Saturday the 30th was the busy day of shooting for Bite Nite, as far as my character, Father Fangulous was concerned. Of course it had to be one of the most bitter cold days of this winter season.The temperature, with the wind chill factor, was below zero. I could barely feel my feet after a while, and holding the Bible was touch and go. My fingers were half frozen inside my think leather military dress gloves
My first scene was shot at the Laureldale cemetery and I was delivering the eulogy for Maxine, the Vangle, who was terminal and basically was a sacrifice to the serum to cure the turned vampires. Perhaps in the context of the movie that sentence will make sense. Then again, maybe not. And as an independent film, who knows exactly who will see this. It’s going nearly straight to dvd release online. Perhaps a local showing for a premier. Who knows?
the orphanage at San Gwynne
My second scene was a much longer one that was luckily filmed at the orphanage which was a place used to raise the abandoned half-breed vampire girl children, the Vangles. (Vangles, are innocent half vampires, so they are categorized as vampire-angles Vangles, get it? ) It was a seven page shoot, spanning two scenes. Lots of dialogue that neither I nor Adrian (the writer/actor playing the sheriff) had memorized. It was seven pages and I had just received the script the previous Friday. excuses, excuses… We shot for about three hours from various angles and cheated like crazy on the lines. Lots of editing of the angles to make that look good (hopefully)
All in all in was an educational experience and I got a compliment from the sound guy, which was cool, and from the director who said it makes it easy when people know their lines (referring to the eulogy, not the other scene) The other feedback from the director that I got was not to talk or ask questions or suggestions. He got defensive like I was trying to do his job. Live and learn. To his credit he then repeated my suggestion verbatim and then laughed about the whole episode. Lesson learned for me. Be discreet and submissive when making offerings to those above you in the hierarchy.
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On another note I also auditioned for “Location, Location” which is a local film sponsored by the Greater Reading Film Commission. They had me read for the part of the director. I expect to get a role, but who knows what it will be. The cold reading (indoors) was only for that one part, but it was filmed and they will determine roles by look and ability from that one scene. We’ll see what happens. The script is basically a promotional piece for Reading as a filming location, and is written by a friend, Santo Marabella, so I have a connection inside…
