Don't Be a Dummy

I had stuff to write about, but I think I may have avoided writing long enough where the interest of writing about them has gone. At any rate, I will try if for nothing else than to get it on record.

I worked on one of my favorite sets the other day. As I was handed my waiver, the PA informed me that I would be standing-in. Not unusual at all. I had very little sleep and the person for which I was standing-in was lying on a hospital gurney. So that meant I was lying down for about an hours, the other stand-in standing next to me, yawning, me yawning in return, her yawning and looking to me, me fighting the yawn, squinting and shaking my head (why does she think this is funny?) damn it! I yawn again.

Later on, I was brought into a scene as background, an orderly. However what was usual about this is what they had me do. The scene was in a hospital room with attached observation room. The camera was in the observation room looking into the hospital room. I was in the hospital room standing next a digital camera that I was supposed to operate (follow the two leads as they enter and frame up the camera on the bed.) The weird thing is that the actual film camera was angled on a monitor showing my shot. So what I was filming was actually being used and will be seen in the show. Very neat. Plus the camera was right on my and I was the only one in the room, so I should be pretty visible. Umm... ok, it was 3lbs, a new TV show. It was a 14.3 hour day, not counting lunch break. I slept about 4 hours then...

I woke up for the next day of work. It was HUGE scene for the movie American Gangster, hundreds and hundreds or extras. It was shot in Long Island, so it took quite some time ot there. The scene was shot in an arena and to help fill the thousands of seats, productions filled seats with dummies. When I first entered the arena and sat down, it was dark, foggy and all I could see were extras standing in front of their seats, not moving, not talking, just being downright creepy. Then when I realized that these extras were in fact dummies. Hundreds of dummies, inflatable, threatening, unnerving. I wasn't really in any of the shots of the day, just bordering the scene, (as an usher), I made nice with the dummies.....

(There are supposed to be pics here, but having tech. difficulties.)

I was lucky enough to have good company for cigarette breaks and the like. I nearly went 16 hours, you know GOLDEN TIME, but was 12 minutes shy. 12 fucking minutes. That's just not right.