The Wednesday Morning Breakfast Club: Day 1

Our first day of filming started at 7am in Justin's apartment...on a Wednesday, appropriately enough!  We don't have any pictures of me, but the scene is my character waking up and getting ready to go to a job interview at the diner.  I was so tired that it came very naturally to lay in bed looking asleep, then open my eyes and squint at my alarm, and then slowly and reluctantly sit up...  Haha!  I wanted to stay in the bed for real.  :-) 

 Seth Haley, cinematographer:

Our next location was a quiet street running parallel to Lake Michigan.  I get stuck behind an old lady driving slowly, and I get frustrated because I'm already running late for my interview.  I whiz around her, then get stuck on the side of the road because I run out of gas.  The lady on the left (below) is 90 years old and did a great job with her part!

One of the most challenging parts for me was when I had to drive beside another vehicle and try to match their speed (while acting out my scene and not staring at the spedometer) so that Seth could film straight into my window:

Thomas preparing the clapboard:

Justin (our producer and director) and Mr. Cade (who also plays my boss at the diner, but came out this morning to help manage traffic):

 The car that I drove:

The rest of the pictures were taken by our official BTS photographer, Anna Brooks:

Justin and Seth visualizing my entrance into the diner:

 Bouncing light into my face so I'm properly illuminated.  :-)

 Reviewing a scene...

 Amos (Seth's brother), who helping with driving and filming:

 Amanda wrote the script and is playing the other waitress, Martha:

So beautiful!  :-)  I love our waitressing costumes!

 Filming my entrance:

 Mr. Cade as Virgil, the owner of the diner:

 Ben was our boom op!

Harmony (Seth's wife) helping monitor sound:

I get caught with a lot of strange expressions on my face...  Haha!

We've had a week off since our first day of filming, but we get back to work this Thursday and Friday.  We're only filming two days a week because everybody else working on the film is local and has a regular job.  Thomas, Ben, and I have plenty to do to keep us occupied during the off days.  This will be like a five week vacation for us! 

  

Trip to Michigan

On Monday, June 4th, I started my trip to Michigan!  For what purpose?  To act in the lead role in a short film that my friend Justin Barber is producing and directing!  I met Justin at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival back in 2010.  That's also when I met Seth Haley, our cinematographer.  It's neat to be working with them on a project now!  In fact, you could say that this is the first project I've worked on as a direct result of the film festival.

Justin's sister, Amanda, wrote the script.  It has been so much fun to get to know her in person over the past week.  We have a lot in common!  She and Justin share an apartment here in St. Joseph, but she has moved in with me at a host home so that Thomas and Ben (two friends who came with me to help on the crew) could stay at the apartment with Justin.

I'll share more about the project in future posts, but for now here are some pictures of our trip from Virginia to Ohio to Michigan (a total of 740 miles)... 

 Farm land in Ohio!

 The view from Gabriel Everson's back porch (where we stopped to spend the night):

 Thomas:

Ben: 

 Gabriel:

A beautiful sunset:

 Lake Michigan!!!  Right behind Justin's apartment:

It is so beautiful up here, and we have lots of down time because we're only filming 2 days a week.  (Everybody else is local and has day jobs...or a night job in Justin's case.)  I've been able to go out and visit downtown St. Jo and the beach a few times (pictures to come later!).  I look forward to getting out more and enjoying this beautiful weather.

My other big news is that I have been promised a role in a feature film to be shot near D.C. in August!  The producer was very impressed with my video audition (which surprised me, because I didn't think it was that good).  I'll either be given the lead role or a supporting role.  I can't wait to find out and be given the script!  And that project will actually pay, which is really nice since I'll be mostly broke after this trip to Michigan.  :-)  But this is like a five week vacation for me, so I am very happy to be up here and have a chance to relax.  And I'm making lots of friends, which is always fun.  I'm glad we'll be here for five weeks.  It's going to be hard to leave...