Earthblog

As gigantic an undertaking it is to produce a feature film, I seriously cannot believe there is only production weekend left.

There were a number of locations covered this weekend including Yagger's pub (where it all began), an office (where Courtenay created some of the most bizarre demographic groups of donut eaters ever seen for a board presentation) and a coffee shop.

The speed at which the cast and crew moves is something to behold and there are always several things underway at once. As soon as one office scene wraps the crew moves to the pub where Production Designer Shazia Mawani ensures the "beer" is properly mixed before moving a block down the street to transform 4 pieces of wall into several offices. All before lunch. How does this happen - without Red Rain (this time) or a production team of thousands? Good planning & scheduling? Certainly. Communication? Absolutely. Talent? Without a doubt. And the key ingredient? - Teamwork! This is not about 20ft trailers, mobile gyms and personal feng shui consultants. It's about Makin' a Movie.

The last scene of the movie was shot late Sunday and involved pretty much the entire cast and crew in one capacity or another. I also got to reprise my non-speaking role as coffee shop customer. Albeit in a slightly different mood this time. BTW Stephen – I wasn't REALLY going for demented but...

This shot covered a large space, involved pretty complex camera movements and a number of takes. I think we were all a bit demented by the end of the night. Watch this scene closely for Alex Dafoe...he may be an outsider in the scene but his facial expressions convey a soliloquy of pain – too damn funny.

Looking around the room at all the enthusiasm and energy still evident after seven weekends of shooting, it occurred to me that beyond even the planning, talent and teamwork - successful filmmaking relies on good relationships. Without people who can work successfully together for an extended period of time – all you really have is sound and moving images. Much is said about chemistry between actors but those perfectly executed scenes also demonstrate crew chemistry. Do Something With Your Life has it. I can't wait to see the results, on screen.

And after searching in vain for a non-cheese laden "final countdown"-ish song - stuff it. Take it away, David.

"The term wrestling is an Old English word that originated some time before 1100 A.D. It is perhaps the oldest word still in use in the English language to describe hand-to-hand combat."

The production design team of Do Something With Your Life went for Takedown early in Week 6. A backyard wrestling ring (side note - why is it called a ring, when it's clearly a square??) took shape starting Wednesday in preparation for some weekend scenes and the results were quite spectacular.

Cast and crew were encouraged to tag the four corner posts with messages before the ring was "aged" in preparation for shooting. Production Designer Shazia Mawani facilitated the ring's rigorous and enthusiastic testing process. The ring passed.

Next up - Sound Designer, Stu Popp and Location Host, Carl. Not sure what the beef was about.

The entire weekend took place at Carl's place which doubled as Jared's Place. Just a note about Carl (real-life friend of actor Stephen LeBail) not only did the man turn his entire home over to the crew but also provided regular refreshments including watermelon and freezies (greatly appreciated on what must have been the hottest weekend of the year so far) and there was non-stop blockbuster movie entertainment in the green room (garage). Thank you Carl!

There is a lot that could be said about Saturday night...

Do Something With Your Life's 8-week shoot has passed the halfway mark. Saturday was a very active day with a small, compact crew zooming around the Lower Mainland in a van. As insurance does not cover roof harnesses, Redbud Films was not on set but was provided with this shot of Tom Belding and the bike rig that was built for some Tour de Vancouver shots.

With more than half of the film captured, cast and crew gathered Sunday to watch the dailies. On a personal note, the day did not get off to a good start. A packed bus and loose coffee cup lid was a disaster waiting to happen. Despite the driver's assistance of waiting until I sat down to move, I still managed to shower my leg, sweater and neighbour's foot in scalding coffee. Momentary silence. The mouths of small children gaped. Needless to say the day improved significantly with coffee number 2 and when the footage started rolling.

What's very cool about watching dailies is that for every frame of footage everyone in the room sees something different: the art department sees colour palettes, the DP sees focus and framing, and the director, while often seeing these things too, will also key in on performance. Speaking of, sound is not usually synched yet for dailies but director Darren Borrowman provided live ADR (Automatic Dialogue Replacement) as well as director's commentary in a variety of languages - well, maybe not all of them were actual languages. Note to everyone: once you've watched Do Something With Your Life, be sure to watch it again with the Director's Commentary on.

Even in this raw state, the heart of the film is right there in the dailies. The lead character may be twenty-something but figuring out what to do with your life is something that audiences of all ages can relate to.

Afterwards, Darren Borrowman, writer Andrew Menzies and producer Bob Woolsey stayed behind for some interviews (to be seen in The Making Of Do Something With Your Life). Topics such as story development, funding, choice of locations, production, marketing, and distribution were all discussed.

As anyone who has seen Robert Rodriguez's 10-minute Film School or read his book Rebel Without a Crew will know, the "do" of low-budget filmmaking often involves as much creativity as the story process. Do Something With Your Life is no exception. This is not a team willing to sit around and wait for others to green light their production. They developed a story, found the people and several months later they are whipping around the city every weekend bringing that story to life - now that's doing something with your talent.

Among other items discussed...Darren and Andrews' ridiculously synchronized wardrobe.

Until next time...

I think it's safe to say that more is accomplished in one weekend of filming on the set of Do Something With Your Life than the average 40-hour work week. Producer Keith Opatovsky turned his house over to cast and crew this weekend who in turn transformed it into not one but two locations - the home of Mike's Dad (Pop-pop), and younger brother, Chet as well as Lindsey's house ("the one that got away"). Now I know this is a comedy but Keith's kitchen and back porch also saw some family drama this weekend. Watching scenes in a vacuum sends you spiralling into the world of individual characters, wondering just how they got to the place they are in.

Makes you think about how the twists and turns of other people's lives really do influence your own. How much so, is really up to us.

While the forecast called for showers, the rain on set did not come from the clouds. First, in her debut feature film performance 8-year old Raine Welsh lit up the steps of Keith's front porch with her talent and birthday girl grin. She provided actor Tom Belding (Mike) with some good notes on his own performance and great all-round entertainment for the crew.

After a long Saturday, Sunday saw the return of an old friend and a brief on-set interlude.