Week 3/4 of The Storm

DATE OF ORIGINAL ATTEMPTED POSTING: April 11th, 2006 (another hooped blog from when Blogger deleted my film entries)

Sorry for the delay on this blog – it also was deleted way back in April. I just never found the time to rewrite it until now. Although the writing is rushed and might not flow as smoothly. So have fund reading it. :)

Four days left with main crew and principle photography. Then the key supporters are going to shoot a 'splinter' unit together. :) This will be a two day stint with a pack of like 10 of us.

It's been a crazy week. I should have been more up to date with blogging - as I'm sure you have all been on your toes waiting. We FINALLY wrapped out of City Hall and that end of the downtown core this morning. Man alive - I've never met a sketchier city area.

I don't know exactly how to explain the situation in Hamilton. I mean - I live in Toronto - but after being here, I feel so much safer in Toronto than here. Isn't that nuts? There are more petty crimes and whatnot per capita here for sure. Also - there are many people here who display a great distress psychologically. Like - picture Queen & Sherbourne - only multiply the number of 'interesting folk' by like 100 - then add the fact that they aren't that friendly - then locate them all in one central area of Hamilton - and you will find the world we have been shooting in. At least in Toronto, you get to know the people in the area and you can even have conversations with them - as they are friendly and talkative. Here - there is a darkness that is unexplainable. May be due to the 'Mordor' factor - steel factory?

It’s pretty fascinating – when you drive through the city. There are some slummy parts and in the background you can see the smoke stacks spewing think smoke and the fires burning off the pollution. Then on the street corner, there are children playing in bright clothing, skipping, running – all happy. Such a contrasting moment – I was taken aback on our trip to the dump one day when this is all I kept encountering. I’m not saying you can’t be happy in Hamilton – more just that the contrast between the colorful & hopeful youth against the grimy city blocks, some which have been sorely polluted due to the proximity with the factories.

Back to our world shooting in the downtown areas of Hamilton – our one colorful week near City Hall.

We were shooting near St. Paul's Cathedral one night - and Chris and myself were on set, so we helped out by doing a lock off on the side streets. We were shooting the scene where David carries Nicole down an empty street. We had three PDOs that night doing the major intersection blockades, and they allowed us to stop the side traffic. Anyway. Here I am all alone on one side of the main street - where the bulk of the cars 'ruining' our shots are coming down. And across the intersection from me are Chris & one of the PDOs. Out of nowhere, this guy comes out to cross. I approached him and asked if he needed to travel through the street - as we would need to hustle him over very quickly as they were about to shoot. His response: "yeah. what's your name?". Is he drunk? Is he friendly? I don't know how to read this yet. I smiled and explained that we were shooting a feature film and if he didn't cross right away he would have to wait another 5 minutes. He let me know that it would be great if he could hang out on this side with me and continued to ask if anyone could walk through when we were rolling, and when I told him the goal was to avoid that, he asked me who would help me if I was alone with him on this side. So yeah - starting to feel a little threatened - because on top of this he is advancing and completely interferring with my sense of personal space. So anyway - at this point I began to walkie (as discreetly as possible) for Chris to help me out on this side - because I had a gentleman who wanted to cross and wouldn't. The guy was not happy with this at all - and his tone switched instantly. "Who's this? Why you calling over the boys? Do I have to beat them up? I'll beat him up!!!" At this point, I just said 'help' over the walkie and the PDO began to run over. It just sucks sometimes. He was escorted through the street and began to scream as loud as he could that he would come back and stab all of us. Now, on a normal day, wouldn't think anything of that type of comment - really affects you in a new environment. We still had a week to shoot in this area - why wouldn't he come back to stab us?

By the end of the night, I was offloading a bunch of location gear from our 12 passenger and loading it into the Location/Art cube truck - when I realized that I was all alone in the parking lot. One with a bunch of hidden alleyways/nooks and dark zones. I sat there wondering and very much aware of my surroundings - this guy could still be in the area - and he honestly came out of nowhere - he could do it again. This time, I'm alone - there's no one nearby and my arms are full carrying full loads from one vehicle to the next, so I had a steady path that I could easily zone into. So yeah - paranoid moments in Hamilton.

There were nights where strange local folk just wandered onto set and hung out. They would walk right up to our gear fidget with something then walk away murmurring words. Hamiltonites did come out and check out our set - and they were very respectable - they would ask us what was going on and simply watch a take or two. Film sets are entertaining, especially when you have never seen one work. We had the drunken crowds run past set screaming as loud as they could because they knew we were shooting. We were shooting right beside a YWCA on Friday night - and the film liaison office neglected to mention that there was a 'teen' dance party happening that let out at 10pm!!! Man o man alive. We had to stop shooting, because our actors kept falling out of the moment (and it was one of the actresses' dying scenes). Also - we were swarmed by a very large amount of teens in deep background. They were all over the place. Alot of the crew were at the end of the street trying to get the kids to keep on walking and also to stop any equipment from being touched. They just wouldn't leave. Some kids were banging on our vehicles, others were climbing our light stands. We didn't order PDOs for this night - so we were screwed. I spoke to the local police station and they did in fact send a cruiser over, which worked for like 5 minutes until he left. The kids cleared out when the cruiser was there - but the moment he left a large posse of young'ns came back around the corner to just float around in our background. We could do nothing but wait for them to leave. Bummer. Still made our day - by cutting shots. Ugh.

Last night - there were two windows kicked in right near set (huge store window as well as one from City Hall) - so there were cops at these locations waiting until the windows were all repaired at both locations. So - we basically had our own personal security for a long while. Comforting? We had gear on the bottom of the parking area of city hall as well as the overhead area. So we always had to make sure people were scattered doing gear watch.

The shot that cracked me up. We did a shot where the production RV was in the background for 3/4 of the shot. A bunch of us were around the monitor watching the take, when all of a sudden I noticed it in the background – it would start out smaller, then become the entire backdrop. We were doing a dolly shot – semi circle track – all terrible. Anyway, I told mags who couldn’t stop laughing, and she then told karl who told Todd – who did nothing. When they finally yelled cut, I was like ‘Can we please get another take?’ People started to argue with me when I said we needed a clean master without an RV backdrop. :p Can anything scream “we’re on a film production set” more than having a production RV in the background? Where do you ever randomly see RVs? Yes - it is possible for an RV to be displaced, especially at the end of all things, and that the thing ends up in an abandoned parking lot somewhere. Probably not what the audience will be thinking. It was our ONLY take – it was a terrible moment. Our script supervisor contested with taking a second take the most! I was like HOW??? If a producer asks for another shot, trust me, there is usually a very good reason they don’t want to move on. I did not play the ‘producer’ card on this film – but I definitely was going to at this very moment. Ugh.

Friday was a very rough day. It was pouring rain. Chris, Caleb and myself were on location coning off the parking spots, watching the water build up on the ground, thinking about Hugh and how he would want to set the generator if there are so many pools of water. I was on the phone with someone when Chris got a call and started walking away from me. He seemed hurried. I simply followed him, continuing my phone conversation with Anton or Darryl. Chris stopped suddenly, turned to me and said that Todd was just in a car accident. "Is he okay?" I don't remember what Chris said - but he kept walking away - because the accident had happened two blocks from us. We walked to James' street and you couldn't see the cars yet - but you could see traffic swerving around a mass. All I could see when I walked over the 'hill' was people walking around - and relief set in. Todd was at the corner and on the phone and it seemed like everyone was out of the car in the second vehicle.

Todd was travelling down from the hilly side and going underneath the train overpass, which completely conceals the traffic light, and at the last second noticed the traffic light - and it was red. It was raining also. He slammed on his breaks, but it was too late, as another vehicle was travelling through at the same time. He hit him right on his side - and the mini SUV turned into him on impact. The driver was brought to the hospital - but I believe he is okay - whiplash for sure (which can suck). The driver of the second vehicle was in good spirits - as good as they could be. Todd's initial 'accident adrenaline' was fading. We made the call to pull the plug on the day. About 25 minutes later - after the rain had finally let up and it felt as though a clearing was upon us, after the cast shuttle had been notified, cast had travelled home, chuck was on the road to brantford again and crew had been receiving the calls - Todd asked that we shoot tonight. So we did that too. We turned the shuttle around, called the daily crew and the cast to find their way back to the shuttle, cancelled the 'plug day' on crew and started to prep for the shoot. We had very grumpy cast (understandebly) - so we bought them Tim Hortons' goodness to cheer them up upon arrival. Chris remained with Todd at the accident - Karl and I traveled to the house and began the last minute scramble for supplies needed due to sitting water and a wet set (ex. Tar paper shopping).

On set - Todd's face had noticeably began to swell up/bruise - due to the impact on the airbag. Also, his body was beginning to stiffen and he experienced the seatbelt bruising/pain. All in all - he was in good spirits and he had a great shoot day. Although his weekend found him walking around like an old man, he came through the accident with very little injury - which is incredible.

I can't quite place what else happened last week. I mean we shot the 'Parousia' sequence last week - but I slept through it. :) I was at the house working through accounting stuff. Catherine (the lovely woman that she is) was feeding me vitamins and juice and trying to get more food in me as I worked at their house. I decided to grab a half hour nap before heading to set. That became 6 hours. You can't trust a friend to wake you up - because they are trying so hard to put you to sleep. Ugh. I peeked over the couch to see Magali putting on her shoes. I said something, then she asked me if I could print off the call sheets. I was like "now? it's before lunch!". She was like 'it's 5.30!!!'. Ugh. Oh well - it would have been great to be on set to see that scene being filmed, but whatever. :p

Poor Mags, so many times I’ve asked her to wake me up – and she honestly can’t break my sleep once I get to bed. I sleep talk to her. I found that napping on the Jones’ living room couch worked best for me – and it would always be while we were shooting. It’s cause I worked during the day time as well. And this comfortable couch was only really available during the night (when the family was sleeping). Otherwise you would have Grace and Cademum crawling all over you during the day. Sweet, but not sleep worthy. : )

This weekend was horrible for sleep. I was very tired - but never had a comfortable sleep. I don't like my bed anymore. I love sleeping on the couch, and find great enjoyment in it - however, I'm trying to recondition my body to sleep in a bed. I just took a 2.5 hour nap on the Jones' couch - and boy did I miss their couch (so comfy).

Not this weekend, but the weekend before - we spent Saturday bringing the Jones' household back to it's normal state (minus the fact that there are 6-8 extra people in this house at all times). That was fun. The art department had to put this 'frost in a can' stuff all over the windows for the filming, and man is that stuff impossible to take off!!! It's still on some of the harder to get to windows. It's an oil base substance that is just challenging. The house took the whole day to clean. We moved furniture in and out. It rained the night before, so tearing down things like the tent in the backyard was just messy. I was pulling out cardboard that we set down to minimize muddy puddles that everyone would be walking through. Well, the cardboard disintegrated into the dirt – so that clean up was slow and muddy. :) But it’s done. The rain held out – only minute drizzles. Thank God!!

After another annoying key search with Lisa, Karl, Magali, Chris and myself (like 2 hours this time – and they were found in a spot that we all looked) – most of the crew went to bed. Chris and I worked through tearing down the main things and cleaning things up. The crew had to sleep – cause if anyone can catch up during the shooting nights it’s Chris & I.

A side note – we really really really suck at losing keys. We have misplaced RV keys, and almost every vehicle key (even though they were all attached to big yellow plastic pouches). One night – I stayed behind from set because I had lost the van key – and could not for the life of me find it. Then when I was upstairs in the office, I heard something hit the floor. The keys were behind the radiator. They must have dropped when I put my coat on there to rest and fallen behind but not all the way. SO ANNOYING. Honestly.

Back to the cleaning story. The windows – I honestly can’t tell you how much I tried to clean these things. Only fantastik was working for me – and you aren’t even supposed to use that on windows. I had all these different sprays and solutions with me outside on a ladder testing them out. In the end, a week later, we found out that vinegar worked best. Wow.

After everyone was awake and the cleaning was wrapping up – and damage assessments were complete (my favorite was Wilkin letting me know that ‘a bit of paint had come off the wall’ - when it was an ENTIRE CHUNK OF PLASTER!!!) – the five of us (Chris, Goose, Lisa, Karl and I) decided to go for a drive around the nicer parts of Hamilton and go get some food. Ah Slaintes. We never did shoot there – but it was wonderful. It was because of this night at dinner that we decided not to shoot there – we realized how loud it really was. Incredible. We ate, returned to the Jones’ residence and watched movies. I actually just fell asleep next to Lisa on the couch – I was hooped. They ended up watching like 3 movies before calling it quits.

No more condos for me. After thinking about it – I decided not to get a condo in Toronto. Shocking. Actually – not in the least. It was more of my desire to have stability in my life – even though it is not the path I truly need to follow at the moment. Owning a condo would mean a place to go at the end of the day, a place to call my own. A place I can travel away from, and always come home to. Anyway, I had actually put one of the condos at Aquarius on hold – but after thinking about it, I declined. It was on the 8th floor overlooking Exhibition (so no construction would go before it for at least 20 years). It had a very large terrace that would allow for a south view. It was small but had beautiful finish throughout the condo. Oh well. The reality here is that I would love to own a condo in Vancouver overlooking the mountains and the ocean. I don’t need to settle just yet. But that’s my sporatic condo story’s conclusion. I am someone who thinks and researches a great deal before going through with big purchases or decision making. Sometimes it just takes me a bit longer to conclude. :)

My father is back from out East. He left after my grandmother had reached a stable condition. She is doing much better and will be going home at the end of the week – which is incredible. (thank you for all your prayers). My grandmother is not well in general, her health has greatly depleted and she doesn’t take care of herself. She is having great problems breathing on her own and will probably be on oxygen for the rest of her life. I worry for my uncle who has given up everything to move back out East to be with her and take care of her. My parents always say that he missed his true calling in life – because to see how he is with the elderly in my grandmother’s building is to see someone who has found his place in this world. He should have worked in the field of gerontology. It’s never too late, and he is technically working with them and for them – he takes care of all the people in her building. He brings them shopping and does errands for them. He sits and listens to them and talks to them (simply spending time with them is a great thing). He just isn’t paid to do it. I think my uncle is doing better too – it was nice for him to have my father out there to show some support. :)

Weight loss. Over the past few weeks, my weight has dropped significantly. As much as a woman loves to say ‘Hey, I dropped 10 lbs’, it very much is the opposite reaction with myself. Dropping 10lbs can be horrible for my entire system – and it has been. My eating is all out of whack on this project. I’m not eating right (all SUGAR and I’m addicted to stinkin’ Coca Cola again) and with my sleeping pattern and excessive schedule, it’s no wonder my system is unhappy with me. What scares me the most is the only people who have noticed are those working with me. Usually it’s people on the outside who look at you and say ‘wow, you’ve lost weight’…but here it’s my closest working friends. Magali has been worried about me, Martine made a comment the other day, Lisa said something to me, Catherine expressed some worry. I am worried. I don’t know how this is. I mean – I logically do, but it scares me. I’ve been down this road before – when I was living with a crazy roommate, I simply stopped eating. This is because she was eating all my food and I couldn’t afford to buy more food and simply have her eat it on me. That summer I dropped 15 lbs, and it was very hard to gain the weight back. Worst – it is difficult to gain it back in a healthy fashion. Your metabolism goes all out of whack, you need to find the time to exercise on a very steady schedule (which is difficult when you’re in production), and the last time this happened to me – I saw a glimpse of what it was like to be anorexic. Don’t get me wrong – I love food! But when you lose a good amount (%) of your body weight and see certain problem areas disappearing – it can truly play mind games on you. This time around, I did not have that same problem. I am very happily eating again at home on a regular schedule. Yum. None the less, I’m very disappointed in myself for this weight loss. I can’t allow this to keep happening on productions, or I will have to make the decision that this line of work is not healthy for me. :(

This is the film life. We’re almost done! Crazy.