Getting to the Location Jerry knows Sacha Parisot, who co-wrote the screenplay and is directing the feature film Skin Deep. (Ken Karn is the co-author and the producer.) Jerry volunteered to spend some time helping on the shoot. The only time Jerry found that was free, though, was this particular Saturday. Jerry and I are working on a project together (Objet d'Art), so he thought it might be fun to do this together. In addition to helping with Sacha's movie, we could observe a professional movie production company in action. Our project is a 10-minute short, not a full-length feature, but many of the same concepts apply. We live around 50 miles from the location, so we had to get up way too early in order to have time to drive there by the 7:00 am crew call. When we got there, no one else had arrived. A suspicious woman wanted to know who we were. We introduced ourselves as Bob and Jerry, and asked her who she was. She said, "What are you doing here?" We started to tell her, and she said, "Oh, the crew call was changed to 9:00. You must have not gotten the notice. You might as well go to Denny's and come back at nine." Later we heard that Sacha had called some people as late as 10:30 the night before to give them the new time. Sacha sent an e-mail to Jerry about the change to 9:00, but Jerry had already gone to bed so he didn't see it.

Setting Up When we got back to the shoot at 9:00, we found activity was starting. Our first job was to help take a very heavy fuel tank out of a U-Haul truck. Most of the diesel fuel had already been pumped into the generator for the lights, but the tank was still very heavy. Fortunately there were several other PAs (production assistants) to help. Most of the action takes place at this new location where we were, inside a house. The house that the movie is using has a two-car garage that has been turned into an office, complete with computers, fax machine, printer, table for craft services (for some reason, "craft services" means snacks), and bathroom. We learned that the previous three days (the first three days of the shoot) had been at another location a few blocks away. All of the equipment had to be brought up to the new location! The first major challenge was backing the truck in. As it was a large truck and the road and driveway were both slanted, that required some fancy driving. All Jerry and I could do was watch and wish them the best. At a shoot there is a lot of waiting around. You wait while the gaffers (electricians) string up the wiring and lights. You wait while the actors get their make-up and clothes on. You wait while the camera gets into position. You wait while the actors rehearse. You wait (very quietly!) while the scene is shot. Then it all happens again. Some people, such as the director, assistant director, and others, are always busy. People like us, production assistants (a nice title for people who do whatever they are told, from running errands to heavy lifting), do a lot more waiting around. But without PAs, the production can't happen. We always felt very appreciated. After the truck was in, they had to set up the generator away from the set (the inside of the house). That was necessary even though the generator was quiet. Any sound during a shoot is greatly magnified! Fortunately, the generator could be left in place the entire shoot (about three weeks). (In the photograph, the house is visible in the background.) Of course then you have to get the electricity from the generator to the lights, which are the reason you need all that electricity. That requires cables and connections strung across the road and through the woods to the house. While that was going on, we PAs were not idle. We had to move trash to make room and then unload the truck. (That's me at the right, carrying sand.) What I'm carrying isn't really sand, at least not loose sand. It's a sand bag, divided into two halves so it can flop half on each side of a tripod leg. The bag has a handle that makes it convenient to carry. The sand bags are used to anchor lights, cameras, and anything else that must not shake during filming. The gaffers call them sand, though, and would say, "Could you get me some sand, please?" When they use an unknown term (which seems to be for everything - but everything is unfamiliar), you have to ask and they happily tell you - once - what they want. After that they expect you to know it. The four gaffers on this set are freelance professionals. Doing this is how they make their living. They were incredibly knowledgeable, friendly, willing to teach you what was going on, and very hard working. The light they are working on in the photograph is a 4000 watt, one of the smaller ones they used outside. The tripod it is on is so strong you can climb on it, which one of the gaffers demonstrated to me. The largest light was called a 12K. It provides 12,000 watts of light. (The brightest lights in your house are probably 100 watts.) For this set, they were using it outside the house to be the sun. That way they could shoot inside all day and the "sun" would always appear to be in the same place! (That's Jerry, who is over 6 feet tall, standing beside the 12K.) One of the PAs told us that, at the other location, they had set up the 12K, its heat shield, and a light diffuser. In spite of the protection, one of the sliding doors going into the house shattered! It was apparently double-paned and the air between the panes expanded and broke the glass. The PA said it happened in a few seconds. The glass didn't fall, it just had a zillion cracks in it. It was held together by the lamination. Sacha immediately called Ken Kam, the producer and co-writer of Skin Deep. Ken tracked down a repairman so that the door was fixed within three hours! We heard many good things about Sacha. He was remaining wonderfully calm and one guy even told us that during a tense time Sacha told a joke, which broke the tension. I met him and found him to be a very cheerful and happy man. He is shown in the photograph with the 12K light in the background. (Sacha pointed out that some of the things I credit him with were actually the result of teamwork and a good crew. I suppose that's true, but the actual shoot revolves around the director, and that's what I observed.) The production administrative assistant decided that Jerry and I could go and pick up lunch. It was made by Sacha's mother, Lulu! We drove there and met her, a wonderful woman, and a friend of hers named Ena. Lulu lives in Florida. Sacha asked his mother to fly out and create the food for the shoot. She agreed, but said her long-time friend Ena was visiting, so Sacha flew them both out. In the photograph, the woman wearing the gray shirt is Rae Fischer. She set out the food we got from Sacha's mother. She is the person who met us suspiciously when we arrived at 7:00 that morning. (More about terminology: Rae is responsible for "craft services." As I mentioned earlier, food provided for the cast and crew to munch on during the day is referred to as craft services. Meals, on the other hand, are "catering.") The food was magnificent! Lulu told us that for dinner we would have pork ribs with a pineapple sauce, plus rice and beans. She said it was a traditional Haitian meal. Unfortunately we left before dinner. The shoot involves a policeman and his car. Sacha was able to get a CHP patrolman to come with his car. At appropriate times, the patrolman drove up and turned on the lights on top of the car. (The trash is in the foreground of the photograph. We had to put it where it was out of the way and did not show out of the window when they were shooting.) In order to shoot efficiently, movies are not usually shot in the sequence they will be shown. As a result, not all of the actors were on the set the day we were there, and we don't know where the scenes we were involved with fit in the movie. It's even possible that these scenes will not end up in the movie after it is edited. Here are photographs of two actors, outside talking with Sacha and other crew. The actors are Mailon Rivera (left) and Steven White (right). You can learn more about Mailon Rivera on IMDB.com at http://us.imdb.com/Name?Rivera,+Mailon. You can learn more about Steven White on IMDB.com at http://us.imdb.com/Name?White,+Steve+(I). The actors were all congenial and friendly to the crew, asking our names and joking with us. On the set, it was a lot more serious, but outside the house, they were funny, interesting people. After we were all unloaded, the PAs, including us, had to wait outside. One of them had a walky-talky and had to repeat whatever the assistant director (AD) said. So the AD would say, "We're going to do a run-through now. Lock it down." Then the PA would shout, really loud so everyone would hear, "Lock it up!" At first he said "lock it down" as the AD said, but one of the gaffers said it was "lock it up" not "lock it down" so he switched. It means that you lock up whatever you are working on so it won't fall and make noise. The PA would also shout "Quiet!" and "Shooting!" and "Clear" and "Turning it around!" The last one means they've finished what they were filming and are going on to the next thing. That means you have some time to move around.

Inside! Around 4:00 in the afternoon, we chatted with Sacha and mentioned that we hadn't had a chance to go in and see what was going on. He said he thought it would be okay if we went in, so we did. First we watched them setting up the next scene, using fluorescent lights that do not flicker and that are the same color as sunlight (which makes the film look right). Between shots the actors think about what they are doing, or just mess around. The woman actor we saw (Debra Wilson, of MAD TV) was required to wear a rather skimpy outfit and was chilly. Between shots, she sat down with a shawl around her. After a while, she started talking like a crazy old woman. "I know what you're doing. You're making a dirty movie. Yep, a dirty movie. Men touching women's bouncy parts. You're all going to rot in hell. For making a dirty movie." It was very funny, and everyone was laughing. She kept it up for at least 10 minutes. You can learn more about Debra Wilson on IMDB.com at http://us.imdb.com/Name?Wilson,+Debra. The kitchen was blocked off with yellow tape and big signs that said HOT SET. They had filmed a scene in there that included food spattering on the counter. They would film there again later, and had to make sure the food was spattered the same way. They had to block it off because everyone who went there was itching to clean it up, or rearrange the pots and pans, or whatever. The urge to touch something was very strong, but we resisted. After all the preparation, we finally got to see them shoot a scene. First, with the lighting set up and the camera in place, they rehearse it a few times. In this scene, a woman is threatening a man with a knife. In the rehearsal she does not have the knife in her hand. It is important that they say the lines right, that they move on the right line, and that they also act. The movement is especially important when one of them is carrying a knife! When you are an actor, you have to understand that people are going to come inside your personal space. This photograph shows one of the sound guys working around inside the actor's shirt to get the microphone positioned correctly. When they're happy with the rehearsals, they give the actor the knife, which is covered with blood (or something that looks just like blood, anyway). You can see the knife in the photograph, held by one of the prop people. Most of the time the knife was in the paper cup she is carrying, handle down. (The point couldn't be down because it would cut the paper cup and fall through.) When the actor took the knife, the Assistant Director yelled, "Sharp weapon on the set!" Later, when they were doing makeup and everyone was gathered around the actors, the AD yelled "Sharp weapon on the set! Step back from the actors!" Everyone took a step back except for the person who was directly working on the actor. The gaffers also showed great concern for safety, and everyone was always cooperative. When all was ready, they shot the scene. They actually did two takes. This photograph is from one of the takes. Then it's time to turn it around (get ready for the next shot). In this case it is a reverse angle (the same action viewed from the other direction). Lots of movement as everything gets rearranged!

Heading Home We were starting to think about leaving. They had discovered that one of the shots out the window, to show the police car, also showed the house across the street. They decided to put up camouflage so the house wouldn't be visible. The camouflage was old and smelled like mildew, but we put it up. The hope was that the police car would be in focus and the camouflage would be blurry enough that no one would notice. They'd find out for sure it if worked when they looked through the camera. By 8:00, Jerry and I were ready to go home, and they said it would be okay if we did. Everyone else was still there filming. After they were done, the actors could go home. The gaffers would wrap all of the equipment in plastic to protect it for the night and have it be ready to go as quickly as possible the next morning. We got back home a little after 9:00. It was a long day but a great experience! Be sure to check out the Web site for Skin Deep, where they will be posting updated information about the film as well as photos of the shoot. http://www.skindeepthemovie.com/ Text copyright © 2002 by Robert E. Whitsitt. Photographs copyright © 2002 by Jerry Anderson. All rights reserved.