This last weekend (October 27-28 2007) I was one of three actors cast for a collaborative film project that's part of an upper level class offered at UW-Milwaukee. We filmed on location in Kewaskum, WI. The trip up took about 45 minutes and when I arrived, I was emotionally blank. If you haven't been to Kewaskum, it's quite a simple place. The neighborhood were we were consisted of widely dispersed homes, a BP gas station that was connected to Woody's On The Run, and a Ace True Value.
The motel where the majority of shooting took place was a red deal with "1 floor of quality." The name of the motel is the Bonne Bell (pronounced Bon-ee-Bell). The name says it all, the place was perfect for the film, and a disaster for a vacation. I don't stay in many motels, in fact the last temporary residence I had was at the Hilton in Minneapolis.
The shooting was standard taking about 12 hours each day, with lunch breaks in between shooting sections. The crew was, in my limited experience, quite large. There was a sound guy, a boom operator, a camera assistant, a camera man, a director, a continuity person, and countless writers.
My first film experience was a lot of hard work, waiting in line, and freezing my ass off. I am glad I was able to participate in the production of a real film, not some cheesy video production.
