About a week ago, Dead Red Eyes worked on filming a short in Carrboro. As it was a short comedy, most of it took place in a bar. And luckily, the wonderful Amanda of Bowbarr in Carrboro, NC let us do the filming during the day in her bar while it was closed (as long as we were cleared out an hour before opening time!).
It was a hot summer day and so we had to tape up all the windows/doors with black blankets to keep the bright light out. However, these were washed away later on as the rains came down. And it poured. Heavy downpours for hours that flooded most of the town and made many homes lose power for the evening. Yet almost all of the cast members came through – even if it was for a short scene here and there, and for that we are very grateful.
The difficult part was early on, where we made some last minute changes to the cast and story in order to adapt to people’s timings, schedules and potential no-shows. However, once we got rolling, we were able to get through scenes at a steady pace. Scenes were ordered by location, so for instance we’d shoot scenes 5,7,11 and then move to the other end of the bar to do 3,9, and so on. But luckily all the scenes were indoors. Some scenes were “one and done” quick takes, while some had a fair share of out-takes and needed a few versions, in some cases to make sure we had alternate angles, close-ups, etc.
Like Alphabet Soup and The Torment, various actors/actresses from the area were in this short too, whether a brief appearance, such as Rob (who was the main character in The Torment) or Jared, who had a side role in the Torment, but played the main character in this upcoming short. We also managed to get local legend Tom in on the action, playing a key role and wearing a straw hat much to his initial chagrin (he “did it for the film”, and much thanks for that). That being said, he actually did quite like the Hawaiian shirt we had got for him!
Brian and his colleague did the camera work for the most part, while Justin did the directing. As for me, I helped out with the unpacking, the setup and wherever possible, took loads of pictures such as the ones on this post, and hopefully will be contributing with the background audio / soundtrack, as the edits come together. Plus while I may have escaped from being in any pictures (since I was the one taking them), I do play an extra in some scenes.
Overall though, we had a great time and everyone was in great form. Looking forward to having the final cut ready to show. In the meantime, any ideas for naming this thing?
