The filming last night went pretty well, all thing…
The filming last night went pretty well, all things considered. I got there a little after 8pm to find Tall Paul already hauling equipment inside the restaurant. We were waiting on the last two customers to leave. Whispering loudly to each other about interesting worms we had found in our salads seemed to do the trick…kidding! We actually did no such thing. Instead we waited politely about six inches from the table in question, letting our silence and stony glares speak volumes. Seemed to work.
Before too long everyone had shown up, including Dean, Alita, Daryl and a guy from the play named Hugh, who was filling in as the waiter. It turned out that Hugh had some experience in lighting that proved quite useful, and he was happy to help out. We had pretty much set up when the owner of the restaurant came in and had a chat with us about how to close up, as it was quickly becoming obvious that we weren’t talking about coming in and flashing around with a video camera for a few minutes of V-sign giddiness. We’d taken over the place.
It was a good thing Tall Paul brought a monitor, as the difference between it and the viewfinders was like night and day. I also made a list of Things I Should Not Be Without on a shoot, including things like foil, gels, little hooks and gloves. It would also be nice to have lights with real barn doors instead of foil, but we made out ok. We did two or three setups, and Dean and Alita quickly got into the swing of things. Their emotions were so strong that it lingered in the room for awkward minutes after Tall Paul yelled “cut”.
When we played back the tape at the end of the evening, there seemed to be a Morse Code-like pattern of clicks accompanying on-and-off artifacts on the screen. I sincerely hope that it was some sort of electrical interference via the S-video cable and not some fatal flaw in my camera that would require me to take it back for repairs or replacement. Tall Paul is looking at the footage and will let me know. I went back and looked at the test footage I shot and didn’t see or hear anything like that at all. (update: the footage is fine; it must have been a cable/interference problem. Whew!)
It was about 3am by the time we finished, and I didn’t get to bed until after 4. Work today, needless to say, was rather dreamlike. Dean, Mindcrime and I got together at the Curry House to discuss another project we’re involved in. This one should be good. More on this later.
Tomorrow I’ve got to work on some freelance translation jobs, and then go do a radio interview at Hansheng some time between 6 and 7, followed by sword practice. I suppose I should bring my sword to the interview, but that would not only feel strange, I’d be tempted to gut the host every time she asks a stupid question. And then I’d have to explain the blood to my sword teacher, who no doubt feels I’m not quite ready to be slicing random people in studios. Bad form, you know.
