The Measure of a Man: Week 2

July 12-16, 2010~

On to week 2 of our crazy 5 week shoot...

July 13~  One of our most overwhelming days of the shoot was the day we shot two of my favorite scenes in the movie; the Family Home Evening scene where all the kids got to perform and the Christmas scene.  Just a little FYI in the FHE scene the family does what Andy's family calls "thumbs".  It's a family tradition started by Donald himself where all the family links thumbs and sings a song.  Because of potential legal reasons the family song "We love our family" was rewritten by Elizabeth for the film.  The "thumbs" tradition has been passed down two generations. 

Above is a spontaneous shot of the entire family taken in between takes.

Frank, the Boom Op doing what he does best.

Emogene, Andrew's Grandmother, was played by actress Jennica Schwartzman.  She can also be seen acting alongside her husband in a web series entitled Goon.

 Mother and Son Directors, Elizabeth and Andrew watch intently as a scene plays out.

Next we got to celebrate Christmas!  All the mothers, grips and PA's all chipped in to create a magnificent Christmas in 30 minutes or less.  Quite the feat I might add but very well done!

Actor Jarin Stevens, who plays Donald showing off the bounties of our Christmas morning in July!

Special thanks to the owner of Snider's who generously lent us the antique looking bikes specifically for the purpose of our shoot.

The kids anxiously waiting on the stairs while the Christmas set was being assembled.  We purposely didn't let them see until the cameras were rolling.  It definitely worked!  The looks on the kids faces where priceless and genuine. 

Speaking of Christmas, here is 1st AC Joshua Moore pulling focus on the RED ONE camera.

July 15~ One of our more technical shots was when we recreated the story of when Donny ran over Danny.  Basically our 3 super strong grips pushed this beautiful antique car forward stopping it within a few yards of our little Danny playing in the driving. 

(Below)  Here's a better angle.

And then with the use of what Andy calls "cinemagic" he made it appear that the car was within inches of running him over instead of several feet.  It still made a few people pretty nervous but I promise it was perfectly safe.  

 

We then ran over just his shirt and put it back on him for added effect.

The culprits, Tommy played by Cody Sullivan and Donnie played by Christopher Slaughter after "running over" their younger brother.

Another interesting scene and a perfect example of some of the excellent talent on our set was this scene when little Sammy gets a bat to the head.

Here our primary make-up artist Morgan is applying fake blood to Sammy's head (played by the adorable Jadon Sand).

 Jadon showed me how professional a kid his age could be.  A little ways into the scene his makeup started dripping into his eyes and his fake tears momentarily turned into real tears.  Most everyone couldn't tell the difference (he's that good!) and when asked if he wanted to take a break he opted to push through instead.  I was proud.

The whole family crammed into the family car before their trip to the mountains.

You may have noticed by now all the amazing vehicles in these photos.  We had an incredible car coordinator, Richard Lopez who with the help of the El Camino Club managed to come up with all the vehicles necessary to make it really look the right time period.

 The heat was a major issue.  I don't know who took this picture but I'm glad they did!  This week we spent a good bit of time outdoors and unfortunately this was a typical day during our shoot in Bakersfield.  Even when filming inside we had to keep the air off in order to keep down the noise.  Next time we may want to rethink filming in the middle of summer.

July 16~  One thing you have to know about working with kids on a film is that they have a very limited amount of time they can be on set working, hence the following picture.  In an attempt to save some time one of the grips turned an ordinary apple box into a stand-in for little Mark.

Elizabeth directing a scene between Emogene and Mark.

Here's the chocolate cake that Sammy eats in his infamous scene.  Shhh...  it's not really homemade but it was delicious.
 

A rare photo of me on set taking a break from paperwork.

Our amazing editor Kim!  She's so good that by the end of the shoot we had a rough draft that you could watch from beginning to end.  She also works for HDM and we are so blessed to have her.  

 One thing I'll never forget is all the kids+moms crowding around Kim's computer to watch their work from the previous day.  You could see them get excited about watching themselves on the screen.  It was cute.