Drift again

Hello, my lovelies. I just realized that I didn't get a chance to do a post about my last weekend filming the Drift movie. It was really fun, although a bit gruelling. Basically we were filming the last concert that my character plays before he ships off to Sweden to be with his woman. So we had to fake a rock show. Joe and Bob and I, plus a girl named Alison (?) pretended to be the band. The shoot took place at Berbatti's Pan, here in Portland. We filmed half of a Parks & Recreation song, recording the first take. Then we lip-synched to it for subsequent takes. After that, I had to do a song on my own with my acoustic guitar. Same thing: I recorded the first take and then lip-synched to it on subsequent takes while the audience of extras pretended to enjoy themselves, or just spaced out. It was just like a real show! It was really funny to watch the audience's attention span deteriorate after an hour and a half of watching me lip-synch the same song over and over again. There I was, using all of the imagination I could muster to keep my energy up, keep the song fresh, pretending they were all into it while looking out at a dessert of blank expressions. I tried to make eye contact with some of them, but some of them I swear were falling asleep on their feet. It was pretty funny. Between takes I tried to talk to them, you know, keep them interested, but by the end even I was losing steam. Anyway, here are some photos:

This is a back view of the shoot. To the left in the white shirt is Gerry, the DP. Gerry is this really great guy. He's this terrific Welshman who's been around films for a long time. Sometimes I give him video game referrals (Hitman is his current favorite). I really like having him on the set because he has a good eye for acting. In the maroon at the camera is Matt, the director. Matt also has a good eye for acting. He's also blessed with a clear vision, which is nice. In the foreground, in boots is Alisha, the Assistant Director. She also plays a role in the film, and Lucy the makeup designer is to her right. As you can see, we had a huge turn out.

Here is a shot of the "audience". The girl in the red hat kept heckling me. The guy in the red cap had that same expression on his face the entire time. See, just like a real show!












Another shot of the "audience" from my perspective.

This is the "band". Joe is on the left. He had to wear sun glasses and keep his back to the camera so no one would notice that he's actually also the main character in the film. His character isn't in the band, you see. That girl on the right did a great job. Joe, who plays bass in Parks & Recreation, taught her all his basslines and, with no rehearsal at all, she knocked them out. She wore that cool outfit too. That's Matt the director on the right. Bob's in back, behind the drums. Poor drummers. Never get in the photographs, do they?


Here we are on the set of the cafe scene a few weeks ago. That's me on the left, at the table. Joe's at right in the sport coat. Lucy is the blonde girl to the left of Joe. She played the waitress I got to flirt with. Alisha is holding up the gray thingy and Matt's at the camera. You are basically looking at how I spent my Saturday and Sunday mornings all summer. In a cafe at 7AM drinking beer. See the extras with their chicken strips? At 7AM? I ask you!





Here I am getting makeup applied like a real actor would, minus the trailer and the fluffers. (Hey, now...!)










This next photo sums up Matt's experience making the film, I think. I had a great time on this film. It was run really well for being a first feature, and everyone was really professional and great to work with. I really enjoyed every minute of it. Look at Matt. And there's Joe in the background getting all cuddly with Lucy. These are my hardworking and talented friends you're looking at. I'm very proud of them. Stop me before I get too sentimental.

If you want more information about the film, you'll find a link to the Grammar School Pictures blog to the right. Also, there you can find a link to some more photos. These photos, incidentally, were taken by the lovely Yona, who functioned as extras coordinator on the film. She was brilliant to work with and hang out with as well. If you want to see more of her photos, go to her flikr page.
More later!