Monday, December 5, 2011

Rime of the Awesome Mariner

Last Wed:

Albatross is a bar in Astoria. A real bar with a jukebox, a pool table, the occasional poker game and lots of gay karaoke. In other words, a perfect bar. And exactly the kind of place the character of Amy would work in and Hidell would find himself having one last beer in. I really like Albatross.

The first scene we shot was great - Amy and Hidell sharing a cigarette out back by the dumpster. Even though she doesn't smoke and just had a tonsilectomy, R lit up a smoke and gave M hell, exactly as I always pictured Amy would. R gets Amy and it shows in such brilliantly subtle ways.

The second scene - frostbite central. No more shelter from the wind and it's literally freezing out. The only thing that saved poor M from catching pneumonia was the fact that we rolled out of memory on the camera after the third take.

Last Sat:

We invaded R's apartment at 11am and didn't leave until 14 hours later. The longest day of the shoot and one of the best.

The great thing about not having any money is that you have a ton of time. When you are using someone else's money (or your own) to pay for your shoot, you are constantly working against the clock. When money is not in the equation there is no clock. Something doesn't feel right, you can take a two hour sushi break to talk it over with the cast and crew and work it out. This is a luxury that well funded filmmakers would kill for.

Next on Lifestyles of the Poor and Infamous: First kisses and bedtime for bonzo...