Saturday was the last full filming day for “Arrangements.” According to the call sheet, the last scenes were to be shot at Pinewood.

Yeah, that’s what I thought too. But rather than the historic soundstages of Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, the shoot was on a charming 70s-era cul-de-sac in upper Live Oak, the unincorporated area I grew up in. The crew was camped out on a driveway, ready to get several vital sequences down: a walk down a suburban road and the driving sequences. The production would move to a funeral home in East Santa Cruz to pick up exteriors there.

The sidewalk shots took quite a while to get: background blocking and lighting had to be just so, and Chip wanted coverage from a multitude of angles. After the dialog shots were done, there was some rather exciting semi-stunt gags with Gina (Kayla) almost stepping in front of a speeding truck. The production was fortunate to have Tom, an experienced AD and a professional driver, do the skilled stunt-driving, roaring by in the truck, keeping to his side of the mark and not squishing our leading lady.

Jay the editor was also on the set, and he had some ideas for coverage for one of the ultra-fast montages (think Shawn of the Dead). These bits were small, but they were also ideas improvised on-set, so I got to grumble sotto voce “this isn’t in the script.” Always wanted to do that– and as I was the one holding the reflector for the shot everyone heard it. My pointless squeaking aside, the sequence was in the can before 1 p.m.

After lunch (a fine repast made by Brian and his family, who hosted the shoot on their driveway), the Beast– My 1956 Panel Delivery painted up with the fictitious name of a funeral parlor on it’s sign-stripe and sporting globs of poster-paint rust– got it’s moment of glory. Chip had rented a two-wheel towing rig for the thing, and loaded up it sat at a rather alarming 10-degree angle. But tow shots are great in that you can load the tripod and camera and lighting in the truck-bed for easy shooting. It took awhile, but eventually the whole rig came lumbering by Brian’s driveway at ten MPH.

I wasn’t with this part of the shoot: Not a lot of room on the tow rig, I’d just be in the way. I sat in the shade with my business partner and Sean M., and old friend, discussing the WGA strike. We were treated by quite a sight: apparently either the whole rig couldn’t turn around at the end of the cul-de-sac or the shot just plain wasn’t working as a tow shot, because the Beast came lumbering down Pinewood the other way, engine off, being pushed by the entire crew. It may have beenthe oddest situation that 51-year-old truck has ever experienced. (and yeah, I got a pang of guilt and helped push it the other way– well, at least I followed it and looked like I was helping.)

Daylight was becoming a real issue so the production packed up and headed to Cayuga Street, the site of the funeral home Kayla lives in, for some exterior shots.

In the script Kayla, third-generation mortician, didn’t live upstairs from the funeral home– and made a point of it. When Bill asked if she lived there, she replied “You watch too much TV.” But in the interests of not only making tight logical ellipses in the movie and keeping it as short as possible, Chip reversed the line: When Bill asks of she lives here, Kayla replies “of course I do. Don’t you watch TV?” See that trick? Line is still funny, it gets the movie from exterior to interior, and it turns from a self-referential punchline to a plot-dependent “hang-a-lantern” gag. And THAT’S why I trust the director.

The production was sans public-street shooting permit, so everyone had to keep off the sidewalks and on the private easement. That worked remarkably well. The last official shot was a short montage image of Kayla, dead, being zipped into a body bag. Sensibly they kept this for the very last shot so they didn’t have to smudge Gina’s makeup and hair ’til everything was in the can. And the gloved hands of the Coroner, bagging her lifeless body for it’s trip to the morgue? Those would be mine. Appropriate, huh?

Another fine, exciting day of filmmaking, a pleasure to be a part of and a privilege to have provided the story for.

There was a wrap party on Sunday, but I missed it. I had to wash the paint off The Beast.

–Skot C

p.s. here are some pictures of Saturday’s shoot, courtesy of … me!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 12:28 pm and is filed under Acting, General, Hosts, Motion Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.