Transamerica Wraps

Friday, May 28, 2004

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* Today I shot my scenes for the movie Transamerica in New York. It was odd to be back in New York just several days after I had returned to Los Angeles from the last trip there. I met some wonderful women in the city the night before and we all hopped into a van to be carried into the wilds of New Jersey and a night in a hotel so that we could get there lickety split this morning (we had a 630am call time!).
* A total sweetheart named Jason did my hair and I had an expert team of two women doing my makeup (you really can’t see it in the photos, but they did an amazing job on the details) so I was ready to go in no time. There was a delicious breakfast served from the production’s breakfast van, and then we got to work. Felicity was there, almost unrecognizable in her character look, and we got to meet Kevin as well. I couldn’t believe he was only 19! The director handed me my sides (miniature version of the script with just my lines on it) and I started studying. I only had a few hours to get everything down!
* I was going to be playing my violin in two scenes as well, so I took it out and started warming up. I was a little rusty, but it was all coming back to me and it felt good to be playing again. Later I took a break and just went to watch them filming some of the other scenes until I was called for.
* We spent a lot of time blocking (finding our positions) and then took a break while the lights were set up. Then we came back and got into position so that they could get lighting levels. Then we took a break. Moviemaking is a long process… Finally we got into position and started shooting the scenes I was in.
* It was thrilling to finally get back to being an actress after all this time away. I have so much to learn about being on film, though… It is not easy, let me tell you. You have basically a few seconds to choreograph several difficult and subtle actions just exactly right, all the while being entertaining or convincing with your lines. You have to remember where you’re supposed to start, where to move to, where to stop. You have to be aware of where the edges of the camera’s field of view are, so that you don’t move outside them. And where the camera is exactly, so that you are doing whatever you’re doing in a direction that it can see. And where the lights are hitting, so that you don’t move a certain way and create a shadow or hotspot. And where your props are, and what to do with them, at what time, facing what direction. Oh, and don’t forget your lines! Or your facial and voice expressions! And eye contact with the other actor! And you need to do all of this perfectly in a quick few seconds, with tons of people standing around watching you and foot-after-foot of superexpensive film rolling through the camera as you work. Wow, it’s so complex, but I LOVED it.
* I think I did well, but as I said, I have alot to learn. My two non-fiddle scenes where I was sort of featured, I needed about five takes to get them right. We shall see when it’s all edited down, I suppose. Much of the time, you’ll find most of your hard work ends up on the cutting room floor anyway.
* Because of the lights and people, it got incredibly hot inside the house we were using. Everyone was literally dripping sweat as if we were in a sauna and the makeup women had to dart in between every single take to blot and touch us up. It got so hot, I felt like I was going to be sick several times, and of course I still felt a little weak from my food poisoning of last week, so there were some real touch-and-go moments. In between takes they turned on a single box fan and moved the hot air around a little.
* I don’t mention the hardship parts to complain… actually, being part of a group overcoming harships for art’s sake is a real charge for me, so I enjoyed the hard work. Overall, it was a great day and we worked long into the evening before returning to the city. I got a blessedly cool shower and fell into a coma until the next morning. A callback forced me to miss my first flight out, but after a little finagling I was on a plane back to LA the next day and (despite enjoying myself thoroughly) I was very glad to be back home.

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