First of all, huge thanks are due to Panavision, who graciously donated the use of one of their 50 foot cranes to us on this day. If you don’t know, a crane like this is what’s used for those large sweeping shots you see in most films. Obviously, for a musical, we really needed those types of shots, especially in the two big musical numbers, and with Panavision’s help, we were able to do that. Their operators were amazing, as well. We never had to wait for them to set up and they never blew a shot (of course the same can’t be said for us, but hey, it was our first time with a 50 foot crane). Some of the sweeping shots we got with the thing are amazing, and I can honestly say that our movie wouldn’t be the same without them. It just added a ton of production value and made many of the shots much more dynamic and interesting, which the music really required. It was also really cool to draw up a bunch of shots that I thought would be cool (“thought” being the key word as I had no experience with a full on crane and was pretty much just guessing what would work well) and then see them come alive. There’s one shot that I really love that is really perfect for the end of the song, but we weren’t entirely sure it would work or that we’d be able to pull it off. We did though, thanks to our awesome crane operators, Dave (the DP who was sitting back in a tent with a monitor and controlling which way the camera was pointing with two metal steering wheel type levers) and Mark (our AC, who was remotely controlling the focus). It was a great experience for all of us, as complicated as it was, and was totally worth it.

So, I guess the big question from the day before was whether or not we’d be able to get all the shots we needed to since we’d been rained out the day before. I think most of us were thinking probably not. We’d give it a shot, and if we made it, cool, if not, we’d just have to come back the next Friday for another half day (and no one wanted to do that, least of all me, because it would be several hundred dollars extra). So, we set up to go. Basically, we had to shoot the two major dance numbers (which were luckily both in the same location with the same people (beginning song and reprise at the end), a scene featuring a tap dancer and a very complicated one off where several people sang individual lines to the main character, following him as he walked down the street. If that doesn’t sound like a lot, it is. Like really a lot. Like I didn’t think there was any way we could get through it.

Let’s take a quick step back. First of all, we had something like 16 ensemble dancers (not including any of the primary cast or the extra people in the final scene), all of whom were working for free, and all of whom did a great job and seemed to be having a blast with it. To put this in perspective, they had I believe 3 or 4 4 hour rehearsals with our amazing choreographer, Sarah Scherger, before we even began filming. Then, they were on set with us, dancing away for several hours... and that dancing included falling onto the ground repeatedly... something like 20 times. So yeah. Dedication. It all paid off, though, as the dance turned out really well. Better than I could have hoped, especially as I’m not a choreographer and had only a few distinct images in mind (Sarah filled out everything else). The music and dancing in this thing was way better than I ever could have hoped for, and I owe a lot to my amazing collaborators.

Anyway. After lying and falling down a lot on a cold street, we got all the shots we needed. Both dances covered. And we had a blast doing it. I’ve said it before, I think, but it’s worth saying it again, I’ve had a lot of fun making almost every movie I’ve ever made, but nothing comes close to this. Everyone was so optimistic and such a pleasure to be around, and everyone seemed to really believe in the project. It just made it so much fun to make this thing. OK, off the tangent. Dancing for those two scenes, done. And look at that... we were doing really well on time. Ok, time to really rush things and do the tap dancing scene. This scene was all shot in one shot on the crane, which meant we had to get it absolutely perfect. But, there wasn’t too much movement or anything, and it was a pretty short scene, so after several takes, we got it.

Well, would you look at that. The sun was in the process of setting, but we only had one shot left. Unfortunately, it was the most complicated and least prepared shot of the day (possibly the whole shoot). It was the least prepared because I had shot listed and story boarded something completely different than what we ended up doing. Once I got on set, I decided I wanted to do things differently (I know, I know, I’m a jerk), so Dave and I had to quickly figure out how to shoot it. What we ended up with was a long tracking shot of the whole scene... following Nathan on the crane as he walked down the road, with people popping into frame at just the right time to sing their line. Really tough stuff. But, we set it up and gave it a shot. Take 1 was an absolute disaster. Seriously. I just watched it again the other day, and it was miserable. At that point, I was probably thinking that we were screwed. But, we sucked it up and tried again. Re-positioned some people (with the help of Sarah, the choreographer, who really didn’t have to help out there, but that’s just the amazing kind of person she is), and tried again. Still no good, but not an abject disaster this time.

And so it went. In the freezing cold, as the sun was setting for probably 15 takes. With the cast and crew literally running back to one (first position where everyone starts at the beginning of the take) in between takes. Craziness. But y’know what? We got it, and it turned out really, really well. It’s kind of an amazing feeling when a team comes together to make something happen when you don’t really have time or the light to get it accomplished. It’s even cooler when it’s such a big team (the cast alone in this scene was like 8 people... add the crew in there and it’s a lot of people). But yeah, we did get it done. Don’t ask me how, but we did, and we got everything we needed. We even wrapped out of there an hour early when all was said and done, and best of all, we didn’t have to go back to Raleigh for that half day.

NEXT: John Larroquette on the roof at night!