Day 13 Shooting- 3rd Times A Charm?

I took a week off under Mollie’s advisement, so I could get re-organized for October’s shoot.  What a mistake.  I wasted most of my week off and fell into more doubt and depression.  I had too much time, so it made me want to waste it  I had a meeting with May which was good- we talked about her character and background for an hour and she really pointed out some gaping holes that I hadn’t noticed.  Weird that I’m directing my teacher.  She was very patient and willing to improvise dialogue.

I started going to to this bar downtown in hopes of getting it as a possible location.  It has the photo booth I need- plus the bar is perfect, but they want at least $5,000 for it, otherwise it’s not worth it to them to keep it open.  Turen encouraged me to keep going back and befriend the owners, so then maybe when the time comes they’ll cut me a deal, but I’m so stiff when it comes to negotiations.  Turen did all the talking for me the first time and judging from the owners reaction (she handed me her phone so I could play tetris then proceeded to play with my nipples) I might actually have a chance.  So I have to keep going back- slightly annoying, since I don’t want to spend money on drinks every week- let alone let myself get drunk and accomplish nothing.

I met with my actress Alex after getting drunk and she was just getting out of her play that her ex directed.  She was at a bar with fellow castmates along with the director, which she was trying to keep her distance from.  She was real happy to see me though and we retreated to the jukebox and hung out for awhile- I gave Alex a present I made from the bar downtown.  I took a pictures in the photo booth and for the four inidividual shots I held up different signs:

1. ALEX
2. I
3. HAVE
4. HERPES!

and you can see my face gradually turn into an insane smile.

She doubled over laughing for a minute and told me it was a truly great present- she kept showing it off the entire night.

We both had too much to drink, but for once I was staying fairly upbeat while Alex was clearly getting pissed off by her ex and later let some anger out on a wall outside.

I’ve been slowly falling for Alex over the last month and it’s probably the worst idea to get involved with someone in my movie, but I haven’t brought myself to say anything yet.  I’m sure it’s not a classy move to pull this on her when she’s just getting over some schmuck too.  anyway, the excitement of the possibility keeps things interesting.

Friday night was canceled when I found out they scheduled me until 11.  Alex told me she wasn’t up for it anyway.

So Alex and Mike pushed through another Saturday of shooting- a scene we’ve attempted twice already, but I think I finally got it the third time around.  The actors were looser, not sick for once and their playfulness really brought out some wonderful/disturbing moments.  Alex latched onto this doll prop that my roommate put in my room as a joke- this little crude looking Hitler doll.  Mike started singing to the tune of the Christmas Carol, "Oh Tennenbaum, Oh Tennenbaum" but with the lyrics of, "Oh Hitler Doll, Oh Hitler Doll…your love is so tre-men-dous."  But he sang it full out opera style and we couldn’t stop singing it for the rest of the night- occasionally improvising some truly offensive lyrics, but it seemed appropraite at the time.  

The scene is simple- Bethany brings Derek home and Derek asks if he can move in with her.  She says she wanted him too.  They start to fool around and we get a little taste of Bethany’s sadomasochist side when she starts slapping Derek around, who seems to like it.  I got this really nice shot taken from behind the mosquito net- looking through the black web and Bethany crawling onto Derek like a spider.  I don’t mind fancy shots as long as they serve a purpose and this shot said something, so I liked it.

Lot of laughter going on that nght.  We took our time and got it.  They got carried away with the Hitler jokes though, and I finally told them to knock it off- not because I was offended, but because they were completely leaving the scene.  By then we were almost finished anyway.