Raul's Take: Day 03: Sukanen Museum

by Raul Viceral, Assistant Director

What a great day of shooting! Today was the first of four days we'll be at the Sukanen Ship & Pioneer Village Museum and everything went swimmingly, I must say.

We started the day as usual, up early to organize the shot lists and storyboards. Calltime at the museum isn't until 1pm, but there is a photo shoot C has to be at in her studio.

C coordinates with D on the phone while planning the day's shoot.

After breakfast, we got the car loaded up and we headed for university and started setting up for the photo shoot.

Django says, "Come on, let's go! We're late!"

Kevin, who's a professional photographer with the RCMP Training Depot here in town, took the photos for the photo shoot. These will be printed out and used as props for the movie in a later scene.. The photos will need to look sepia and old and faded.

C, Kevin and Don set up for the photo shoot.

While C was overseeing the photos, Andrew and I headed out to grab some b-roll of the prairie and skies. B-roll is a term used for extraneous shots you might cut away to between scenes or during a scene. They're also known as 'cut aways.'

Before we headed out though, we stopped off at Candace's studio at the university where she was getting the actor's costumes ready for the photo shoot. Lori, who plays Tom Sukanen's wife, Katja, was getting her hair and makeup done by our makeup artist, Clara.

I forget, does this scene call for corn rows or just a fro?

Andrew and I got some great shots of wheat fields and the clouds this morning were just spectacular. Soon, it was time to head back to the university to pack up for the trip out to the museum.

B-roll-A-Rama

When we got back C and Kevin were wrapping up the photo shoot. Everything looked great and C was really pleased with how it all went.

"We have just enough time for the swimsuit shots. What do you think?"

Then it was time to load up the equipment and props and head for the museum! Moose Jaw is about a 40 minute drive west on the Trans Canada highway, and the museum is another 12 kilometers south on highway 2.

Paul Johnson is the president of the Sukanen Ship & Pioneer Village Museum and as their website says is the "doer of many things."

Paul and Dauminique hash out set details.

The first order of business was the production meeting where C goes over what scenes we'll be shooting today and when and where. We go over everyone's duties and when certain things, like set dressing and makeup and costuming, have to be done so we're ready to shoot on schedule.

"And NO tractor races! This is my last warning!"

After an inspirational Go Sisu! speech from C, it was time for a quick lunch. Kali made delicious vegetarian sandwiches.

"AaaAAARRrr AaRRfffgrmmmn."

After we ate everyone went to work. The first scene we shot at the museum was Tom and Katja's wedding. Don got his makeup done by Clara and reported to Candace to get into his wedding duds.

Wait! Don't we shoot the bachelor party first?

Wayne Slinn, who plays the part of the minister, is also another valuable asset to C's production. He's well connected with actors in Regina and not only helped wrangle together extras for the party scene which we shoot in a couple days, but also has donated paint for props and big chunks of his time during casting.

Here Wayne is putting up a sign to the concessions building where we have costumes, makeup and meals set up.

Hey Wayne, shouldn't you be getting into costume?

While the actors were getting ready, Kristine and Kevin got to work on set dressing the church. Andrew and our sound guy, Trevor, were busy setting up lights in there too.

Here comes Kristine to inspect the church set. Everybody look busy!

Candace is so amazing. She made Katja's wedding dress herself, it wasn't borrowed from any of the local theaters. She's a stickler for authentic period styles and fashions so you know this dress is correct.

Sniff. Weddings always make me cry.

About this time the church was lighted, dressed and ready to go.

Wayne stands in to check lighting while Kevin tries to burn the church down.

The wedding scene went off just great. Dauminique and Kristine even got a small cameo in the film as Katja's mother and sister. Ha!

When C calls action, everyone forever hold their peace. Or until she calls cut.

Once we wrapped in the church, we had a few hours before the nighttime shots in the farmhouse. One of the museum's blacksmiths, Frank, came out to fire up the forge for us. We got to have Don stand in and work the forge, after a quick lesson from Frank, which turned out looking awesome! C wasn't sure if Frank would be able to come out today or not, so this was a total bonus scene for us! Thanks Frank!

Fun Fact: An HD video camera will melt if it gets too close to a working forge.

Work that metal, Tommy!

After we got enough shots of Tom pounding on red-hot metal, Kristine and Kevin headed for the farmhouse to prep it for the Tom/Taivo Bedtime Scene and the Tom/Katja Argument Scene. But before Frank put out the forge, I got to jump in and take a few swings with the hammer. All I got to do was curve then flatten a piece of steel but man was it fun!

We had a few minutes to run over to Tom's ship and his grave to grab some b-roll. But first C had to touch up his headstone a bit.

"Aren't there three O's in Sukanen?"

While the crew worked on the farmhouse set, Jonathan arrived and was ready to do some actin'. Jonathan is a very talented actor with great instincts for a scene, he totally blew us away last February during auditions. C knew right away he would be perfect for the role of Taivo, Tom's son.

But first, Jonathan needed a bit of a haircut.

Writer, producer, director and beautician.

Meanwhile, Lori changed out of her wedding dress and she and Don got ready for the farmhouse at night scenes.

You won't get your makeup done until you spit out your gum!

"No no, the BEE costume. It's black with yellow stripes and two big wings in the back."

Most of the buildings at the museum have no power, like the farmhouse. So we had to string a series of extension cords out the window of the bedroom and across to the barn a few yards away.

Andrew and Trevor get the farmhouse set ready.

One of Kevin's many titles is project documentarian. He got footage of us all working on set whenever he wasn't helping Kristine dress our next set or restore the one we just shot in.

I seeeee you!

The bedroom was just about ready and Jonathan was costumed and primed to go.

"Did someone call for an actor?"

As anyone in film knows, your time is made up of 80% lighting and 20% actual shooting. Geoff Yates, a veteran gaffer and director himself here in Regina, donated a couple nights of his time to help us out. He was on hand tonight to help Andrew and Trevor with lighting and they did a helluva job!

I think the framistan needs a Johnson gel.

The Tom/Taivo Bedtime scene turned out great. The workshops C had put on with the actors really paid off. Jonathan couldn't make it to any of them as he and his parents moved to Ottawa this past Spring. But they flew back just so he could star in C's film. Awesome! Anyway, Jonathan did an outstanding job nonetheless, and the room was beautifully lit. That's fake candle light and fake moonlight, FYI!

Tom gives his son a toy ship.

The copper toy ship prop. Great job C and Kristine!

It was about 11pm by the time we got the master shot and all of Jonathan's close-ups. He worked his butt off and was pretty tuckered out, so C wrapped him and sent him home with his dad. Great job, Jonathan!

"What'd you people do with my clothes?"

We weren't wrapped yet, we still had Don's close-ups to do, so to give him an eye-line while he delivers his lines, we had Dauminique stand in as Taivo. Ha!

"Aaaa! Who replaced my baby with this crazy woman!"

After Don's close-ups, we had to relight the scene for the Tom/Katja Argument scene.

Goeff moves some lights (foreground), while D (background) struggles with her allergies in the dusty room.

After a long hectic day, as the shoot goes into the wee hours of the night, folks tend to get a bit punchy. C and D kept everyone's spirits up by doing their best Charlie Chaplin impressions while the lights are being adjusted.

They're either Chaplin or Hitler, we're not really sure.

The Tom/Katja scene was a great way to wrap up the day. Again the performances by the actors were amazing. Lori's passionate, desperate performance blew everyone away and was the highlight of the day.

Don and Lori were so professional and on top of it that we wrapped the scene at about 1am. By the time we had broken everything down and loaded up the equipment in the trailer it was 2.

Andrew and C chat with Geoff before heading back to the university.

By the time we drove back to C's studio, unloaded most of the equipment, and got home it was almost 4am. We have to be back at the museum by 7:30am later this morning, so it means getting up at 5:30 so we can load up the day's equipment and props.

Man am I beat.

Until next time... sisu!

R-