Sunday, September 30, 2012
McCannick Filming in Philadelphia
A new movie has recently begun production in Philadelphia entitled McCannick. The film is set to film in the city for the month of September and some of October. David Morse, Brandon Routh, and Glee's Cory Monteith have all been filming in the city over the past few weeks. Since most of the film is being done through volunteer work there is not a lot know about the upcoming locations. Cory Montieth was spotted filming scenes over the past week. I do not know a lot about this project, but if I hear any news about the film I will be sure to share with you all.
Do No Harm Filming Update
So I wanted to give you guys an update about the NBC show, Do No Harm currently filming in Philadelphia. I was selected as an extra and of course can't say too much about the filming so this entry will be cryptic. It was a long day on set since we were there for twelve hours. I can't say what I was playing in the background but I can say that my 'props' were a 9 year old kid and a coffee cup. The set was really neat. The production made a permanent set in a building with various different settings in the set itself if that makes sense. Since it has already been mentioned that this is a Jekyll and Hyde type medical drama I can discuss a little about that. While I was on set the main character portrayed both his Jekyll and Hyde-esque counterparts which was interesting to see. The best was seeing him as 'Jekyll' in an outdoor scene where he did something that looked really fun, again can't say. The series will be filming until the end of January. Sorry I could not reveal much about the filming, but just know that this show looks like its going to be really good. You can catch it on NBC this January. For more information and some clips head on over to http://www.nbc.com/do-no-harm/. Thanks for reading!!!
Backwards the Movie: Detailed Report
If anyone has been keeping up with this blog over the past year you may have noticed that I was in a locally shot film last year entitled Backwards. The movie tells the story of Abby Brooks, a competitive rower who misses her chance to be on an Olympic team and becomes a rowing teacher in a prep school and helps inspire two young rowers accomplish their dreams. The movie was released over the weekend in select cities and I went and saw it on Friday. I really enjoyed the story line and it was especially cool seeing myself in all my blurry glory in the background of about ten scenes. Seeing the film brought back a lot of memories of shooting and I figured I could share a few insider secrets about the filming since the movie is now out. In all of the pictures below I am visible.
This scene was shot at a bar on the Main Line. I had to drink 'movie beer' which can be described as carbonated apple juice that sat out for three days and went flat mixed with water. It did not taste that great obviously. I got to sit right next to the leads which was cool. That entire scene I think I kept repeating 'Pizza, French Fries' to my friend that came to meet me and made it look like we were having a conversation. We can't really talk while filming so we did a lot of pantamiming. There was a girl on set that day that yelled 'Hey Dawson can I get a picture?' to James Van Der Beek. He took a picture with her, but I did not see her after that since background cannot approach the actors. I tried to warn her not to do it, but she did not know set etiquette.
This was my first day on set for the cafeteria scene. I had to pick up a brownie about five times and walk to my seat. Production told me not to eat the brownie for continuity reasons, but of course I ate it. In fact you can see me eating in the scene. That was also the day I approached the two female leads and started a conversation thinking they were also background. They did not mind my mistake and talked to me for about five minutes during their lunch. Both girls were extremely nice and did not mind discussing their film making experiences.
The prom scene was a long shoot. I was a little jealous of the one lead girl because they basically told her to pick out a guy from a line up that she would kiss in the prom scene because there were so many good looking guys there. The night we filmed I almost passed out because wearing a heavy prom dress on a freak 107 degree day was not fun and I was very dehydrated. Luckily craft services brought gatorade. I was actually right behind the two leads while they were slow dancing, but that was cut. Luckily, you can still see me in this little scene in my prom dress from 10 years ago, I do not grow.
This day we filmed the big race sequence. It was really weird pantamiming yelling and screaming, but we did it for many of the shots so the leads could say their lines. I actually brought HughE Dillon with me to this scene and he was in the background of this shot as well which was new for him being that he is typically on the outside looking in with a lot of productions.
The day that we filmed on the Waterworks and inside the Art Museum was especially painful. We were told to be there at 8am and we were used for the scene in the picture at 9am which was fine. In this scene is that I was told to act like a tourist and take a picture with two girls. The funny thing is we had to take the picture about four times so I had four versions of the same photo taken for the scene. One of those four photos is below. We were then brought back to holding to change our looks to go inside the Museum to film. We were stuck in a small room with no air conditioning for about 8 hours until they finally brought us to the Museum around 6pm and you can barely see any of us in the Museum scene. It was all in good fun though as we just sat there and talked to each other about our lives and movies and pop culture. I would have done it again if given the chance. Plus we got to plank inside the Art Museum on a day that it was actually closed.
The pizza party scene was actually filmed the same day as the bar scene that I was in. We had to literally be taken back to holding where we were given about 5 minutes to change our looks. I put pigtails in my hair for some reason and a skirt. We did not do much except try to make each other laugh in this scene. I think one of the other girls at my table starting laughing really loud, we did not get in trouble though.
The airport scene was great to film. I arrived late because I was working late the night before and had to arrive an hour late. I was taken over in the car with David Allen Bosche and he actually lifted my bag out of the van for me. He seemed like a really cool guy on the ride over. They actually placed me in that location so my butt was toward the camera. They switched me with another girl so that my butt was the first thing that you could see in the line. I guess I should be flattered. Suprisingly I was in a lot of the airport sequence. They must have liked me! No I'm just kidding. This was probably the longest scene that you could clearly see me in the background. Suprisingly my feet did not hurt too much later even though I was wearing those huge heels.
The final scene that I was in was shot outside the Vesper boathouse on Boathouse Row. For the one portion of the scene I was talking with one of the principles and she hugged me in the first take. I had to hug her about four more times for the other takes, but it was not shown in the final scene. Mainly you can see me laughing at them in the background. One of the other extras was told to stand by the grill but at the beginning of every take he would walk down with tongs in hand to the front of the action and he ended up right in the center of the shot. It was just funny because he said that he did not want to be left out of the shot. I think I was laughing about that in the scene. Even better my prop that day was cake, yum!
Now that you have heard my behind the scenes insights I highly recommend you go see the film. It is a great family film that focuses on how sometimes putting others dreams in front of your own is the better option. The movie is available on itunes and video on demand if it is not showing in a city near you. Go to backwardsthemovie.com for more information! Thanks for reading!
This scene was shot at a bar on the Main Line. I had to drink 'movie beer' which can be described as carbonated apple juice that sat out for three days and went flat mixed with water. It did not taste that great obviously. I got to sit right next to the leads which was cool. That entire scene I think I kept repeating 'Pizza, French Fries' to my friend that came to meet me and made it look like we were having a conversation. We can't really talk while filming so we did a lot of pantamiming. There was a girl on set that day that yelled 'Hey Dawson can I get a picture?' to James Van Der Beek. He took a picture with her, but I did not see her after that since background cannot approach the actors. I tried to warn her not to do it, but she did not know set etiquette.
This was my first day on set for the cafeteria scene. I had to pick up a brownie about five times and walk to my seat. Production told me not to eat the brownie for continuity reasons, but of course I ate it. In fact you can see me eating in the scene. That was also the day I approached the two female leads and started a conversation thinking they were also background. They did not mind my mistake and talked to me for about five minutes during their lunch. Both girls were extremely nice and did not mind discussing their film making experiences.
The prom scene was a long shoot. I was a little jealous of the one lead girl because they basically told her to pick out a guy from a line up that she would kiss in the prom scene because there were so many good looking guys there. The night we filmed I almost passed out because wearing a heavy prom dress on a freak 107 degree day was not fun and I was very dehydrated. Luckily craft services brought gatorade. I was actually right behind the two leads while they were slow dancing, but that was cut. Luckily, you can still see me in this little scene in my prom dress from 10 years ago, I do not grow.
This day we filmed the big race sequence. It was really weird pantamiming yelling and screaming, but we did it for many of the shots so the leads could say their lines. I actually brought HughE Dillon with me to this scene and he was in the background of this shot as well which was new for him being that he is typically on the outside looking in with a lot of productions.
The day that we filmed on the Waterworks and inside the Art Museum was especially painful. We were told to be there at 8am and we were used for the scene in the picture at 9am which was fine. In this scene is that I was told to act like a tourist and take a picture with two girls. The funny thing is we had to take the picture about four times so I had four versions of the same photo taken for the scene. One of those four photos is below. We were then brought back to holding to change our looks to go inside the Museum to film. We were stuck in a small room with no air conditioning for about 8 hours until they finally brought us to the Museum around 6pm and you can barely see any of us in the Museum scene. It was all in good fun though as we just sat there and talked to each other about our lives and movies and pop culture. I would have done it again if given the chance. Plus we got to plank inside the Art Museum on a day that it was actually closed.
The pizza party scene was actually filmed the same day as the bar scene that I was in. We had to literally be taken back to holding where we were given about 5 minutes to change our looks. I put pigtails in my hair for some reason and a skirt. We did not do much except try to make each other laugh in this scene. I think one of the other girls at my table starting laughing really loud, we did not get in trouble though.
The airport scene was great to film. I arrived late because I was working late the night before and had to arrive an hour late. I was taken over in the car with David Allen Bosche and he actually lifted my bag out of the van for me. He seemed like a really cool guy on the ride over. They actually placed me in that location so my butt was toward the camera. They switched me with another girl so that my butt was the first thing that you could see in the line. I guess I should be flattered. Suprisingly I was in a lot of the airport sequence. They must have liked me! No I'm just kidding. This was probably the longest scene that you could clearly see me in the background. Suprisingly my feet did not hurt too much later even though I was wearing those huge heels.
The final scene that I was in was shot outside the Vesper boathouse on Boathouse Row. For the one portion of the scene I was talking with one of the principles and she hugged me in the first take. I had to hug her about four more times for the other takes, but it was not shown in the final scene. Mainly you can see me laughing at them in the background. One of the other extras was told to stand by the grill but at the beginning of every take he would walk down with tongs in hand to the front of the action and he ended up right in the center of the shot. It was just funny because he said that he did not want to be left out of the shot. I think I was laughing about that in the scene. Even better my prop that day was cake, yum!
Now that you have heard my behind the scenes insights I highly recommend you go see the film. It is a great family film that focuses on how sometimes putting others dreams in front of your own is the better option. The movie is available on itunes and video on demand if it is not showing in a city near you. Go to backwardsthemovie.com for more information! Thanks for reading!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Visiting The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter
I wanted to start out this entry by apologizing for not updating the blog too much. I have been busy with work and life in general that I have not had the time to update. Also this entry is not movie filming related, its just a fun entry about my life. If you do not care, stop reading!! Anyway, I just returned from a really great trip to Florida where I went to Universal Studios with my boyfriend Pete. After about four years I finally got to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Being that I am a huge fan of the books and films it was a special trip to say the least.
The attention to the small details in the Potter section of Islands of Adventure was mind boggling. We started off our first day at the park with a breakfast at the Three Broomsticks where I had my first taste of actual Butterbeer. The drink was similar to root beer with a buttery foam on top, it was delicious!
The breakfast was not too bad either. mentioned the small details earlier because not only did they play various songs from the Potter films, but you could also hear footsteps and chairs moving on the floor about since it is actually an inn in the books. It is just neat to see the small nuonces from the book made it into reality and the park was truly genuine to the story line. Another fun detail was that in the restrooms in this section of the park Moaning Myrtle's voice was played over the loud speakers in both male and female bathrooms (do not want to leave out the boys). It was kind of strange hearing that while doing bathroom business but fun nontheless.
After breakfast we headed over to Ollivanders where I was chosen out of about 20 people to do the wand experience just as Harry did in Diagon Alley. I felt a little silly, but I managed to have fun with it and of course bought my wand.
I only did two of the four rides in the Wizarding World, mainly because I do not do upside down rides and two of the rides are upsidedown coasters. The Hogwarts ride was apsolutely amazing! In the ride, they incorporate holograms, large puppets, giant screens, and chair movements. Although it is similar to the Spiderman ride in the park, it is totally innovative in the way it operated and I really enjoyed it. I filmed the entire ride, but it is hard to do since most of the ride is dark and my camera is small.
The Flight of the Hippogriff ride was a good coaster, but it is mainly for kids and lasts only a few seconds.
After breakfast we headed over to Ollivanders where I was chosen out of about 20 people to do the wand experience just as Harry did in Diagon Alley. I felt a little silly, but I managed to have fun with it and of course bought my wand.
I only did two of the four rides in the Wizarding World, mainly because I do not do upside down rides and two of the rides are upsidedown coasters. The Hogwarts ride was apsolutely amazing! In the ride, they incorporate holograms, large puppets, giant screens, and chair movements. Although it is similar to the Spiderman ride in the park, it is totally innovative in the way it operated and I really enjoyed it. I filmed the entire ride, but it is hard to do since most of the ride is dark and my camera is small.
The Flight of the Hippogriff ride was a good coaster, but it is mainly for kids and lasts only a few seconds.
After spending some time in the Wizarding World we decided to move on to other parts of the park and went on many of the well known rides that are there. I am not going to bore you with details from the entire vacation, but just wanted to share my thoughts on the new Harry Potter section. From what I hear they are expanding the section and creating a Diagon Alley in the Universal side of the parks where the Jaws section once was. It is also speculated that they are also planning a Hogwarts Express ride so guests can ride from one park to the other on the train. This will also increase the sales of the Park Hopper tickets, but well worth it for what you get. Thats about all I have to say about my trip to the park, if you have not been there yet, I suggest going and checking it out!
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