my getting "steady" shots while walking across uneven, sloping ground. I did my best, I assure you.
What compounded my irritation was the fact that the morning started with a beautiful overcast that's perfect for dreary films such as ours--but we had to delay while awaiting some props and the clouds decided to abandon us in the mean time. Though our actors performed in the comfort of shade, the back grounds were often blown out by intense sunlight. Sadly, we didn't have Benjamin Button's multi-block long silk to help out.
After sweating a pound or two at the park--we decided to get some lunch--only Jack took us to a closed restaurant; stupid Sunday hours! We then attempted to follow Jack to a new restaurant--but there was confusion.
First--Jack decides to pull out in front of a few cars so our "caravan of crew" get a little spread out and separated. Then Jack pulls into a gas station without warning--which makes us more separated. Later, he pulls out in front of more cars and leaves me behind. He calls and says, "When you hit the main road, turn left then immediately turn right into the shopping center."
I hit a main road, I turn left. I look to my right but no shopping center or sign of the caravan. I decide to pull over and call only to discover the entire caravan is following me--how this happened, I still do not know. So I pull out behind Jack. He runs a yellow light and leaves us to wait out the red-cycle. I try to catch up but he's too far ahead. Suddenly I pass a shopping center following what I thought was Jack's car in the distance. I then get a call from Jack saying he saw me pass. Apparently this was the main road with the right turn into a shopping center. I and the caravan turn back and we fight briefly with Jack over his ability to lead people in cars. (GPS 1, Jack -1)
After lunch we go to another park for a scene Jack invented today. Sadly, I have to walk about 100 yards while wearing the glide cam and completely exposed to the sun. It's hot. Jack decides he wants a shot from the creek looking at our actors on shore. I'm hesitant at first but thankful to have the cool water rush over my feet. We do a reverse tracking shot and I lose my flip-flops while walking backward. Perhaps I should have worn more appropriate shoes. We finish a few nice shots near a waterfall and water wheel.
I'm very overheated, completely worn out from tugging around this camera all day, and my clothes are nearly drenched with sweat. I'm so happy it's 4 pm and quitting time; until Jack says we're heading to a new location.
I'm in a bit of a daze at this point but pretty relaxed, soaking in my car's air-conditioning while listening to Rammstein. After driving around some crazy mountainous roads following Jack--he pulls over and rolls down his window to inform us that he has no idea where we are. We decide to make our way back to Asheville for one more shot. (GPS1, Jack -2)
Once in Asheville--we find that it's not a simple one shot grab because Jack has convinced a restaurant owner to let us shoot inside, though they're closed, while also developing some dialog on the trip over. Sadly, our batteries were not properly charged and we're running really low. Though we have one on the charger in the restaurant, it's still not charging fast enough to meet demand.
We go outside and expand our one-shot into many more to get a very important kiss (you gotta play up the kisses!!!). We're down to the last shot but the battery is too low and the camera won't allow me to record. We switch out batteries and it has a minute more--but that's enough apparently, I hit record and let it roll while we get three takes out of the whole deal.
The battery dies and we call it a day; a very successful and horribly hot day.
Later, Jack, Bailey and I have dinner then separate with the intention to meet at Executive Sam's house. I decide to stop at Kmart in hopes to find Ravenous (Jack and I have really wanted to watch that lately.) I ask Jack what street Sam lives on and he gives me directions from Merrimon Ave--but I'm not on Merrimon...so that's no good. Luckily, he does remember the road on which Sam lives. I'm able to put it in my phone and gps my way to Sam's where we chill out and bask in the glory of a full 7 days of shooting gone by. (GPS 2, Jack -2)
Tomorrow, we're back in the basement apartment with our recently acquired sunburns!
--Mr. Zach
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