6 AM - I wake up feeling great, which is more than I can say about Stacey. She is still very sick and will be out for the duration. Best if she stays home and rests, besides, none of us want to catch her virus, I definitely can't afford to get sick right now.

GETTING SICK...

Which reminds me. Ever since I have set out on making this film, nearly three years ago, I have been healthy as a rock. Everyone around me gets sick, but I seem to sail right through it all, unharmed. I must confess I have been praying God to give me life and health so that I may finish this film. He must be listening. I think He must want me to make this film, because miracles keep lining up and He keeps saving our fannies, at the last moment every time.

Today the miracle is named ROBERT. I have never met him and today he has driven over two hours to come help me, out of the kindness of his heart. There is no pay, no perks, no fancy catered meals,  and nothing but hard work ahead of him, yet he has showed up on time and a big smile on his face, at Jerry's house. I instantly like Robert. A nice, laid back, soft spoken fellow who has a true love for filmmaking.  My kind of guy. We have set up camp in front of Jerry's garage. Jerry's life, once so peaceful, organized, safe, has just been hit by a tornado called FAITH GRANGER and it will never be the same again .

below: Jerry's garage is not so clean and organized now hehehehe...

there's junk laying everywhere, wires, gear, bounces, C-stands, cranes...

WAIT! Did you just say "CRANE" ???? Yop. You heard me: CRANE.

THE CRANE SHOT

I have this dream. That one day I will be sitting on a big crane which will lift me up into the sky up up up up up and I will be behind the camera and film a great crane shot... Ahhhhhhhh... But that day is not today.

Or is it?

Must be nice to have money and a budget to have big gadgets such as large cranes. As for me, all I have is my tri-pod and an old rusty forklift (if you have been following this blog you remember the forklift )... In my film, so far ZERO crane shots. PArtly because I don't have a crane and partly because even if I had one, unless you have a high end crane, it is not very feasable doing complex shots with a 35 mm adapter on a low end crane. So today I am thrilled to give it a crack. What the heck, what do we have to lose?

Four hours. That's what it took to set up this one 6 second shot. Then you wonder why it takes so long to finish a film?  But well worth it in this case. Robert and his son brought their crane and we struggle with the set up for a while, their tripod being too weak for my heavier camera rig. We then try my tripod and it seems to take the weight OK.

We can't really go very high cause the car is inside a garage, but I have a cool shot in mind, which should work well. Once on the crane , the camera cannot be accessed. Focus can't be pulled... I suggest we try anyway and with my extra long whip (no, no - not that kind of whip you guys! A "whip" is a device that allows you to reach for your camera focus from a distance) so we experiment with pulling focus during the move.

IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next comes the tedious task of lighting the car. The garage door has to remain open, because of the crane... And that leaves me with a big lighting problem on my hand. Overexposure from the bright sun outside on the car nose, and underexposure inside on the car body and trunk... And me.

 BRING IT ON!! One by one, I tackle each problem, each reflection, each glare... And finally we have a plan of attack. It will take all five of us to pull off this one shot:

Below: Jerry and Michael are Hollywooding make do flags to block glare on the deuce's nose and emblem. Robert is raising the crane and his son pulling focus... As for me? Just sitting there inside the deuce, looking pretty (sorta LOL)... I feel useless during the shot, but before and after, I am the one who makes things happen.

Below: evaluating the footage
 

below: Giving instructions as to how to do the crane shot and at what speed...

NOON TIME - We break for lunch. Once again sitting in front of Jerry's house, on his grass... Having a strange public picnic of sorts... Jerry's neighbors must be looking at the "circus" and wondering what happened to the nice, quiet, discreet fellow who once used to live in this house... Today we are partying on the front loan... Stuffing our faces, animated, excited about the shoot... Laughing...

Go figure... LOL

1PM - We are back in the trenches. Still filming the same scene. Lighting is a real pain in my... well.. you know...  I want the garage kinda dark and moody, but at the same time we need to be able to see the tools, 50's props and of course me. Robert is still learning my shooting style... I like fluid camera movements... Everything must be fluid, focus pulling included... I also like my camera to "breathe"... I will find that it took many shoots before the shooters started to get it... Resulting in doing a large amount of takes, trying to get it, and still not quite getting it...

Below: I am monitoring the shot in my monitor while doing it.

TOSSING THE WRENCH

I have decided the hot rod girl will be flipping a semi large wrench in the air whie talking on the phone. I practice for about 10 minutes and quickly get the hang of it, Both single and double flips. Luckily, no crushed fingers in the process . We then roll... Needless to say most of the shots, I get it right, and a few I miss and the wrench falls, bouncing on the ground in a loud "SHPING!"... Fortunately it decides to NOT bounce onto my roadster and hit it. So we are OK.

Below: five single wrench flips and one double flip in a row must be perfect or we don't have a shot.

7PM - Robert must go, he has a long drive ahead of him. I give him a big hug and thank him. He has been such a wonderful person to meet and I am excited to now have him as part of our DOS family. He is not sure what his schedule is going to be like in the next few weeks, but says he can probably come again and help.

9PM - Jerry and I are now done putting stuff away. Jerry has brought his cars back into his back yard. They cannot go back in the garage because the set is still there since we are not done filming. yep, we are behind schedule, badly so. We are no where near done with the scene so I am looking at shooting here for the next few days, right after work. Yes, I have a day job mind you. The next few days are going to be LONG days... I am tired just 'thinking' about them...  The deuce seems to be happy in this garage though. Jerry's other cars, however, are grouchy: They have been expelled from THEIR home by this new kid on the block. I think they are calling him a "prima donna" behind his back. LOL But afterall the deuce has already been on the cover of two magazines, and is the star of a feature film, so... Can you blame him?

I hope we don't have a car fight on our hands tonight! LOL