PocketPCDewd Blog
Friday, October 12, 2007
2007-10-10
Today I woke up at 6 a.m. I got a wake up call from my son Spencer in Kingston. I rushed off and arrived with 330 minutes to spare. For breakfast I had eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, coffee, fruit, yogurt, and French toast with maple syrup. I am a German today, but because I am wearing my Canadian pants (as I was told to do) I will not be in a lot of scenes (because the colours are slightly different).
They moved the filming location up the road fifty metres or more, and all the production equipment and tents etc. with it. So it's a longer walk to the area where we wait - they made that a new area on the hill above the filming location. Paul walked by me. Then he stopped. Then he said that he really liked the pictures. Cool! That made my day!
earlier this morning I gave Phil a bag containing children's cards and eight war cards. I asked him to show them to Paul and divide them up.
Later I was asked to be a dead German in front of the trenches, just in the background when paul rushes up to [this section deleted because it will spoil the plot]. i thought that it was great because I would see the action from that angle. Wow! We went through rehearsal and it was good. Even better for me, because all I had to do was play dead with my ass in the air. And I had a bloody wound on my left shoulder. But after rehearsal Paul stood near me and complained to the crew that it was totally dry there. So they swung the crane over for the rain to fall down there. Rats! It took a while for the crane to move. And as it was moving Paul oked, "Do you think he has a licence to do that? Think he knows what he's doing? Can anybody else drive that thing?" Quite a sense of humour on that guy Paul.
There is aguy here who is the sound man for the behind the scenes footage. he has a sign and he is asking everyone to hold it up. It says "Happy Birthday" and he is photographing everybody with it. He will send it to his girlfriend. When Paul was holding it and I was walking by I said, "Do you know that it says 'I like kiddie porn?!'" Ha! ha!
I got a drive home at 19:00 and I was home by 20:00. This time Tim the policeman dropped me off.
Today I woke up at 6 a.m. I got a wake up call from my son Spencer in Kingston. I rushed off and arrived with 330 minutes to spare. For breakfast I had eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, coffee, fruit, yogurt, and French toast with maple syrup. I am a German today, but because I am wearing my Canadian pants (as I was told to do) I will not be in a lot of scenes (because the colours are slightly different).
They moved the filming location up the road fifty metres or more, and all the production equipment and tents etc. with it. So it's a longer walk to the area where we wait - they made that a new area on the hill above the filming location. Paul walked by me. Then he stopped. Then he said that he really liked the pictures. Cool! That made my day!
earlier this morning I gave Phil a bag containing children's cards and eight war cards. I asked him to show them to Paul and divide them up.
Later I was asked to be a dead German in front of the trenches, just in the background when paul rushes up to [this section deleted because it will spoil the plot]. i thought that it was great because I would see the action from that angle. Wow! We went through rehearsal and it was good. Even better for me, because all I had to do was play dead with my ass in the air. And I had a bloody wound on my left shoulder. But after rehearsal Paul stood near me and complained to the crew that it was totally dry there. So they swung the crane over for the rain to fall down there. Rats! It took a while for the crane to move. And as it was moving Paul oked, "Do you think he has a licence to do that? Think he knows what he's doing? Can anybody else drive that thing?" Quite a sense of humour on that guy Paul.
There is aguy here who is the sound man for the behind the scenes footage. he has a sign and he is asking everyone to hold it up. It says "Happy Birthday" and he is photographing everybody with it. He will send it to his girlfriend. When Paul was holding it and I was walking by I said, "Do you know that it says 'I like kiddie porn?!'" Ha! ha!
I got a drive home at 19:00 and I was home by 20:00. This time Tim the policeman dropped me off.
2007-10-09 I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and I could not get back to sleep. So I left at 6:50 and arrived at the camp at 7:25. It really is very dark on that road. It is gravel, and just like a washboard in sections. And there are potholes which, of course, you cannot see until you are on them. I always take it easy going down the steep incline because even though it is good to get the speed up, I do not want to land face down on that gravel road. better safe than sorry.
I always look forward to the breakfast. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, yogurt, fruit, pancakes with maple syrup, and coffee. Then I went to wardrobe.
I was supposed to be a German but when I went to wardrobe they told me that I should be a Canadian since I already had a Canadian uniform. The new people were outfitted as Germans.So I went to the set as a canadian. Rats! I wanted to see what it was like to be German. Perhaps another day.....
Some of use were lucky enough to get ammunition but I was not lucky. After a few takes I was chosen to be a dead guy (anyone with a birthday between January and April).
We broke for lunch. I had the BBQ chicke, mashed potatoes, rice, salad, date bar, beans, broccoli, cauliflour, and milk. Then we went back to film.
I played dead for several takes. Then they sent us back to the tent. Although it is warm today (finally) it is very windy so at times it can feel cool. I remember that this morning it was 2 degrees Celsius on the bike. When I first started shooting I left later and was able to see the magnificent rockies in the distance. But it is so pitch black at 6 a.m.
They called us back to the sent to replace sections 1,3 and 5 but we ended up just standing around and going home. i left at about 7 and got home after de-propping and de-wardrobing at 8 p.m.
I always look forward to the breakfast. I had scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, yogurt, fruit, pancakes with maple syrup, and coffee. Then I went to wardrobe.
I was supposed to be a German but when I went to wardrobe they told me that I should be a Canadian since I already had a Canadian uniform. The new people were outfitted as Germans.So I went to the set as a canadian. Rats! I wanted to see what it was like to be German. Perhaps another day.....
Some of use were lucky enough to get ammunition but I was not lucky. After a few takes I was chosen to be a dead guy (anyone with a birthday between January and April).
We broke for lunch. I had the BBQ chicke, mashed potatoes, rice, salad, date bar, beans, broccoli, cauliflour, and milk. Then we went back to film.
I played dead for several takes. Then they sent us back to the tent. Although it is warm today (finally) it is very windy so at times it can feel cool. I remember that this morning it was 2 degrees Celsius on the bike. When I first started shooting I left later and was able to see the magnificent rockies in the distance. But it is so pitch black at 6 a.m.
They called us back to the sent to replace sections 1,3 and 5 but we ended up just standing around and going home. i left at about 7 and got home after de-propping and de-wardrobing at 8 p.m.
2007-10-08 I came in last night at midnight. It was quite a ride up that hill coming from downtown. Now I'm just sitting listening to music videos. The plan was to go to the wave pool, and I was hoping to tag along. But in the end Tom decided to drop it because the girls were quiet in their rooms plating on their computers. Later I went with Barbara to scan my journal. Then I took her to Starbuck's for coffee. We went by bike. I uploaded the scanned pictures to my blog and added them to past posts.
2007-10-07 Today I spoke to my father for two hours and my sister for over an hour. We are having turkey dinner tonight, or rather later this afternoon. Then I plan to ride downtown and across the bridge to go to a party at Kitts. When I went there there were only a few people from the background cast. I stayed until about 9 or ten, then I left.
Monday, October 08, 2007
2007-10-06 Today I slept in and made my own breakfast - an omelette with cheese and olives. Then I did three war pictures using the watercolour crayons that Wendy bought for me. 
Two of the pictures turned out fine. Then I went with Tom, Barbara and Tom's two girls to Weasel Head Park, just to the south.
Two of the pictures turned out fine. Then I went with Tom, Barbara and Tom's two girls to Weasel Head Park, just to the south. 
Now I'm making my supper - salmon with wild rice.
Tom rented Fantastic Four and we all watched it.
Friday, October 05, 2007
2007-10-04 I killed a man today. He was trying to kill me. Let me back up....
Yesterday was an awesome shoot!! We did many takes of the hand-to-hand combat. Now on the last take, I was supposed to deflect the weapon of the first German, stab him twice, deflect the weapon of the second and stab him. But another Canadian already killed him. So I advanced and turned around. That's when I saw two Germans running toward me. I panicked - I didn't know what to do. They tackled me and killed me! They said it was soooo funny - that I should have seen the look of panic on my face!!
Later I played dead. I had to lie on the legs of a dead German. We took several takes of that then broke for snacks. We came back and took more takes and then went for lunch. We were told that from now on we were to get our meals and go to a separate tent to eat. The problem was that there was no heat in our tent. So Curtis said that we could go back to the other tent if we were cold. I had roughy, carrots, rice, and cake.
Yesterday was an awesome shoot!! We did many takes of the hand-to-hand combat. Now on the last take, I was supposed to deflect the weapon of the first German, stab him twice, deflect the weapon of the second and stab him. But another Canadian already killed him. So I advanced and turned around. That's when I saw two Germans running toward me. I panicked - I didn't know what to do. They tackled me and killed me! They said it was soooo funny - that I should have seen the look of panic on my face!!
Later I played dead. I had to lie on the legs of a dead German. We took several takes of that then broke for snacks. We came back and took more takes and then went for lunch. We were told that from now on we were to get our meals and go to a separate tent to eat. The problem was that there was no heat in our tent. So Curtis said that we could go back to the other tent if we were cold. I had roughy, carrots, rice, and cake.
When we went back for the shoot, some of us, roughly every second person, got to fire two blank rounds. I was not one of the lucky ones. Brian Jensen, one of the actors, was nearby. He portrayed one of Currie's friends. He had a camera and was nice enough to take pictures. He took two of me and sent them to me via the Facebook group.
After that we were sent down for snacks and to war up while the next scene was set up. They asked for about fifteen warm, dry soldiers to be in the next shot. They did not want any wet soldiers, because they were too cold and could get sick. I volunteered. I was placed near a foxhole in the background directly behind aul Gross, when he is being stabbed by a bayonet. I am fighting with a German. I hold his arm down and punch him in the stomach. Then he rolls over me and starts hitting me. It was a lot of fun to film, but we got very wet, muddy and cold. We were issued towels to dry our hands and faces as we walked down the road toward the clown tent near the spot where we hand in weapons and board the school bus back to base camp. I hope that they can see me on film!
2007-10-03 It's 6;50 a.m. and I'm finished breakfast. My mother called me to wake me up as planned. Spencer phoned a few minutes later. I had breakfast (a breakfast burrito, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, waffle with maple syrup, and fruit). I hear we'll be Germans today.
now I just found out that only some of us will be Germans. I will be a Canadian. Rats! Oh, well.... Now Phil, Paul's number one is here and he is talking about getting a military coin made.
Now it's 11:10 and I am sitting in a tent waiting for instructions. We shot the scene where we engaged the Germans who are advancing. I worked with Hillman to come up with a fight routine. He advances, I deflect his weapon with mine. then i stab him. He falls. Then I stab again. Then another German advances. Again I deflect. Then i stab him and rifle-butt. We did that scene a few times. Then we broke for lunch. i was lucky that I was just out of range of the rain machine. Others closer to camera were drenched.
now I just found out that only some of us will be Germans. I will be a Canadian. Rats! Oh, well.... Now Phil, Paul's number one is here and he is talking about getting a military coin made.
Now it's 11:10 and I am sitting in a tent waiting for instructions. We shot the scene where we engaged the Germans who are advancing. I worked with Hillman to come up with a fight routine. He advances, I deflect his weapon with mine. then i stab him. He falls. Then I stab again. Then another German advances. Again I deflect. Then i stab him and rifle-butt. We did that scene a few times. Then we broke for lunch. i was lucky that I was just out of range of the rain machine. Others closer to camera were drenched.
At lunch I had mushroom pasta, yellow beans, salad, chowder, milk, and pie. Then we went back to re-take those battle scenes. This time the Colonel shoots me after I kill hillman. After that I was sent with some of the others back to the clown tent for refreshments.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
2007-10-02 Sixteen days left for me! Today my mother and Wendy phoned me for a wake-up call as I requested. They called me on my cell so that Tom would not wake up. But I was already up. So since I was all ready to go, all I neded to do was hop on my bike (Tom's bike, actually, because mine broke down) and head straight down 37th Street. It was very dark, and few people were on the road. Just north of Glenmore Trail I heard a snap and a clunk. My bike seat broke off. So I braked, but I forgot that these brakes were strong, and I almost flipped forward. I picked up the pieces and the bike seat and placed them in my backpack. Then I continued to the set.
It only took about a half hour to get there, so I had 45 minutes to have breakfast. I had a breakfast burrito, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, maple syrup, and cofee. Apparently extras are not allowed to have the burrito, so I'm told, so next time I won't get one.
At wardrobe we were told to remove the top square red patch and reveal the red triangle underneath. The first signified the 10th Regiment, the second the 8th Regiment - The Black Devils. So we hopped on the bus and headed to the no-man's land area for filming.
We took several takes of us in out foxholes. I met the artist who was there to draw several of the soldiers. Her name is Anna and she lives in London England. She is very good at drawing realistic-looking people and scenes. She liked my work. So we talked a bit. Then we broke for lunch.
The food was great, as always. I took the beef stew. There was salad, soup, vegetables, cured salmon, apple and blueberry crumble, and ice cream. Then we came back to film the scenes where we were relieved by the Calgary 10th. We withdrew as they approached. After that they didn't need all of us, and just asked for a few of us. So I sat it out for a while. I saw Anna and she took a couple of pictures of me. Then I got a picture of the two of us. She was kind enough to send them to me.
I was told to go back down to the tent at the end of the road. When I was in the tent chatting with the guys, one of the guys who was half dressed was chatting with us and peeking his head around the corner of the tent now and again. Then suddenly he leaves and walks around to the side of the tent. Then he yells at one of the CF (Canadian Forces) guys who had taken his rifle. The issue was that the CF guy said that he had let the rifle out of his sight. A big argument ensued. We tried to encourage him to calm down, but he thought that the CF guy was out to pick on him, and that he was waiting for this opportunity. Eventaully it all settled down.
Turns out I wasn't needed after that, so my day was done. I think that I finally made it home at 9 p.m. or so.
It only took about a half hour to get there, so I had 45 minutes to have breakfast. I had a breakfast burrito, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles, maple syrup, and cofee. Apparently extras are not allowed to have the burrito, so I'm told, so next time I won't get one.At wardrobe we were told to remove the top square red patch and reveal the red triangle underneath. The first signified the 10th Regiment, the second the 8th Regiment - The Black Devils. So we hopped on the bus and headed to the no-man's land area for filming.
We took several takes of us in out foxholes. I met the artist who was there to draw several of the soldiers. Her name is Anna and she lives in London England. She is very good at drawing realistic-looking people and scenes. She liked my work. So we talked a bit. Then we broke for lunch.
The food was great, as always. I took the beef stew. There was salad, soup, vegetables, cured salmon, apple and blueberry crumble, and ice cream. Then we came back to film the scenes where we were relieved by the Calgary 10th. We withdrew as they approached. After that they didn't need all of us, and just asked for a few of us. So I sat it out for a while. I saw Anna and she took a couple of pictures of me. Then I got a picture of the two of us. She was kind enough to send them to me.
I was told to go back down to the tent at the end of the road. When I was in the tent chatting with the guys, one of the guys who was half dressed was chatting with us and peeking his head around the corner of the tent now and again. Then suddenly he leaves and walks around to the side of the tent. Then he yells at one of the CF (Canadian Forces) guys who had taken his rifle. The issue was that the CF guy said that he had let the rifle out of his sight. A big argument ensued. We tried to encourage him to calm down, but he thought that the CF guy was out to pick on him, and that he was waiting for this opportunity. Eventaully it all settled down.Turns out I wasn't needed after that, so my day was done. I think that I finally made it home at 9 p.m. or so.
2007-09-28 Today started out well. the call was for noon. I dropped by the office two T-shirts and signed framed prints for Paul. Then I went to the sign-in. Marcy sent me through for breakfast. That's odd, because I thought we were not entitled to it. Well, maybe she is softening up. Breakfast was great! I had a breakfast burrito, sausage, scrambled eggs, waffle with maple syrup and coffee. Delicious. We didn't eat like that during The Great War!! I remember the breakfasts of cold oatmeal, coffee without milk, thin rubbery fatty slices of beef, and warm water with an orage crayon dipped in it that they passed off as gatorade.
So they sent us to the lower valley area past the fake village. I was singled out with another guy to march two captured Germans back. Unfortunately they only filmed my backside! We did many, many takes of that in the artificial rain. They had many problems with the shoot - and lots of delays. It was just too sunny. We then broke for lunch/dinner. The meal choices were ham with dijon sauce or salmon. I chose the fish. Food was excellent. After dinner they gave us the safety lecture about hypothermia. Shortly after, I noticed that several crew were standing around one of the soldiers sitting at the table. They were asking him why he would not eat. He could not respond. He was suffering from hypothermia. They helped him up and led him away where he could warm up. I think that he is off the set for good. Not as a punishment - I think that he realized that this may be too much for him and decided to call it quits.
After dinner we went back to the location of the first day of shooting. We marched back and forth in the rain along the muddy ground. We waited at times in the tent and on the bus between takes so that we could stay warm. the crew bought towels and toques to keep us warm. It was getting colder and colder. Then it started to snow. not hollywood snow - the real stuff!Then we were told to go along the duckboards and, in pairs, break off left and right and find a muddy foxhole to crouch down in. After two or three takes they checked the gate. Then they thanked us and said it was a wrap. We were done at 1 a.m. and I was home by 2 a.m. I was looking forward to the weekend!!
2007-09-25 Here I am waiting to sign in on the second day of shooting. I did not sleep well. I'm finding it very hard to get used to another bed. The landlord reconnected the phone and Internet, so eveything is much better.So I signed in and got all dressed. I'm sitting down getting my hair done, then I move over to the makeup section of the tent. I told Wendy that the women in wardrobe wander around everywhere while you are dressing, because they are correcting problems, fixing buttons, etc. She said that at least it wasn't being filmed (as it was in The Great War last year)!
I told Marcy the Background casting director that the behind the scenes camera guy wanted me to do an interview and talk about how keen I was to be in this project etc. She said that I would have to go through publicity.
Hopefully today will not be as long. Last time it wrapped up at 1:30 a.m. But we started at 3:30 p.m. Today we started at 10:30. They said that we will get lunch as wellas dinner. Last time we got a choice of roughy, beef, or lasagna. Food has been awesome. I won't be surprised if I gain five pounds by mid-October. We waited and waited and waited for the bus. I painted a picture (a watercolour sketch) of one of the soldiers leaning against a big truck tire. Someone took a picture of me after that, flaked out on the grass outside the wardrobe tent. It was hot and sunny, and I was tired.
Today there was a ceremony to honour the Calgary soldier who was killed in Afghanistan. We marched to the filming location and stood quietly to observe a moment of silence. then we prepared to move across the muddy, swampy no man's land. It was covered in mud, and constantly wetted down. There were duckboards though it, but they were very slippery. I slipped on the first or secont take and fell. I spead my hands out to break my fall, and my left hand was scraped on the duckboard. Sections of skin on my thimb and palm were ripped right off. F%$@ that hurt!!! And it bled quite a bit. Nobody noticed, because I just sucked it up and endured it. Makeup does such a good job creating wounds that it's hard to tell a fake bloody cut from a real one. My section, section seven, was sent way to the back behind a mound. We were told to come out from it and walk along the duckboard toward camera. They made it rain torrents on us. The mud that we rodded in on the first day was now soaked right in.
Some people were asked to carry the stretcher with Paul toward camera. I was afraid I would trip and fall. Yeah, that's a great way to be remembered! The guy who dunked Paul Gross into the mud! J.D. from our section was singled out to be a dead guy lying in the muddy pool of wayer with his head leaning on the duckboard. He was brave. So many people almost slipped and fell and landed on his head. I wonder why they did not use a dummy.There were so many takes and retakes - I could not believe it. It took hours. My choice was to walk way down the road to find a johnny-on-the-spot, or just turn, aim and shoot. I did the latter.
It would be difficult in this situation being a female soldier if you wanted to go pee. We wear wetsuits under the uniform. And under that we wear bike shorts. under that - well - nothing. Those with on-piece wetsuits have a terrible time - they practically have to remove all their clothes. I'm lucky - I have a brand-new two-piece. So I unzip the top, partly unzip the botton, fold back the bike shorts and voila! Wait! Hold on! Where are they? Where did they go?!!! OMG!!! Oh, o.k. there they are, back behind my tonsils! LOL!
