|
Tuesday October 12, 2011
Shoot: Day 1
—
Song butchery
I got to the crew parking at 7:10am'ish, learning I easily could have stayed on the bus a couple of more stops to the location at
Whiskey Bend.
The shuttle drove us over and I had a nice warm eggs-an'-bacon breakfast before being checked in.
I was given my outfit for the day, on set the polo shirt of which got swapped out for a slightly large
(this is what happens when Juan isn't on set)
Oobleck
green'ish shirt, and a somewhat maroon Can Be No More 70s Than This long-tie.
Inside the long trailer for background holding called a Lunch Box,
the 2nd 2nd AD
Clark
introduced himself to us.
Those of us playing CIA/CIA guests were asked whether any would like to volunteer to sing a song within the scene.
Initially we would be shown the lyrics and the tune played for us, we'd each be video taped signing in, and director Ben would choose who would sing.
What ended up happening was, every male in the catagory
(presumably hoping to be Upgraded),
came outside.
The laptop with the tune wasn't the best, and the "music" was less audible that if it were being played on headsets on someone else's head as they stood several feet away.
We made a lame attempt at singing it, so we were just lined up in a row, and he recorded us via the laptop in a single pass as he silently stood there.
Ben looked at the row, and chose the singers to be two guys... and me.
Despite the fact in my youth I'd learned to sing by heart the Gilbert and Sullivan patter-song
The Lord Chancellors Dream
from
Iolanthe,
this little squirrelly song called
O'Dooley's First Five O'clock Tea
was tougher to memorize due to not "being allowed" to find out what was its melody
(literally, this link is to the page they'd printed out for us):
O'Dooley got rich on an aqueduct job
And he made a considerable pile.
His neighbors with envy regarded the scene
To see him assuming such style.
O'Dooley himself was as bad as the rest
With diamonds he dazzled the day,
But affairs reached their height when there came an invite
To O'Dooley's first five o'clock "tay".
Cho [rus]:
Sure is it one lump or two lumps?
Permit me to pass you the cream.
Sure, Missus McCarthy, the dress you have on is a dream!
The whole entertainment was governed by etiquet-"tay"
And a high-toned social event was
O'Dooley's first five o'clock "tay".
I went over the page over and over, but they never ever ever replayed the "tune" for us, or even for
Randy Oglesby
(a principal actor in the scene),
had only received the lyrics that same morning as well.
Eventually the background were brought into the tavern for the scene; the two other singer men were at one table, I was over with other principal actor
James Shanklin
playing Mike, being honoured at his retirement party, whilst at the back of the room, Ben's character speaks with deeply talented
Bryan Cranston's
character.
They were too far back for we in the front to hear what was being said, but as it is...
(Remember that I do
not
believe in providing storyline spoilers myself
[such generally currently and/or eventually being
readily available
Elsewhere
notwithstanding],
in my report/s I only convey indications of where I can be seen.)
As to the song, Randy and we were to have done the first verse and the chorus, but it got to the point the chorus just got dropped and we only struggled clumsily through the first verse.
I managed to get it about 95-95% memorized, but Randy's loss of the lyrics had him start making loud sounds to indicate He Didn't Know The Word at that moment; this loud noises overwrote my concentration and I couldn't spout out the words even for him to hear.
It eventually got to the point he realized if he listened to me, he could follow along.
Eventually they were able to provide a cue card for us to see better, though it only had the first half of the first verse.
By the time the camera reversed, facing the stage from the back of the room, they were able to place cue card at my feet so Randy could see it.
We never got it fully straight once, but came really close once or twice.
Predictably, those of us selected as "singers" didn't get so much as a hiccough Thank-You Bump, but we should get some good screen time if the mangled song doesn't get exised.
It should be noted that the beers in the scene were not water in a beer bottle: it was actual beer.
While I do not drink beer per se, I am able to drink it, and here I just let it hit my mouth as I Acted Drinking from the bottle/s each provided.
I could taste the beer as my moustache insisted on retaining a lot of it.
Lunch was great: steak with "fish and chips," so there were good if somewhat spicy fries.
People were released in sections, as the tavern had various catagories of people.
Based on my observations I think Abe was released in the first group while I was still on set;
I was in the second or third group to be released, signed out at 8:12pm.
Being a tavern scene, there was a Working With Smoke, and a bit of a mileage bump.
The next bus was scheduled in that I was able to scoot down to San Fernando and Burbank, where the Rapid bus arrived and got me down to my connection bus albeit a 25'ish minute wait.
Then with it being late, and as late MTA buses never attempt to make up their lost time
(yet have no problem waiting at the curb if they're 30 seconds ahead of schedule),
we made it to Pasadena with less than a minute to spare for me to catch the last bus to where I'd been staying
(not the last bus of the evening: the last I'd need that night... had I missed it I'd have had a 55+ minute wait for the next one).
|
