Finally, the first day of shooting A Crimson Man. After a year of writing the feature, adapting it into a short, the Kickstarter campaign, building the team and pre-production -- here we are. I am excited, nervous, prepared, all the things.
For me, the first day started the night before. Not just the usual prep one does, but getting updates on Red’s paint job throughout the night and into the early am. Ted always joked with me that a job like this -- low budget, tight schedule -- the painting would happen up until the cameras rolled. Well, he was right.
Dan Clarkson and I arrive at the Clayton Museum at 730 am.
8AM I have a look at the wardrobe with Amy. The aging looks great. Wardrobe, check. Elissa and I go over the makeup for Maddox (Wei) and Craig(Bunker Sentry) Loving the scrapes, dirty teeth and grime. Makeup, check.
I head down into the basement, where we are shooting the bunker radio room. I say hi to Devon, our scripty, then hand off the board of storyboards for today’s scenes. I have worked on many shoots with Devon. We are in good hands.
The set and lighting are looking great. It’s an incredible feeling to see all the work and discussions that I’ve had with Farhad (DP) and Robert (Production Designer) come to fruition. And even better than I hoped.
830am Red’s costume has arrived. Clarkson suits up. By 9, Red’s standing in the hallway, 7.5 feet tall, painted, eyes lit up and blinking. The paint job looks great. Unfortunately, the head won’t be able to move as much as we had hoped. But, we will work around it. Clarkson’s performance, the eyelids, and lights will sell Red. If we only had one more week and money. But, when is this not the case?
photo by Charlie W. Murphy
915am Craig is on set. First frame is up. Looks even better than I had pictured. Here we go. Action. Two setups. Craig nails it. Scene 9, complete. A great way to start to the shoot.
10am After some short delays on Red, we flip scene order to continue with scene 11a: A short, but intense scene between Craig and Maddox.
photo by Charlie W. Murphy
Prior to shooting, we had rehearsed this scene a few times -- so they had it down. But, I was still warming up as this was the first scene directing Maddox. Will I be able to get the performances out of him?
Scene 11a turned out well. At the end, we brought in Clarkson. Fully suited up as Red, he filmed the beginning and end of the scene.
Onto scene 11. Handheld, tracking Wei down into the bunker until he reaches Red interrogating the Bunker Sentry. Eventually, we had to condense the scene, as our hours with Maddox were running out. Quick thinking and great planning really paid off here.
We shot out Maddox. As we moved onto Red, we learned that Clarkson’s vision inside the costume was very limited. Okay. Fortunately, the scenes we shot today didn't require much movement from Red. An ideal first day. And any movement Red did have, Clarkson memorized his steps and hit his marks(basically blind). Though the first day of wearing that costume quickly wore him out.
Done. First day wrapped. 4 pages. A tight space. First day with Red in full costume. Maddox. Craig. Kid hour time crunch. Wardrobe, HMU, set, lighting, performances, everything looks great. We did it. Despite having to pick up 3 shots another day, I’d say a great first day. Because if we didn’t make this day, then the next 4 would have been trouble.
photo by Charlie W. Murphy
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