Filming Day 5 – Part 1

Day 5 of shooting Mountain Cult presented its own unique challenges. This is the one day that I felt would be the easiest to shoot – and I was wrong big time.

Pat, who I met through my Meetup group and cast as the voice on the phone, agreed to allow me to use her kitchen for the shoot. Sebastian Sage returned to play his beloved character of Edward.

Before the shooting even began, I needed to put together the props. In this Scene, the character of Edward demonstrates his new found passion for baking Ice Cream. He is so passionate about ice cream, in fact, that he actually launched a Facebook business and began selling it from his kitchen.

When we met Edward in Episode 4, he tricked my character into drinking a roofied beverage. Edward is part of Mountain Cult and admitted that he was blackmailed into joining. I thought it would be funny to have my character confronting a cult member in their home only to discover him selling home-made ice cream.

But how do you even make ice cream? I didn’t know. That’s why I had to make it myself several weeks prior to filming; in order to add a sense of authenticity. I discovered that I could purchase a simple mixer for $20. The main ingredients to vanilla ice cream are sugar, evaporated milk, cream, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.

But how would I make Edwards Ice Cream mixing appear more as a business than a hobby? Decoration. I ordered a chefs robe and hat. I used my experience applying graphics to T-shirts to attach logos to the uniform. I found a still from Episode 4 of Edward that I felt would work and photoshopped it for his graphic. Even the font for a his business had to have a personalized feel to it – so I created a new font at fontstruct.com.

The chef’s hat did not arrive on time so I stopped by a Halloween shop and found one there. Unfortunately the hat was not adjustable and after applying the graphic I realized it might not fit Sebastian’s head. I ordered a second, adjustable Chef’s hat and made the entire thing again.

The script calls for a character who is heard off screen during my scene with Edward. She appears briefly at the end of the scene. Because I would have to cast another actor for the shoot, I decided to axe this character. After speaking with Sebastian, however, he convinced me that including the character would add the extra layer of comedy to the scene that was needed. I ultimately did cast the character, but only sent out for demos and auditions 2 weeks prior to our shooting date.

I used the logo I designed for “Edward’s Tasty Cream” and applied it to ice cream containers and an ornamental fence thing. I purchased all the ingredients for ice cream and brought my mixing bowls and mixers out for the shoot. I stopped by Pat’s the week before filming and took pictures all throughout the kitchen so I could get a grasp on which angles would play best for the scene. I realized early on that the kitchen features a hollow echo – so utilizing lavalier mics the entire day would be wise.

This shoot was the first time I slept the night before. I intended to shoot 4 pages plus some bonus youtube content and knew it was going to be a long day. Piper, who played the role of the offscreen character “Shiloh”, would be arriving at noon.

I intended to arrive at Pat’s at 7 am, 1 hour before Sebastian. This would allow me time to set up and rehearse my lines.

I woke up feeling a little to comfortable. I think it was a result of being sleep deprived and overworked for 7 straight days. Whatever the case I just moved slowly that morning. I wound up not leaving my place until 7, despite its 45 minute drive. I would rehearse my lines on the way to Pat’s.

Then, 30 minutes in, I realized I had forgotten one very important prop – the plant! During the scene at the antique shop, my character arrives with a potted plant that he claims is a gift from Edward. This does not make sense if my character does not leave Edward’s place with that plant in hand.

I stopped by a lowes to pick up a clone of it. But they didn’t have it (!). I would have to stop at another Lowes, and I did. They had it there. Not I was going to arrive at 8:30. Sebastian informed me he was running late as well.

For some reason that I will never be at peace with, google maps directed me to take side roads the remainder of the journey. I honestly don’t know what the hell happened, but I wound up way behind my initial forecasted time of arrival. To make things worse, I needed ice, gatorades and water to supply the actors with. How in the hell there was not a single gas station in my vicinity for the next 20 minutes I will never understand. I stopped by a ultra small liquor store and picked up 4 gatorades, 4 waters, and a pack of ice.

Finally, at 9:30, I arrived. We still had two hours until Piper arrived. If I moved fast, we could get some quality takes. But there was a dilemna – remember that bonus youtube content I mentioned? The script called for my character to find a online video of Edward mixing ice cream. I only had enough ingredients to make one batch of ice cream.

I didn’t have a choice – I had to start the day by filming Edward in a different shirt mixing the ice cream ingredients. We only would have one take to get this right. I instructed him the proper way to make the ice cream, set up a single microphone, and filmed the scene on my cell phone. This felt like it would add a layer of authenticity to a person making youtube videos for their home ice cream business.

By the time we finished these takes, it was already noon. Piper arrived and we had to set up for her shoot without doing a single take for Edward yet. I think we began filming her at 1 pm all the way until 3. I probably took more takes then necessary, but I always seem to do that during the beginning of filming. Time feels infinite when it is early. It’s not until the sun starts going down that I start racing.

Time to go to work but I’ll try and post part 2 tomorrow.