Thursday, June 30, 2011

Glam-tastic!

I have a friend who's husband runs an ad agency.  When they shoot commercials, they use local actors for extras.  And when all of the local actors are too smart to take the job busy, she calls me.  Yeah, I'm an A-lister.... A for Available....

So she roped me in called last week and said that depending on the weather, they would shoot the commercial on Wednesday or Thursday evening. "You know the drill" she said.  "Heavier than normal make up, oh, and wear black, we'll be shooting in a graveyard - it's for a local funeral home."  Based on the forecast, they decided to shoot on Wednesday - yesterday. Weather-wise, we were expecting overcast and cool, perfect for the client.  What we got was blazing sun, heat in the high 90s, and hot gusty winds.  Difficult at best, then add in a cameraman shooting from a boom crane 30 feet in the air, that swayed and pitched in the blustery breeze.

The 30 minute shoot, turned into an hour and a half of 15 of us, all in heavier than normal makeup, wearing black, staring somberly at a casket, facing the sun, with the added reflectors and lights to minimize shadows, sweltering.

They finally got the footage they wanted.  Of course we never get to see the finished product until it runs unexpectedly while you're watching reruns of Two and a Half Men.  The best I can hope for is that the sweat that was streaking my makeup might somehow look like tears.  Glam-tastic.

No comments: