August 01, 2005
1. During SXSW, Yen and I told Kat that we'd love to help out during the shoot of her film, Jumping Off Bridges, if the opportunity arose. Resultingly, we've been on the crew call every week since the film started production; and on Friday we finally made it down to Austin to be P.A.s for a few night shoots.
2. The relatively small crew was so on top of things, so tightly knit - so perfect
(it was one of the quietest, most relaxed, friendliest and, above all else, efficient sets I've ever been on) - that there wasn't that much for us to do but observe, but that was fun enough by itself. My favorite parts were when I was close enough to the action to see the performances; and then, after each take, to watch Kat go off with the actors to talk with them privately; and then to see them come back and do another take, and see how the performances changed (they always got better and better).
3. But I did manage to stay sufficiently busy with other things, such as a.) directing traffic, b.) my old specialty, coiling cable c.) helping Lorie, the co-producer, with craft services and d.) driving one of the picture cars, which was in such bad shape that it made me feel a little better about my own vehicle. I love doing anything on a film set; nothing more than directing, of course, but the whole process is such a concerted, unified effort that there's never any doubt that every little thing helps; and thus there's great satisfaction to be had in doing a great job on the smallest task.
4. One of the actresses looked a lot like this girl I knew in high school, who was the only girl I've ever literally asked out on a date. Her name was Melissa, her favorite movie was A Clockwork Orange and her answer was no. Years of insecurity ensued, and persist in ensuing, but I wrote a good sentence about it once.
5. The best thing I learned over the weekend was that, if you have the right people working with you, there's no reason to be afraid of a company move after ten hours of night shooting. I'm sure our crew on Deadroom would have been down for it, but company moves are a moot point on soundstages.
6. It was a wonderful fifty-something hours, and I wish I'd been there for the weeks prior - but better late than never, I suppose. I'm going to do my best to figure out a way to get back to Austin next week for the final days of shooting.
7. One could, if one wished, read a good on-set interview with Kat online right here.
8. I arrived home to find a letter on my desk, the contents of which contained the words 'congratulations' and 'drift,' along with many other words of varying degrees of interest. That's the second of its sort in less than a week. More reason to get up in the morning.
Posted by David Lowery at August 1, 2005 01:01 PM
Comments
I really need to get on more sets. I haven't been involved in the actual filmmaking part of filmmaking in quite a while.
On a side note, I've been really busy lately but I have read your script, and once I read it again I will be getting back to you soon.
Posted by: bryan at August 2, 2005 02:11 AM