Welcome to Chris Nelson (Producer, Audio)

Production Diary for Whitewash

I'm not having that cameo anymore - June 5th 2005

  Well, day three and things have been moving along smoothly.  We finally got to shoot with another actor, Bobby.  A fairly nice day outside, quiet, and a slightly inebriated officer of the law across the street from where we were shooting.  We actually wanted to have a police officer in this scene escorting someone behind the main character in a shot to give the appearance of being in front of a police station.  Well after several attempts with friends and family we were unable to find someone and we decided to work around it.  Lucky for us the was already a cop on the scene.  We pretty much had everything setup to shoot and he asked me and Dennis what we shooting.  We told him about the film and mentioned that we actually needed a police officer in the film. (we noticed his cruiser earlier parked outside)  After talking for a minute he volunteered his services and expressed that he was down for whatever we needed and that he could really "f--- someone up" if we needed him to.  You know, make it look really believable.  Thankfully Dennis volunteered the fact that I was going to be in that scene for my cameo as the person getting arrested.  So the officer decided that he could even call his buddy around the corner and they could both be in it and really "jack my -ss up"  Oh man was I excited!  Not just one but TWO cops beating on me for the sake of getting a good shot in the film.  I tell you what that was the high point of my day.  I floated through the rest of the day thinking about the soft caress of a bill club and the gentle touch of a size 11 boot in my skull.  Needless to say the rest of the shoot went very well.  I almost shed a tear for Bryan because I felt so bad for what his character was going through.  I was impressed by the quality of acting that came out of both Bryan and Bobby.  Looking good...

Sounds in the City - June 2nd 2005

  Alright time for some guerilla shooting!  We were on location behind my dad's work shooting a couple of scenes with Bryan and Kelly.  After discussing with my dad earlier in the day we came to the realization we would have to pull power from the outside of the building some how as this was a 11pm shoot and all the local businesses in the warehouse complex would be closed.  Once again I used my superior secret ninja moves from the government and found a way to pull power off of one of the air conditioners on the roof.  At this point in time I realized that we might actually be exactly beneath the flight path at McCarran Airport.  Every two minutes or so, a jet would fly over head only to be followed right behind by another.  Well like the true soldiers we are we decided to go ahead and press on and take our chances.  So everything is set up, we have a full crew out on set, and I have no headphones in my gear bag.  No seriously I was about to punch my own face.  So Dennis volunteered this time to go to the store and pick up some cheap headphones.  We shot some other scenes that didn't need sound and soon after Dennis returned with some headphones.  Thankfully the rest of the scenes were actually in the car so it helped alot with the thousands upon billions of planes flying overhead.  Some of the shots Chad had to be out of the car shooting in through an open window so I had to sit on the back of his truck and watch the flight path to tell him when he could shoot without any air traffic noise.  That went pretty well as did the rest of the shoot which got done about 1:30 - 2:00 am.  luck for me I had to be up a 6:30 am to catch a plane up to Carson City.  Go team!

The day that almost wasn't - May 31st 2005

   So the first day of shooting and it almost didn't happen.  I arrived on location first that day, which is rare because I am usually at least 15-30 mins. late to pretty much everything, and decided to call Dennis to make sure everything was still a go with our location.  Well after several attempts, I couldn't get in touch with him and decided to go across the street to the local Boulder City thrift store and browse through some records.  After scoring a rare Herb Alpert album I figured I should call Chad and see where he was at.  Come to find out he was running late and suggested I call the Cafe where we going to shoot and make sure everything was still cool.  So I gave them a ring and the owner answered only to reply that they had forgotten we were shooting that day and was about to close up and leave for the day.  After checking my boxers, I told her I was across the street and I could be there in a sec.  Tragedy #1 averted.  Not so soon after everyone else showed up ready to rock and we got set up to start our first day of shooting.  Now normally girls are the most fashionably prepared persons on the planet but for some reason this day it was not so.  Lights, camera, wait a second Kelly needs a hair tie for the scene.  Ok no problem she's a girl I'm sure she has one somewhere right?  So on that note I volunteered to go through the local shops to see if I could buy a hair tie somewhere.  Using my keen bow hunting and numchuck skills, I spotted a women's "clothing" store and figured they should surely have a hair tie there.  And by "clothing" store I mean "intimate apparel" store.  So I go in and talk to the lady behind the counter.  Of course she has none and I ask where I could possibly find one.  She directs me up the street to the local drug store so I take off on foot to score some ties.  After getting there I was thinking to myself wouldn't it be cool if they couldn't just have one hair tie and they actually had an 8 pack that we would never use.  Well to my joy that's exactly what I found!  After throwing down some change I headed back to the shoot and we got down to some movie making.  The rest of the shoot was really smooth and we finished much sooner than most of us expected.  The end of the day was rewarded with some fresh root beer straight from the tap.  Life is good.