I travelled to Rockford on Sunday to finish up the grandma movie.  I arrived and Ron, Jason and Megan were setting up equipment to shoot the scenes that the Grandmother (me) and my granddaughter, Megan (Elenita) were making while working at the computer on our family tree.  Elenita and her mom, Kimberly, arrived and we set to work on the shooting.

The lights were the first problem and we tried lamps, opening the curtains behind us, turning up the brightness on the computer screen and setting up the official movie lights.  Shooting a movie is not just filming, it is a mysterious combination of lighting, sound and just the right effects.  We went over our scene several times before shooting to get the right feel of the scene.  Ron, the director, corrected several of our errors and we got down to shooting scenes.

Elenita is such a sweet child.  She is so intent on becoming an actress and it shows.  She is, I believe, ten years old and very professional.  She is a joy to work with.  Her fastidious mother brings an entire crate of clothing for her to choose her outfits for each scene.  Her hair is down to her knees and she had it in braids for this shoot.

I hadn’t planned on wearing what I wore to the shoot.  I brought three outfits to choose from.  But we began and I was in a sweater.  The lights get pretty hot and so I had to leave the set to stand in the garage and cool myself off a few times.

Elenita’s father brought her kitten, Mel, and we shot the scenes with the cat on the desk by the computer.  The cat was pretty cute and cooperated with us quite well.   Ron laughed and said they told him in his movie making class not to use children or animals, and here we were using both.  It worked out just fine.

It took all morning to shoot three scenes at the computer.  We broke for lunch and Jason, Megan and I went to the local Popeye’s Restaurant for lunch.  I had never eaten there before and I have to say the seasonings were just right on my pieces of chicken but it was a bit on the greasy side.  Next time I go I will try the PoBoy sandwich instead and the bread can soak up the grease.

We got back to Ron’s house and had our lunches together and discussed movie making and photography.  Megan is trying to start a photography company.  She has had several gigs so far and is learning a lot about the photography business.

Jason is just getting back into the movie making classes and asked if I would be an extra in his movies if he needs me and I agreed. I’m a movie star!

Next scenes were shot in the bedroom where I lounged after my stroke.  Elenita brought me lunch and danced to entertain me.  The lighting again was a big chore.  Open and close the curtains, set up movie lights.  The boom microphone was the next problem as Jason had to follow Elenita into the room and keep his hand, elbow and the boom out of the picture.  We shot several takes of each of the scenes because of little annoyances.

Ron coughed one time and we reshot.  The boom was in the picture and we reshot again.  I forgot my lines and we reshot again.  We were really having a pretty good time.  Ron played the music he had purchased on line and paid $39.00 for the rights to the music.  (More complications I didn’t know about.)

The last scenes were of Elenita only and so I hightailed it on home to see if I could watch any of my beloved Cincinnati Bengals football game.  I had to make one stop to pick up a few things for dinner and didn’t make it for the game.  They won 31 to 7 and we are now 9 and 1.

And so our movie has been shot and about to be processed into a real movie.  I cannot wait to see the finished product and will post an update as to when it will be shown.  Another big retirement adventure comes to a close.