BACKROADS production report: Day 4

As previously mentioned, there were a few key scenes we missed during the regular three days of shooting, necessitating a fourth day of production with a "skeleton crew" that included Tracy, Alex (1st AC), Mark, Ryan Gregory, PAs Gerald and Scott, and of course the actors, Brent and Josh.  We used our foresight well and filmed everything that required recording live sound during the first three days, allowing us to shoot everything MOS without a sound crew present.

It turned out to be a little bit of a treat of a day as an independent filmmaker, as I operated camera and served as co-DP with Alex, and did a lot of "guerilla-style" filmmaking as we raced against the sun and looming rain clouds to get all the pick-up shots we needed.  I haven't framed all of my own shots, operated the camera, and directed all of the lighting while simultaneously directing the actors and serving virtually as my own 1st AD in a very long time.  While this day reminded me  on one level why I certainly don't miss it very much due to the added stress that accompanies such multi-tasking, the satisfaction of getting a shot when so much of the responsibility is on your own shoulders is overwhelming.

As we approached the end of the shooting schedule, rain clouds were literally minutes away from opening up on us.  We rushed the actors into positions (Brent had to drive by in the truck and pick up Josh).  It was a difficult shot because I was operating the camera hand-held, with a large black cloth draped over Alex and I so that we could see the monitor in the glaring sunlight, and we had to track along backwards down the uneven road.  Of course by the time we were finally in position and tried to get the shot off, the rain began to fall.

We tried to shoot through the drip-drip-drip that introduced the showers, but ultimately we had to retreat to our cars and wait out the rain.  Of course the biggest worry was that the rain would outlast our patience and / or our sunlight.  Still, we kept our spirits up.  Gerald certainly helped with his sun dance performance under an umbrella (ella, ella):

 It poured for almost an hour, but there was a brief lapse and we quickly scurried back to work.  We rushed back out onto the road, found a stretch without any visible puddles, and reset the shot.  We ended up getting five takes, at least a couple of which actually look pretty darn good.  You would never know the circumstances surrounding those shots had we not shared the story, which is a testament to everyone who helped pull the scene off.

Then we had to get the final shot of Josh running up to the truck.  It was supposed to be an extreme wide shot, but we were limited by the area of roadside we had to work with.  One side had the proper background, but we couldn't move far enough back to be extremely wide because of the bushes and barbed wire on the opposite side of the road.  Likewise, we couldn't use that side of the road as our backdrop.  Eventually I was so frustrated (or inspired) that I hacked away at the overgrown grass and bushes (trying unsuccessfully to steer clear of the thorns) until I had a space large enough to shoot through, then hopped over the barbed wire fence and asked for the camera.  I then realized I was covered by tiny green spiders, but by this point in the shoot I had grown so accustomed to ants, scorpions, snakes, and other minor dangers than baby spiders hardly bothered me.  Alex stood on one side of the barbed wire and I on the other, and we got the shot.  We rushed through it a few times, still worried about the rain, but then realized that the rain gods had spared us from any more torment.  A little patience and we had the martini.

Afterwards I took some time to capture some nice landscapes, clouds, shots of the road, horses, cows, and other pretty cutaways.  The actors went home.  We packed up the equipment and took our time and soaked it in.  We were wrapped.