Albuquerque 6th Week

8/9/21

THE DROP

I have shot 3 separate scenes of my traveling feature film "Wander Lost" since I've been in ABQ. Given that I am not paying the talent, it's been a real challenge finding folks to participate. Compounding things is coordinating willing actors so that they are available at the same time. And securing locations. It has not been an impossible task, but like I said, it hasn't been easy. Nevertheless, I have powered forward and made steady progress. I have 2 more scenes still left to shoot here in ABQ. "Planned" as such, I think I can get them done. The Drop I shot over the weekend with two super nice guys who had never appeared before a camera before (a real PLUS!) It stars Nick Sisneros and John Sais. It took a couple of hours. Making movies is never easy. It's composed of may repetitive takes (coverage) and some pretty technical maneuvering. If the talent's curious, I try and explain the process. Otherwise, I primarily just remind them where to stand , where to move to (blocking), and refresh their memory about the scene.

I am a one person crew. I do the recording of picture and sound. I direct the actors. When I have an "off" day I do some editing. Then I upload the edited scenes to YouTube so the talent and others can see how things are progressing. I also write all the scenes, right on the spot most times, when one happens to pop into my head. During filming, I/we rewrite sometimes, but not always, some of the dialogue. When a line insists of coming out of an actors mouth a certain way, a different way than scripted, we go with it. I have sort of worked this way (all of the above) for much of my career. But it sure would be nice if I could split some of the technical/practical and coordinating duties with someone.

I spend most mornings (today for instance) at my fav coffee shop, Java Joe's, planning my today and tomorrow, etc.. "Securing" talent, locations, today's shopping, where my RV will be stationed, electricity and reliable internet. Chiquita's support has been a mainstay and tremendous help. She has already been in a scene I have yet to edit, "Goodbye, Fare-the-well".. I want to cast actors in more than one scene if they are willing. Entirely different scenes, entirely different characters, Chiquita will be no exception. John, the person with the walking stick in the picture below, played the nerdy sandwich delivery boy in The Drop. In "Goodbye, Fare-the-well" he plays a possible jilted lover who puts a "voodoo doll" to use.. Or maybe he's just a crazy kid - who knows.

When I woke up this morning, someone had taped a note to the back of my RV with a phone number asking if I wanted to sell the ATXTraveler. I responded politely with a NO, explained why, and directed her to a website where many listing for my style of RV are advertised for sale. While at that website, I perused a bit and found an RV very similar to mine in year and mileage. It was listed for 23K!

OK, more later.