Saturday was the first day of filming for the science fiction short, Parasitik.
In the not too distant future a scientist discovers a meteor that lands on Earth from outer space. Since the alien meteor has landed a top military organization recruits a team of professionals to go and investigate the meteor only to discover the human race is at stake.
I'm always a sucker for a good sci-fi story. I auditioned in July for the role of one of the military professionals, Jazz. At the audition I ran into some friends from previous shows, including Anthony Rosas, jr., who was monitoring the auditions. Anthony and I both worked on Daryl Denner's short film Diana a few years ago. (The blog post about Diana with pics can be clicked here: http://thecommonone-jtw.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-set-diana.html).
A few weeks later the director, John De'Priest Anthony, called to let me know that I had won a part in the short film. However, I didn't win the part I had auditioned for. They decided after my audition that I would be a good fit for the role of the scientist, Simon. As John described the character to me, he said that he's a bit geeky, but integral, kind of like Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day. I was sold at Jeff Goldblum.
Like many children of the 80's who grew up with a high rotation of movies on premium cable tv, I am a huge fan of any of the stars of the Big Chill and The Right Stuff. Jeff Goldblum was featured in both of those movies and I've been working on a bad impersonation of him ever since. However, when I was doing the character work, I had to remind myself that the character was like one of Jeff Goldblum's characters, not that he was Jeff Goldblum. Yet, I still couldn't help myself from throwing in a few extra 'uhs' and 'ahs.'
The following pics are from the first shooting day. We shot in a warehouse off the Freeman Street stop in the Bronx. I'd love to say that the warehouse was one of the classic abandoned ones, but in fact, the warehouse was stuffed to the ceiling with used discarded furniture and housewares. The store was advertising a going out of business deal, but the owner didn't look like he was in too much of a hurry to empty the space. A large part of set-up included the producers and crew emptying out furniture to create a path from the front of the store to the back.
We started the day by using the space upstairs which had been recently renovated to hold a church and catering hall. The cast got comfortable in the wide space and the crew began shooting some scenes in the office rooms. Within the hour there was apparently an emergency within the congregation and the hall needed to be vacated. We packed and moved to the backyard to use as our holding. Since the day was gorgeous the move to the back was actually welcome, especially since most of the filming occurred within the dark confines of the warehouse.
With a lot of ground to cover that included many different shots, cameras and angles, we worked quickly and efficiently. I've always enjoyed seeing how the dynamics develop on a set between a crew and within an ensemble cast. The tight circumstances forced us to become close very quickly, which allowed a real team spirit to develop.
I have another scene to shoot up in Connecticut in the middle of September and there will be another day of pick up shots and reshoots. Stay tuned and I'll try to post more pictures of the process.
Reviewing the script in the original holding area
The original holding
Back office room
The Ensemble cast getting situated
With Anthony Rosas, the military team leader
Looking back over my shoulder before a take
Tight space
Tight and airless space
Getting ready for POV shots
A break in between takes
Getting some fresh air
I tried to capture some of the fight sequence
A close up shot
Another Close up
Reviewing lines
Flipped the camera to get an action shot of the crew
Afterwards, with the Director John De'Priest Anthony
Messing around with one of the zombies
After shot with some of the cast
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