Production Stills
Leo and I planning our shoot
I laid out each day's scenes on individual sheets of paper and Leo would crumple up each sheet as we finished that scene.
Leo in the mud
It's tough to tell from this shot, but Leo is wearing a pair of hard plastic leg braces that keep him clean in all the mud. This was one of my favorite activities as a child, and probably the least popular with my mom. Leo could barely stand in these braces and I was terrified he was going to plunge into the wall, so I kept leaping in the shot when he faltered. He was fine, of course - I was the one who ended up slipping in the mud.
Building a tower
Leo and I have very different facial features, but it's uncanny how similar we look from this angle.
Putting on mom's socks
This was our last scene. Note the paper lantern with a 500w daylight balanced bulb - this was our primary lighting technique for just about every scene. The light is strong, soft, cool to the touch and very mobile.
Wheelchair Shoot
One of the first things we shot was this stylized wheelchair assembly scene, which will be intercut with footage from the film Aliens (when Ripley is getting into the Powerloader).
One light style
We're going to try and sell this single top down spotlight as the result of a standard two-tube flourescent fixture. Suspension of disbelief will be key.
Blocking like Michael Bay
Shooting for the cut. The wheelchair sequence will be composed of 15-20 1 or 2 second shots in rapid succession. The setups were tedious and the payoff minimal. Maybe not the best sequence to start the shoot off with.
Miljenko Skoknic: Gaffer to the Stars
Righty tighty. Lefty loosey.
Low budge dolly shot
We turned this twenty year old hand truck into a rickety dolly (note the back wheels), but I ended up liking the tentative, rocky movement it provided.
Hand Made Lights
Sinisa and I made this soft box with six 500 watt daylight balanced flourescent bulbs after reading about how Harris Savides lit some of his work for Jonathan Glazer and Gus Van Sant. It makes for nice fill and is cool to the touch, though it was probably used most as the light board for all the x-rays. The bulbs in themselves are a godsend - I can't imagine shooting daylight interiors without them.
Mom's room
It was very challenging to shoot so many sequences with mom in bed. We would film at different times of day to get different qualities of light and shot from every angle imaginable.
Garber getting to know Elaine
Our gaffer checks the frame and buddies up with Panavision's mammoth Elaine model Super 16 camera. It was a beast to set up and take down, but it purred like a kitten and never gave us any trouble.
Still Photographer
Set still photographer Renato Kukic.
Kukic takes a break
Considering my mom's health and her limited endurance, there was tons and tons of downtime during this shoot.
Bill and Suzi
Our stars.