If Blood Car was the workaday world, this would be the last day before our weekend. Thank goodness, it is not; we will work a sixth day. If the very first civilizations were founded on moviemaking, the days of week wouldn't be names, but numbers. Day 4,560,239 of o-o(That's my infinity symbol.). I mean, wouldn't it be great if in addition to the seven wonders of the ancient world, there existed the seven wonders of the cinema? What would they look like? A zoom lens 500 feet tall made of limestone blocks in the middle of the Sahara. More realistically, what might they be? A frame of film, a c-stand, a call sheet, the sound guy, HMIs, the script. There you have some six wonders of a film set. I know there are more so feel free to add to that list.
Day 5 - If I had been paid for today, on my drive home I would have said to myself, "I just got away with murder." Two locations today, first company move of the show and it was a long one. First location was A car graveyard in Lithonia. Note the emphasis on 'A' car graveyard and not 'the' car graveyard. Drive through Lithonia and you'll see what I mean. Using a jib donated through two very generous local filmmakers, Ross S. and Lester, we shot the opening of the film, which features two teenagers 'going at it like wolverines'-verbatim from the script-in a car as voice over booms across the soundtrack. Originally, there was to be an old codger delivering a monologue, but the actor playing that part had a family emergency. We hope everything is alright.
Yes, there is nudity in this film. Do I appear naked? You'll have to see the film. I think by the end of shooting almost every single person on the crew will have appeared in the film, which might make some brows furrow, but it makes me so proud that these crew members will be able to literally see their contributions on screen. I think that's one of the most fun parts of filmmaking, particularly low-budget filmmaking. One minute you're a pa, the next you're dressed in a two piece suit and a mustache firing a blank pistol pretending you're killing sinning teenagers.
The funniest thing I heard on set today was said by Chris A. our gaffer, who on a side note saved us so much money on equipment we should give him the key to the Virginia Highlands and let him run amok. He said, "I bet German shepherds get more tail in Europe than I get here in America."
From there we moved to a gas station in Douglasville, where I rode the picture bike, a Royce Union 410 XTM series 21 speed. RU has been around since 1904 and they also make pogos. If you want to accelerate hypothermia, ride a bike around at sundown in December in shortsleeves.
One of the most important sets in the film was being dressed today. Archie's apartment doubles as his laboratory, and it is the best window into the personality of our part-hero, part spree-killer. If you remember from the first post the photos Molly our Casting Director shot of me performing good deeds, then let me attest to their greatness. I look like the greatest humanitarian in the world in these pictures. Robert P., our production designer, with Molly's help, made some huge strides on the room today. I'm thrilled and I'm considering spending the night down there.
ps. When I did the spellcheck for this post, the only suggested word for Douglasville was 'declassify'. I thought that noteworthy.
