The Saw Mill

Usually by this time the cast and crew would be ready to leave or kill you. But since less footage was necessary to shoot and we actually had time to eat and sleep now, it wasn't a problem.

Now we were able to shoot each scene multiple times, with lots of coverage. With all the time I was now able to dedicate to each scene now, I wonder how the hell I was ever able to shoot the huge amount I was doing before when Yvonne was around.

So even though less needed to be done each day, we were still spending the same amount of time doing it. And there were some complicated scenes with lots of characters in them that were coming up. Two of which could only be done during magic hour in order to do them right.

The saw mill scene was one of them. I had a choice, either shoot the scenes during the afternoon which I knew would be hard with the schedule at hand or get four hours of sleep and shoot at around 5:30 am. As much as I hate waking up early I chose the latter.

We got there in morning and it further showcased why acting and filmmaking are not as glamorous as people make it out to be. We drove out to the saw mill on a saturday knowing no one would be there, and shot some exteriors while the sun was rising. Then started filming with Jacob(co-star) and I working, just like we once did years ago in real life. We grabbed two shovels and went to work, we threw some sawdust on ourselves to look dirty like we would and with all the filming and non-sleep we were getting it gave us the tired look we needed.

Then a problem happened, one of the actors had to perform a number two. But we didn't have access to the buildings that supplied the bathrooms. We had some pages from the script that had already been filmed so....yeah.

So we went back to filming, then an optimal member of the crew also had the same problem, so with the other pages of the script that had already been filmed he...yeah.

I've read scripts I wouldn't wipe my ass with, so I took this event as a good sign.

Acting like we were at work was just as hard as when we used to actually work there. When you're toting a huge log across the mill and having to drop it at just right angle, over and over and over. You get pretty damn tired.

We were done just before it was too bright and hot to be there. Now we had to shoot three more scenes. Thing is the house we had been shooting in was not about us shooting there on this saturday, we had understandably overstayed our welcome. Which was okay because these scenes could be shot in another location without a problem, just a small rewrite and we were good. It actually made it better and added another location to the film.

Uh oh. The new location that was good with us filming there had a change of heart and now we've got nowhere to film!

If it's not shot on that day than it's going to be very hard to find time to shoot it. And I've only got my actors and crew for a few more days!

Find out next time.