"Danika" Day 12

Today was our second (and last) day at the Uni lot. Still hot, still no golf cart (I unsuccessfully tried to find an unattended one with the keys still in it), so we're stuck.

We had two units today, but no extra guys so we were all running around like crazy trying to light two sets - not making things easier is that the second unit DP is an annoying micro manager who makes everything harder than it has to be. He was just working my last nerve when the second unit grips hit a beehive with the corner of a frame, and since I'm allergic to bee stings, I had to go back over to the first unit very, very quickly. The rest of the day was spent on 'bee watch' as every so often one of the by now really pissed off bees would fly over to the main set and buzz around - I could tell where the bee was because the crew or extras around the bee would all of a sudden get up and do that funny hand waving 'bee dance'.

We also had EPK (Electronic Press Kit) on set today. What they do is set up a video camera somewhere and do interviews with the cast, producers and director. They normally set up where they can see the set without being in the way, or ask us for a couple of lights to use as background. This guy set up in the other movie's space - and set up the camera so that the interviewee was in the shade, and the background was in the blazing sun. Then, because the interviewee was nothing but a silhouette (video cameras, as I'm sure you're all aware, expose to the brightest part of the frame), he made us get out an 18K (big, huge light) and light his little set instead of just moving the camera 15 feet.



We had a motion control shot, which took forever to set up, so we lost the light for the last shot of the movie (when the VERY IMPORTANT plot twist is revealed) - the sun was going down so the shadows on the plate shot aren't going to match the shadows on the live shot. Of course that meant that we had to get out all the big lights for the very last shot.

Our DP is really, really good at shooting with low light levels, so the Gaffer said that he might surprise us and make the shot match. I hope so.

On the last shot, they needed more cars driving through, so if you see the movie, the Scion box thing (I don't know what they're called) that's the second or third car to cross the frame is driven by my boss - the best boy electric. The director walks through the frame as well. He's wearing a light blue short sleeved shirt.