MAN IN THE LAKE - Production Diary DAY 2

DAY 2: Tuesday, May 18, 2010

The second day of filming on the Southlan-Films production of the Friday the 13th fan-film The Man In The Lake is also the first day that the whole cast will get together for the very first time. Unlike most writer/director Ron McLellen’s previous films, there was no script read-through with the cast, so, today is the first day that McLellen has even met some of his cast members. I cast several of the actors on this film having worked with them on previous films but during the course of time between the first draft of the screenplay (which I wrote) and the final shooting draft (which McLellen wrote) there were a lot of cast changes and a lot of roles that were cut from the final shooting script. Although I am not 100% satisfied with the final shooting script, I was well aware of many of the changes that would eventually happen due to the fact that I wrote and over ambitious film that probably would’ve been more a feature and less a short film like what the director wanted. I also wrote my script with no regards to budget or limitations, which is a big factor when you’re doing a film in which you will never recoup any costs, so, I’m not surprised of the changes to my original script.

I also was writing the script based on what I would want to see in a Friday the 13th film mixed with the fact that I was bridging my script with McLellen’s previous film Return of the Sandman creating what would ultimately end in a “what if?” Jason fought Michael Myers type film. Over ambitious is probably putting it mildly.

The scenes we are filming today introduce all the characters as they stop at a gas station to fill up on supplies prior to going to the camp grounds. In the scenes are the actors – Lynn McArthur, Cesar Aguirre, JM Finnel, Andrew McClure, Chris Whitley, Jim Adams, Dave R. Watkins, Josephine B. Lawson, and several extras. We had the luck of finding a location perfect for the film. It was an old “Pop Shop” that had the look of having been built in the ‘50s and was still operational. McLellen found this location due to the fact that he knew the owners and they were very accommodating to the film’s needs. This location is rich with character and even though the scene, as written in the script, is only a few minutes long I wished that we could have spent more time at the excellent location to really use it in the film.

I’m really glad I was able to get McClure and Finnel on board this film as they had such great chemistry in the Blank Stage production No Experience Necessary, which is where I first met both of them. Today was the first time that either had ever met the director McLellen so I was a little nervous on how the day would play out. All the other actors in the production McLellen had already worked with before so I knew they would be fine with McLellen’s filmmaking style, whereas McLellen’s style is very different than director Brent (No Experience Necessary) Brooks mainly because McLellen edits his own films and therefore only films the shots he’ll need to make the film look good. McLellen is very lax with clap boards and shooting “masters” and frequently shoots handheld to put the audience directly in the action of the film. Although there were a few shots done handheld a lot of what was filmed was done of the dolly because McLellen is using this scene as the intro to all the characters of the film and is building up to the impending chaos of the film later to come. All the actors did a wonderful job and elevate the film above the typical “teenagers in the woods” horror film (although that is still the type of film that this is).

Today is great for me as I get to see all the actors together and to get a cast & crew photo (the first one of hopefully many) which is something we’ve so rarely been able to do on a Southlan-Films production. Today just went 100% according to plan not to mention that we actually finished filming early despite having to endure noise problems when we shifted production to the exterior scenes of the location (something you just have to get used to on a low budget production).