This weekend the crew and I went over to Victor Montana and the Bitteroot Mountains to film the enemy camp. The eight and a half hour drive was definitely worth it when we set up the Kilean camp Friday and looked up all around the valley and the natural beauty of the mountains. A fact that was only enhanced as a white tail doe danced and ran past our set. And of course we were there for the first snow of the season, which made for a spectacular set, but a very long hike in. By the end of the shoot no one had anything that wasn’t wet. Ah, the price of film.

Yesterday we went down to Mt. Rainier to shoot a couple castle scenes and the Reinforcement scene. We found a spot by a water fall where a stone Rampart had been set up next to and it was just beautiful! The spectators were very nice as well when we asked them to give us a few moments with the area. They were all pretty interested too, I can’t tell how many of them asked for pictures with our guardsmen. Then we went over to a shoot where Reinforcements are sent from the Capital to help Andreas and the refugees. We set up where a stone bridge covers a Canyon with the mountains in the background, and crossed the bridge. Even though we had sixteen people (thanks to all those who came) it still wasn’t enough to be an army. So we crossed everyone in front of the camera and then had them hunch down and cross behind and go again. It worked and looked great, so we spent the rest of the time enjoying the view from Mt. Rainier’s shadow.

Last Saturday the Crew and I went out to Quincy Washington to film the scene where the Kilean army marches over the Southern Plains to attack the Country of Midea. The location was amazing and we couldn’t have asked for a better day weather wise. We got up at 6:30am on the Webber Farm (they were gracious enough to let us crash on their floor and use their fields, THANKS!) and began to work with the volunteers to prepare the Army. I won’t tell you how we did it but needless to say we had to use ingenuity again(luck and panic). Then we shot along the bluffs of the Columbia river (it’s a long way down). We got home at 1:30am on Sunday which made for a long day (19hrs) but the footage we got was worth it!

Last Sunday we shot the scene where the good guys travel through the woods to save villagers and refugees who have been captured by bad guys and are being executed. Little did we know that the Bad guys had a secret weapon, wasps. The first few takes the group of six good guys apparently ran over the wasp nest, and I guess it took a while for them to wake up but the third take they were definitely up. The guys ran by the camera to their mark (which incidentally happened to be on the nest) and all of sudden the screams went up. I thought it was some improv or an actor thing (method) or an exercise I hadn’t heard of to get into an aggressive mood for battle, but when everyone started swearing and ripping off their clothes I started figuring things out. (It also helped that they then came after me). The poor extras and villagers who were just coming into the area from costume probably thought we were all crazy, and the poor children unfortunately probably learned some new choice words from the half naked actors running from the woods. Anyway, luckily no one had a severe allergic reaction, although Andreas the Prince (Zach Maurer) didn’t feel to good on Monday (sorry dude), probably because he got stung 7 or 8 times. Anyway, once again we had to take some Benadryl and refigure the shoot. Long story short it worked out and looked great, we just had to be flexible. You know of all the things you plan for and worry about, wasps was just about the last on my list.