Final Moments of "The Coffee Quintet"

This was shot from my (Chana's) little camera while I was on the set during the final moments of the filming of Coffee Quintet.  From left - Stephen Vendette, Christina Valo, John Le May, Tara Hunnewell, Barry O'neil, Allegra Leuthold (slating), Jerry Ranger (at the end).  

Day 3 (Chana's Post)

It's 11:00pm and I'm finally home from this crazy whirlwind of an experience filming "The Coffee Quintet". As we were wrapping up - cleaning up after our final moments of shooting, I had a real sense of gratefulness for this whole experience. It's really amazing that the elements involved in making this film just sort of fell into place. Especially when you understand that there is no reason why they should.
My feet are killing me from standing so long waiting on the set. I've eaten more junk food in the past 3 days than I have in the past 3 years. I have spent hours and hours with people who I'd never even met prior to Sunday, and yet I'm left with a real satisfaction in just "producing" something. Something that at one time was just a thought or an idea or a good rhyme or a catchy (really catchy) tune. I marvel at how a group of strangers can come together for a few days and create something where there wasn't anything. So, yes, I'm grateful. And also, a little nauseous from the package of thin mints I just scarfed down.

It's a wrap!

They actually say that on a set! We finished at 5:15. A quick champagne toast to cast and crew, and now we're frantically packing up to clear the room for a class coming in at 6:30. Lots to return tomorrow as well as some dings and scratches to repaint. Back to work...

Almost done...

3:35 on Wednesday. We have 1 1/2 hours to do the last song. Actually the first song. But it's only two characters, so hopefully it will go fast. Hopefully fewer airplanes. We're right in the flight path of Burbank Airport, and every few minutes a jet comes thundering overhead. Funny how you notice things only when they affect you! We already had some lady in a diesel Mercedes who was idling her car outside the set, and we had to politely ask her to move, since the rumble was getting into the microphones. I was afraid I was going to have to slip her a $20 to move.

We just sent home 3 of our 5 cast members. They all seemed to have had fun. I hope so.

In the home stretch...

Day 3 (Carl's post)

So far, so good. We finished yesterday getting through everything on our "must-have" list. Everyone left feeling good about the day and hopeful about the next day. I skipped dinner with the crew so I could get some work done on my other musical. I think I probably got in about 1 hour of work before passing out from exhaustion! 

Woke up at 5:00 am worrying about "what if our camera guys forgot to put tape in the cameras?" I figured that was something I couldn't do anything about. Then went on to "What if our rental truck got towed for parking on the street overnight?" So I got dressed and drove by the truck at 5:15 am just to make sure it was still there. Fortunately it was, so I went out for an early breakfast at Denny's.

We're starting off this morning with a couple of close-up shots of Christina, in which she has a "fantasy" scene in a very lightweight costume. No pictures of this one on the blog, I'm afraid. You'll have to watch the movie!

Still hoping to finish shooting today and strike everything tomorrow. Nobody really knows what we're going to do with the set pieces. I hope we don't have to cart them to the landfill. Maybe we'll put up a listing on craigslist. I'd love to be able to sleep in my own house tomorrow night.

Just did a cast photo. They are five very good sports. They have put in a lot of time on this!

Okay, so getting ready to block the next scene... Fingers crossed!

Clip from "Blessing in Disguise"

Day 2 - (Chana's Post)

We were running low in the craft's services department so I picked up donuts and veggies at Ralphs this morning.  Of course, I promptly forgot to set out the veggies, so at least we having something healthy to snack on tomorrow.  

Another great day of filming.  What an amazing crew!  Not only do they do great work, but so pleasant to work with.  Today we shot scenes 2 and 3 (the second and third song in reverse order) I spent most of my time shooting pictures or video of the shoot.  Also, we were short one extra so I made a little cameo appearance.  Very little.  I think all you'll see is a blur of brown hair, which is fine by me.  Somehow Carl escaped making a cameo appearance.  He has this excuse about having to handle the music, but I'm thinking maybe he can be dragged out tomorrow sometime.  I'm going to post a picture of one of the "steadycams" that Carl blogged about.  It's quite an interesting piece of equipment.  Oh, that's the cameraman attached to it. I've also added a video of a clip I shot with my little mini-camcorder.  The clip is from the song "Blessing in Disguise" featuring Christina Valo (facing) Stephen Vendette (to the left) Barry O'neil (partially hidden and behind the coffee bar) and briefly glimpsing John LeMay to the right.  It's pretty hard to shoot around all the real camera gear, but you can kind of get an idea.  Another early day tomorrow with the final two songs of the show.  So far so good!  

Day 2 morning (Carl's post)

6:55 am came very early this morning, but we loaded in and started re-building the set. 

Everything went surprisingly well and quickly. I think we got it all set up in about an hour. Right now the sound guys are wheeling in a new cart that is twice as big as the one they brought yesterday. The lighting guy has all his lights set and turned on. I'm nervously watching the breaker box. I hope this place has adequate electrical service. The Camera guys have set up their Steadi-cams on their little holders. Not so little, actually: the holders look pretty beefy. They should be, they're holding up $80,000 cameras. Please, nobody trip on them...

The cast has almost finished make-up and rehearsals. It's 9:44, and I think we were going to try starting at 10:00 am. So far, so good.

I was testing out my music playback system this morning and Chana walks over and says, "Well, I guess it's too late to change the music." HA! Yes, it is. Although I guess we can fix a lot in post...

Day 1 - Monday (Chana's Post)

Actually I was the first one there!  Carl was parked in the back, waiting in the back, while I was wandering around the front of ANMT wondering where everyone was.  A few minutes later Russell walked in and then I heard from Carl, and people started showing up and moving like worker bees around the large rehearsal room at ANMT - dressing the set.  Jo and Betsy did an amazing job making the set look realistic.  I was actually fairly blown away by the transformation. I began setting up "craft services".  I have no idea why it's called that, considering there's very little craft in opening a box of granola bars and placing them on a plate, but nonetheless I set them out as well as the muffins, fruit, weird little cheese danish thingies, trail mix and water that I had purchased at Costco on Saturday.  Then it was off to McDonalds to pick up breakfast from the crew.  I can't remember the last time I bought at Egg McMuffin, but the crew needs protein in the morning.  After a run to Kinko's to copy 30 film scripts for cast and crew, I got back just after most of the actors had arrived.  It was fun seeing the reactions on the actors' faces when they saw the transformed main room at ANMT.  Before long, it was time to order lunch from Koo Koo Roo.  I had no idea writing involved ordering and picking up so much food.  

By the time we actually started shooting, I was already exhausted.  But, at least I got to sit at the back of the set with my little camera and shoot bits of the shooting.  I also helped out a little by watching the book if an actor needed a line shouted out.  The process was pretty interesting.  Definitely looking forward to the Tuesday shoot! 

Day 1 (Carl's Post)

Day 1 of the shoot is done. A long day, but a good day.

Call time for the crew was 7 am, so a little less than 6 hours sleep before it was back in the drive-through lane of McDonald's for a cup of coffee and an egg McSomething-or-other, and back to the shoot. I was the first one there and was met in the alley by the rental truck by a half dozen men pushing shopping carts. They all seemed to be looking for something (recyclables, I think) and didn't take much notice of me staring fixedly at my coffee cup. (By the way McDonald's has really advanced the science of disposable coffee cup design.) 

At seven, the rest of the crew started showing up, and we looked at the state of the set and began figuring out what needed to be done. My biggest concern for the day was that we were going to have to build this elaborate set, and then take it down in time for a 6:45 pm rehearsal that was to take place in the same room later that evening.

My duties in the morning involved a trip to the hardware store, and then an hour or so of setting up my station for music play-back. The cast started arriving around 10 with a selection of their own clothes for costuming. Allegra (the Assistant Director) asked me to help pick out clothes for them, but I politely declined. Whatever creative skills I may have, picking out clothes is not one of them. Allegra suggested that I go run an errand for them instead. We needed some lighting gear from a rental company called Wooden Nickel Rentals. I got the shopping list of what we needed and set off with a hastily-printed Google map of where I was going. 

This map showed the rental office as having an address in the 5900 block, and yet Google showed the location as being in the 6300 block. I was certain that Google had made a mistake and gotten their locations wrong, somehow. I took a chance and followed their directions, however, and turned into a desolate-looking alleyway hoping to find some place called Wooden Nickel. (The alley actually looked like the location for the movie Punch Drunk Love.) At the end of the alley were 8-10 Ryder rental trucks variously loading and unloading in front of a cavernous looking warehouse. I meekly parked my minivan next to what looked like a 20-foot box truck (with lift gate!) being driven by guys who looked to be life-long teamsters. I wandered into the warehouse having no idea what I was there for or how I would get it. 

Now, lighting equipment generates some heat. When it is on. When it is not on, it doesn't generate much heat. Why, then does Wooden Nickel Rentals keep their warehouse cooled to 17 degrees Farenheit? It was freezing cold in there, despite being a beautiful day outside.

Wandering in the warehouse door I was desperately looking for some guidance when I saw a hand-lettered sign pointing further in that read, "Front Desk" with a sign pointing towards the back of the warehouse. Why does Wooden Nickel Rental put their "front" desk at the back of the warehouse? This seems to be a place of contradictions.

I was finally helped by a lady who assured me that all the paperwork I had carefully faxed to them several days earlier was nowhere to be found, and that I would have to fill it all out again, along with locating the mysterious document known as an Insurance Certificate. After several phone calls and many minutes later, she was able to examine the newly-faxed Insurance Certificate to her satisfaction and allowed me to show her the list of items I was there to procure. I only glanced at the list before I left, but now was left handing her a handwritten list that included items like:

1/4 crate boxes

sandbags (cheap)

Gaffer's tape

6" C-clamp with baby spuds.

I'm the kind of guy who likes to go to the hardware store knowing exactly what I need, so that I don't look like an idiot when the person helping me asks whether that screw I need is metric or not. I may have no idea, but I like to be prepared for the question, at least. Handing a woman who looked like she had seen a thousand lighting guys from the studios a list that included something labeled "C-clamp with baby spuds" made me nervous. I was half wondering if someone was playing a cruel joke on me. 

In the meantime it's 12:15 and we were hoping to start shooting at 1. I'm never going to make it.

The lady didn't even blink about the baby spuds, and handed the list to a guy nearby whose job it was to grab the items on my list. He didn't burst out laughing about the baby spuds. Now my curiosity was growing to see what baby spuds on a C-clamp looked like. How do they differentiate from adult spuds?

The guy came back with a heavy-duty flatbed cart loaded with all manner of strange devices, and sure-enough, some strange looking C-clamps with what looked like odd protrusions sticking out of the side. Baby Spuds. Go figure.

12:30 I'm racing back down Vineland toward ANMT. By 2:30 we had finished the rehearsals with the cast, and were ready to film the first song. Fortunately everything seemed to be working (with the exception of the electrical circuit my computer was plugged into, which turned off the moment I was to press "play.")

Finally getting some full takes by 4:00, but our 6:45 deadline is fast approaching. At 5:15 I told Russell, the director, that we had time for one more, and even then we'd have a hard time striking the set by 6:45. We finished the last take, and everyone pitched in to strike the set, which was ready for the next rehearsal by 6:15. We left the room looking much as it had two days earlier!

Ultimately it was a good day. The cast and crew were all in good spirits and doing great work. One song down, four to go, two days to do them. Plus the entire set to rebuild in the morning. Why do people do this?

The set's set

Sunday Evening. A long day today of running to the hardware store, painting, hauling stuff. We were going to have a rehearsal with the cast tonight, but had to call it off so that we could finish dressing the set. It looks great, though. Big comfy chairs rented from Universal Props, a rather tall coffee bar behind which the barista will stand. Book cases, books. Looks like a very relaxed Bohemian coffee shop. I have no idea how we'll light it or what kind of camera angles we'll use tomorrow, but fortunately, my job is just sound playback. I should be able to handle that. I hope!

A little history: In August 2008, Chana was approached by one of the staff members at the Academy for New Musical Theater in North Hollywood, CA. They were in the process of trying to get their writer-members to create "guerilla musicals" which could be performed in public spaces, filmed on camcorders, and then posted on the internet. The whole idea there was to write stuff that was going to get seen. Chana asked me if I was interested in participating and I said "yes." My only reservation was that the sound on the other guerilla musicals I'd seen wasn't great, so it made the lyrics and dialog difficult to understand. As we were writing the musical, I began thinking, "Sure would be nice if people could understand these words. What if we filmed this thing like a regular film?" I ran the idea past Russell Jones, a filmmaker-friend of mine with whom I'd worked before, and asked him if he'd be interested in helping out. He said yes, and before we knew it, we had a full-fledged independent short film going.

Empty Room: Sunday 10am

Well, here I am sitting in an empty room in North Hollywood, CA. Over the next four days this place will be crammed with people as we try to film a 25-minute short film tentatively titled, "The Coffee Quintet." I'm Carl Johnson, the composer, and along with the scriptwriter/lyricist Chana Wise we're going to attempt to film our mini-musical on a shoestring budget. Actually it started off as a shoestring. Now it's more like an army-boot string... More to come...

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