DISMAL (Week 2)

During the 2nd week of production, we started getting into the meat and potatoes of the shoot — which included our practical f/x, stunts and night shooting — fun fun fun (in theory).

The week started with some great discoveries that I had some seriously talented actors to work with — which always makes things more interesting. I hate to jinx things, but I really believe that one of the actors (Bill Oberst Jr. as DALE — see his pic above and below) had such an amazing performance, that with the right exposure he could really have something going. I’m talkin’ serious fans….the ones that go to conventions to get your signature on anything they can get their hands on. It was great to collaborate with him to create such an eerie role.

Night Shooting — This usually means we start shooting around 6pm and wrap around 4am which allows the crew to pack everything up by 6am. Everything is running on generators. It can be fun or hell depending on the location you’re shooting it…..for the deep woods, it’s not the most glamorous of experiences. I find them fun, but I do admit I faded here and there around the 2-3am hour…..not sure why as I’m usually so pumped up running on adrenaline doing what I love!!

I filmed my first death scenes this week and the actors (I’d list them here, but wish to keep this SPOILER FREE) blew it out of the water as did the F/X team. I hope audiences will be grossed out by everything. It’ll be a dream to see audiences have to look away or maybe groan during the death scenes.

Week 2 was also about the point where people grew tired. Just simply tired. Everyone was starting to run low on sleep due to the production schedule and things to do every day after we wrapped shooting. We were never done working. Week 1′s enthusiasm wore off and the knowledge of Week 3 still ahead of us was daunting to say the least. But I have to say that the crew and actors really fought through it with me….and we have some battle scars to show off as well as some stories to tell…….heh heh heh.

Here are some pics from Week 2
CLICK TO ENLARGE

Lydia and me at the cabin

Watching a running scene with the crew

Bill just being Bill

Night Shooting

Jade getting some work done

Some of the Cast (L to R: Capel Kane, Lydia Chandler, Bill Oberst Jr., Will Triplett)

Joking around with Shawn Lewallen (DP) – Me Pointing At Things Was A Running Joke On Set