THE BRIDE AND THE GROOMS

Taylor Green is so nice. Too nice. She keeps getting engaged in conversation.

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Location: Akron, Ohio, United States

No, that is not a drawing of me. I am the writer, director and producer of "The Bride and the Grooms," a romantic comedy movie that will be shot in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia in July.

Monday, August 11, 2008

The Shoot, Day 3: No stunt doubles

Wednesday, July 16, was the third day of "The Bride and the Grooms" shoot, but it really was the first leg of a 12-day marathon sprint. We had 12 straight days of shooting, and they were long, crazy days.

The first scene of the marathon sprint involved the use of an empty house, secured by realtor Ali Whitley of Cutler Real Estate. She got the owner, who was trying to sell the house in West Akron, to give us permission to use the home one afternoon. An odd request, sure, but that's what you have to do when you make an indie. We didn't have the money to rent out a home of our choosing. We had to work a deal where a realtor and realty company get publicity, a homeowner gets free advertising and we get our location.

In the scene, Taylor Green, the lead character, jumps into the arms of her eventual boyfriend, Rich King, and he ends up on the floor. Fortunately, actor Shaphan David Seiders, who was portraying Rich, has camera experience, so we were able to get a shot from his perspective on the floor by handing him the camera. The people on our set are versatile and wear many hats (and not just because the University of Charleston supplied us with some).

Later in the scene, Taylor slides across the floor and bumps her head on a wall. In a studio film, there would be a stunt double brought in who would resemble lead actress Jacilyn Ledford. In our indie, we would need to use trick camera angles to make it look as though Jaci's head was hitting the wall.

Or, as was the case on set, Jaci would decide to ram her head into a wall three times.

On purpose.

For the sake of the take.

Our scene reached a conclusion, and she received a contusion.

Cut!

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