Unusual Friday

*beware, this is a super long post*

You'd think that after getting home super late from a 20 hour day yesterday I'd be able to sleep in a bit better, but no. It could be because Jakob and I were so tired that we forgot to put the cats in their room and they started meowing at about 4-5am for breakfast. It could be the fact that Jakob snored a little bit and when he snores, he's getting sick. I could also be the fact that I've been replaying the events of yesterday in my head over and over again. (I personally think it's the last one).

Yesterday Jakob and I plus a few of Jakob's friends/fight crew worked on a movie up in Logan, directed by Richard Hatch (yes, that Richard Hatch from the series Battlestar Galactica). Jakob was the fight choreographer, I was the stage play props/wardrobe, Matthew and Adam were Jakob's assistants. We were told to be up at the theatre at 7:30am for crew and 9am for the rest of the fighters/extras. So, it being a 2 hour drive, we woke up at 4:30am (well, I woke up, Jakob took a bit of convincing) and started on the road at 5am. Picked up Adam (who brought music to help us stay awake) and started on the 2 hour drive up to the Ellen Eccles Theatre in Logan.

Got there about 7:30 because of some weather stuff, so I texted one of the A.D.s that we were going to go get breakfast and then head to the theatre. So after a not-so-healthy breakfast of Carl's Jr. we headed back to the theatre and took a look around. It is a gorgeous restored theatre. We had a blast walking around and looking at all the architecture while waiting for the rest of the film crew and Jakob's fight crew to show up. As the fighters began to trickle in, I saw a couple of the A.D.s talking and I overheard that they were going to move on to a different location so I questioned them about it and they told us that the stage and the theatre was the fighters until noonish so they could go over their fight and make sure that they worked out all the kinks. Nice, but that wasn't exactly what I had asked for. I had asked if it would be possible to schedule the fight stuff in the morning so then a good majority of the extras would be off set and they could finish the scenes with the main actors. Oh well, you can't get everything you wish for.

So 9am rolls around and everyone from the fight crew has showed up except one of the girls. Jakob tried calling her but no answer. Luckily enough Jakob had the foresight to have an alternate there and he stepped in (it ended up working well too). And they start going over the fight. Jakob giving directions, Matthew and Adam being his assistants by watching and reinforcing the directions and style of fighting. It went well and the morning actually went by really quickly. We started getting everyone into costume so they could try the fight with the costumes (and see if there was going to be any problems) and realized that between what they had brought themselves (which wasn't much, but at least it was something!) and what Jakob and Adam had brought, we costumed every one except for 2 pairs of pants and 3 pairs of boots. Worked out well. They rehearsed from 9:30am to about 11:30am, took a break, then worked in the costumes from about noon to 1pm when the crew and actors from the other locations started arriving.

When the director arrived, things started moving a bit slower than they had before because he started changing things when he saw what the guys had done. After about another 45 minutes of rehearsing the changes and working with one of the leads, they guys went down to the break room. By now it was 1:45-2ish.

Quick break in things and let me back up. Like I had said before, when I had asked that the fight stuff be done by now so the actors could leave? Yep, they hadn't started filming in the theatre space yet. It was now afternoon and we'd been there since 7:30am. Back to the story . . .

So from 2ish on the guys are sitting down and just relaxing a little, chatting, and getting something to eat. Yes, there is actually a lot of down time on film sets (believe it or not). I went to go look at the wardrobe and see if the main lady needs any help. She did so I start to help her and once again, somehow hyper-extend my index finger lifting some heavy costumes. So I wraped it up and continued on. I'm grabbing guys as they are just sitting there to move costumes out of the truck (so they've now become my lackeys) when they get the call to go up on set. By now it is about 4:30-5ish.

Moving back to the stage they start setting up a shot and the director is then informed that the rest of the extras will not be arriving until 5:30-6pm. (Yes, communication wasn't exactly their strong point on this film shoot--yet again). So the guys are just sitting/milling around on the stage for the next hour or so. I'm getting a little miffed because they are asking me to do things that I was never assigned to do, and I'm getting antsy because if they start shooting and there is a wardrobe problem (the way there was with Jakob's mask and someone tried to fix it and ended up making it worse) I wouldn't be around to fix it.

Another side note: I hate wasted time. I hate wasting other people's time (especially when the extras/fighters aren't getting paid and many of them took a day off work/school/family to come and be on the shoot--all day). So if you know me, I start asking questions and trying to get things moving along.

I'm sure by now, Jakob and Adam are getting sick of all the pacing back and forth that I'm doing between the two of them with giving updates and making sure everyone was still okay, and being my normal worrisome/antsy self (sorry guys!). Between trying to get the stage stuff all set and ready, I'm being pulled around by the other wardrobe person with getting the downstairs wardrobe location set for another scene (which they were supposed to film first so we could put away some of the unneeded costumes--which of course didn't happen). Finally I hear them working upstairs and it was a good thing that they prepared so well--Jakob, Adam, and one of the fight guys got bumped up with lines! Apparently they were able to get everything they needed in 1 to 2 takes on all the shots (way to go guys!) so then they were sent back down stairs. It was 8pm when I looked at my clock. And it was 8pm when David realized that he needed to pick up something super important from his work at 5pm and we were 2 hours away. (So sorry David about that. Hopefully everything works out!).

About an hour later at 9ish they were asked back on set and filmed 2 more quick scenes and then just stood around in the wings for another hour or so until the director finally released them--but under 1 condition: a few of them would stay and film a few more scenes downstairs ("It'll only take an hour" he says. "We have to be out of the theatre by midnight"). I think Adam and Jakob wanted to stay but since we had a 2 hour drive a head of us, I pushed for us to be done and gather up the rest of the costumes (which took another half hour) and load up the car. They still hadn't gotten to the scene with which they needed the guys running around downstairs (and I don't know if they ever did). But we took off after that.

It was around 10:30 that we finally pulled out. And after a lot of caffeine, lots of talking about Bond movies, a round of Dr. Horrible, AC-DC, we finally pulled in to drop Adam off a little after midnight (yes, we made better time coming down than we did going up--probably had something to do with the weather).

All-in-all it was a good, but long, tiring, sometime frustrating day. Jakob and I don't get paid for our work unless the film sells (which we're hoping that it does, so then Jakob can pay his assistants) but it was good exposure for Jakob, Adam, and Matthew. I took some promo shots just with my little point-and-shoot, so I'll post them a bit later. I don't think I got that great of photos, so I'm going to wait until the on-set photographer gets everything posted and I can choose what I want. I want some good shots of the costumes (of course!) but I also want some shots of Jakob, Adam, and Matthew to help build their portfolios (both acting and fight). And the funny thing is, I didn't think to get some footage of them actually doing the fight with all the haze and the lead actor. All I got was rehearsal stuff. But I'll ask if I can have some footage for their portfolio. Don't know if I'll get it, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.