Last Sunday morning, as we all sat around the breakfast table, we started to discuss what we were going to do with our day. Well, first and foremost, we had to go buy a new washer and dryer. Oh did I not mention that yet? Yes, we got to spend a couple grand on new appliances for the house instead of a vacation somewhere with our income tax return. Yay! We had to. Not sure why, but our washer started to sound like we needed to find a helipad to land during its spin cycle. I'm not kidding, you guys. When we were in the kitchen we had to practically yell to have a conversation if it was spinning. It still seemed to work okay, but it is a nine year old set that has gotten a hell of a lot of use, so it was time for a new one. We decided Andy would go on his own, because we had already been looking around and pretty much knew the set we wanted. We just had to buy it. Andy going on his own seemed like a better option than bringing three kids to buy a washer and dryer. Because that would be like, well, bringing three kids to buy a washer and dryer. Turns out they really don't like to do things like that. I spend more time yelling at them to close the doors to every dryer they've opened, while telling them that no, you may not climb inside even if it is big enough to fit you. So he was off to take care of that task in the morning. But then, what to do with the afternoon? Andy came up with this idea.
"Let's make a movie!"
Okay, I've mentioned before that I moved out here to L.A. to chase my acting dreams. Andy also came out here with similar dreams of acting, writing, and directing. Life seems to have taken us in a different direction, but that's not to say that we don't still have those underlying dreams. And who knows that we won't achieve them on some level one day? Andy used to make movies like this in college all the time. They are all damn funny. Some of you out there even know his work from college. So once Andy had this idea in his head of making a movie with the kids, that was it for the day. He was excited to do it and focused on the task at hand. Before he left to buy the washer and dryer he was giving me instructions on certain props to find, making sure the camera was charged, etc. He had a story, the way to shoot it, and all the editing equipment needed. See, the only problem was, he was working with kids. Plus they were OUR kids. You know, the ones that are all girls and sometimes a little difficult to get to cooperate. This is not really something he had to deal with when shooting the college films.
I think our first problem was that we waited until late afternoon to start. Since we had more of a brunch than a breakfast, we skipped lunch. At the start of shooting the movie, the girls were excited. It only took about 20 minutes for that excitement to dissipate and for them to be done with this project. Then Andy's patience started to wane, along with the girls attention span. He would give them direction, and they would nod along seeming to understand. Then he would shout "action" and some of the... okay most of the time they wouldn't do what he asked or they did the complete opposite. I was starting to find it comical. But Andy was getting frustrated and saying things like,
"What are you doing?! Why don't you just do what I told you to do?"
I just kept gently reminding him, "Because she's two, " or sometimes, "four." There's a reason why people don't want to work with kids in Hollywood.
Sonya did well, except for the,
"Sonya, stop looking at the camera!" moments.
It was mostly Georgia, who was hard to control, and she was the star of this particular movie. I was the designated child wrangler and about half an hour into shooting, I broke out the chocolate chips and peanut butter crackers. Then came the promises of a huge after dinner treat and perhaps even a pony if they would just do what Daddy was asking. Now I see why almost every child actor in this town ends up on the Lindsay Lohan path. It's an easy road to go down when you are doing everything you can to get kids to do what you want for, "just two minutes", and then "another five more minutes".
About an hour and a half into it, I was beginning to get frustrated too. The kids were over it and I was convinced this was not going to turn out well and we had just wasted our Sunday afternoon. I wanted to stop and finish another time, but Andy was determined to get it done then.
Half a bag of chocolate chips, 3 packages of peanut butter crackers, a quarter of a goldfish bag, a possible pony purchase and almost two hours since we had started, we were done. The girls went outside to play and Andy went to start editing the footage.
He's been working on it when he's had a chance all week. I have to admit, after watching it, even the first time, I realized we did not waste our afternoon after all. It is cute and funny and looking back now, it's a great memory of a Sunday afternoon we spent together. I don't know if other people will enjoy it as much we do, because they are our kids. It's going to be more funny to us. Watch it and let us know what you think.
Oh and don't worry, I say movie, but we're talking a shorty short movie here. It will only take less than 5 minutes of your time, even though it took WAY more than that of ours. Enjoy!
"Let's make a movie!"
Okay, I've mentioned before that I moved out here to L.A. to chase my acting dreams. Andy also came out here with similar dreams of acting, writing, and directing. Life seems to have taken us in a different direction, but that's not to say that we don't still have those underlying dreams. And who knows that we won't achieve them on some level one day? Andy used to make movies like this in college all the time. They are all damn funny. Some of you out there even know his work from college. So once Andy had this idea in his head of making a movie with the kids, that was it for the day. He was excited to do it and focused on the task at hand. Before he left to buy the washer and dryer he was giving me instructions on certain props to find, making sure the camera was charged, etc. He had a story, the way to shoot it, and all the editing equipment needed. See, the only problem was, he was working with kids. Plus they were OUR kids. You know, the ones that are all girls and sometimes a little difficult to get to cooperate. This is not really something he had to deal with when shooting the college films.
I think our first problem was that we waited until late afternoon to start. Since we had more of a brunch than a breakfast, we skipped lunch. At the start of shooting the movie, the girls were excited. It only took about 20 minutes for that excitement to dissipate and for them to be done with this project. Then Andy's patience started to wane, along with the girls attention span. He would give them direction, and they would nod along seeming to understand. Then he would shout "action" and some of the... okay most of the time they wouldn't do what he asked or they did the complete opposite. I was starting to find it comical. But Andy was getting frustrated and saying things like,
"What are you doing?! Why don't you just do what I told you to do?"
I just kept gently reminding him, "Because she's two, " or sometimes, "four." There's a reason why people don't want to work with kids in Hollywood.
Sonya did well, except for the,
"Sonya, stop looking at the camera!" moments.
It was mostly Georgia, who was hard to control, and she was the star of this particular movie. I was the designated child wrangler and about half an hour into shooting, I broke out the chocolate chips and peanut butter crackers. Then came the promises of a huge after dinner treat and perhaps even a pony if they would just do what Daddy was asking. Now I see why almost every child actor in this town ends up on the Lindsay Lohan path. It's an easy road to go down when you are doing everything you can to get kids to do what you want for, "just two minutes", and then "another five more minutes".
About an hour and a half into it, I was beginning to get frustrated too. The kids were over it and I was convinced this was not going to turn out well and we had just wasted our Sunday afternoon. I wanted to stop and finish another time, but Andy was determined to get it done then.
Half a bag of chocolate chips, 3 packages of peanut butter crackers, a quarter of a goldfish bag, a possible pony purchase and almost two hours since we had started, we were done. The girls went outside to play and Andy went to start editing the footage.
He's been working on it when he's had a chance all week. I have to admit, after watching it, even the first time, I realized we did not waste our afternoon after all. It is cute and funny and looking back now, it's a great memory of a Sunday afternoon we spent together. I don't know if other people will enjoy it as much we do, because they are our kids. It's going to be more funny to us. Watch it and let us know what you think.
Oh and don't worry, I say movie, but we're talking a shorty short movie here. It will only take less than 5 minutes of your time, even though it took WAY more than that of ours. Enjoy!
7 comments:
That is the cutest! What a great day to capture an afternoon. Bravo!
next viral video?!?! See you on the Today show next week ;)
For someone who was hard to wrangle, Georgia comes off as quite a natural. The "looks" she gives the camera were cracking me up. Great job Dadekians!
so stinkin cute!! that's such a fun idea to do as a family, your girls have talent:)
I thought it was a great compliment to your blog and a beautiful way to show off your crazy talented and amazingly beautiful family!
Kristy, this is insane! they are so good! I'm sure there must have been crazy charades going on behind the camera, but some of those takes are pretty long and they know exactly what they need to do. I was expecting a cut every 3 seconds. Sorry, I'm afraid that God's plan for your acting dreams might be giving you three little actresses.
I loved it! I laughed. I cried. It was very inspiring. ;) I hope Andy can come up with a script for Wyatt and he can join the girls in the acting game.
-BADK
Post a Comment