BEHIND THE SCENES: IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM

This entry was posted on 9/14/2006 9:52 PM and is filed under production

This sequence was "epic" by Tucson standards where you're lucky to raise even 20 extras, much less over a hundred actors to play a scene this large in scope and complexity. Filming at University Physicians Healthcare Hospital at Kino, in their East Clinic was a fantastic experience because of the support and involvement of management and staff who give so much back to the community. We were generously welcomed into their facility and we really appreciated their kind assistance making this motion picture so authentic.

At 5 PM our actors arrived and we put them through Makeup FX Supervisor Frank Guerra's makeup factory with Makeup Artist Alison Radei putting the finishing touches in an FX tag-team marathon to prep over one hundred actors in just thirty minutes. We began filming and all of our preparation and rehearsals paid off in highly motivated, disciplined and high energy performances. My biggest concern was the time it would take for resetting all one hundred of the actors into their first positions for the next take because of the probability that this many people would become diffivult to manage.

The oppostite immediately became evident when my Teams responded quickly and professionally and reset within an amazing thirty seconds. That mobility gave me the ability to maneuver my Teams like chess pieces in order to stage the performances for maximum dynamic sequencing across the camera path. These individuals to whom I delegated directorial authority were my Team Leaders:

Edd Vinci

Janet Henderson

Robert Linden

Zielieane Rivera

Deanna Martinez

Mikal Mulaly

I am extremely proud of my Actors and my Team Leaders for successfully pulling off the biggest and most complex steadicam scene ever filmed in Tucson, a grand total of 127 performing Actors. Words cannot express the great sense of pride and respect I have for you all. What an absolute pleasure, what an honor for me and Gabriele to have you do this great thing for us. If you haven't already noticed from the pictures, the Crew behind me, the people backing me up are all go, no quit, get it done guys, Assistant Directors Justin Mashouf and Paul Adkins and Production Specialists Michael Hojjatie and Will Turner, and the FX Makeup Team led by Frank Guerra, Danny Hernandez and Alison Radei. They're all rock stars. They accomplish everything I ask and make it look easy.

And behind us all (as well as behind the camera taking all of these photos) is my Producer Gabriele Andres. Before you get the idea that I set this whole thing up, it was Gabriele who made hundreds of phone calls to all the Actors, spearheaded and worked with the many organizations and suppliers to make this big day happen and come off like synchronized clockwork. In the 30 years I've worked in New York, Los Angeles and now Tucson, I have never worked with a more competent producer who pulls off the impossible for me every day.

Makeup FX artist Alison Radei applying make up on Bruno Loya III.	Director James Arnett directing Teams of actors protraying plague victims.
Actress Denise Blum (Nurse Kate) relaxing with husband Bob Blum, portaying plague victim.	Jennifer Kuester (far right) getting ready between takes.
Actor Stan Babola (center) waiting for action between takes in the Emergency Room scenes.	Stage two plague victims relaxing during takes.
A trio of plague victims acting "sick" for the camera.	Airbushing technique used on these two victims by FX Makeup Supervisor Frank Guerra.
Alicia Bell and Ali Vinci posing for a still photograph.	James Arnett on dolly capuring footage during Emergency Room scene before jumping off the dolly and following Satiago Craig to the elevators.
Actors moving onto the ready line before they hear the call to ACTION!	Filming of actors demanding medical attention as Actor Santiago Craig works his way past the crowds.
Alpha Team Actors waiting for cue to move into action.	Kylene, Mary and Jean posing for the camera with FX make up.
FX make up artist Alison Radei with sister Melissa.	Actress Janet Henderson applying FX make up on plague victim.
Santiago Craig walking into the Emergency Room while being filmed by director James Arnett.	Stuntman Sam Doane wheeling patient, Actor Norman Stone during rehearsal.
James Arnett complimenting Action Teams and Crew between takes.	Jay D'Andrea posing for a still photograph.
James Arnett and Denise Blum during a "go/no-go" rundown on Edd Vinci's Team that's GO for filming!	Michael Hojjatie, Justin Mashouf and James Arnett.
KOLD Ch. 13 News videographer Renee Lavine.	James Arnett with Assistant Directors Justin Mashouf and Paul Adkins.
James Arnett smiling at Gabriele taking the picture for not forgetting the publicity among 10,000 other things.	Renee Lavine prepping camera for an interview.
James Arnett with Renee Lavine before his interview. "Can I give one of our sponsors a plug here?"	Speaking about the Emergency Room scenes for Ch. 13 interview.
EMT's Jason Sullivan and Megan Humphries talking with young Tyler wearing a lab coat just like a real doctor.	EMT's from Southwest Ambulance getting ready for their grand entrance with lights blazing.
James Arnett giving direction to Jason and Megan.	Santiago Craig laughing with fellow actors during a break in filming.
Plague victim relaxing during a break in action.	James Arnett filming victims exiting ambulance using the steadicam he built from surplus jet parts.
James Arnett, Micheal Hojjatie pulling dolly, and A.D. Justin Mashouf.	James Arnett trimming the counter balance weight on the steadicam.
One of the main difficulties we faced in staging mass panic and chaos with children present was creating and maintaining a high level of safety and security to prevent anyone from getting injured. There is a fine line between creating the illusion of mayhem and creating conditions that spawn real mayhem through poor crowd conrtol. That made it imperative to have everything rehearsed with everyone operating under rules of performance that contained vignettes between Team members within each Team without permitting any interaction between Teams. In that way, we were able to successfully repeat the same performances over and over with the precision necessary to maintain continuity between coverage angles. That day, I had the profound priviledge to direct so many professionals like a symphony in a completely safe environment that succeeded in creating the illusion of mayhem I wanted to capture for this motion picture. We wrapped by 8 PM, achieving so much in just three hours. I was wearing the fully loaded steadicam the whole time which is no easy feat after the first thirty minutes. After that weekend of photography, internet traffic from the word of mouth and the TV news coverage crashed our web host's server so this web site went down for a day. We changed over to a larger server that can handle the bandwidth better so there may be some spotty service as we migrate to the new web server this week. The new server has a blogging feature so we may be installing an interactive blog just as soon as I have the time to configure it online. 9/15/2006 4:01 PM Kim Bayne wrote: YOu wrote: "This sequence was "epic" by Tucson standards where you're lucky to raise even 20 extras." The next time you need to round up actors, post a call on Tucson Actors Forum. Founded Dec 6, 2001, Tucson Actors Forum (TucsonActors) is a free moderated group, run by volunteers, for announcing auditions, casting calls, production jobs, performances, screenings and workshops, and asking questions and sharing information about acting in and around Tucson, Arizona USA. Actors, actresses, directors, screenwriters, playwrights, theatres, producers, casting agents, talent agencies, event managers and others who need to share information are welcome to join and post relevant messages. I hope this helps. Great photos, by the way. ~ Kim 9/15/2006 4:24 PM James Arnett wrote: I believe we may already be listed with that site and a few other actor boards in town, that's how we found 127 totalextras for that one day. Nevertheless, the prevailing opinion of several other filmmakers we takled to in town had low expectations for finding extras beyond 20 at a time that seemed very discouraging. I'm glad we put out the word online because many of the performers we found via email took key roles but had originally auditioned for background players so we were pleased to find quite a few talented actors. Please post a URL for your actors board so others can find it too, thanks! 9/15/2006 11:05 PM Sandy Distel wrote: I saw the photos on the site and they look great. I am glad that my granddaughter, step-son and myself have been mentioned in the filming. All my family and friends are looking forward to the movie. Hope we get a little recognition for doing such wonderful work along with the other great cast members. Keep up the good work James and Gabi.


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