Filmmaking and Where's Waldo

Filmmaking is sometimes just a big game of Where's Waldo.

There are so many cords and microphones and other equipment, that these items often sneak their way into shots. (All movies seem to be suceptable to this problem. Just take a look at the "Goofs" section for practically any movie at IMDb.)

For us, on Under Jakob's Ladder, it was all those yellow extention cords.

(That's right, we had extention cords that kept trying to make their acting debut.)

Often what you do to disguise a piece of equipment or unwanted object is to cover it up with something... put a person or piece of furniture between it and the camera. Of course, that isn't always the best solution, especially if the camera is on dolly tracks and has to move. Or the character has to move at some point in the dialogue.

As you can see in the photo, we usually tried to clip the cords up on the ceiling. Or we'd run them along the edge of the wall and cover them up with straw or a blanket.

But still, for each shot we filmed, those of us in Video Village had to keep a close eye on the screen to make sure "Waldo" didn't turn up! (Sorry, Waldo!)

Film Day 17 -- Prison Yard

Date: Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Location: Exteriors -- Prison Yard
Film: Under Jakob's Ladder

A day outside the prison walls. Yes, we had to deal with a little rain. And the noise of cars driving by...

Setting up the jib.

One of our jib shots... Right over everyone's head.

Preparing to film Serzhant (Armen Garo) and Oigen (Ken Jennings).

Prisoners hanging out in the prison yard.

Recording Yasha's (Quentin McCuiston) soliloquy.

Film Day 16 -- When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Date: Monday, May 11, 2009
Location: Exterior -- Campfire
Film: Under Jakob's Ladder

Yes, we actually filmed on a Monday.

However, we did wait until evening to shoot our scenes (that Monday being the first day for our final week of filming Under Jakob's Ladder... That's right: Week 4).

Actually, it wasn't even officially planned to take place on this day. (We had originally booked Mondays as a day off.) But, with the weather forecast for the coming week (i.e. the threat of rain), we knew that we had to do something. We didn't need any rain for these campfire scenes.

(Not to mention that we were also under another deadline. Our Jakob -- actor Jeff Stewart -- had to catch a flight back to England on Saturday of that week. And we had plenty of other scenes to film. We didn't have a whole lot of wiggle room if it did rain!)

So, Monday, May 11th. Everything was set up. The two actors we needed were there... Jeff Stewart (Jakob) and Chloe Roe (Marta). A campfire was built. The sun set. Darkness hit.

And... Well... We did not have any rain.

That's the good news.

But the bad news is that we did have wind. Which was especially delightful for the actors and camera crew! (Who doesn't love to have smoke blowing in their faces? Especially when you're trying to do a job... Like act. Or run a camera.)

P.S. By the end of filming for the night, there was still one small scene that we hadn't got to... But, it didn't really require the actors (so we were fine there). It would just mean that we'd have to build the campfire once more...

Film Day 15 -- Prison Fight

Date: Saturday, May 9, 2009
Location: Interiors -- Prison
Film: Under Jakob's Ladder

Gotta have a least one fight scene in a prison movie, right?

Well, here's our fight scene... between Vovik (Peter Iasillo) and Bruno (Sal Rendino), and orchestrated by our stunt guy, Matthew R. Staley.

Not much more to say. In this case, the pictures are worth a thousand words.





(Actually, if you look carefully, you can tell these photos were taken of one of the many rehearsals. How can you tell? Someone is in every single one of these shots who shouldn't actually be there... Who is it? See if you can figure it out!)

You Know You Just Finished Making a Movie When...

You know you just finished making a movie when...

1. You're in a crowded room and you can't hear yourself think, so you call out "Quiet on the set!"

2. You begin to notice electrical cords everywhere and your instinct is to hide them, in anyway you can (even if it means getting a towel to cover them up).

3. You come across something on ebay and think, "Wow, that's a great deal on that prop. Maybe I should bid on it..."

4. You meet someone and wonder if they need a little powder on their nose to keep down the shine.

5. You pop in a DVD and call for "Action!" as the DVD loads.

Anyone have any more they'd like to add????

Film Days 12-13 -- Rats!

Date: Wednesday, May 6 - Thursday, May 7, 2009
Location: Interiors -- Prison
Film: Under Jakob's Ladder

Would a prison be a prison without at least one rat?

Meet Stockings.

Our furry actor with a long tail poses with her new best friend, Yasha (Quentin McCuiston).

And here she is, posing for the group photo with her owners/handlers (Dana O'Connor and Sandy Essington) and Yasha.

You also might have noticed that the title of this blog post is "Rats" -- as in, there is more than one rat. Well, if you look closely, Dana [in the yellow shirt] actually is holding a tiny rat in her hand. So that makes two rats.

By the way, here's a bit of trivia. The rat's favorite food on set was... cheerios. (Except on the day when she wasn't interested in eating anything!)

Oh, and just in case you want to know... Yes, we had the Animal Humane people come out to double check that "No animals were harmed..."

Film Days 12-13 -- Some Random Prison Shots

Date: Wednesday, May 6 & Thursday, May 7, 2009
Location: Interiors -- Prison
Film: Under Jakob's Ladder

Week Three. We filmed exclusively in the prison. Day in and day out. No need to strike the set. (Okay, so, we actually did strike the set every night. At least with regards to locking up the expensive equipment and all. Not very fun when it was raining cats and dogs outside and the camera had to be lugged up a muddy hill and across the yard to its super-secret-locked-up-tighter-than-a-drum spot.)

In any case, here are some random photos from inside the prison walls...

Checking the lines... Left to Right: Greg F. Kowalczyk (Rudi), Sean Patrick Folster (Yosif), and Jeff Stewart (Jakob). (Actually, it looks like Jeff's just drinking his tea.)

Armen Garo (Serzhant) - "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille..."

Yosif (played by Sean Patrick Folster) approaches Serzhant (Armen Garo) when Rudi (Greg F. Kowalczyk) suddenly realizes he's headed out of the prison... (but not in a good way).

Some prisoners... Left to Right: Karl (Matthew R. Staley), Otto (Jason Catron), Martin (Michael Werner), Ludwig (T.J. Craig), and Adam (Scott Rummler)

A Facebook Fan Page for Under Jakob's Ladder

Just in case you haven't heard yet... 'Under Jakob's Ladder' now has its own Fan Page on Facebook!

Are you already on Facebook? Then become a fan of the movie! Just go to our Facebook Fan Page and click on the "Become a Fan" at the top of the page.

Becoming a fan is yet another great way to get up-to-date info on the movie. We'll be posting production photos, involving you in discussions, updating our editing status, and letting you know when the movie is complete and ready for screenings...

(What? You don't have a Facebook account? Don't worry. You can easily sign up to get one.)

You can also friend us (the Moon Brothers) on Facebook.

See you on Facebook!

Film Day 11 - Bruise On, Bruise Off

Date: Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Location: Interiors -- Prison
Film: Under Jakob's Ladder

Ah... Tuesday. We're back on set for Week 3 of filming.

Today is one of the days we had bring in our make-up artist: Jennifer Theeparajah. (We actually already had her come in on Saturday.) Her job on set? Make sure we had our bruises for Yasha (played by Quentin McCuiston)...

Here's the thing: We needed the bruise to age, to get progressively lighter as time went by. But, the problem was, we weren't really shooting the scenes in order! Which meant we had to be specific as to what type of bruise the scene called for. So, we needed labels for each bruise.

For example: We'd tell Jennifer that we needed a "Day-3 Bruise" for one scene (i.e. a lighter bruise). And a half-hour later, we'd need her to either take the bruise off completely, or switch it to a "Day-1 Bruise" (i.e. a darker bruise).

Fortunately, changing the bruise was a pretty quick process; and so we never had to wait very long until we got the bruise we needed for the scene.