DAY 1
Monday, August 10, 1998

Union Street, Snohomish
5:46 AM
Paul Westfall, Sound Designer

We shoot in 14 minutes.

I have never held a boom before, and today I manage the audio on my first feature film. My stomach is starting to churn out acid. And yet, the morning is still and calm - I loved the drive in to Snoho today. So peaceful. I am enjoying this feeling.

Well. Gotta go make a film.

-Paul

The Athmann Breakfast Nook
5:52 AM
Todd Howard, Producer

The idea, of course, was to write in this journal last night after the shoot, and the way it wound down was not to be conducive of such flagrant time and energy burners. I got up early this morning to share the wonders of our first day of shooting in Sonhomish. Bottom line: we had a fantastic day. I could ramble and praise us all to the 'nth', but it suffices to say that every single person on that set jumped at the challenges that continued to present themselves all day long. Everyone was truly amazing. The fact that on our first day out we got every scene on film that we planned for, the performances were excellent, the communication was high and we only finished 50 minutes behind schedule is, to me, truly amazing.

THE POST OFFICE (a.k.a., the picker scene) Our first shot had the boys exiting a post office with Willy in the lead carrying a package addressed to him.

We shot it at the old post office - which is now City Hall. We have had so much assistance from the Town Clerk, Molly Linville and the whole town was alive with our crew making ready for the long tracking shot that would follow a postman (John McCabe - city route 7) down the front steps of the post office tailed by Willy, Tommy, Nick, Deal and Tink. The boys round the edge of the post office and the "Subaru Dolly" kicks into action. A dolly is a device in film that rolls along a track and is a platform or seat that the camera person can be on top of and the can be put in motion to follow, lead or be followed by a subject. This morning, we improvised with a pale blue Subaru called "Dottie." Quinn Thomsen, Paul Westfall and myself pushed it with Jesse Moore the Director of Photography on the hood holding his camera. Tarin Anderson, Assistant Camera person adjusted the focus of the camera as the boys got closer to the lens. The performance of the scene was flawless, and the boys - in their first stint on a movie set - were unphased. I felt very proud of them.

The second scene had us blocking off a portion of Cedar Street, by the Library, and on walkie talkies, Erika Stone - leading the production assistants (and assorted other fill-ins - including myself at times) controlled the flow of traffic and passers-by with a deft and loving hand (and a barricade!) Abbey, Bitta, Shoolie and Enna were gathered by the old Patric's Hardware (which burned down - now it's a bit of a junk heap with some cool old wrought iron fences and chain-link, and their task was to discuss and for Abbey to propose the theft of Tink's brand new bike. Jesse Moore had a cool shot framed that had Abbey in the extreme foreground on the left side of the frame, talking past the camera, and other girls (sans Liza) were 10 feet back on the right side of the frame. It was the first time Jesse Moore let me look through the eyepiece.

I am noticing an incredibly subtle phenomenon that is occurring, and I can't quite define or explain it yet, but there is something that happens on a movie set that is... hmmm. I can't do it yet. I will have to get back to you on this.

More soon...

-Todd

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