The Oppie Production Blog

Twenty-one hours of shoot (part 2)

Eight in the morning. We did not get to the dorm on time. Ah well. But, since the majority of the cast and crew now live in one giant house, we were able to get everyone together and get there eventually.

Filup continued rewriting as we started setting up the dorm.

Cory shaved all the hair on his body for the first of many, many, shooting days that require him to be completely 100% hairless.

A couple of fellows were pressure washing right outside the window so we really didn’t get started shooting until around 11:30 or so. (You have to be very careful with sound unless you’re absolutely sure you want what sounds like a jackhammer in the background of your scene) That gave us time to get the script in order, get copies printed, and figure out story boards and stuff.

We finally started shooting and moved along nicely. We shot a few scenes. Someone in the scene had to be almost naked. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but that person may have been Cory.

JC had arrived so we started shooting one of his scenes: His half of the phone call. Since the script was two days old, it seemed like Filup was more comfortable with letting the actors improvise to create funnier lines. For an improv troupe, surprisingly, we like to stick to scripts pretty tightly (when we have them).

JC got to wear pajamas all day long.

We shot Cory’s half of the phone call and then a… sleepover scene. More hilarious, awkward, improvisations.

One of our favorite tools for lighting a scene is the china ball. It’s a paper lantern that gives off a beautiful soft light and it’s really easy/quick to use. It’s also really easy/quick to destroy. A china ball that we started using at the beginning of the shoot has gotten more and more ripped open and as a result has gotten more and more difficult and awkward to hold. (We have a shortage of lightstands, so we have someone hold the light. Hollywood.)

Every shoot, a parade of heros holds that china ball high. I swear I am going to buy a new one soon and maybe a stick to put it on. I promise you.

All day it seemed like it was later than it actually was because we had been working so long. In the evening, some fun new actors showed up. Jenn Francis and Lindsey Kinard. Lindsey had to get some special makeup applied and we ended up shooting another JC scene (a scrabble scene. Get excited, scrabble heads!) before moving into the final-ish scene of the episode.

At some point, Katie L. gave me a soft taco and I loved that taco so much. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until someone walked in with a giant bag of Taco Bell for everyone (I didn’t order anything because I was dumb).

Also, Liz brought blow pops.

We blocked out the final scene, which is supposed to take place outside of Gene’s dorm room, and ran it a few times before starting to shoot it. We got Lindsey done first so she could get out of that insane make-up and then we moved on to the Oppie/Gilda parts of the scene.

At a few points, I was almost shaking the camera because they just seemed so adorable. On screen romance! Exciting stuff.

The hardest stuff was done. It was already around 2am. We shot one last sequence in the hallway with SPECIAL EFFECTS (people opening and closing doors) and then Jenn and JC got to go home.

Cory had one last thing to do: tear down the dorm.

Since we had to be out of the dorm room, we had to take everything out. We filmed Oppie doing parts of it.

A glass thing fell on my foot and exploded. In the take, I can be heard involuntarily saying “Ooooowwwwwwwwww.”

We packed up and got things into cars and everyone seemed tired but when you’re done, you can’t help but feel good.

Posted by rymo.