Category Archives: filming

by | October 25, 2010 · 6:33 am

Welcome to 1958!

     Happy Sunday! I love Sundays: they always mean a morning at church followed by a day of rest and relaxation, family time and lots of reading. Oh wait, that’s not true for me. Normally I’m sucked into the vortex of retail every single Sunday, but today was a nice change: I got to go to set and get paid to do something I love! What a concept!

It’s nice to wake up before the sun once in a while. This picture made the exhaustion even more worth it!
     
     I pulled out the Vitamix and threw together a Monsta with 5 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup of soymilk, 1 frozen banana, 1 lemon and 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries. I pulled on some fuzzy socks, arm warmers and a baggy sweatshirt and headed to location with a hot mug of tea.
     When I arrived at set, I got into wardrobe for the first scene. This shoot is b-roll for a commercial that takes place in 1958. My first outfit was high-waisted capris with a button-down frilly sleeveless top and pink converse-style shoes that laced around the ankles. It was pretty hideous – I’ll spare you the picture because I’m awful and forgot to take one!
So. Much. Wool!
Getting my hair styled involved lots of hairspray, headbands, teasing and shellacking. Also pretty awful.
I got off easy with makeup. I only had to get base, blush and mascara. Two of the girls were filming a prom scene and had to get the works! The last time I saw so much blue eyeshadow was on Mimi from The Drew Carey Show.
     The first scene I filmed took place at a piano. I was assigned a boyfriend (Hi, Tom!) and we basically sat at the piano playing a duet and kissing “1958” style, which basically means long, soft pecks. Too much? Sorry. The next scene was a party scene. The director started the turntable and we had some painfully awkward slow dancing (“Stop laughing! Look like you love each other! And kiss!”). 
     Next came my favorite part: LUNCH!
Chicken tacos from Baja Fresh! No, I didn’t partake – I asked for vegetarian and vegetarian is what I got!
(I think I might be able to keep up this vegetarian thing full-time!)
Here we have a horribly plated vegetarian burrito that had black beans, lettuce, grilled bell peppers and cheese inside, with a side of salad, guacamole and a few chips.
     You know what works really well after eating a big lunch? SWIMSUITS! Um, yeah, not. We donned some 50’s bathing wardrobe and spent an hour freezing our asses off outside by the pool, hula hooping, attempting to dance “The Twist” and playing volleyball with a beach ball. These were the only pictures I got of me in wardrobe: Prepare yourselves.
Haha, love Rye-Bread posing in the background.
Please, no snide comments – I blame the shellacked hair. This was like wearing a corset but who needed to breathe in 1958 anyway?
Vintage!
     The final scene took place at a school. All ten of us spent the time prancing around in the most tight “casual” clothes I’ve ever worn. I had to cram my feet into size 6 shoes (my feet are size 7.5-8 normally) and I got some gnarly cuts on my ankles from the backs slicing into them. I’m a trouper :-D. 
     We wrapped after seven and a half hours, far less than the twelve that they predicted, and we still got paid for the full time! Hooray! I drove home through the mist, rinsed the shellack out of my hair and the mascara out of my eyelashes and made a big Kitchen Sink Salad.
Yeah, that should balance out the cheesy goodness from the burrito.
OoOoH! I’m gonna go make more bread pudding!

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Filed under 1958, Baja Fresh, bathing suit, Bikini, bread pudding makes me happy, commercial, filming, The Twist, vegetarian

by | September 20, 2010 · 3:37 am

Beer Tasting and Homemade Pizza!

     Last night, I went over to the boys’ place for beer tasting and homemade pizza! I stopped by BevMo on my way into town and was assisted by some incredibly knowledgeable, helpful workers who didn’t ignore me just because I look like I’m seventeen years old. Brownie points for that! I explained that I was trying to instill a sense of appreciation for beer in the minds of a certain gentleman who doesn’t like beer, and a certain gentleman who is satisfied drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, and we picked out some hefeweizens, ambers, stouts and porters for the tasting.

From left to right: Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, Napa Smith Amber Ale, Chelsea Moylan’s Porter, Boont Amber Ale and Franziskaner.
     Dan was busy chef-ing so we set the brews in the fridge to chill while I documented the cooking process.
What is that, you ask? Let’s take a closer look.
SCISSOR-BACON OF COURSE!!! Dan got all fancy on us!
     Since the boys were busy chopping, cutting and sauteing, I decided to treat them to a little serenade.
That note I’m playing right there is an L-flat.
I have no idea how to play the guitar.
     We started our tasting with the Franziskaner.
I got a little excited and poured much too fast. Whoops.
I taught the guys how to fully appreciate a good beer. Let’s go through the steps:
  1. First, hold the beer up to a light so you can see the color. (Having 1. First is kind of redundant, isn’t it? My bad.)
  2. Second (see what I’m doing here? Calling back to my first mistake?), smell the brew and see what scents you can pick up right away.
  3. Third (okay, I’ll stop now…), give the beer a good swirl in the glass, just like wine. This opens it up and the carbonation helps release some other notes you wouldn’t have noticed before.
  4. Smell the beer one last time and see if you can distinguish anything new post-swirling.
  5. Take a sip. Let it flow over your tongue and notice the carbonation, the flavors and the finish.

     Malachi, the non-beer-enjoyer, actually liked the Franziskaner! He specifically said, “I like this!”. I was quite thrilled. Dan liked it as well, but I think he was just happy to have some free beer – he’s obviously not picky since he can drink PBR. Up next was the Boont Amber Ale.

This one was delicious! It had very strong notes of caramel in both the smell and flavor, and just a hint of sweetness.
     Dan finished his masterpiece pizza while Malachi julienned some mint to put atop our salads, and we sat down for feasting.
OH EM GEE PEET ZAAA!
Freaking delicious! This was made with Trader Joe’s Garlic & Herb Pizza Dough, and topped with alfredo sauce, chicken, bacon, and copious amounts of wonderful cheese.
Utter joy!
The Napa Smith Amber came next. This one wasn’t my favorite – a little too light and watery tasting, not very memorable at all.
     We moved ahead to the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout, one of my favorites, which was liked by Dan, but not by “I don’t like coffee OR beer. Bwaaaaaa!”-Malachi. After sampling the stout, we had some of the Chelsea Moylan’s porter – this one had the same espresso taste as the stout, but was a lot smoother to drink. That, or I’d already had the equivalent of a beer and a half and was starting to feel tipsy and not as studious as I should have been. That may have been it…
Yeah, that was definitely it…
On a random note, here’s a lamp that Malachi made!

     We played a rousing game of Pimps & Hoes (also known as Egyptian Ratscrew), then decided to head out to do some location scouting for a top-secret-insanely-awesome-epic film that Dan and Malachi are working on. DISCLAIMER: We did not drive after drinking. Every single place we went was on foot!!!

Well, hello Dan, with your fancy-schmancy camera standing in a dark creeper parking lot at 10:30pm beneath a ghetto street lamp.
We crossed back over the highway (my first time walking over a highway! I’m from Colorado, what do you expect?), and headed over to The Fox and Hound’s for some live music.
There was a Beatles cover band playing. It was pretty awful – after every song, they would drunkenly thank each other in character, “Thank you, Ringo. Paul, did you write that one? Cheers, mate!” until they realized that they should probably start playing another song.
We ignored them the best we could and started taking some more random pictures.
Malachi was not pleased with the bands’ creepy wigs and ramblings.
I also put my wristband to use! ID and credit card secure and no purse concerns!
Thanks, Banjees!
     We waltzed back over to the boys’ place and made an impromptu movie about magic card tricks.
You’ll have to wait for Dan or Malachi to edit this and blackmail me on YouTube. 
It was quite epic.
     We dug up some dirty laundry and watched a few films that Dan and Malachi had made in school, an old Lonelygirl15 video in which I carry a riding crop (!!!), and then Malachi took ownership over Dan’s Facebook and Google account and left comments for everyone in the entire world– one is viewable on my blog under yesterday’s post! We finally passed out around 3:30am.
It was a good night.
     I woke up this morning with only a slight headache, drank massive amounts of water and sat in on a pre-production meeting for the upcoming top-secret-insanely-awesome-epic film, then headed off to meet my friend Tanya for lunch.
Tanya recently became a vegan, so we went to Vegan World, a cute little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the middle of a shopping center in Studio City.
I got the pad thai with mixed vegetables and a thai tea. The food was wonderful, but there was just too much on the plate! The waitress looked worried when she came to our table and asked us if there was anything wrong with the meal – we reassured her that it was wonderful and got doggie bags.
     I found a friend on my car after lunch! Everyone, meet Harris:
A PRAYING MANTUS!!! I think he read my recent blog post about putting him in hot dogs and came to threaten me. We talked it over and it’s all good now.
Don’t forget to enter the pottery giveaway! Just leave a comment saying why you need a piece of my deformed pottery, then link to my blog on your Twitter or Facebook 🙂

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Filed under beer, beer tasting, Dan, filming, lonelygirl15, Malachi, pizza, praying mantus, Studio City, The Fox and Hound's, Trader Joe's

by | August 22, 2010 · 7:06 pm

Summer Filming: Day 6

     Good morning! I woke up before my alarm today, checked out yesterday’s pictures and discover I only have three usable ones, so I’ll recap yesterday very quickly.

     I slept on the most amazing couch in the entire universe, and woke up slightly more refreshed, but still completely sleep deprived from the past week. I wound up being ridiculously early to set, so I swung by Starbucks to start my day.

A grande soy chai and oatmeal. This oatmeal has been my lifesaver! It kept me full for over five hours yesterday!
     We filmed about 16 shots over the course of the day. I met, worked with, and said goodbye to my on-screen mother, spent about an hour filming under covers in a bed (while it was about 90 degrees in the house we were using, thank you very much), and rode my bike off into the sunset. 
     Lunch was a crapload of Quiznos sandwiches. I regained my appetite, finally, and had…
A quarter of a tuna melt, which I did not used to like, but craved yesterday…
and a turkey sub on the most amazing herbed bread ever. I’m drooling remembering it.
     We wrapped early and all headed off to Robano’s in Toluca Lake for dinner. Sadly, I left my camera in a separate bag and was unable to document this amazing night. We had a group of about sixteen people, and spent a good two hours talking, making fun of the solo artist who was playing, and laughing our asses off. I sipped my glass of merlot (I’m sticking to this no beer thing! So weird!) and had one of the best nights of my life. I am completely in love with this crew. 
     I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I’ll be taking tons today to make up for it! As for now…
Off to set! I love saying that 🙂

Comments Off on Summer Filming: Day 6

Filed under filming, Quiznos, Robano's, short film, Summer Cambell

by | · 10:55 am

Summer Filming: Day 5

     I’m terribly sorry about being so behind on this! I’m recapping yesterday tonight, then I’ll try to find tomorrey to do two blogs and catch you all up on filming.

     Yesterday started off in Orange. We were filming in the backyard of a local house.

Gorgeous yard! Perfect for a party 🙂
The lovely Jenny made peanut butter, nutella and banana sandwiches for crafty. We are all indebted to her awesome chef-ing.
     This was the day known around set as, “the makeout day”. It seriously consisted of me attacking my costar for about two hours and mauling his face off. I didn’t mind. Neither did he.
     Lunch was the most amazing that we’ve had on set to date (at least in my opinion). As you all should know by now, I enjoy having food in cups. It’s more compact, easier to balance, and contains just about the perfect size serving for me.
Chicken in a cup!
This had about 1/2 of a cup of kale (!!!) salad, 1/8 of a cup of wild rice, and a roasted chicken drumstick. After going through life without kale, it’s suddenly begun to rain upon my head! It really does taste like a very leafy broccoli. I dig it.
     After some more making out, we all wrapped for the day and headed up to Burbank where we began filming today. We made a stop at a thai restaurant for a ridiculously late dinner at 11:30pm. 
Arunee House in Burbank.
Jocelyn, our on-set photographer, and Chelsea, set decorator/designer.
Malachi, dolly grip extraordinaire, and Dan, who should be editing our film.
Coco, our key grip, Jenny, our producer/makeup artist/on set mother, and Boa, our DP.
Scott, the writer/director of our film. He doesn’t like any food except for cheese pizza, and was bitter that we’d taken him here.
I got the panang curry with chicken and brown rice. Their recipe was very heavy on the peanuts, and ridiculously creamy, which I LOVED. Plus, brown rice makes everything healthy in my mind.
I enjoy blackmailing Malachi. It makes my day.
We were the last people in the restaurant after they closed, and they were still kind enough to give us all free ice cream! LOVE this place!
At first we couldn’t understand why they gave us free dolls. These are the most random pens ever!
     That sums up yesterday! I got back to the apartment I’m staying at around 12:30am, and found out that my show, “Left at the Altar” had been airing all evening. Luckily I got my parents to DVR it since I don’t have access to a television now. Too bad production didn’t let my costar or me know it was going to be on! Rawr! If you want to see it, it should be doing a few reruns for awhile. My character is “Valerie”, and I believe we’re the last 15 minute segment of the hour on TLC.
     Today was an amazing day, but you’ll just have to wait until tomorrey for me to catch you up, because I’m exhausted and have another early call in the morning. Have I mentioned how much I love my life?
I LOVE MY CREW!

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Filed under filming, makeout, on set, short film, Summer Cambell, thai food

by | August 20, 2010 · 8:28 am

Summer Filming: Day 4.5

     I slept SO much last night. I crashed around 9pm and didn’t wake up once until 8:30am. My body is slowly forgiving me for the past few days. I woke up this morning and had an amazing, lovely, cleansing Monsta.

Don’t know exactly what’s in here, but there was TONS of spinach and lots of frozen cherries.
     For lunch I had a slice of pesto pizza from Trader Joe’s. 
It was difficult for me to finish this piece. My stomach has shrunk from being on set, and not in a good way. I’ve dropped five pounds since beginning filming. Five pounds in four days is very, very bad. I’m trying to even out my diet and eat regularly while on set.
     I headed out for some pickups around 1pm, and got to set around 3pm. I had some time to kill before the crew arrived, so I read my latest book, Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, next to the lake.
Cormorant? Duck? Mutated chicken?
     When the crew arrived (the crew consisted of 5 people, because we were shooting guerilla style in desperation to catch the light), we first sat down for a picnic, provided by the lovely producer, Jenny.
Spinach salad with avocado and cherry tomatoes, turkey, lettuce, light muenster cheese and cherry tomato sandwiches, and pomegranate juice mixed with sparkling water. She is the best on-set mother ever 🙂
     We reshot the last scene of the film from a few different angles, this time not fighting the sun, and it turned out really well. David and I happened upon some awesome bloopers.
     For all of you who asked, here’s what I can tell you about the movie and my role in it. “A teenage girl plots revenge on the guy she likes after he humiliates her.” The movie is called “Summer Campbell”. I play the teenage girl, June Campbell, whose two best friends (who are twins) help her wreak havoc and revenge on the popular guy who humiliates her. It’s a short film that is written and directed by the incredibly talented Scott Sullivan. I’m telling you all, this guy is going BIG! I’ve never read such a hilarious, insightful script. If you have more specific questions, please ask in comments! I’ll answer with more detail :).

     On the way to my car, I got attacked by a wild peacock.
Not really. It saw me whip out the camera and booked it. Peacocks do not appreciate paparazzi.

     We wrapped for the short day, then headed over to a liquor store to pick up some supplies for the night. I found and bought some Concannon Merlot, which I first tried at JJ Brewsky, and am now having a glass while hanging with the amazing crew.
Malachi likes to share with me. 
Now, we’re all hanging out, prepping callsheets for tomorrey and enjoying each others’ company. I love these people.

     Tomorrow will involve a lot of making out. That’s about it… My life is so, so difficult :-D. I’m off to eat a slice of pizza and hang out with these amazing people.

Ask me anything. I’ll answer, now that I know how much I can share :).

5 Comments

Filed under filming, green monster, on set, pesto, picnic, pizza, sandwiches, short film, Summer Cambell

by | August 19, 2010 · 6:07 am

Summer Filming: Day 4

     I can’t believe filming is already halfway over! Sadness :(. These always seem to fly by too quickly. So to recap…

I got to go home on Monday night, and woke up Tuesday morning to this! My roommate is amazing.
     I was hoping to sleep in on Tuesday, but got a last minute audition for 10am, so I was up at 7:30am to prep. Yay. The audition went really well: I had to play a 15 year-old (!!!), and afterwards I met up with my friend, Tanya at Lemonade!
I haven’t seen this girl since March! Missed you!!!
I got 1 portion, split in half, with sweet potatoes and pistachio, and watermelon radish, ahi tuna, snap peas and sesame seeds, with a blueberry-mint lemonade. YUM!
     After a lovely, long lunch filled with delicious food and a LOT of catching up, we parted ways. I headed over to Barnes and Noble to kill some time before I met my carpool to head to set.
I bought a book of crossword puzzles from the bargain shelf.
Ahhh, the Grove. My old stomping grounds.
     I met up with my carpool buddy and we headed out to Dockweiler Beach for filming. 
It was crowded! Lots of bonfires.
Yaaaaaah macro! My camera is my hero!
David running lines. Or being obsessed with his iPhone. One of the two… 😛
Aw, I love us :).
We were right next to LAX. We had at least 100 flights going out and flying in throughout the night.
Artsy!
Sunset. Happiness.
One of my favorites of the night.
We started filming around 7:30pm, and spent the entire night/morning out there.
This is a shot the the on-set photographer Jocelyn took. Check out her amazing photography here!
     Everything was going amazingly well, and we were all hyped up and wired until about 3am. Then this happened:
Poor, sleepy Madi!
     So, we started when the sun set, and ended the day with the sunrise.
Double happiness.
     It was a really, really long day. I had been awake for 29 hours and desperately needed to crash. Over the entire course of today, I slept for 3 hours. Tonight, I shall sleep incredibly well :).
     I’m off to check out more of Jocelyn’s pictures from last night’s shoot, and to enjoy a glass of Syrah, sit on the couch and not move until I go to bed.
I have never been so exhausted, or so happy in my life. I love being on set, I love my costars, and I love my crew. 
HAPPINESS

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Filed under Dockweiler Beach, filming, green monster, LAX, on set, short film

by | August 15, 2010 · 8:19 am

Summer Filming: Day 1

     Tired. So tired. I went to bed around 11pm last night, and woke up at 5am this morning to get to set. I set up all my Monsta stuff so I could wake, blend and go, but that didn’t happen. Breakfast was a banana and a big mug of coffee on the road.

I arrived to set, which was cloaked in thick fog and wonderfully chilly.
I gulped down another cup of coffee and ate an Oats ‘N Honey bar while getting my makeup DID.
     We shot the master of one of the first scenes as well as a few close-ups which took a few hours, then broke for lunch.
Yay, catering! Thanks Jenny (our amazing producer)!
Check out how artsy this photo is! Oh yeah, I’m that good. I had a spinach and strawberry salad, a small scoop of chicken divan and a big old slice of garlic bread. Then I had another big old slice of garlic bread.
Hi-jinks were had. I took a walk around the park and checked out some of the trails.
We shot at O’Neill Regional Park in Trabuco Canyon. For those of you who don’t know, that’s FAR. I’m down in Orange for the remainder of the weekend.
Lots of gorgeous trails and buildings to see.
The interior of that car was HOT! Our awesome co-star/stunt driver Jordan kept stalling the stick shift. It was pretty epic – but to be fair, he did learn to use a stick over the course of 15 minutes this very morning!
Cookies were had. Multiple cookies.
     Now I’m chilling in my room, realizing that I didn’t have dinner and I’m pretty frikkin’ hungry, but too tired to go out and eat. I think tomorrey I’ll be raiding the craft services table for the first few hours. Now I’m going to go pass out! Call time for tomorrow (yes, we’re shooting on a Sunday :-/) is 7am. I will most definitely be sleeping on set, and taking pictures of co-stars. 
When’s the last time you spent an entire Saturday in a national park?
🙂

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Filed under banana, Chicken Divan, coffee, cookies, filming, set, short film, stick shift

by | July 16, 2010 · 9:30 am

On Set: Day One!

     I take it back about yesterday being unbearably hot. I mean, it was hot, but today took the cake! Where we filmed in LA, temperatures got up to 105F! Speaking of cake, here’s a picture of my monster – it’s been a long day, don’t ask about my cake reference.

A sunrise monster! This has 3 cups of spinach, 3/4 a cup of unsweetened soymilk, 1/8 a cup of frozen berries, 1/2 a banana and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Perfect to sip at 6:30am when the temperature is already 81F outside. Summer is officially here!
     My roommate went out for breakfast with some friends from church, and he brought me back his leftovers!
Now THIS is a breakfast burrito! Eggs, refried beans, pico de gallo, cheese, sausage and marinated potatoes in a delicate flour tortilla. It’s from a local restaurant, so each one is lovingly made, not mass-produced.
     Traffic was looking sketchy, so I headed out around 8:30am to get to set. I wasn’t supposed to be there until 10am, so I figured I’d get there with about half an hour to spare, which keeps me calm and gives me time to make sure I have everything I need. Today, I was LATE! I hate being late! I got lost and had to backtrack to find my way to location and got there ten minutes late. I know it’s only ten minutes, but I pride myself in always being to places on time or early. 
     Location was in a beautiful house in the middle of Hollywood Hills. There was a side-view of the Hollywood sign that I tried to get, but all pictures failed. When I got inside, they still had six scenes to get through before I even started! Turns out those ten minutes REALLY didn’t matter! I didn’t mind at all. There was air conditioning, and I’d brought my book, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, and was able to read a few chapters before they brought me in for makeup and wardrobe.
The makeup table that has EVERYTHING you could ever need!
So many clothes!
     I only had half a cup of coffee before I had to get on the road, and all the coffee on set was lukewarm, so I improvised.
Ice, lukewarm coffee, raw sugar and Silk creamer! Magic! Other crew members followed my lead and soon iced coffee was flowing like water.
     I also had a wide variety of snacks to choose from at the craft service table.
Cookies, chips, sweet bread, Chex mix…
Nothing exciting, but it was the healthiest choice there.
     We broke for lunch around noon, and I loaded up my plate with the delicious catering.
Salad, grilled chicken, creamy polenta with spinach, ricotta and parmesan, a slice of pineapple and a slice of watermelon. There’s nothing like ice cold watermelon on a hot day! All of us actors sat around and enjoyed the view, and realized how small Hollywood is: Heather and I both competed in a Massify competition, we both lived in Boulder, CO and know a bunch of the same people. This city is SMALL!
     Matt, my costar in the show, and I had two hours after lunch until we finally were called to set. Hair was straightened, makeup was touched up, and we tried our hardest not to drip sweat. I’m gonna keep saying it – It was so hot! We had 16 scenes to get through in five hours. Dough was smeared, magazines were chopped, clouds were gazed at and parties were thrown! That’s all I can say :).
     After about a million wardrobe changes, we were finally released. I fought traffic all the way home, and was greeted with a home-cooked dinner (reheated).
This is some pesto chicken from Trader Joe’s (I find that their pre-marinated chicken tends to be ridiculously salty), and a bunch of bell peppers, eggplant, onions and zucchini grilled on our new mesh grill pan. Grilling really brings out a lovely smoky flavor! My roommate said he could go vegan if all veggies tasted like that, and that’s saying a lot! He loves his steaks and tri-tip.
     I’m going to go crash now since I’ve been up since 6am. Call-time tomorrow is 10:30am, so I get to have a full cup of coffee before I head out to set. Stay tuned for day two on set!
Tardiness (on my part) is my pet peeve – what’s yours?

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Filed under Acting, breakfast burrito, filming, green monster, Hollywood, makeup, polenta, The Help by Kathryn Stockett, wardrobe