EIGHTEEN DAYS SHOT TO SHALE 11/27-12/4/2011

The 18 days spent from the time we left our trailer in Hollister, Ca, went to Oregon and back were the longest, most tiring, most exhilarating, most exciting days we have spent in quite awhile!  As you will see in a couple blog entries prior to this one it began very family filled.  Then as you see below, we had our home re-roofed while we were in town, we went to several doctor's appointments and had a truck repair job.

Then the work began.  

Seated in the western foothills of The Rogue Valley there lies a shale pit, as seen in the center of the picture below.  Here we would spend 2 days setting up camp, 8 days helping our son Jed shoot a film called "Shale", a short, but energetic project for his final project in his Masters pDegree at Columbia University.  Then we would spend a couple days breaking camp.  A few months ago he had asked us to help.  We were asked to provide the food for his cast and crew of 23 people.  First thing was to plan out the food and how to prepare it, then set up our kitchen and headquarters.  See the two tiny white dots to the left of the bald hole in the mountain?  That was the mess tent and the trailer for the crew that we set up.

 Enlisting the help of family and friends, we began.  Here is Cliff and his faithful farm truck on the first day of setting up the mess camp.

Cliff, Wayne's brother, and the producer, Michele and assist. producer, Alvaro, helped Wayne set up the mess tent.

 Then we laid pallets down as a foundation for the floor to help keep the crew out of the mud.

 Then the floor went down.

The rest of the walls came next.

With the tent set up, Wayne, John and Ann hauled a rented 31 foot trailer up for the actors to relax in and for Ann and Wayne to sleep in at nights for security of all the equipment and so we could be close to where our workday would start each morning at 4:30 AM.  The trailer is the one on the right.  The one on the left belonged to one of the squatters that lived up on the mountain.

This is the view looking at our camp with the fog socked in The Rogue Valley in front of us and the shale pit several hundred yards behind the camera man.

 

This is looking  the opposite direction down towards the shale pit where all the filming took place.  That is the actor's trailer in the foreground.

 Taken from the same position, just turned a little to the left.

Our view of the cold and frozen Rogue Valley!

 Some nights, the fog would freeze on the trees and we would wake up to a beautiful winter wonderland that would sometimes melt away as the fog subsided and the sun came out.

 

Then we would be back to wonderful normal colors.  Seeing as how we had no running water, this little red house was our only restroom.

Many mornings we woke up to ice cycles hanging from the inside and outside of our mess tent.  But after we started cooking on our propane stove and turned on the propane heater, things would get better.

Our MacDonalds water container had a drip that would create a long ice cycle to greet us each morning as we filled the two 85 cup coffee pots.

Ann's and Wayne's first job of the morning was to set things up, warm things up and fix a hot breakfast, then create a welcoming atmosphere for the crew as they began to filter in about 5:45 AM.  Hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, scrambled omlettes, french toast, pancakes, hot coffee and cocoa, orange juice, begal-ham-egg-cheese sandwiches, juice and such were some of the treats we prepared for the hard working film makers.

Helping turn fuzzy eyes into cheerful smiles was our goal.

Of course Kate was always one of the first to arrive.  Her cheerful smile helped brighten up the mess tent!

As we readied ourselves for the morning rush of sleepyheads, Kate and Alvaro would usually get into a friendly debate over something or another.

And Michele would busy himself with something quieter.

Then the director and executive producer would recalibrate, make last minute changes, and make sure everything was set up the way they wanted it for the day.

 Then the executive producer and the producer would set everything up according to the directors wants.

Then the crew would start arriving and we would feed and entertain them for 30 or so minutes before Jed would make them go to work.

As they slowly moved towards the exit, with full bellies and coffee in their veins, Kate was there with last minute instructions.

Then Jed would come back to give us instructions for the day as to extra things he needed of us.

It was so cold up there that everybody wanted hot foods.  Alvaro, playfully would try to convince people through the day that they needed Cheerios to make it through the day.  That box never got opened!

Besides a kitchen, dining hall and office, our mess tent got used for many other activities.
It was a hospital for minor actor injuries.  Here the lead actor, Walter, gets a head boo-boo doctored by nurse Kate.

It also was the make-up room.  Here Meridith, a wonderful artist from England, works her craft on Sandra, the lead actress.

After we cooked, served and cleaned up breakfast we would run into town to do errands for Jed and Kate and pick up the lunch food, by 11:15AM, that we had contracted for, with family and local restaurants.  As we would drive down the hill, we would pass by the movie making going on down in the shale pit.

John (Ann's brother) and his wife, Karen, made one of our lunches.  It was a family recipe of Ann's and John's dad's famous chili, corn bread and fruit salad.  Here Karen checks it as we arrived to pick it up.

A big pot of chili and several pans of the Huff secret recipe cornbread......

...and a great fruit salad was the fare for this day's lunch.

Then we transported it up to the mess tent on site, set it up to keep warm until the crew came to eat anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 1/2 hours after we got the food there, depending on the shots that were going on in the pit.  Then the gracious and good looking host and hostess served it up with a smile.

Another lunch from the Huff Kitchen was orchestrated by Sarah, our niece. 

It was three pans of her famous Chicken Pot Pie....

....and a delicious salad.

These two lunches were a success!  The other lunches were contracted with local restaurants and were dealt with in the same way.
 The dinners we arranged to be prepared and eaten at family and friend's homes.  Huffs, Cowleys, Allens, Gossons and Ashcrafts all provided excellent homey, warm and friendly food and atmospheres to help the crew unwind after a long day of shooting a film in the mud and cold.  It became a nightly ritual to de-boot, de-jacket and shake off all the mud we could before entering our hosts' homes.

Then we would enter in for dinner......

....relaxation, socialization,....

....and always a business meeting afterwards to debrief the day and plan for the next.

 The proof of the relaxing atmosphere and good food provided for the crew by our dinner hosts. is exemplified by Tracy falling asleep during one of the after dinner meetings in a host's home.

 When we were not feeding the crew or running errands in town, we got a little time to feed the cats, watch the movie be made and socialize with the cast and crew.  Here Ann is watching Walter, the lead actor, feed a few of the wild kitties that lived up there.

 A constant visitor to the set and mess tent was Harold, the owner of the shale pit where we were located.  A generous ol' timer that has a love for kids, education and telling stories about his life.  Jed feared every day that he might do something to worry Harold, but Harold loved having us all there!  See the big smile on Harold's face!!!

We occasionally got to watch some of the acting and filming.  The fog was a constant worry on the set.  One minute it would be fogged over.

 

And a couple minutes later it would be bright and clear.

Actors and crew were constantly scrambling to get the next shot while the sun shone.  The director and producer were constantly changing which scene to shoot based on the lighting changes.

There were a couple times Ann and I got to watch from the director's chair!  Parental privileges!

Not only did the stunt man move the tractor around, but Jed, the director became quite confident and proficient at relocating the tractor for different shots.

Once the tractor ran out of fuel, once the batteries died, once a fuel line broke.  The stunt man and Harold are here consulting on the best way  to remedy a current problem.

Both Harold and his son, Jamie, were valuable technical assistants on tractor fix-its.

Here the stunt man and the actor are discussing how to deal with the scene of rolling the tractor.....

....and during the wait for the next shot, one of the crew catches some Zzzzz's.....

....and a new character, Sam the dog, is introduced to two of the actors in preparation for an upcoming shoot.

Then on Saturday when we were to shoot the big scene where the tractor gets rolled, the fog socked in hard.  Finally, in the late afternoon, Jed decided they had to shoot it, even in the fog.  They had run out of wait time.  So all was set up and readied for the shoot.

The tractor and stunt man are readied.

Then as we begin to shoot, the fog wonderfully begins to thin out.

Cold but happy observers feel that prayers are beginning to be answered.

The two main actors join the whole crew to watch as the first attempt to roll it fails.

After the second attempt fails, Alvaro is worried that we will not have enough film to keep shooting too many more failed attempts

Still a third attempt fails!

On the fourth attempt, we all hold our breath and say our own little prayers.

Up it goes and it begins to look like it might roll over.

The fog is clearing.... that's good.  But will it go all the way over this time?

Friends from Phoenix Auto and Ann look on with worried concentration, willing the tractor to roll.

And it did!  The stunt man crawls out and Jed yells, "Cut!!!" and there are cheers that erupt in the shale pit!

Wayne, Linda and Ann are happy campers!!!

Tom, another son of Harold, kept walking around saying, "I can't believe they rolled a Cat 966 on purpose!  That is crazy!!"  He was amazed at what film people would do.

Our stunt man proudly stood by for a few pictures to say, "I did this!  It's all in a day's work!  No big deal!"

Then, re-assembled, they began shooting the actors in the scene as though the they were the ones in the roll over.

After all the shots were done, it was time to right the tractor and move on to the next shot.

All returned to normal, the fog rolled back in and the next day the actors and crew had all flown out of the valley and returned to home or their next film.  Jed and Mechele had to drive some equipment back up to Portland the next day and Wayne, Ann and John began the task of breaking camp and returning stuff to the family, friends and businesses we borrowed or rented it from.  Monday night, after Jed and Michele got back, we went out for a dinner together. 

A couple days later, Ann and Wayne were driving their dirtier than ever truck back down to our trailer in Hollister, CA.  Since that time we have moved our trailer to Gilroy, CA and have been trying to catch up on all the undone and behind stuff that needed to be done.  A few more days and we may see the end of the Shale Pit Shoot chores and catch-up.  Then we will spend a day going a couple hours north to see #2 son's children, Superman and Bananas in a school play, move our rig back to Hollister on Dec. 23 and then spend Christmas with #2 son and family before moving a little further south to soak up some warmer climate.
We want to say a big THANK YOU to all our friends and family that helped us out as we worked with Jed and Kate on this project.  It couldn't have been done without your help!!!!!!!!!!