The Short Film

After our hectic drive to Utah and frantic stops along the way, and without even a moment to breathe, we were finally on set. First, to set the stage, so to speak… the “set” was actually a house. And let me just say… I had no idea whose house this was.

It belonged to a friend of someone in the cast, and she had arranged for us to be there. And it was gorgeous! Absolutely perfect for the look we wanted. And here we were, the ones in charge, rushing in fifteen minutes late, carrying bundles of food, costumes, props… and children.

Have you ever seen those events where people try to catch a greased pig? Now picture that taking place inside a five star hotel. That’s what I was picturing would happen the moment I opened the door and saw how beautiful this home was. I didn’t know how I was going to get everything organized, let alone what I was going to do with the kids; I had six hungry children on set (even though only four needed to be there). I was feeling overwhelmed and under-prepared, and I had no idea how I was going to juggle all my responsibilities.

I don’t like relying on others to help me do things that I feel I should have made time to do myself. But I hadn’t planned on being in this situation. I couldn’t do it all myself, even if I wanted to. I couldn’t change the past; I needed to take care of the present. There’s no way I could have done it without the incredible people I mentioned in the last post. It’s as if the heavens opened and all the angels came out to help me. I believe that angels can be heavenly beings, but they’re not the only ones… angels can also be people: friends, acquaintances, family, and even total strangers.

So there I was, panicking as I thought about all these things. And our angels came to the rescue. As I was trying to corral the children into a corner, our hostess appeared and showed me a place where they could play without being in the way. Our lead actress volunteered to run errands for me (including bringing food and costumes) as I got everyone ready to film. Our associate producer helped organize the chaos. Our MUA (makeup artist) got everyone’s makeup done in the middle of it all.

Soon enough, everything was starting to come together. Meanwhile, it was time to prepare the set, which actually took quite a long time. LED lights apparently don’t look good on camera; we had a few bulbs that we needed to replace because they were flickering. We had to reorganize the living room, including moving furniture… and a fully decorated tree, with presents all around it. And the window that we were filming was too far off the ground on the exterior of the house.

That problem was a tad bit trickier. There was a lot of what we called “MacGyvering” going on… creative problem-solving is probably 78% of film-making, if our experience was anything to judge by. We were so blessed with a hostess that was understanding and helpful. We were able to use odds and ends from her backyard and around her house. We even borrowed her hot glue gun! Nevertheless, with patience, lots of behind-the-scene helpers, and a talented DP (director of photography), we were able to come up with each solution.

That night, filming lasted until 12:30 a.m. The kiddos were exhausted. A few of them had been filming out in the cold, and were quite ready to be done for the night. In fact, by the time I took my nephew home that night, I was very worried that my brother would be furious, and possibly not let him film the next day. In all reality… I wasn’t sure my nephew would even want to come back. Thankfully, after a full-night’s sleep, everyone was ready to go for round two.

The next morning, we slept longer than we should have. I mean, if you think about it, this was our second night in a row staying up past one o’clock in the morning. And if you add an hour for the time change our bodies felt like we had gone to bed at two the second night (see “The Producer” post for an explanation of the previous day).

Had I woken up at six in the morning to run all my errands like I originally planned, our day may have gone a bit smoother. And yet… I would have been a walking zombie, and would likely have been sicker than I was already starting to feel. So… we slept. At 8:30 a.m., we woke in a panic, and rushed around getting everyone ready to go so we could be on set by 10 a.m.

Let me back up slightly to add that, the previous night, our director surprised us by requesting a change of location for the second day of shooting. We trusted him- the man’s a genius behind a camera-, so a new location it was! It really was a better location… but it was also about an hour’s drive from where we expected to be. We threw together everything we’d need, then packed the car with all of that, plus my children, my nephew, and my eight year old brother-in-law.

One new challenge with the location change was that we now no longer had anywhere we could use as a “home base” for our film- to keep the cast and crew out of the freezing weather while we weren’t shooting. Ben came up with the idea to rent a room at the local library… but the website said you had to book the rooms three days in advance, and the library itself didn’t open until 10:00 a.m…. which is when we were planning to arrive. So we drove, and prayed, and hoped it would work out.

And it did! The library staff agreed to help us, and within minutes of arriving, we had a conference room booked and our troupe packed in. I mean troupe. The second day, we had several background actors (including more children), our director (and his wife and baby), all our lead actors, and the makeup artist. In total we had nine children and eleven adults.

Again, everyone stepped up. Our director’s wife was amazing. She and one of our lead actresses took all the children to the children’s area of the library (which was perfect) and kept them entertained while I did all I needed to do. As we were having lunch, the director’s wife came to me and told me that Adrie had a wet diaper. I started to think frantically of where I had put the diapers, when she said, “I changed her. I just thought I’d let you know that her diaper leaked. Her leggings are in a bag right there.”

At one point, I was wondering how I was going to be a responsible mother and an actress. I was needed on set to film, but Adrie desperately needed a nap. She naps okay in arms, but usually I’m the only one she wants… and I didn’t have the time to get her to sleep and get my make-up on, get in costume, and be on set on time. At this point Ben, whom I had hardly seen all day, came to help me by getting Adrie to sleep while I headed to set. After about ten minutes, Ben showed up. Just as I was starting to picture Adrie having a meltdown back in the conference room, he told me that she had fallen asleep, and that he’d handed her off… to our make-up artist.

I was able to film the scene I was in without having to worry about my children. And that, my friends, is one of the greatest miracles of the day. The fact that I knew my children (and nephew, and brother-in-law) were in good hands- literally, in Adrie’s case. When I returned to our “home base” an hour later, my little Adrie was still sleeping soundly in our talented makeup artist’s arms.

Everything went off like clockwork all afternoon! We filmed everything we planned to. Everyone in the cast helped with cleanup, childcare, running errands, driving, prop making, and more. While Ben and a couple others got the last shot at that location, the rest of us packed up and cleaned the library, and headed to cars so we could get to our evening set. Due to all the help from the entire cast, we were leaving right on time to start filming the evening shots right as it got dark.

Things were going too well, apparently… We live in a modern world folks. And because we do… we should never be caught without our cellphone, and more importantly, GPS. Just after I told Ben that I had checked out of the library and was heading to the other location, my phone died. No kidding! Now… some of you have an innate sense of direction. Congratulations. I, on the other hand, took two hours to get to set when it only took everyone else one. I took the road less traveled. Apparently it made all the difference.

Regardless, I eventually made it back safely. I dashed to my brother’s house and returned my nephew to his mother. I was still running full speed, and forgot to even stop to tell her “happy birthday” (it’s okay, I have since repented). I grabbed my phone charger and headed to set with the rest of the kiddos.

That night was a bit more stressful than the afternoon. First, Ben forgot a prop. And not just any prop… the most important prop in the show. *facepalm* Once again, there was last minute dashing by multiple people, and an improvised option turned out perfectly.

Second, we were filming with sound. Recording sound is crazy- they stopped several times because of interruptions like hearing a light turn on, or someone standing up too loudly. And me? I had the enviable job to keep all the kids as quiet as church mice.

I did this by hiding with them in the toy cupboard as we tried to play as quietly as possible. Which meant that I was whispering and saying “shh,” while they were speaking in normal voices with the occasional “MOM! MOM! CALL ME NOW!” or “RING! RING!”

Maybe playing grocery story delivery was not the quietest idea. And yet… was there a quieter idea? It worked for a while… but after several hours of sitting crisscross- I had little feeling left in my legs at this point-, trying to keep the kids from taking any toy from the shrill baby, I decided we needed to escape the closet.

At almost 11:00 at night, as they were almost finished, I had to interrupt filming (much to everyone’s annoyance) to get some food in my children and take them to my brother’s house to bed. It wasn’t pretty, folks… but there is no way I could keep my kids locked in a cupboard for another hour. Happily, with us gone, they were able to finish filming quickly. I was able to get my children to bed (all except Liz, who was still filming), and leave them at my brother’s house while I went back to help clean up the set.

Want to know something beautiful? At nearly 1 o’clock in the morning, when we were finished cleaning… no one wanted to leave. We all were so proud of what we had accomplished that it felt almost sad to end our part of it. We chatted for a while longer, signed props for each other to remember it all by, and finally said goodnight.

We finished around 1:30 a.m., and Ben and I got to bed sometime before 3:00.

So… when I said I was tired… I was referring to the non-stop running, getting lost driving, constant caring for children, leg-numbing closet-sitting, emotional roller coaster, and all-around amazing time we had creating a short film. I am beyond grateful for all who were involved. I didn’t mention anyone by name to protect their privacy, but I know all your names. I saw what you did for us. And I thank you.

There are many stories about other angels that I didn’t tell, but that are no less amazing. I hope some day I can be an angel for you. Thank you all for our beautiful film.