Last night, at the close of our big organizational day, Derek let me take a crack at editing some footage from our first day of shooting.  I put together a rough cut of the first two minutes of the movie, and it was an absolute treat.  Editing visual sequences is always fun, but when the footage looks as fantastic as Derek’s does, it feels like Christmas.  Putting that first sequence down also made me feel more secure about the project as a whole; it reminded me that we’re making a movie, not just running around frantically shooting scenes.

James Fauvell hangs loose at our location

Today we were back in production mode, driving five vehicles to Salt Lake City and then out beyond it, to the abandoned train car that some of you may remember from our early location scouts.  It’s an astonishing location, and we shot there in beautiful evening light; that footage will be fun to cut together too.  Tomorrow: more shooting!  (And then more, and then more, and then more.)  But I’m hoping to squeeze in a little editing too.  It’s exciting to watch the movie come together …

Pretty lovely, no?

Shooting near the caravan.

Two stylish gentlemen.

-KB

Day One of shooting is wrapped.  We shot for six hours out on a remote desert road, the sun beating down on us, dark clouds rolling past overhead, virtually no vehicles in sight all day but our own.  The location was a solid two hours away from our condo, but well worth the trip.  The road seemed to stretch on infinitely in both directions, with dry scrub on both sides and mountains looming in the background; in short, it was a picture-perfect image of lonely desolation.  A great way to start a film!

The shoot went well, although with only a few cell phones getting reception, the absence of walkie-talkies was keenly felt.  It’s a little difficult to coordinate a caravan of five cars using only hand gestures, shouting, and the occasional phone call.  Tomorrow, both of our locations are in Salt Lake City (i.e., civilization), with access to electricity and running water and man-made shade.  It’s going to feel like the lap of luxury.

Pretty, though, right?

Our last scene of the day was shot in a moving car on our way back to Park City at dusk, with Chad and me crammed into the trunk sitting on our own legs.  As I stepped out of the car at a gas station, carrying a bag full of camera lenses, my ankles gave way beneath me, and I fell to my knees on the pavement.  I hadn’t realized just how asleep my feet were.

As Mike Lavoie would say: makin’ movies!

Today was also the seventh day of our four-week feature, meaning that we are exactly 25% of the way through.  It’s been going very slowly, yet also very quickly, as all the best things do.

-KB

My shiny new Flip camera (a belated replacement for a defective Christmas present) finally arrived today, courtesy of my mom.  I was so excited to start using it that I immediately rushed upstairs and began filming, even though the only person to film was Mike Lavoie.

I caught Mike in the middle of a writing session, but he generously took a moment to show me what he was working on.  Take a look!

More from the new Flip soon.  Very, very soon.

-KB