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Both VistaBeams are run from the same household circuit; the equivalent of 8KW of
tungsten draws only 1200 watts, or about ten amps. No gennies, no tie-ins, just a simple stinger run
to a common household outlet.
Rob suggests a couple of takes, but for a variety of reasons I insist this is an unrepeatable,
get-it-in-one shot, and we need full coverage in pix and sound on the first attempt. After an excessive
(for Direct Action) amount of blocking and preplanning, we get the shot in one take. It's 9PM; we're
actually ahead of schedule by a bit.
Day 6 - The spilled-wax incident aside, we haven't broken any glass,
trampled any flowers, blown any breakers, or otherwise caused obscene amounts of damage. Nonetheless,
we weren't expecting this when we arrived on the final shooting day:
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How often does a film crew see a
sign like this?
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We're so far ahead of things, we're relaxed, and we can tack on shots that weren't in the original
schedule:
EXTRA CREDIT- Ethan/Alex scene- after dancing
This translates to a calm scene in an upstairs bathroom. It's a light, airy room, but I want to keep
the windows from blowing out, so Tim and Alan rig a Diva-Lite from a furniture clamp on a ceiling beam.
It's out of the way enough that I can aim the camera though the doorway it's above; all I have to do
is avoid seeing it (and myself) in the mirror.
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 Rob ponders beneath a Diva-Lite
400 clamped to a beam.
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Two hours later, we have that scene covered from about three different angles.
I'm getting cocky, so I start doing things like racking focus out at the end of a zoom, or panning
slowly up from the actors sitting on the floor to a still life composition of the outdoors, reflected
symmetrically in the mirror—and by this time, Rob is comfortable enough with my shooting that
he not only lets these indulgences pass, but actually approves of them [grin].
We shoot a final outdoor scene after sunset, with the VistaBeams for fill; they're so bright, I wind
up turning off all but one tube, so that we get only a gentle, modeling edgelight on our actors.
Then we break for a leisurely dinner (Rob's usual craft services lady, Bridget, has been prepping
excellent vittles throughout the shoot), and settle in for some extra pickups for the kitchen scenes.
I put a Litepanels Micro in the EX1's shoe with both the diffuser and full CTO gels on it, and turn it
down to minimum, just for a catchlight and the barest hint of fill in the shadows. We shoot for half
an hour, and with a whispered, "I love you", we have the final shot: it's 11:08pm, only eight minutes
past my estimated wrap time. [1]
Beer, wine, and absinthe all around!
(Absinthe, you know, makes the heart grow fonder. [2])
We return the next day to load out. We send the VistaBeams off with Alan (his Ford Windstar is
big enough for the road case, and he can use the Vistas on a gig), and send one data drive off with Tim
and two with me (we had transferred each card to a drive with XDCAM EX Clip Browser; made QuickTimes
with XDCAM Transfer, and then duped the data onto two additional backup drives). Tim and Alan return
gear to Chater and DTC; I return gear to Videofax. We all go home and catch up on sleep.
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