Since it's rather quiet here I decided to share my weekend experience shooting my script Old Wounds. I hope you can get something out of it whether it's learning from my mistakes, be horrified or just amused.

I wrote a 5 pager about 2 or 3 years ago titled Old Wounds. It got an honorable mention at MP. It was for a competition where we were only allowed one character. Simple enough and perfect for my first "solo" filmmaking I thought. All I needed was one actor, one cat and one mobile home. Easy enough. My camera guy (a young guy) told me his girlfriend would let us use her trailer that she grew up in. Cool, I thought. very nice of her. It's located in the middle of nowhere in Dixie County… A place that not that long ago was as lawless as the wild west in it's wildest days. It also has the ten commandments on the steps to the courthouse. This is really deep South…Anyway,  the girl has had the trailer rented out for the last year, but she said the woman who lives there didn't mind us using it and she would be gone over the weekend. Due to this being about 1-1.5 hrs away from where I, the girl, crew and actor live we didn't go to inspect it… We were satisfied with the many and detailed pictures of the home the girl showed us. It was perfect for what we needed. I knew where I would put set dressings and props and my camera guy made great storyboards so we knew the shots we were going to shoot.

So Saturday morning we were all ready and I felt well prepared.

I drove up to the trailer around 7:40am. First thing I noticed was the grass had not been mowed in a loooooooooong time and all the flowers from the pictures were gone. Okay, maybe we can make that work for the film somehow. No big deal. I parked my car and while doing that the girl and the rest of the guys went into the trailer. Shortly thereafter the girl comes out. Freaking out with everyone following her. She's in shock. Why you ask? The woman renting the home has in 1 year managed to totally trash it. I'm talking about total destruction. The girl was devastated. It looked like something you would see on Animal Hoarders or something like that. It had flooded inside so the floors were warped. Carpet was filthy with stains and "shit".  Someone had also busted a window and broken in during the night. I asked everyone if we should leave and try to redo this somewhere else. Everyone thought since we had all driven that far had all the equipment and props we might as well try to make the best of it and go ahead and shoot it anyway.  First thing we did was kill this charming thing casually crawling across the kitchen floor.  

I went on into the master bath…  

and into the master bedroom where I found this. I have no idea what it is. Someone said it looked like the afterbirth from a dog. It might be…    

The second bath wasn't any nicer…      

We were obviously disgusted and couldn't believe this woman actually lives here. With a kid too!  It was hot in there and I asked one of the guys to turn the AC on.     You guessed it. It didn't work. You know what it's like in a trailer with no AC in Florida in July? Add to that the heat the lights put out. It was 118 degrees inside. So, what else could possibly go wrong? Well, water started to come up in the kitchen sink! We were afraid the septic tank was going to backup. Someone suggested we'd turn off the water pump so we did. Now we had no water…or toilet. The nearest bathroom was 15 minutes away at a gas station.

The cat who was an important part of the script was lying on the floor panting. Poor thing got overheated and had to be taken to the vet.  

By 2pm half the crew had left due to heat exhaustion, dehydration and migraines.

When the last shot was shot, it was 10pm. I was exhausted. I had been in there for 14 hours. Besides myself, there was only the camera guy and actor left. We got some cool shots, but the cat was sorely missed and I don't think I can get anyone to drive back there to reshoot some needed shots. So the biggest lesson here was, you must inspect the location yourself. Even if it's far away and the owner tells you it's really nice and shows you a bunch of pictures to prove so.

So, will I eventually have this short as finished film? I don't know. I have to see if I can piece something together with what I have. My husband suggested adding a cartoon cat in post and turn it into a comedy.    Too bad we weren't shooting a horror because the place would have been perfect for that.

I also noticed there was some discussion in a different thread about how the script to film process works and why a lot of times the writer is disappointed because the film turns out completely different than how they pictured it while writing it. I understand this 100% now. I knew exactly how I wanted this to look, but as it turns out, it's nowhere near and I was in charge!  

Pia  

You should have made a horror film. lol. Perfect place. Wow.

Hopefully you get something done. I'll like to see it. I wish you the best luck in making it. It's a learned experience.

Gabe

I am always more amazed at the people that don't understand how tough human beings actually are.
We are much stronger than we think we are.

See if anyone wants one of their 2010 OCT OWC's made.
http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-10OWC/m-1287202296/s-90/

Looks great for GLASS RAIN.


Otherwise, what camera was your DP using?
And how were you guys recording sound? Tascam D-100 or Zoom h4N hooked up to a shotgun on a pole?

Are you sure she's not killed someone in there?

Whoa, poor kitty. :/

Looks like a great place to shoot a movie...
About a trapped film crew lured to their doom by a psychotic location scout!

Hope everyone recovered alright.

E.D.

Yow.  Looks like the bathtub from Buffalo Bill's basement.  I think the cat was faking the whole "overheating" thing.  He just wanted outta there.  Old actors trick.

That's the thing about filmmaking.  There's your plan, then there's God's plan.  And then there's the trailer lady's plan.  But hopefully you get a tight little flick out of all this.

Wait a minit!

Are you suggesting that the script wasn't adhered to 100% as some sort of Holy document that couldn't be deviated from?
Like DVD player operation instructions?

I'm shocked and amazed.

Heresy, I say!
Heresy!

What would Paul Greengrass say?!

Quoted from RayW I am always more amazed at the people that don't understand how tough human beings actually are. We are much stronger than we think we are.

I felt pretty good about being twice as old as these guys that were passing out left and right and I did it for 14 hrs and at the end of the day, I also had to pack everything up. That's a lot of gear. And heavy too...

As far as cameras went, I took these picks with my Lumix G3. I brought it for behind the scenes shots. The camera for the film was a Panasonic hvx-200. I have several mics, but we used the Sennheiser shotgun mic. I almost always use that one. It always gives me great sound.

I felt so sorry for Maximus the cat too. He's a 26 pound bundle of love normally.

I forgot to mention that thecarpet was flea infested too.

What is upsetting to me is that there is a kid living there too. I almost feel like calling child protective services.  

  

Ray, we made changes on the spot as we had to adjust to the situation at hand. A lot of shots we had planned that were important to characterization were skipped because we just couldn't use those areas of the house. So yeah, things changed a lot.

Great one Pia!  Look at it this way...once you've got a few feature films under your belt, it'l be better to have this story than the story of a short film that went off without a hitch!

Great lesson learned, too.  Visiting a location can be just as great for a writer as it is for the rest of the crew.

Love the HVX.  Wonderful camera.  Good choice.

Too bad there wasn't a wheelchair in the trailer, Pia.

You could've filmed one of last years Halloween OWC's...

I think all that heat will really add to the atmosphere of the film.  Can't wait to see it.

Old Wounds. I remember it, but then again I don't.
Sometimers.

Hope you were able to get it filmed. These pictures were yucky.
That tennant needs some CLR for the hard water stains in the bathroom.
Pretty gross.

Are you going to post the film when it's finished?

Cindy

Thank you for sharing, Pia. Although the pictures might be yucky, it's sad to think about the backstory behind such disrepair and neglect.

Sandra

Chris, lessons learned indeed! This experience scared me about doing the feature though. This was just a 5 pager. Finders Keepers is 94!!!  Panic!!

I love my camera. Wish it had more work to do and just didn't sit in a case all the time.  

Stevie, yeah. That place would've been perfect for a horror. It was even worse than these pictures show. The walls were scratched up as if some psycho had been locked up there and when we were shooting in the bedroom, the fleas were biting us like crazy.

Michael, not sure there will be a complete film to show. A lot of important shots are missing and I don't know that I can get people to go back to shoot those. Also, August 1st there will be no electricity. I've told them it's necessary so we'll see what happens.

Cindy, if I have a complete film I absolutely will. The tenant has been evicted and someone did call child protective services or whatever it's called.

Sandra, I agree 100%. One thing I always find so interesting is how people you meet and you form your opinion about them and then when you see their house that picture can do a 180. You never know about people and IMO, everyone has a story to tell. That's what I love about people. I like to learn about everyone. Everyone is interesting to me even if they are not likable.

Here are some of the pics from the shoot.