This week I was in another independent short film called “Blue Moon” by Paul Collins that is slated to be entered into a group of short film festivals. My part of the story is about a guy who don’t want to let people embrace who they are and live their own lives. How’s that for vague? The part: Well, lets see, I am not really a nice guy. I’m troubled, confused and I most certainly don’t approve of how others choose to live their lives. I just don’t get it. I will do whatever it takes to take it away from them! It’s not that I want what they have it’s that I don’t want them to have it. More vague? OK, I got to wear brown contact lenses. It is an interesting story, so stay tuned!

We filmed outside of Paul home in Sugar House. To say it was cold is clearly an understatement. We had a storm come in Tuesday night and I woke up to about 6 inches of snow on Wednesday. (It took me an hour and twenty minutes to get Sean to school, usually a 25 minute drive, so yes he was late.) The sky had cleared in the afternoon, so any heat that might have gotten trapped by the clouds was gone.

We were outside of Paul’s house for the actual filming going inside periodically to get warm. Paul had gotten some really cool equipment to use for his project and he and his very limited crew had to go outside and set it all up in the cold. I got to Paul’s house at around 5:00 pm and it was 20 degrees at that time. We didn’t actually start filming until around eight. I made the mistake of wearing a thin suit and dress shoes. I didn’t even think about wearing long johns or boots and we were essentially standing on ice. I did have my coat and did wear it between takes. It was 12 degrees when I left the shoot and 8 degrees by the time I got home around 11:30pm. I think it ended up being the coldest night of the year so far. I know that it sounds like bitching, but it was freezing! Just so you know, we did actually have some fun, and I think they got some really great shots too!

John, the camera man was great, he never once complained about the cold even though he was the one who had to carry most of the heavy equipment and he operated the “steady cam”. From what I understand that is a rather specialized job. It wears on the neck, back, and shoulders, and there are only a few folks who can do that job well, and so they usually get paid quite well to do it.

Kevin, the one in the yellow coat, was the sound guy which was very helpful for Paul. He and his wife just had a baby so he had to leave a bit earlier to be with his family.

Clay, the other actor was also professional and great to work with. Here are some photos from the shoot.

See Ya,
Bill