Well, dear readers, we had our first shoot day on the second season of Outside The Box, doing the set up scenes for episodes eight and eleven and I have to say it was really fun. I was up by eight and out the door by nine-fifteen and on my way to Eagle Rock. There was almost no traffic on the freeway so I made it to the off-ramp in a brisk fifteen minutes. The production assistant had gotten me the Google directions and it looked so simple that I didn’t use the GPS on my phone. And indeed it was simple until I turned left on to Euan Morton’s street. It was one of those awful, windy twisty roads up into the hills, with lots of little forks to the left and right – but I followed the signs very carefully to make sure I was always on the right street. Euan’s address was in the 4600 block. I passed the 4800s then the 4700s and then suddenly I was seeing 4800s again, then 4700s again – this happened several times as I drove the twisty road. It was baffling. After about ten minutes of this, I pulled over to a woman and told her where I was trying to get to – she confirmed I wasn’t even on the street at this point because sometimes one is on that street and sometimes one isn’t – how one is supposed to know that is anyone’s guess. She told me to keep going straight and up a hill, that I’d see a stop sign and to keep going. I drove on, saw the name of Euan’s street although no stop sign, so I turned onto Euan’s street and kept seeing the numbers changing but no 4600 block. And then suddenly I was right back to the woman, which means I’d just driven in a circle – and I realized that’s probably what I’d been doing for ten minutes. She reiterated that I had to go straight, up a small hill, to a stop sign and then I’d be where I wanted to be. This time I did just that and I finally found the house. Thankfully, the camera and sound people were able to find it, and I had I used the damn GPS I would have found it, too.
The schedule was for an hour set up, but we were ready to go in thirty-five minutes. Since it was way up in the hills, we shot on the balcony overlooking some hills and it was very pretty. Euan was great – we did several takes in a wider shot, then did several takes of a close-up and that was that. We actually finished ninety minutes ahead of schedule. Then we all went to Mo’s and had lunch, which was great because I wasn’t sure just when I was supposed to eat anything. I had an appetizer, a chicken quesadilla that was actually perfectly filling. Then we came to my house and did a leisurely set up. Hal Linden arrived about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule (which is why I love working with PROS) and asked if we had a make-up person, which, of course we don’t. But, ever the pro, he’d brought some base and put that on. As you’d probably expect, Hal was a delight – easygoing and very easy to work with. His sweet daughter Nora arrived, we rehearsed his scene twice, and then began shooting. Again, we did a few takes of a wide shot that had both of them in the frame. Then we did the final piece of the scene where he talks to Nora, then we did Nora’s close-up, and then we did a few takes of Hal’s close-up. We wrapped Hal an hour early. I think he had a really good time and boy does he know his comedy. What a pleasure. Then the camera and sound people dumped all the sound and video to a mini-hard drive, and then we put the video on my desktop so I can choose takes and stuff.
Then Juliana and her pianist arrived for our second to last run-through. This is the first time we’ve had her pianist in ages, so I began by giving him all the music notes I’ve been taking this week – he marked them all in his charts, and we discussed where I wanted underscore and what it should be. The run-through was pretty smooth and Juliana is much more comfortable with the patter and she sang beautifully. There were some accompaniment issues, so we made those adjustments afterwards and they both get a day off today and we do a run for friends tomorrow. In fact, if any of our LA denizens would like to attend, please drop me a PM in the AM.
Then I moseyed on over to Madilyn Clark rehearsal studios to see what Kay Cole had done with the two ensemble numbers. They ran the one they’d just finished and it was quite good. I asked her to make a few adjustments to make shooting easier and to keep angles and coverage clean, which she did quickly. And I asked her to simplify two sections so that the viewer would not be distracted by too much movement at the cost of hearing the lyrics clearly. Then she staged the second number very quickly – it’s basically just entering and standing and some hand and head gestures. I think both will shoot really well.
Then I stopped at Gelson’s and got some snacks, then came home, answered all the e-mails that had come in during the day and evening, looked at some of the footage we’d shot, and then had a long telephonic conversation. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get as much beauty sleep as possible.
Today we shoot six musical numbers in a row – thankfully each of them are only a little over a minute long, so hopefully it should all go according to plan. I basically have an hour for each number, which should be plenty of time. We have our full casts for each episode. We’re there until six, and then I’ll probably go have a nice dinner somewhere.
Tomorrow, we do our final run-through for some friends, then the rest of the day and evening are mine all mine. Sunday is sound check and show, and Monday we begin our Kritzerland rehearsals, so a busy week ahead.
Let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora of the Monkey, for today is the birthday of our wonderful dear reader JohnG. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our wonderful dear reader JohnG. On the count of three: One, two, three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR WONDERFUL DEAR READER JOHNG!!!
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, shoot six musical numbers, I must eat, and I must come home and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/video player? I’ll start – Blu and Ray, the Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. CD, too many to mention. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland and then be on my way to day number two of shooting.