"PETS" Day Three

(Dave learns a little about his boundaries)

Today was divided between shooting at Jason and Betty's house and a new condo complex in the Central District - our version of a future neighborhood.

We only had a short time with all of the clones together for a dinner scene and ended up having to put off most of Don's shots from the scene for another day. This ended up being the most difficult day of the shoot regarding what we needed to get versus what we were able to get and we had to leave a few scenes unfinished in hopes to pick them up either Thursday or Friday when our schedule wouldn't be so crammed.

It's usually best to shoot out a scene in it's entirety. It makes things a little easier to put together and from a morale standpoint it's nice to keep moving on instead of having to return to the same scene over and over again. It also helps keep the performance and directing consistent. Unfortunately, it isn't always a possibility - you're always strategizing and trying to make the most out of your resources and in cases like this you have to give up the way you'd like to do something in exchange for getting things done. In the end, if you don't have a movie, you don't have anything.

We grabbed what we could and moved on to the C.D. for the rest of the days shooting.


(Clone Dad and son keep an eye on Dave)

The location change helped lift the mood, but that was quickly tempered by loud airplanes (everywhere in Seattle!) and more frustrating, lawn service. We shot a few MOS versions of scenes, but luckily there wasn't much grass to tend to and the landscapers moved on before long. We were able to complete the scenes more or less as planned. And in fact, once things settled down noise wise we began kicking ass until we shot a traveling shot that left George (who filled in on sound for Deep on days two and three while Deep was at work) tumbling over a concrete railing and busting up Deep's zoom recorder. The recorder still worked, but Deep had it less than a month before the tumble and had never gotten the chance to use it on his own production.

The down side of not having production insurance is that stuff like this isn't covered. The positive side is that it's actually much cheaper to replace a single zoom player than get production insurance. We were lucky not to be using something way more expensive. In the end I called Deep to level with him about what had happened and told him that I'd replace the recorder for him. He still wasn't all that stoked, but I think he was glad to know he wouldn't be stuck with a busted piece of equipment.

With that taken care of we quickly drove to George's place to shoot Manoli putting funny outfits on Don. It was a last minute scene grab and despite the rush, Don and Manoli brought the goods and the scene played out great. Without any lights I used the fading daylight to light the scene from behind and George found us some wrapping paper with a blank white side which we used as a bounce. Whether it matches or not is yet to be seen, but I thought it looked pretty damn cool. It's my wannabe Gordon Willis moment.

Another good thing about shooting a project yourself is being able to take risks like this at a moment's notice. The bad part is that there isn't anyone to say "dude that isn't a very good idea." You'll have to tell me if you think it works in the finished film.

Throughout the day, Manoli conducted interviews with the cast and crew about their duties making the movie, which should make an appearance on the blog soon!

In all, despite some rocky moments, we still got what we needed and the day ended with picture wrap for Manoli, Tyler and George. Until pick ups anyway...


(Daisy, Dave and the little clone take a nap)

"PETS" Day Two

The second day was our first at our friends' Jason and Betty's house. Most of the picture takes place there and they were extremely generous and patient with us. Deep was back at Easy Street today, so the sound duties went to my buddy George Tramountanas, who I've known since we worked together at Atom Films. It all worked out since this was also the first day for George's son, Manoli, who played Clone Kid. Actually, it was another big day of firsts. Emily Laue (Clone Mom), Amanda Stoddard (Daisy) and Kirsten Barber (Clone Friend) also had their first days in front of the camera.


(Dave is not welcome at the clones' dinner table)

Tyler was technically the first clone on set, but this was the first time we had the clones for the entire day. Tiffany did an amazing job on the makeup and Emily instantly inhabited the character. It was a real joy to see her at work.

Working with Manoli, who is probably second only to Don for screen time, was great. Since he had to do homework when he wasn't acting he was especially anxious to get to his scenes. Kids can sometimes get impatient during long days of shooting and while I'm sure he felt fidgety at times he was a real trooper and stuck out the long days and multiple takes (read what George has to say about it on his BLOG).


(A little clone (Manoli) gets an eye full)

The highlight of the day may have been the makeout scene between Don and Amanda. Aside from Don's diaper scene it was the most buzzed about with the cast and crew and I know I was a little nervous about it. Don and Amanda came up with the business of getting his sweater vest off and when it came time to do the scene, and it went off without a hitch (although the room temp may have gone up a few degrees).


(Clone Friend (Kirsten) and Clone Mom (Emily) are shocked to see what their pets are up to.)

Kirsten, played Daisy's owner, and in classic fashion, she didn't know she'd be in the movie until the last minute when a friend had to drop out because of some urgent developments at work. Sorry Kirsten, I promise next time we'll give you at least a week's notice! ;) Despite juggling all her many responsibilities and the last minute casting, she was great.

Since we were shooting weekdays, we only had Manoli for two days - George was good enough to pull him from class so he could be in the movie - so we had to cram a lot in those two days. Our ambitious schedule proved a little too ambitious and we were forced to delay a couple shots that we'll need to grab later on in pick ups.

More to come...


(Dave, Daisy (Amanda Stoddard) and the little clone play with slinkys)

And before I forget, Chance has posted a few great stills from his segment, "Overtime," on his blog HERE.

"Pets" Day One

April 26th...

The first day turned out to be the most difficult day of the shoot, which is a little ironic because it was supposed to be the easiest. We shot mostly on location at Carkeek Park and didn't have to start until noon.


(Don Black as Dave before rolling the first shot)

The night before, our lead actor, Don Black (star of the great movie Bicycle Lane), got into town. Don and I picked up Deep Dasgupta (sound guy, brilliant filmmaker in his own right) and Chris Caballero who would be playing one of the forest thugs.


(Tyler Harkey and Chris Cab as Forest Thugs)

At the park we met up with the talented Tiffany Lowry who did makeup for us and Tyler Harkey who played the second forest thug and would later help us out on the last day of shooting. Tabby McKinney (producer) and Kirsten Barber (production design and wardrobe) came by once they got off work.



(Dave tries to convince the Forest Thugs not to kick his ass)

Aside from wading in what we would latter learn was bacteria infested water, sound and rain were the biggest issues. Airplanes seem to be all over the place whenever you shoot in Seattle and today was no exception. Even worse though was the rain, which made it extremely uncomfortable and really slowed us down. I had to sacrifice some shots I wanted to get and I was a little concerned about the camera short circuiting, but the mighty T2i held out and I think we got everything we needed if not everything I wanted.

After a quick dinner, we got to work shooting the dumpster set in our apartment. Kirsten made an amazing set out of a cut piece of masonite. Using some spray paint, acrylics and coffee grounds it looked great and I don't think you'd notice that it wasn't real on screen except that now you'll be looking for it. ;)

This was also the first day Tyler Bromley donned the clone makeup. Tiffany did an amazing job designing and applying the makeup. With Kirsten's wardrobe and the actors' performances, I think we've created some really unique and memorable characters on a low, low budget.



(Tyler Bromley as Clone Dad)

Note: All images are frame grabs without any grading.