Ontario.

It is August, cold and raining today.  This can only mean one thing:  The Ontario leg of production is getting set.

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The Western Swing is Wrapped.

Let’s make a deal. Watch this video first… and then read about what really happened afterwards. Go!

Filthy Lens + Last Day = Wild Times. from Lofty Films on Vimeo.

Yes. The lens is filthy. Embarrassingly so.

This is what really happened: It was the last day of production out west (there will be some shooting back east throughout July) and a full crew, minus Megan the assistant camera operator, set out to reach the top of a mountain nestled within the Canadian Rockies called the Tower of Babel.

I certainly didn’t know it when I woke up that morning, nor have I known it in all my 32 years of life, but it now seems that I have an irrational fear of heights. I am publicly getting this out of the way since there is video footage clearly proving this fact that will eventually rear it’s head online in some fashion or another. Now that you have some context, you will understand why the footage is shaky/the lens is dirty… I had other things on my mind. Things like not dying.

My job as behind the scenes videographer/photographer was seriously compromised on Babel. The way up was brutal (not for anyone else) and the time spent up there (6 hours?) was used thinking about how badly I did not want to walk down. But enough about that.

Some of the most climatic scenes of the entire film take place atop Babel, so it was to be a hard day for actors. Imagine taking three hours to hike up a mountain, filming on the way, only to give your most emotionally draining performances of the film at the top - that is what it was like for Dave and Andrea.

To be honest, things weren’t entirely working with the “scene” that really needed to work. Credit is due to Paul William King’s direction. He was able to communicate with the actors and skillfully drew memorable performances out of both actors. It was a treat to watch.

Some other scenes were clocked that involved a serious element of danger. However, stunt co-ordinator, Alex, was on hand to make sure everything was safe and secure. Those scenes went off without a hitch.

It wasn’t until we left that things got wild. Paul was still rolling camera, getting some b-roll footage as we made our way from the summit back to the trail down Babel. Seeing as how I resembled Cougar from Top Gun, I cleverly put away both the Soul Stealer and the VHS Tape Recorder so I could concentrate fully on getting myself off of that monster (which isn’t a monster, rather it’s a small 2320m plateau that both older people and kids climb regularly).

Before we started down, Paul and I had a brief chat on the nature suffering vs. moving forward. I knew for the next hour or so I was going to have to wrestle the huge mental hurdle of fear, but there was no other option. The only way to feel safe was to push through something unpleasant. I’m not sure (as I was selfishly wrapped up in my own thoughts) but I think Paul paralleled this to independent filmmaking. The journey Paul is on right now, the one of fulfilling a dream, launching a new film company, and making a feature film is not always awesome. It is hard as hell. It causes headaches, stress, loss of sleep, loss of money, loss of sanity… but for Paul. It is necessary. It is necessary from him as an artist, but more so, for him as a person who remains driven to follow his dreams.

Little did either of us know, real, immediate pain and suffering already had our number.

Possibly a 16th of the way down, Andrea made a slight misstep, fell and took a nasty hit to her tailbone. She laid there. Motionless and without sound.

I must illustrate to you. The hike up Babel is not an overtly dangerous one. What makes it tricky is the thick layer of shale and rocks that cover the trail. Hikers call this “scree”. It can be difficult to nagivate through. The fall Andrea took could have happened to anyone, it wasn’t a result of us being careless or negligent of our environment.

Finally she spoke. For all we knew, anything could have been broken - her injury could have been anywhere on the serious to not-so-serious scale. And we were not yet even a fraction of the way down. Aside from being a good director, I will say that Paul William King is a better husband. He was there in less than a second, tending to his wife, trying to be of comfort whilst assessing the situation.

For the rest of us, time stood still.

Andrea finally started to move, the pain was horrible for her, but at least she could move everything. The next step? Getting down. There was no easy way about this. It hurt for Andrea, and it was difficult for the rest of us What should have taken us 45 minutes, took 3 hours, but we got off that mountain.

We did it together. In that moment it wasn’t about making a movie, creating art, making money, getting famous (having a clean lens) or being afraid of heights. It was about getting your respective friend, fellow actor, and wife, safely out of a bad place. Pushing forward even though suffering could not be avoided.

In the end, Andrea made it down. Her tailbone was severely injured (a wonderful injury that doctors can’t really do anything about about), but she is recuperating quite well back in Toronto. Although it was not the end any of us were looking for, it certainly brought the crew closer than we ever could imagine.

Thank you for tracking with us. This is not done. We ask that you keep this page on your internets radar as updates will be happening as shooting recommences in the coming weeks.

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Raw Clips. 2nd Last Production Day.

Raw Clips. 2nd Last Production Day from Lofty Films on Vimeo.

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Raw Clips. Paul William King.

Raw Clips. Paul King from Lofty Films on Vimeo.

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Update. Update.

Do you know what a Brevis is? I’ll save you the lengthy description and allow you to google it on your own time. There is a Brevis on this shoot and as of late, it has been treating our director, Paul William King, rather shabbily. So shabbily that a number of shots from yesterday are useless. The Brevis and the RV are battling it out for top honours in a new contest we have started called: ‘What is the Worst Piece of Equipment we Have Used in the Past Two Weeks?” The RV pulled way ahead a few days ago, but the Brevis has certainly closed the gap in the last 36 hours.

It sounds much worse than it actually is, Paul is the fellow with the well crafted plan, he already has a way around this problem.

Before I get too far into this post, I should mention that we are currently uploading two fresh web edits that will tell you what went down today, so I’ll let those do most of the talking. What will not be covered in either of those edits is bear encounter number 2. This time, the bear looked like this:

I really can’t get over the claws this fellow is sporting. We saw this bear crossing the road maybe 200 meters from where we parked the RV as we left one location on our way to another. We spent half the day down by the lake, which meant this tall drink of water was possibly milling about somewhere between the Lake and the road. I suppose that is reassuring? Did I mention those claws? Again, Ian was quick with his shutter finger and managed to catch the action.

Something else that will not be discussed in the forthcoming web edits is this:

Olympic Mix serves as the official trail mix of the A Way From Here production crew. It is seriously good. It gives you nuts, seeds, raisins and smarties. In short. It is delicious and we are eating it with staggering frequency. At $12.99 per bag coupled with the amount of it we consume, it would be more financially feasible (yet professionally and personally irresponsible) If we all developed on-set cocaine habits. Olympic MIx. It is <em>that</em> good.

I will also mention that we are done with the raft. None are more pleased than Andrea and Dave.

Tomorrow is a huge day… Most of us will be hiking up a mountain to our next and final location of the current shooting schedule. I say most of us, because our actors will be meeting us up there in their private helicopter. Celebrities.

Check back, I’ll have those new web edits posted in the morning (We are very nearly dealing with dialup out here)

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Raw Clips. Hail. Hail.

Another short clip from today. This pretty much sums up the entire day. The weather was horrible (for the most part) and equipment didn’t work as it should have. To be sure - it was a tough round. What can you do when you have to battle weather like this? Sing, I suppose. That, or listen to another dazzling story from Silas involving the mean streets of Ecuador, which are always beyond awesome.

Hail Hail. from Lofty Films on Vimeo.

On a brighter note, last night, Paul William King went all Huck Finn and rode the makeshift raft (as seen in yesterday’s photo’s) a super long way down a fast moving river. It was a sight! Also, a note for the “I can’t believe we are doing this” file, was loading said raft into the RV which was parked on the side of the Trans-Canada. Our raft is neither small nor light and is not the type of onboard equipment your average RV rental depot expects you to load into one of their RV’s. Speaking of the RV, it sucks. I’m not one to call out a company by name in such a public forum, but this has to be one of the worst rentals of all time. Maybe I am speaking out of turn here… or perhaps I am just punchy from the gas leak inside of the aforementioned RV. I apologize.

Tomorrow will be a full day of shooting. We have more scenes to clock at the “second lake” location, some of them will involve fire, others will involve wetsuits and underwater camera housing, and at least one scene will involve our super heavy, barely portable raft.

Hopefully the hail, snow and wet rain will leave us be. With only two full shooting days left, the skies really need to be blue and sunny.

Posted in Making Movies, Video | 4 Comments »

Raw Clips. Around The Set.

Allow Lapsley to tour you around todays set. Buckle up, it is a thrill ride.

Around The Set With Lapsley from Lofty Films on Vimeo.

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Production Stills.

Here are some pictures I have captured over the last couple of days… Captions are below each photo.

This one is rather similar to another photo I posted on here 100 years ago, but I kind of like it. Yesterday Dave and Andrea did close ups for a scene that was shot last week.

The super secret spot.

Matt and Angela finding the super secret spot.

Matt and Angela.

Let’s just say, the director was highly motivated to get this scene in one take.

It should be illegal to look this good. Director Paul William King.

I won’t lie, I really dig this shot. I poached the bounce for the film camera and ended up with this.

Yesterday was a hard, hard day… and it was all because of this. Matt and Angela take their first of several trips down this river. Even though both actors had wet suits on underneath their respective wardrobes, it was cold as hell. I should also mention, hauling an awkward 200 pound raft a km or so back up river is no small task. Everyone got through it, and today, we still like each other… The shots all look really good, so yesterday is counted as a success.

Matt and Angela, hanging on.

I love Andrea’s hand and face in this shot… getting these shots were tough because I knew they wouldn’t be doing take after take in this cold water. What I had to be mindful of, was waiting for both of them to be looking in the same direction, seeing the blue bottles being submerged (there were big blue bottles on the underside of the raft which kept it afloat), trying to forget that I was lying on wet jagged rocks, staying out of the actual shot Paul William King was getting, and the sun was seemingly changing every 2 seconds.

Cold hands.

The lead singer of Nickelback has been cast as the male lead in this film.

**Video update later today**

Posted in On Set, Photography | 4 Comments »

Short Changed

I certainly short changed you on a decent post yesterday, and today you can expect much of the same.  We just arrived home after a 15 hour day, so needless to say, we are all beat.  What I will promise you (and not in an empty sort of way) is is a sizable photo and video feature in the next 24 hours.  We have a late call time tomorrow, so I will have a chance to get you caught up on all the good stuff that has been going down.

Water was on the agenda today.  Cold, fast moving, glacial water.  It was a hard day for actors, heck, it was a hard day for everyone… On the upside 5 difficult scenes are now in the can. This is nothing to scoff at as shooting today involved underwater shots, a makeshift raft and (as previously mentioned) cold, fast moving, glacial water.  Today was crazy.

Check back soon **Actual Update in Progress**

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Half Day. Slow Day.

The title pretty much sums it up.  A couple of things went down this morning, but really, time was taken to fully prepare the last week of shooting - which is going to be rather fast paced.

Tomorrow we will be at the “forest” location, where Dave and Andrea will have their toughest day yet.  I have some production stills and a short web edit to go up…  but it won’t be happening tonight.

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