Trailer Park #2--First day on Set

Friday the 13^th , my first day of filming, turned out to be a good day. I drove to Athens and was met at the Holiday Inn Express by Conor Hogan and Jen Taylor, our producers. Jon Farris, my cast-mate from Escanaba in Love, and a number of other CATCO shows, arrived at the same time. He is playing Merle Ring, the focus of one of the main plotlines. Conor and Jen checked us in, and came back an hour later to pick us up and drive us to the set, which is located in Lake Snowden, about 8 miles outside Athens.

 

Lake Snowden is a small campground, about a mile from Albany, Ohio. In hunting season, it functions as a deer check-in station, and the rest of the time it is open to RV camping and fishing. The lake isn’t very big, but the grounds around it are spacious and a great place to run dogs. Which I used to do, because my father actually lived across the highway from it for many years, and when I was an OU student and living with him, I would romp with his beagle in the park.

 

The production leased 8 trailers from a company in Circleville, and had them delivered about a month ago. They are arranged along the gravel roads of the park, on one side of the lake. When we arrived, people were on the roof of one of the trailers, putting down sheets of cotton to simulate snow. They had also made a bunch of ice and snow ( how I don’t know—in theatre we would use confetti), and were packing it on the ground in the areas  where we were going to shoot. Last week, the park was a winter wonderland—this week, cold, but no snow to be found. So through the magic of movies, a snowy trailer park appeared again.

 

They dropped us off at one of the trailers, which serves as the green room for the cast. I wish I could say I was taken to my trailer, and I suppose I could, but there were a lot of other people in it. The exteriors of the trailers are decorated for shooting scenes, but the inside of most of them are used for other reasons-- actor’s green rooms, crew green rooms, storage of equipment, guinea pig storage (more on that later)—and a few have been decorated for interior filming.

 

The bedroom of the cast trailer was a costume room, where my costume was selected (half my own clothes, and half purchased by the production). I was made up, which was really just a little powder for my nose and dark circles, and then the director, Patrick Mulberger, came in, and wrangled us outside to block the first scenes.

 

The whole weekend’s work, and next weekend’s too, is about filming what looks to be maybe 5 minutes of screen time when all will be said and done. The sequence is as follows: a group of us trailer park residents butt into an ice-fishing bobhouse on the lake, where Merle Ring (Jon Farris) has sequestered himself for the winter. He has a cigarbox full of cash from a lottery drawing he won, and the advent of all that money has thrown his neighbors for a loop. We squeeze into his tiny shack, I spot the box and grab it, someone else grabs it from me, and we all run out of the shack, and scrabble on the icy lake for the box, till I knock it into the air, and all the money showers out. As we are trying to catch the flying money, we notice one of the trailers has caught fire. We all rush to it, I try to organize a little bit of firefighting, but it’s too late. The trailer is engulfed, and the fire department arrives. End of sequence.

 

So, Friday night was about filming the attempted firefighting from the front. In other words, the camera was placed where the trailer would be, and it would film us looking at the fire. The crew stretched huge sheets of mylar between poles, and bounced powerful lights off it, and the wind blowing against the mylar threw flickering light across our faces that looked like the reflection of flames. We each had a few specific actions to perform in the shot, and I had a few lines, and they filmed us wide-angle, medium, close-up, and from a few other angles as well. It took about 3 hours of filming the same 30 seconds of action, which always ended with an Albany fire truck arriving behind us, and some real firemen running out with equipment.

 

Then came the waiting. From 9:30pm till 1:00 am I hung out in the trailer, paced around outside, though it was bitter cold. I brought a book, but I kept being distracted by the waiting, which sounds weird, but it’s true. It’s that way backstage in a play for me too—I’ve never been able to do what other actors do, such as read, nap, work crosswords, knit—I just usually pace, and try to keep my head in the game. I’ll chat with other actors now and then, but mostly I just pace. Even when I am chatting I am listening to the play. Can’t do that on a film set—they lock everything down so no noise interferes. Finally, Jill, the asst. director came to get me for some more close-ups, and by 1:30am, I was wrapped. Patrick announced “ That’s a wrap for Mark” and the crew applauded, which was nice, till I learned they applaud every time someone wraps, every day. It’s less about what a good job the actor did, and more about “ good, get this meat puppet out of here,  we are moving on.”

 

The only actor I knew beforehand was Jon Farris, but the rest of got acquainted as we waited. Most everyone already knew each other, so I just listened as they talked with each other. Gradually I was drawn into the conversations, and by the end of the first night we were all laughing and joking, and shivering. This last was because none of the trailers have heat. They aren’t even electrified. There are a bunch of generators all around the set, from which long extension cords run into the trailers, for lamps and space heaters, but you could see your breath in the room.

 

The park bathroom was open to us, but that was a frosty experience. There was also a tent set up for craft service, which was unheated as well.

 

When I first arrived, after I had been costumed and made-up, I stepped outside for a look around, and a smoke. When I was nearly done, Jen the producer came to me and said, “ Um, actually, we are not allowed to smoke at Lake Snowden” I looked at her incredulously. This is outside. There are campfire-rings everywhere. Jonny Look, one of the co-directors, just looked at Jen and shook his head, and she said, “ Ok by me”. So the smoking ban was lifted. This prompted a few other actors to come out and light up with me.

 

Our craft service dinner that night was Quizno’s subs and Red Bull. In fact, all the meals over the weekend were a college student’s dream of what craft service is--Saturday was  Chipotles, and Sunday was Papa John’s pizza. Not that I was complaining—except for the Chipotle, which I hate.

 

Later in the evening, during my purgatory of waiting, I came outside to watch the guinea pig scene. See, the trailer that burns is full of dozens of guinea pigs kept by Flora, an eccentric character in the film. One of the actions of the film for Tyler (left, with his new best friend), who plays the park handyman Terry, is to watch the fire and then notice a guinea has escaped and it runs to him and he picks it up and cradles it. For most of the evening he was using a dead guinea pig—that’s right, you heard me. One of the film’s stock of guinea pigs had died, and it’s body was frozen and used in the long shots. The production had to get Humane Society permission to use this frozen rodent. But when close-up time came, out came the star guinea pig. The stunt rodent was put back on ice, and the real article came out. There were 3 guinea pigs, each with their own wrangler, and a representative from the ASPCA, who was on set to ensure the creature was treated correctly, and also to eat heartily from craft service—I notice everything, my friend!

 

I told Tyler never in his career will he work with a co-star better tended. They stretched chicken wire around the close-up area, and scraped the ice away, so the little feller wouldn’t freeze his little feet. I was off to one side, watching, and during a break and reset, Tyler looked over, saw the look on my face, and burst out laughing. It was a freakin’ rodent, for God’s sake! They needed all the ASPCA stuff so they could place the disclaimer in the credits “ No animals were injured yada yada yada…” I doubt there will be a phrase like “ except for the one whose frozen body we used…” Maybe there will be a dedication notice at the end of the credits “ For Blinky 2008-2009”

 

I am determined to get one of those guinea pigs after we wrap shooting.