Photo by myself on the subway platform in Union Square.
Yesterday Mark went on a shoot around Brooklyn for his job. He's freelancing right now, directing and producing three commercials for Comcast, the cable provider. He climbed out of bed early to be on set at 730.
'We'll be shooting a block away between 9 and 10', he said. I had fantasies of taking pictures behind the scenes to show you all, but it was just too cold out and too cozy under the covers. I wasn't even close to making it.
Mark wound up shooting footage of 18 actors at 12 locations around Williamsburg and Greenpoint. They broke for lunch at the pizza place around the corner from the apartment. Mark had been worried that it'd be too cold or dark outside to shoot, but in the end, the results were good.
The only time I've been involved with film production was years ago. I'd helped Laura, a friend at the time, with her film class at NYU. For some reason, one of the actors in her three-minute, silent black and white film couldn't make it, so I stood in.
We wound up working a 12-hour day, filming in Battery Park City and Riverside Park. I remember wearing a business suit and rushing down the stairs in the Winter Garden in one scene. In another, I threw an orange into the Hudson River (ah, let's just way it was a surreal piece). During lunch, Laura sat under a raincoat and wound the film through the camera manually.
We only shot a few scenes that day, but for some reason, it was exhausting. I wound up sleeping fourteen hours straight afterwards!
I still can't believe some people do that stuff for a living.
6 comments:
We also slept in, then just spent the day doing laundry and watching DVR'd What Not to Wear and Barefoot Contessa episodes... Now today I want to cook some hearty soup!
Sounds like you enjoyed your weekend!
That must have been tough on Mark in the freezing weather we're experiencing in NY right now. I was out in it yesterday and it wasn't fun!!
You two sound just so cool!
What you said about filming reminded me of when I first lived in London (many many years ago) and I rented a bedsit in a very grand house in Holland Park (Richard Branson lived two doors down!). The mews at the back of the house was regularly used for filming. About once a week I would wake up and curse because it was pouring with rain yet again. I'd look out of the window and it was never real rain - just those rainmaking machines they use for film sets. I guess every film they shoot of Britain has to include plenty of rain!
Glad you had a nice restful weekend anyway.
Spandrel, soup would hit the spot right now. Sounds like you two had a nice lazy weekend as well!
Fish dear, it was too cold yesterday, wasn't it? Yeesh. Mark had his sexy long johns on, haha.
RB that's neat about the rain machines! I bet Richard Branson's home was huge. Did he have a helipad on the top, I wonder.
Sounds like a fun weekend. I can imagine how tiring it is to have to wind the film manually on the camera!
I love how you caught the motion of the crowd in the subway :) I tried taking pictures in the subway but I was too paranoid that I might get mugged. Great shot!
Thanks PP!
It's relatively safe these days in the subway, but I get paranoid, too.
That kind of thing only takes a nanosecond, and it's over.
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