Filming - Day 6 & 7

Yesterday we continued filming on Lakeview Ave. We focused on a couple scenes in front of the Doherty house. One of the residents has graciously allowed us access to her yard and house so we can film. The scenes take place in the first act of the film and feature Brady playing soccer with Tyler and Ben and the first meeting between Maddy and Brady. These scenes have lots of dialogue and take a while to film. We have to take numerous shots of the characters which requires us to move the camera around quite a bit. We also frequently move all our equipment around in order to stay out of the shots, especially those looking out on the street. We keep all our equipment on heavy duty carts though, so it's not too hard to pick up and move everyone. We also had some rain but it didn't last long and we were able to finish the day.

Today we moved over to Lake View Middle School to shoot the soccer game scenes. We had over 200 extras and two youth soccer teams out there so it was quite chaotic. The kids are only 8 years old so they can be a bit difficult to direct and handle. They don't quite understand why we have to stage all the shots. One little girl even asked me at one point if it was the fourth quarter yet.

A big storm came in during lunch so we lost most of the extras and had to move inside. Unfortunately, our cover set (usually an indoor set that we can quickly move to when weather turns bad) was poorly planned and one of the kid actors wasn't even on set. We set the shot up (a short little shot of Tyler, Sam and the other kid sitting outside the Principal's office) and then spent an hour or so waiting for the kid to arrive and go through wardrobe and makeup. After that we had to wrap early, so we'll continue the soccer game tomorrow.

I said earlier that I would be playing the role of the referee, but unfortunately I can't due to SAG rules. However, Amy graciously put me in the role of "Opposing Team Coach" and so I now have a non-speaking role and will be seen in the movie. I was really excited about that. It was funny being the coach after spending all those years as a player.

Anyone who thinks making these movies is simple is beyond wrong. We spend 12 hours each day on set, most of which is spent just setting up the shots. We may work all day and only film a few minutes of the movie. There's just so many little things that need to come together perfectly in order to get a shot off; the camera crew has to set up, the lighting needs to be manipulated, the actors have to be blocked, the set has to be dressed, etc... It's hard to appreciate until you see it in person. Fortunately for all of you we have an excellent group of people filming a bunch of behind-the-scenes material so you'll get to see what all goes into making a film.

Check back this weekend for another update.

Filming - Day 5

We moved over to Winter Garden today for the first of two weeks of location shooting. We're using a small section of Lakeview Ave as our "Laurel Lane" - the fictional neighborhood where Tyler and the Perryfields live. A small section of the street is covered in a canopy of huge, mossy Southern live oaks. It should look beautiful on film.

Today we focused on the first few scenes of the film, specifically the exterior scenes involving mailman Walter Finley (Chris Schmidt), who takes some vacation time and is replaced by Brady. We had a Steadicam operator on hand for several scenes and the rest were shot with a crane rig. The crane shots take especially long to set up, but the Steadicam makes some shots easier since we don't have to reposition a dolly every time.

Tomorrow we continue shooting on Lakeview Ave.

Filming - Day 4

Saturday we started shooting around 4 PM on the sound stage. We shot a scene in Tyler's bedroom that we didn't have time to shoot earlier. Because of child labor laws, Tanner (Tyler) was unable to film a couple shots. Since I'm the resident stand-in, they had me come in and lay on the bed so Bailee would have someone to look at while we filmed. So when you go to the theaters and see the scene where Samantha comes through the window in the morning, I'm actually the one sitting in bed that she's looking at. I also stood in for the next shot with both Robyn and Bailee and actually recited lines, but Tanner was able to come back after our first take and replace me. It was really exciting being in the scene for a real take.

After that we moved the company over to Finnegan's Bar & Grill in the park for the bar scenes with Brady. It took a while to get set up outside but we had a second camera to work with and so we moved a lot faster once we got going. We moved into the bar around midnight and shot until 4 AM. The highlight of the night was a scene where Brady is drunk and stumbles out of the bar. Jeff was given permission to ad lib his farewell to Jack the bartender and came up with some really funny lines, my favorite being "Jimmy Buffet called, he wants his shirt back" (Tom, the actor playing Jack, was wearing a bright floral shirt).

Tomorrow we start filming on location in Winter Garden. Most of the shots will be outside but we will be shooting a couple scenes in a local church.