|
|||||||||||
 |
|
|
|||||||||
| Introduction: Opening the Doors Cast and Crew Prelude Journal 2: ACT 1: Blacklisted! March 6 (Day 2) March 9 (Day 3) March 10-11 (Days 4-5) March 12-13 (Days 6-7) Journal 3: ACT 2: Welcome to Ferndale! March 20 (Day 9) March 21 (Day 10) March 22 (Day 11) March 23 (Day 12) Journal 4: March 26 (Day 13) March 27 (Day 14) March 28 (Day 15) March 29 (Day 16) March 30 (Day 17) Journal 5: April 2 (Day 18) April 3 (Day 19) April 4 (Day 20) April 5 (Day 21) April 6 (Day 22) Journal 6: April 8 (Day 23) April 9 (Day 24) April 10 (Day 25) April 11 (Day 26) April 12 (Day 27) Journal 7: April 16 (Day 28) April 17 (Day 29) April 18 (Day 30) April 19 (Day 31) April 20 (Day 32) April 23 (Day 33) April 24 (Day 34) April 25 (Day 35) April 26 (Day 36) Journal 8: April 30 (Day 37) May 1 (Day 38) May 2 (Day 39) May 3 (Day 40) May 4 (Day 41) May 7 (Day 42) May 8 (Day 43) Journal 9: May 10-11 (Days 44-45) May 14 (Day 46) May 15 (Day 47) May 16 (Day 48) May17 (Day 49) May 18 (Day 50) Journal 10: May 21 (Day 51) May 22 (Day 52) May 23 (Day 53) May 24 (Day 54) May 25 (Day 55) Journal 11: May 29 (Day 56) May 30 (Day 57) May 31 (Day 58) June 1 (Day 59) |
Journal 5 April 3 (Day 19) Upon my arrival on set this morning (a crisp, sunny day in Ferndale), I discover that two busloads of grade school students from a town called Willits (a two-hour drive southeast of Ferndale) arrived in town on Monday to catch a peek at the filming on Main Street. Of course, they had no idea that the company had moved indoors because of the inclement weather. The lead chaperone (no one got a name) finally confessed that the school had not called anyone connected to the production to obtain our permission to view filming (something we might have declined, thus saving them the time and expense). Newspaper editor Titus shows up at mid-morning to collect her promised b/w photo of actor Carrey for her next edition (hitting the stands tomorrow). In addition to giving her an approved photo of the actor in a scene inside Mabel's Diner (an exclusive, by the way), we also give her a photo of Ferndale’s Mayor Farley posing with the movie’s Mayor from Lawson, Ernie Cole (actor DeMunn) taken with our fictional Town Hall in the background. A nice p.r. shot, one that Mayor Farley will hopefully cherish after we leave town (I also give a print to actor DeMunn, who loves it).  Titus sneaks a shot before the security guys notice, then invites me back to her office to provide some comments for this week’s edition, normally handled by location manager Rory Enke, who knows precisely about our day-to-day schedule and upcoming changes. However, Enke has traveled down to Ft. Bragg to begin preparations for our week-long shoot scheduled there immediately after we depart Ferndale, which should happen in about three weeks. Frank’s set-ups for Sc. 80-81 utilizes a Chapman Crane with a 47-foot Lenny Arm III attachment. The sweeping camera moves this equipment allows shows off the town’s main street locale in dramatic fashion while spotlighting Carrey dangling from the sign atop the movie marquee. Crane shots over the years have dominated filmmakers’ repertoire (take a look at the opening sequence of Orson Welles1 1958 classic, “Touch of Evil” as a prime example), and Frank uses them expertly in his own works (another example -- the sweeping move from the prison yard loudspeakers to the captivated inmate crowd in “The Shawshank Redemption”). Precision and expertise are two prerequisites for insuring the camera captures the shot properly during each take. Cameraman Emmerichs operates the camera head attached to the end of the crane by remote control from a dolly cart on which the camera wheels are placed. He views a monitor while turning the wheels following Carrey’s action three stories up outside Harry’s apartment (Carrey is hoisted to his position by a cherry picker crane).  Jamie Young, the company’s second “dolly grip” (those in charge of pushing a crane or dolly on which the camera is placed for a moving or “tracking” shot) supervises the crane move along with “A” camera dolly grip Dave Pearlberg. Pearlberg stands at the front of the crane, near the camera, while Young positions himself at the rear end of the crane by its “bucket,” which contains several dozen metal weights which stabilize the balance of the crane movement. Young states that there is approximately 3,400 lbs. of weight in the bucket (the length of the crane’s arm and the weight at its head, where the camera sits, determine how much weight must be used to permit a fluid move during the shot). After several takes, Frank asks focus puller Page to “check the gate” (refer to Day 1 for translation), and lunch is called. As we walk to the Catholic Church where lunch will again be served, Frank says that he never intended to shoot “The Majestic” in black-and-white (as many films of the ‘50s were shot). He always planned to photograph the movie in color, with the film-within-the-film, “Sand Pirates of the Sahara,” being the only b/w footage used. There was talk at one time about digitally muting the color stock (provided by Kodak, the primary film stock supplier in the world) to create a more monotone look. My colleague at Kodak, Don Henderson, refers to the Coen Bros. recent movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” as an example of this process. In the end, Frank and producer Behnke decided against this special and costly process. Over lunch (roast turkey with all the trimmings), Frank relates an interesting anecdote about his last film, “The Green Mile.” Upon its release in late 1999 (running well into the new year), the film’s success also resulted in an additional sale of 1,000,000 copies of Stephen King’s novel (although they haven't spoken in a while, Frank and King are good friends, and have been for almost twenty years). After eating with Frank and stills photog Nelson, we return to Main Street to begin Sc. 81, which will again utilize the massive camera crane. For this setup, Carrey stands on a ladder in front of the marquee, adding the missing letters to the horizontal sign positioned at the bottom of the huge vertical neon tower. Carrey’s character of Luke at this stage of the story has become comfortable in Lawson (as the actor, I feel, has also become on location in Ferndale). He plays this scene playfully, ad-libbing different bits of dialogue for each of the half-dozen takes. He suggests to director Darabont that it would be appropriate to have Lawson’s citizens yell out the town’s name when they unveil the theater’s movie marquee. While Carrey is the central figure featured in each scene, the rest of the principal cast (sans actor Whitmore) stands on Main Street, applauding when the tarp falls away as they see the neon tower of The Majestic. Later in the afternoon, Frank turns his camera around to film the crowd reacting to this heartwarming moment. On the way back to Eureka for the night (but not before a quick glass of wine at Curley’s), I listen to a taped interview on KHSU-FM, the area’s local National Public Radio outlet, with screenwriter Michael Sloane. Sloane and I visited the station ten days ago to record the half-hour chat with “Artwaves” host Wendy Butler, who does a very nice job in cutting the show together, blending in her introductory comments with Sloane’s spirited repartee. Tomorrow -- halfway home! |
||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||
| back to menu | |||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
 |
|||||||||||
