Back in Jerry's garage for the last shoot. It has taken no less than four sessions to film this one scene. As always, I leave my day job and rush to the set and dive in head first without taking a breath in between the two. Stacey is feeling better so she has offered to help for this last shoot. Good thing, cause I have no one behind the camera otherwise.

THE MERCENARIES

This week I have also been consumed by the quest for a camera operator to film the rest of the scenes I am in as an actress. My add has yielded a large number of responses (good) but looking at some of the reels, I am unimpressed (not good)... Other applicants are ridiculously overqualified for the job and I fear they will not stick around... but it still is worth a shot... I am stressing out because I have a BIG scene coming up in just a few days and so far no one lined up to film it. Yesterday I offered the shooter position to Michael and he said yes but had to check his schedule cause he has a couple week-ends already booked and will let me know which they are. Today I got an email from him and he is backing out. He cannot be my shooter for the reminder of the scenes afterall. He feels he needs to make money right now, has bills to pay etc... And would have to always give priority to the better jobs/ bigger pay... So cannot commit. Who can blame him? At the same time I feel very disappointed because I really liked Michael, both as a person and as a shooter and thought we were a good match. Why did he say yes yesterday to say no today? Take a deep breath Faith. So I am now back to calling applicants, taking my chances on having a perfect stranger get behind my camera to film MY film... Cause I can't cut myself in half and be on both sides of the camera at the same time (damn it!) . I hate needing people. Depending on others to get the job done... But I find myself in that position of vulnerability right now... Precarious at best...

THE GARAGE SCENE

But back to the scene at hand. I am now two days behind schedule, plus one extra lost day to wrap everything and pack up the gear and haul it to the next location for the big scene right around the corner. I am freaking out. WHEN will I find the time to do this and be ready for my next shoot? The logistics involved are making my hair stand. I have two vehicles to get to Fillmore and only one of me to drive them. I also have a car trailer to pick up in Orange County and also haul to Fillmore. I have wardrobe to worry about, and I also need to learn my lines!! Plus food, drinks for the crew and cast for two days... And I'd better get  a hold of the location owner to make sure we are still a go!! Shoot me now and put me out of my misery!!!!!!!!

But then there is Ziplock Boy. He flies to the rescue and saves the day. He will drive the truck and trailer and gear and I will drive the deuce. But I'm getting  ahead of myself... This is the NEXT blog .

Stacey is struggling behind the camera. She is rusty, it's been a while. She was supposed to come Friday to practice but another engagement got in the way. Today I am however seeing the shots and it is smooth sailing on that end of things. I stumble upon glorious accidental light and get a few shots that way... I am trying to keep it simple, positioning myself in the frame so I will be in focus, and basically doing everything while looking at the monitor... We film the girl working on her brakes and I get to flip my wrench one more time  .

Below: Girl (tool) Power

Below: Stumbling upon glorious natural light - yields this dreamy shot of the girl literally "diving"  under her car...

GOD'S STORM

7PM - We take a break and get Chinese food. Not just cause we're starved (that, we are) but also because we need Chinese food as a prop.  We also need fortune cookies. Lots and lots of fortune cookies. To that effect I have been saving fortune cookies for a while now... And have about 15 of them now. Good, cause I'm gonna need them all! The sun is setting, and for the scene I need a storm.

ME (dialing God) (SOUND OF A PHONE RINGING) (God picks up) Hello, God?

GOD - Yes. What's up Faith?

ME- My garage scene needs rain, so I need stormy weather to make it happen. Can you help?

GOD - Sure. Let me flick the "super windy" switch On. Here you go!

ME - Thank you God, You're the best!!!!! (we hang up)

OK, so maybe it didn't really happen like this, but just about LOL. Cause suddenly all hell is breaking lose outside Jerry's garage. The wind is blowing like crazy. We have our stormy weather!! I run outside and get a first shot of the wind in the tree tops... And the glass wall of Jerry's back yard catches my eye. The sunset is reflecting in it, and the palm trees behind it look like dark silhouettes against an otherwise golden sky... DO I SEE A SHOT OR DO I SEE A SHOT? Needless to say, I film this.

OUR MAN MADE STORM

We are now filming the last shots... The girl's garage door is open, a storm is coming, wind is blowing leaves inside the garage... Really? No, not really. The wind outside has died and we are to pick up where God left. We gather dead leaves and pile them outside the frame. I sit on my tire and eat my Chinese food. Crack my fortune cookie and pull out the fortune and read it... Meanwhile, the "wind" (in our case two powerful fans) is blowing leaves (in our case, Jerry is hand holding one of the fans and using it to blow the leaves into the frame) inside the garage. We laugh: It's funny to see how we are faking this. Jerry is blowing leaves at the beginning of each take and then wrangling them back to the same starting point, for the next take. This gets old real fast. The leaves are rebellious and don't want to cooperate. They keep blowing in the wrong spot!! Missing the frame LOL... Turns out there is a lot more to this "God" storm job then meet the eyes!!

THE FORTUNE COOKIES

Meanwhile, I am to take a bite out of each fortune cookie I break in the scene. I am gaining pounds fast LOL. After about 6 takes, I am tapping into my older reserve of cookies. One bite and I go:

YUK!!!!!!!!!!!

Time flies while you're having fun filming and I guess my fortune cookies got old waiting for the time to come to play their part in the film. They must be over a year old now and they taste like it!!!

Suck it up Faith!

Stale cookie upon stale cookie, I eat my way to food poisoning LOL.  But we finally get a good take, a hint before I have to vomit. LOL All is well in filmland... Which is more than I can say about my digestive track  LOL ...

9PM - Stacey is exhausted and leaves. I want to get one last shot so I shlap Jerry behind the camera and ask him to do a curved pan / tilt - enough to make a grown cameraman cry. He takes it like a man.

After a bunch of takes, we get a really good one! Good thing cause it's now late and we are both DEAD. NO way I am going to pack everything up tonight. Putting Jerry's garage back together alone is going to take a while.

11PM - I finally get to slide under my bed sheets... Boy that feels GOOD. I can't believe we FINALLY are done with that scene. I wish I could relax now, but instead I start worrying about the big scene heading point blank at me, in a mere couple days...

OH BOY OH BOY!!!!!!!!!!

Close your eyes and try to sleep. You're gonna need the rest. You have two days to line up a shooter... My mind was still racing but somehow, it began to fade out and become more and more blurry.....

(CLICK)

God flicked my light switch off and I was out.