Movie Magic

For any garden people out there I have a little blurb on the end.
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ludi - I'm trying to get some photos of Marion - I know they are out there, I've seen them.
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There is a thread over at IMDB about WHY people were being forced to be so far away in Oshkosh.

Simple. The reason is that any closer and they would have been on the set. There were extras that were in shots that were running around less then 1 block from where people were allowed to watch.

There was one mammoth scene where they had extras over a two block area. Another thing is that seriously, people watching were a problem. Flash kills scenes and even though they are told repeatably DO NOT USE FLASH, there were a number of times when I heard over the radio "FLASHES ARE KILLING US".

PLUS - there are just some scenes they do not want you to see. It's a screenplay and not the book. Just because you read the book does not mean you know how the movie goes.
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Little Bohemia.

Don't even try to go up there. My little woods elves are being shut down along with local news that were told NO videotaping of ANYTHING and they are sent packing.
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So I did take a few photos in our down time. We were stuck in a hotel room (on set) for a while so I was able to take some photos. I was aimlessly wandering around and found a safe. I decided that I would recreate a bank robbery with some extras but alas, there was not enough room in the hall way.

So instead I got two coppers and a "stunt" passenger to pose for a photo.

The next time I saw cop #2 (on right) he had blood all over him. BUT STILL SMILING (I love that guy)!!

There were literally hundreds of photos I wanted to take of Extras that would have been fantastic. Some will be in my minds eye for many years. I suppose if I did not have this blog I would have said screw the rules (like newspapers) but, I don't know what came over me. I'm a photographer and am always shooting and asking questions later.

But why was it that at this moment I wanted to follow rules. I think it was because I have so much respect for this entire movie making process that if there was inappropriate photo it was not going to be ME that took the shot. Now if I was going to make money sure, I might sneak a shot or two but this blog is not about making money. It's about spreading movie magic.


Another memory I have is sitting there in wardrobe looking at the scene and thinking "This is really Hollywood, this is what it looks like on location." It was surreal. Not just a small film but a multi-hundred million dollar movie.

This is makeup where the Extras were a primped up to look good.

Another little bit of movie magic is how they can take one guy and make another guy look just like him but for a different scene.

For instance - Andy.

They took Andy and made some dude look just like him but in a different wardrobe. They named the alternate dude "Tony".


Then they were able to transform ME into a completely different wardrobe. Except for the fact that I had to put on shoes that made me look taller. I can not tell WHICH was the original photo. CREEPY!! WHICH ONE IS ME!!!! I CAN NOT TELL!! It is blowing my mind!

BTW - That is a Kurth Sweatshirt. Very soft on the inside. You can buy them at Sharrow Drug in Columbus!

And thanks to Scott the Driver of a 1933 Graham, (only three in existence, one is in Brussels . . or Belgium and the other is in Utah . . . . . did you know that his was special ordered to be black? and don't get me started on the color of his wheels) for letting the other Rod wear his coat in the photo.

HEY - how did this photo get taken. Must have been by accident.

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I purchased my first perennials for the butterfly garden and showing my age I was forced to purchased three "Jethro Tull Coreopsis".

it's a cross between "Early Sunrise" and "Zamfir" brilliant golden yellow flowers with fluted petals. Since its petals are more consistently fluted and the plants are super floriferous, providing unbeatable color impact in the garden in early and midsummer.

Now I have to find some purple blooming perennials to go next to it.

OK - Maybe I'll see you at the Meet and Greet. Going golfing today and maybe a bike ride.

Have a great day

Rod M.

That's a Wrap Oshkosh -& personal business stuff

The very first thing I want to do is apologize to Mary at the the New (used to be Blue) Moon. The food there is pretty darn good (when we had it) and you guys were under a lot of stress and working very hard. I don't know what went down with the problem with the Drivers and the Moon, no one told us anything except you banned us. Perhaps there was a miscommunication somewhere which I can understand because no one tells anything to anybody.

All we knew was we had to stand outside in the cold for an extra 8 hours with no food and then the meatloaf was full of eggshells.
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Now a note to Universal City Studios.

Hi guys. You can be assured that any photos posted on THIS blog did not come from Drivers or me. I can understand why you are worried but I believe you should really be more worried about the newspapers that are videoing and posting photos. There were so many people on that set with cameras from the newspapers it was silly but nothing you see here is from us.

I'm a little disappointed as the newspapers are there to make money and I'm here to help the movie. There were so many stories I wanted to tell but NO CAMERAS and I respected that.

I think that being on the set as part of the production gives a person a lot of respect for what is going on.

As for photos. I have seen some REALLY nice shots and will post a few that will pump people up about the movie which is going to be WAY WAY better then people are thinking it will be.

Knowing a little of upcoming events I feel this movie is made to give Johnny Depp an Oscar.
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To anybody that has emailed me in the last few days - stay calm. After deleting spam I still have 70 mails and all contain attachments, requests and so forth.
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To the city and citizens of Oshkosh and all the people they stood by the barricades in the wind and cold for hours and hours.

I have talked to people from all over the Country that came to Oshkosh, Arizona, California and other far off and distant lands and they are honestly amazed at the friendly warm attitude of people in Wisconsin. I was told by more then a hand full of people that you do not get this in other parts of the country.

One woman from Arizona who was freezing said to me "I love Oshkosh, I don't want to leave, people are so friendly. The hardware store let us stand in the doorway and use their bathroom, that would not happen in other parts of the country. I might cry when I have to leave".
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Photos

This is Emma and Spencer Garrett.

I will attempt to post photos from the week. I think it'll take a while but there is going to be some empty "no news" time this week as the crew is in lock down closed set up north so I'll have a lot of time for mindless stories and photos this week.

They should be up there for three days then coming back south the end of the week. All scenes, at least to the end of the month will be interior scenes or out in the country or very very late at night so I doubt there will be any super duper crowds that will see anything.

Please respect the movie people, you will be rewarded with a very amazing movie.
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The Appleton Postcrescent has a zillion of photos.

Again - a fan of the movie vs. people trying to make money from the movie - they get the OK for photos! There were so many up close and personal stories from the extras I could have gotten.

Lost forever. It makes me sad.

Any Extras out there that want to share stories and their feelings PLEASE go to my profile and email me. You guys are awesome and I'll talk about you in the coming days.

So I'm going to hang up. I feel like I have a hangover from TOO much sleep. I'll be back.

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A story from Julie B.

My husband and I got there and staked out our spots right on the curb on Jeffereson St. I had heard you couldn't see much of the filming, so we didn't even bother going over there. That's how we got in the very front (right by the barricade).

There was a little girl (about 7 years old) to my right. Her mom was a few people back and asked me to make sure he saw her. I told her I'd take care of her. When he got to me, he took my hand, and I said, "there's a little girl here that wants to meet you." He then proceeded to talk to her while still holding on to my hand! When he came back to me, I said, "thank you so much for taking the time to meet with us." That's when he put his other hand on my arm and said something like, "oh it's no trouble, I'm happy to do it." My husband was three people down from us. After he shook Johnny's hand, he leaned in to get the awesome pic!


Thanks Julia - great story!! MELT!! :-)



Rod Melotte

A good day

I gotta comfortable 5 hours of sleep and I think I'm getting used to it.

Got to the set about 6:30 and car was put in the same exact spot. I was wearing comfie clothes because I knew the car would be parked all day and we would just be hanging out.

Had breakfast and then cruised to the set for relax time. Male #4 and I (Andy) have become good friends (BTW - Thanks Andy) and the Picture Car people just hung out. Seems the Picture Car people are the bad boys of the set (we're freakishly bored) and we're no longer welcome into the New Moon EVEN though THEY are the ones with the big cameras taking photos.

Yea yea - I tattled on you guys!!!!! You forced us to eat gruel today!

So we're sitting in the sun have a very pleasant time and watching the explosives guys doing their thing and burying squibs in the dirt and rigging things to go off . . . . 20 feet from us.

Then Michael Mann and cameras and importent STUFF start setting up 10 yards from where I'm sitting. The Extras are practicing falling and being terrified as I assume Pretty Boy Floyd (remember the guy in O'Brother Where Art' Thou - NOT like him). is shooting in their direction. It
s all set and after 6 or 7 practice runs.

PICTURE UP! FIRE IN THE HOLE! CAMERA'S ROLLING . . . . . . . . . . . .BACKGROUND! . . . . . . . . . . . ACTION!

BAM BAM BAM BAM BOOM BOOM Rat-a-tat rat-a-tat BOOM BOOM BAM BAM BAM and stuff is flying all over the place 10 yards from us (we're behind a wall but can see everything).

CUT!!! RESET!

and it's done a few more times. AWESOME!!

We're told to go to the other side of the street for a different scene. They rip up one road and lay it down the length of main street.

We stand around for another couple hours and about 11:00 we're told to go get a snack ?????? what ??? snack? they have never told us to do THAT before. They said today would be a long day. hmmmmm the last two days have been in the 14 hour range. Does longer mean LONGER?

Snack?? this does not sound at all promising.

The clouds move in and there are more awesome scenes being shot with snipers and a LOT of machine guns. All the actors are there but we're on the wrong side of the set top see them.

Andy comes over at a break (it's always at LEAST a half hour between runs and sometimes an hour) and says there is a Marion Cotillard sighting. She came out of the "bank" looked up and down the street, turned around and hugged Johnny! No doubt about it. She is in Wisconsin for the Beaver dam shoot early I guess.

The clouds have come in and it's cooling off . . .a LOT. It's about 2:00 and the crew are all eating great food on the set, the Extras are getting sandwiches from the New Moon and us?

NOTHING! WE CAN'T GO IN THE NEW MOON!! OFF LIMITS!!! ARSE HOLES!

So about 3:30 it starts to sprinkle and we told to go to this hotel room for lunch. One window looking out to NOTHING, a lunch with, what I was told - bad meatloaf (not a meatloaf fan anyway), a slab of ham some rice and mash potatoes.

As I was helping clean up a lot of the Styrofoam boxes were heavy into the garbage.

So we're stuck in a box with nothing to see.

About a hour later we make a mass prison break and are back on set. It's cold.

They are filming a get away and every time the car takes off it rolls up the cobblestone street (estimated $300,000). There are 60 uniforms keeping crowds back and people with binoculars scanning buildings. Jerry scans apartments for the curious and when one is found a person is dispatched to . . . . I don't want to know!



I was told there were 8,000 to 10,000 people surrounding the set on Wednesday.

Things are going well in rehearsal until a white car rolls onto the set and all hell breaks loose - GET THAT BOGIE OUT OF HERE.

This scene is a big one. They are being REAL careful triple checking everything, getting people out of windows and when they are ready everything is checked again. They practice parts for a good two hours and then you can feel everybody tense up a little.

Walkie talkies are going non stop with some people talking loud and others whispering so not to confuse. Bruno in the pyro guy says we're ready and the call goes out that WE'RE HOT and the entire shot is explained for the 5th time, who is shooting and what is happening.

People with binoculars are scanning windows for John Q's.

Then


PICTURE UP! FIRE IN THE HOLE! CAMERA'S ROLLING! . . . . . . . . . . . .BACKGROUND! . . . . . . . . . . . ACTION!

and all hell breaks loose - walls are exploding with bullets all over, machine guns are constant.

Then there is a freeze . . . .waiting waiting KEEP CAMERAS ROLLING waiting waiting BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM more exploding and FREEZE RELOAD KEEP CAMERAS ROLLING the crowd is silent waiting, it's odd to have SO many people utterly still with so much noise. BAM BAM BAM BAM even more fireing.


CUT!!!


It's like everyone breaths for the first time in 10 minutes.


Then they start to set up for the next scene . . BUT WAIT!!!


THAT'S A WRAP!!!

People start to go into groups and we're we're walking back to wardrobe we 're told the Extras will not be needed Friday - they are done. There are hugs and tears and people shaking hands and we figure, well if THEY are done WE must me.

They are shooting INSIDE Friday the rain day.


BUT WAIT.


The Picture Car drivers are huddled and more then half (20ish) are told they will no longer be needed and only 15 are wanted back to tomorrow, and we are one of those 15. SWEET . . . sort of.

Not a clue what we will be doing but I'm thinking we will be driving - perhaps inside the bank with cameras looking out???

Saturday the circus moves north to Little Bohemia for three days for basically a closed set so I would not even bother going north to the Arctic.

So that is it for now. I'm on my way to the garage for a day of rain and sitting inside the car.

It is awesome fun.

Rod