hitchhiker

2.Our shoot was insane!!! It was bad enough, the film 500T didn't arrive 'til the last minute, but then the light meter went out on my Canon 1014XL halfway through the grueling shoot, so I had to replace it--thank God Kodak is only a mile from my apt! Even with storyboards, trying to time each shot with no crew--just me to direct, shoot, dodge LAPD and gang members, etc., was nearly impossible. I even tried timing with my iPHone, but it was nearly impossible to do alone. I couldn't have the actors do it since they were often about 800 feet away (with wide lens attachment). 

We did have a blast though. My two actors, Irishman Gavin O Fearraigh and Demegio Mandel Kimbrough, were great sports! We had quite a few near misses. One night, a real pimp--yes, they still have them on Santa Monica Blvd-- tried to wrestle my Canon away from me. Thank God for pepper spray. Another night, we watched a foxy Russian hooker in a white mink coat--how the hell did she afford that?--Lots of blow jobs I guess-- get smacked around by her mobster pimp. We were trying to film outside LA's last porn arcade-- trying to capture a 70's look-- when some toothless trannies rushed past and told us the LAPD was rounding them up. Unfortunately, we didn't have an extra roll of film ( but I did capture a few seconds of the trannie and used the cop car as a background prop). Let's hope it comes out!

The piece de resistance was when one of the cops approached and warned us that we were in a known "narcotics" area. Duh! And who actually used the word "narcotics" anymore? Is that what they're calling meth/tweak nowadays? It was all I could do not to crack up. I was more shocked that he didn't cite me for filming without a permit, since Los Angeles is one of the most difficult cities to film in without a permit. They usually fine you and snatch your film or camera. I guess there were content to have busted a Russian whore and some unfortunate trannies.

Lessons learned; 1. next time have an asst. 

2

Rehearse--no matter how much you write on a storyboard, it's nearly impossible to match the time on a 30 year old camera with reality

3 Carry more pepper spray or buy a fake gun

4 Shoot in the suburbs. The streets of Hollywood are nearly impossible for guerilla filmmaking

5 Red food coloring does NOT come off white clothes or pale skin

6 Have a second asst shoot with your iPhone so you have something to match for sound. 

7 Don't shoot a week before the film needs to be shipped across the world

7 Bring more $ for "narcotics"

Robert Ellsworth

Now we're frantically trying to finish sound