On Location for Coyote Girl: Tuesday 01.13.15

January has been an amazing month for Outcast Café! We have spent the past two and a half weeks officially entering the production phase of making our second short film, Coyote Girl, the poetic version of the 90 minute play script Riley Ann Visits the Outcast Cafe. After spending about two weeks on location in Westfield, Illinois the team has dispersed and continues to work on post-production for the film as well as upcoming projects for the company. Here is the next installment of our adventures on location from the perspective of company member Gail Shalan (Riley Ann, Coyote:

Tuesday 01.13.15

9:10 a.m.- I arrive on set this morning at a much more attainable hour for the likes of me: caffeinated, well-rested, and ready to go. Make-up application starts for Scene 7. This is the scene we rehearsed on camera in Lee, MA several weeks ago. Some adjustments have been discussed, but over all, this feels like pretty familiar territory. With a day of shooting under our belts and the rehearsal previously mentioned, I’m feeling fairly confident about approaching this scene.  We’ll see how Rick thinks we do once we get down to the living room..

10:18 p.m.- Filming Scene 7 feels like a serious pay-off. To see how our communication and my understanding of the camera has grown in the past few weeks makes me proud and I don’t feel like a total ignorant actor. Although it takes us all morning to nail what we are going for, especially with most of our shots partially lit naturally and a changing sun, I begin to harness a bit of control in my work by recognizing that I have power and control over what is seen in the camera. Sure, the beauty of film is that the camera will pick up everything running through the actor, and there is little “doing” required, but the choice of slight angle and moment-to-moment reactions are, in fact, mine, and the camera will pick up all of those nuances as well. They all matter! Like a painter who is learning how to sketch with pen, the finesse of the instrument is something I am certainly a novice in, but the observation of how they are different has been made clear to me.

1:12 p.m. – So watching rushes after wrapping a scene is always a good idea, and with such a tight filming schedule, we are learning the importance of fitting in the practice more and more. I never thought I’d be one to watch my own dailies, finding too much “watching” of myself to be one of my traps as an actor, but I’m again surprised by the change of medium. It actually is very helpful to see how my action comes across in a shot, sometimes it’s quite different than perceived. Seeing a shot played back also can give me more confidence in my work on film (which I feel I am lacking in spades), and really helps Biggs  to communicate with me clear direction for film. It’s a whopping challenge to act and direct in your own film in the first place, but navigating how to translate what you want to see to a seasoned camera crew and to yourself and your fellow stage actor must be a real doozy! So now, although we have the utmost trust in Rick, we try to watch back as much as we can.

Another benefit to the practice is to realize we may not have gotten all the shots in the way they need to be, and so it goes with Scene 5 from yesterday. Rick is missing consistency in the master from the day before, so we will shoot it again before lunch. It takes a little time for me (and quite a bit for Biggs who is aging and un-aging himself) to rewind our make-up and get back in costume. Once we are ready to go, we wrap up the shot rather quickly and head to Terri and David’s for another catered lunch from Richard’s Farms .

3:30 p.m.-  Back to the Home Place to capture our shadow sequences as quickly as possible before the sun goes completely down. Although we have significant artificial light as a spot on the house, the ambient light of dusk is essential to our mysterious coyote exterior shots, something we’ve not really been able to rehearse before shooting, and in regards to our budgeted time and the fickle weather must happen tonight. Albeit one of our warmer days on the farm (20-25 degrees instead of the usual single digits) we bundle up good for lying on the frozen ground while we manipulate the two to three person shadow puppet. It’s hard to tell how it looks and to get the sequence of choreography accurate every time. Rick continuously films while Biggs, Terry and I stumble our way through what one might think is a “simple” wandering across the house for Coyote. Just as the sun begins to fall too  low, we nail several goes at the full sequence of movement and wrap up the shot for the evening.

5:58 p.m.-  Now we move on to our second scene with Coyote on camera, but shooting slightly out of order, the first day of Coyote on set. Rehearsing this scene we discover that it is impossible to capture the whole scene in one take, as transforming from Riley Ann to Coyote simply takes too long. So we figure out the first part of the scene between Riley Ann  and the Old Man first. Our biggest challenge is the repetition of ripping off the Old Man’s soiled clothing without spoiling Biggs’ carefully applied age makeup. With some rehearsal we figure it out. Poor guy ends up sitting half-naked in the cold (we have to turn the heat off every time we shoot as the system makes too much noise) while the guys rig each shot and re-set. But hey, he wrote it…. so he might as well lie in it, right? Just kidding. We have blankets.

I’m pretty impressed with how quickly we get the shot after we figure out the specifics of the blocking. But then it’s on to Coyote. There’s a lot to learn about how the puppet works in front of the camera. In the vein of Jim Henson, Rick and Josh rig a monitor for me as I manipulate coyote above my eye level. The monitor is connected to Rick’s camera which is very helpful. While it might be distracting to work with the puppet as a scene partner, potentially staring at god knows what, Biggs slays the first intimate reaction with the inanimate object, and it’s moving to watch from my crouched position under the table. While the rules of puppetry on film are starkly contrasted from those on stage in a lot of surface ways, the essence of keeping the puppet alive through breath remains the same. We navigate through some unchartered challenges, like mic-ing the puppeteer from awkward angles, focus of the eyes of the puppet, and timing of arriving in place, but all in all it goes quite well. My nerves of puppeteering on film are quelled and I look forward to the other scenes starring our little, furry buddy.

8:45 p.m.- A long day of shooting done, we relax for dinner with Terri and David. Tomorrow gets started early, but I won’t be in till noon, so I look forward to a restful morning.

 

 

Our previous rehearsal of Scene 7 in Lee, MA.
Our previous rehearsal of Scene 7 in Lee, MA.
Sneak peek of the shadows at play!
Sneak peek of the shadows at play!
The magic behind the scenes. There are three of us, can you spot us all?
The magic behind the scenes. There are three of us, can you spot us all?
Weary Scene 11 make-up
Weary Scene 11 make-up
Just the two of us, goofing around,  in between takes.
Just the two of us, goofing around, in between takes.
Coyote's big moment!
Coyote’s big moment! feat. Andy Turrett (Sound) and Gail Shalan (Riley Ann/ Coyote)

 

On Location for Coyote Girl : Monday 01.12.15

January has been an amazing month for Outcast Café! We have spent the past two and a half weeks officially entering the production phase of making our second short film, Coyote Girl, the poetic version of the 90 minute play script Riley Ann Visits the Outcast Cafe. After spending about two weeks on location in Westfield, Illinois the team has dispersed and continues to work on post-production for the film as well as upcoming projects for the company. Here is the next installment of our adventures on location from the perspective of company member Gail Shalan (Riley Ann, Coyote:

 Monday 01.12.15

5:45 a.m.-  Principal photography begins today! Up and at ’em nice and early this morning, as I’ll be sprinting through frozen corn fields in about an hour at the Home Place. Nothing like an adrenaline rush to get you out of bed before sunrise.

7:03 a.m.-  The day is clear, but still fairly cold. I’ve got my final Riley Ann look on and ready to go: grey sweats, a red long sleeve sweater, and running sneakers. Rick and Terry have the drone out and ready to go. We decide to start with the wide running shot, rather than the establishing shot out the front door, so it’s straight into the fields we go. Sims acts as coat holder, so that I can warm up between takes, and valiantly runs my parka out to me in the middle of the field.
Not only is this one of my first experiences on camera in general, but it is the very first time I’ve ever worked with a drone camera. The set up for each take is slightly complex. Given that the light and temperature are okay to start attempting the shot at all, Rick and Terry determine how to arrange the shot so that the wind won’t knock the camera off-kilter. Having decided on a current location, I step approximately onto my mark, then take a few steps away. Terry then has to maneuver the thing up in the air just so that the wind has no advantage of it, and the shot can remain steady. Then, I slowly step back into place, about a foot and a half away from the buzzing, insect-like machine. Rick determines a point for me to run towards, and upon calling his call of “Action!” I sprint as fast as I can, while maintaining a safe and steady pace amidst the bumpy, frozen ground. Besides the one time my pants almost fall off and I cut the action out of desperation, I’m doing a decent job of giving Rick what he needs in each take, but the first few deal with fickle wind and our path is redetermined. We set up again and do about four or five more takes before we get what we’ll need in the bag.

9:10 a.m.- After warming up with some hot water and lemon, the makeup application begins. I refer to notes and photos from our earlier meeting with Karen Eisenhour and apply Riley Ann’s Scene 3 look. We decide it best to begin and the beginning and shoot everything as chronologically as possible. Our goal, before lunch, is to get all of Scene 3 wrapped, including what we are calling 2/3, a moment where Riley Ann arrives at the Home Place in her Pick-Up Truck and enters the house with an armful of groceries.
With heels on and grocery props set, I hop in the black truck and drive back and forth down the driveway, walking into the side door to the kitchen. We shoot the scene, or at least parts of it, from four, maybe five different angles. By lunch, we’ve gotten what we need in regards to this scene.

1:12 p.m.- Terri and David host the cast for lunch, letting us take over their dining room with a pile of chicken salad sandwiches and the best potato chips any of us have ever tasted courtesy of Richard Farms.

2:15 p.m.- Fed and nourished we head back to the Home Place. Our plans for shooting this afternoon have been disrupted by unpredictable weather and light, so we move straight on to the next Principal scene, Scene 5. Still in the kitchen, and essentially in the same costume and make-up, we film a rather tight scene of Riley Ann cleaning out the fridge. The Old Man gets in the way, so she finds a way to distract him.

5:54 p.m.- Also captured from several angles, and with some complicated sound coordination in addition to some serious schooling on how much of my shoulder or face there might be in a close-up shot, we wrap the day with this scene and get on to dinner rather early. My lotion comes in handy after all the cold weather and make-up the day has contained. A cozy  family-style meal is a great way to wrap up the first day of shooting. We share stories and cookies and get on to bed with the sunset. Tomorrow we’ll hope for good light for our shadow puppet scenes.

 

 

 

 

The Schedule as of 7 a.m. on Monday.... not the same as of 8 a.m.
The Schedule as of 7 a.m. on Monday…. not the same as of 8 a.m.
Applying a generous amount of makeup for Riley Ann
Applying a generous amount of makeup for Riley Ann
Drone Boys practice flying for Scene 20
Drone Boys practice flying for Scene 20
Fully made up for Scene 3
Fully made up for Scene 3

On Location for Coyote Girl: Thursday 01.08.15

January has been an amazing month for Outcast Café! We have spent the past two and a half weeks officially entering the production phase of making our second short film, Coyote Girl, the poetic version of the 90 minute play script Riley Ann Visits the Outcast Cafe. After spending about two weeks on location in Westfield, Illinois the team has dispersed and continues to work on post-production for the film as well as upcoming projects for the company. Here is the next installment of our adventures on location from the perspective of company member Gail Shalan (Riley Ann, Coyote:

Thursday 01.08.15

8:01 a.m.- This morning, at the Home Place, the cast and crew meets with the make-up and costume consultant for the film, Karen Eisenhour. Karen is a professor in the theatre department at Eastern Illinois University (in Charleston) teaching make-up and costume design as well as building puppets herself! Karen brings along a bright and eager student named Jason, who is an actor, writer and director,  looking to produce his first feature film soon. For the next couple hours Karen and Jason teach Biggs and myself how to properly apply a makeup base and then age/ exhaust ourselves appropriately using shadowing techniques, exaggerated heavily for black and white film. In color we sort of look like a zombie-horror flick, but in color, we are spectacular! After consulting with Rick and Terry on our various progressions (or regressions), we move on to costumes.

11:48 a.m.-  We break quickly for lunch. Chatting with Karen and Jason about their work and time at the University is a blast. Rick grills Karen on her film syllabus, and Jason grills Rick on making a movie. Turns out Karen is a bit of a neighbor to us Berkshire folk as she hails from our neighbor, Connecticut.

12:40 p.m.- Biggs and I change in and out of our many costume options and with the help of all our useful eyes (Rick, Terry, Karen, Jason, and Sims), we narrow down our costumes, scene by scene.

2:15 p.m.- Having made it through all of our looks, Karen makes an organized list and closet set-up. We move on to beginning a camera rehearsal with Rick (scenes 2/3, 5, 7, and 10) for blocking of the various shots in a more particular sense than our rehearsal yesterday. It’s been a long day. Make-up mysteriously takes an aggressive toll, but we feel good about powering through the first half of the film rehearsal and then finishing the rest up another day.

6:11 p.m.-  The five of us head out to an amazing smokehouse in Charelston for dinner. This little recovering vegetarian is officially on a Chicken kick these two weeks. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!

The lovely Jason and Karen. Thanks for the help!
The lovely Jason and Karen. Thanks for the help!
We settle on jewelry for RILEY ANN. Kind of crazy what ends up looking good in greyscale.
We settle on jewelry for RILEY ANN. Kind of crazy what ends up looking good in greyscale.
Biggs applies the OLD MAN make-up.
Biggs applies the OLD MAN make-up.
An utterly exhausted RILEY ANN. What looks like a black eye in color actually comes across as extremely weary in black and white.
An utterly exhausted RILEY ANN. What looks like a black eye in color actually comes across as extremely weary in black and white.
RILEY ANN for scene 7. Here we see her fully made up, but having trouble hiding the bags of exhaustion.
RILEY ANN for scene 7. Here we see her fully made up, but having trouble hiding the bags of exhaustion.

On Location for Coyote Girl: Tuesday 01.06.15

January has been an amazing month for Outcast Café! We have spent the past two and a half weeks officially entering the production phase of making our second short film, Coyote Girl, the poetic version of the 90 minute play script Riley Ann Visits the Outcast Cafe. After spending about two weeks on location in Westfield, Illinois the team has dispersed and continues to work on post-production for the film as well as upcoming projects for the company. Here is the next installment of our adventures on location from the perspective of company member Gail Shalan (Riley Ann, Coyote:

Tuesday 01.06.15

11:55 a.m.- After waking at 8 and realizing I’m the last one down for coffee, I observe that we are now on “farm time”. We rise, and sometimes set, with the sun here. Sims, Biggs, and I (joined by David) head out to the neighboring Casey (pronounced “KAY-zee”), home of “Big things in a small town” for a few errands and lunch at the Whitling Whimsey Cafe.

1:05 p.m. – Officially small town living, David and Robert know everyone in the cafe we ate lunch at. Being a Berkshire bean myself, I am well versed in such familiarity. The Whitling Whimsey is home to not only “over 100 items that begin with ‘W’ “, but also the World’s Largest Wind Chime. The town also holds the World’s Largest Knitting Needles, Golf Tee and soon to be Rocking Chair as it’s claim to fame. After playing tourist, we stop by the Dollar General and some other locations in desperate search of a flash drive, amidst other last minute necessities.

1:36 p.m.- We fail our Mission Flash Drive and decide to try Walmart in Charleston later on. Biggs stops in one of the many local banks to transfer funds. I follow. Did you know that Riley Ann works in a bank? Character research!

3:31 p.m.- As Sims and Biggs head out for Walmart and Terri begins to cook us a lovely feast, I get some down time to journal about my experience so far. I also take COYOTE out of the suitcase and we work on our scenes a bit.

5:45 p.m-  We all sit down for a wonderful family meal at Terri and David’s, enjoy each other’s company and conversation, and retire fairly early. Although we were expecting Rick Sands (Director of Photography) and Terry Holland (Art Director) to arrive at the Home Place tonight, they’ve been held up on their long drive and will arrive in the morning.

Coyote Rehearses and a Picture of The World’s Largest Wind Chime

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