Day 5 and 6 – It’s a Wrap

I am combining these last two days together as Sunday was really 2nd unit stuff and we did not have a truck aside from the camera truck, just a small assault package of a couple of C Stands, the Jokers, the Para beam, one 2x4 Kino flow and assorted grippy stuff.
Wednesday
With Norbert taking the day off I was charged with driving the truck. It is a small Cab over HINO and a commercial drivers license is not required to drive it. Regardless I used to be a truck driver and I could drive this one just fine. I was just a bit cautious since it’s the largest thing I have driven in a few years. And the clutch was incredibly stiff. So much so that the next day I got in my jeep and pressed the clutch to the floor boards and was convinced that the hydraulics had blown. Today’s shoot was at 3 separate locations requiring 2 moves and a return at wrap to Pacific Grip and Lighting.

A Fortune Cookie Machine

The first location was Tsue Chong Noodle Company and Fortune Cookie factory. This place was really cool and we shot a bunch of stuff around the cookies being made, the title sequence and a woman discovering the incorrect cookies.

Tamia the 1st AC. She was not feeling well for most of the shoot but very professional about her job.

Then we wrapped out of there and moved to the Washington Language academy on First Avenue where we shot the love interest teaching an ESL class. Very funny bit as she discovers the tainted fortunes. After we were done there it was a wrap. The other location was a print shop that they just needed camera and a small assault package due to space. So really we only moved the company once.
After the wrap Neil offered to buy a beer at the Pioneer Square Saloon where the Tech crew all got together and decompressed. Since I was driving the truck I only had one beer and drank water while listening to old War Stories of movies past, mostly related by Neil but all entertaining. My favorite was a story about shooting Skeleton Key. It was in Louisiana in this house but they art dept thought the swamp was not close enough to the house so out come the backhoes and the swamp is now perfect. But along with the swamp came all the swamp life mostly icky and some toothsome, very amusing stuff. And another good one about Carbon Rod Lightning boxes and being temporarily blinded by newer lightning boxes and two guys that do Tesla Lightning, and how in Fire Starter the final burn the house down the burnt the house with lights still inside and the only thing they had to wrap was follow the banded cable to where it had melted off. Out of context these are probably not so amusing but there is a Circus Folk attitude to a film crew and when its time to relax the stories flow like the beer. I had a great time but we had to get the truck back and Neil had to let me into PGL so off we went.
Now I had to go to work in the AM and it was about 10:30 – 11:00 PM so my plan was to drop the truck and Neil was going to drive me home. When we got there Neil offered up a beer and we sat for another hour or so shooting the shit telling our film stories. I finally hit my rack at 1:00 and felt like shit the next day. But it was worth it.
Sunday

Derek (Think that was his name) 1st and 2nd AC Great guy who came up from Portland to shoot Dark Horse and stuck around to help this show.

Like I had mentioned, this was a real light day even thought we were hitting 4 locations; The Smith Tower, An Office in Pioneer Square; Q 13 news room and finally a boat in Ballard.
These were all shots of random people finding their fortunes. The company moved quickly and we got it all wrapped up before the sun went down. Q 13 was great cause we did not have to light it seeing as it was a stage anyway. And it was air conditioned. After we wrapped at the boat, there was some beer and a speech from Mike and Thom. Hugs all around and we were done.


The camera truck. The girl is a PA who is still in high school and got the sad duty of having to hang out with the truck while all the action was else where.

It was like the feeling you get Christmas morning when all the presents are unwrapped. Not so much a let down but a kind of emptiness.

But we start shooting Mathew Morris', Film Sans Vie, on Saturday and get into primary Photography in September. More on that later…