I nearly got lost several times on the way to the shoot today . . . sometimes makes me wonder if it's not going to be a good one. First I got off the wrong freeway exit and ended up driving down Venice Blvd. (which made me think of last night's Angel) for a while before I got back on track. Then I nearly got hit trying to get into the right lane (the sign for the park exit is so hard to see!).
And then I wound up parking allllllllllllll the freakin' way up the top of the hill and hiking back down after I located the trailers. (This was not so bad. The hiking back up, on the other hand, was a killer.)
The crew was set up in a very pretty location next to a manmade stream that ran into a pond. Lots of trees, park benches, lights and diffuser screens, a handful of fans camping out.
When I arrived, the crew was going through blocking with two stand-ins, and preparing for the shot. There were only two actors on the scene today, which is part of the musical episode; they filmed three bits of the scene. Joss was running around talking to people, on his phone, doing his thing.
After wandering back and forth a bit to get a good view through the trees (we were all sitting up the hillside from the shoot), I caught a glimpse of blonde hair and a very pretty Snow White-type dress--light greenish-blue bodice with gold laces, a long flowing white skirt with filmy gold material over it. Oh . . . Amber was walking over a small footbridge, with the pond in the background of the shot. She was dancing and lip-syncing to a music track that was played over speakers set up with the crew equipment.
A short while later, Alyson, wearing a light pink floor-length dress, came down the hill from her trailer (she'd been hanging out in the parking lot for a while, on the phone) and rehearsals for the scene began. When she arrived on set, she got a hug from Amber and they talked for a while, rather animatedly, before it was time to get to work.
That's right, Kitties, this was the shoot for Tara's love song to Willow! As Bob put it, this is the Kitten Board's Holy Grail of Location Shoot Spoilage.
(And there was much rejoicing in Kitten-land.)
This isn't all in chronological order as they went back and forth and filmed in bits, but from what I can tell it'll look like this:
As the shot begins, Tara and Willow are walking onto the footbridge, talking, and Tara breaks out into song. She spins back and strikes a pose against the railing, then walks forward to take Willow's hand as they stroll across the bridge. They're walking hand in hand along the footpath and Tara breaks away again, twirling (yes, Ruth, Amber's dancing) back onto a patch of grass by the pond. There are two girls lounging about (separately) in the grass behind her, and as she starts to dance, they get up and dance with her. After they stop, Tara, still singing to Willow, comes forward and takes Willow in her arms, and the two of them spin each other around in circles, looking into each other's eyes and laughing.
They filmed close-ups, reaction shots, and wide-angle shots today, which accounted for the constant changing of shoes by Amber and Aly. The wide-angle shots showed Aly's high-heeled sandals and Amber's flats, which were also delicate, strappy little numbers. For the closeups, though, they were wearing sneakers.
Amber's voice track sounds great, and I think you all are going to really like the song. I couldn't make out a lot of the lyrics (though Janna from SMGfan.com and her friends were writing them down), but I caught a few bits (possibly paraphrased). . .
Something about "a world in shadow"
"No one ever noticed me at all"
"I used to live in a world enchanted / [something] in the air / But I always took for granted / That I was the only one there / Then your power showed / [something] I know"
"When I'm by your side" (or was it "When you're by my side?")
"What else could I do" followed by a bit about "You took my soul along with you" or something like that.
There's a general theme of having been lonely and feeling out of place, then finding Willow and discovering she's not alone. I think there was something along the lines of "Love brought it out of me" and a rhyming line that I think ended in "free." That was about the last I heard of the song before they finished for the day.
Amber, who ran around with a can of Dr. Pepper, was very playful between takes. At one point they yelled "Cut" and she bounced up and down yelling, "Yes! I got it right!" At another point she was playfully kicking Joss in the rear, and later on she was rehearsing her dance number with Joss, who spun her around off the ground and nearly into the pond! While they were on the bridge filming closeups of Aly's reaction shots, Amber flopped onto the bridge railing on her stomach and struck a cute pose with her ankles crossed in the air, just being silly.
It's worth noting, Garfield, that it was a fairly breezy day and there was much need for hairbrushing. Someone from the hair department was brushing Amber's hair quite frequently (and thoroughly) between takes.
I got a few pictures, mostly wide-angle but a couple of closeups, and as soon as these rolls of film are developed I'll have them up.
Bob is at the night shoot right now, and he also got a few pictures . . . he'll have more to say later. I'm sure I'll remember more to add later on also, but at the moment I'm just so darn psyched!
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". . . and then I go outside to join the others--I am the others. Oh, and that's not easy: I don't know what you saw, I want somebody who sees me. I will not be afraid of women, I will not be afraid of women . . ." -- Dar Williams
[This message has been edited by Shaniezak (edited October 09, 2001).]
I
) Very kewl. Thank you.
I was so afraid of a sad song. Faith in Joss... 
She really looked gorgeous in that dress. Not that she doesn't always look gorgeous, but she was quite a sight. Hopefully one or two of my shots got a good image of her.
