And they're back...but then again, who knew they even left?

I'm posting another behind-the-scenes video from the "Trailerpark" team in celebration of its return from filming on a frozen lake in Michigan this past weekend. The clip is a video blog made by the film's directors, Patrick Muhlberger and Jonny Look, when the crew was location scouting a while back. Another excellent clip, but really, I would be surprised if it weren't, considering these are video production folks.



Now that the crew is back, I have a sit-down scheduled with them on Thursday night. I'm observing one of their meetings beforehand, which coordinating producer Conor Hogan has warned me can get "pretty heated." Should be entertaining, no?

But perhaps you like photos best...

I drove out to Lake Snowden (about 15 minutes away from Athens) last Friday night to visit the "Trailerpark" set and shot the photos featured in the slideshow above. (Hint: Turn on the captions to figure out what's going on in the photos.)

Coordinating producer Conor Hogan was right when he said that moving around on set is challenging when one is trying not to obstruct shots. From the minute I walked onto the set, I felt a bit unsure about where to position myself so that I could catch all the action without being in anyone's way. I stayed in the same position, simply staring at the crew thirty feet in front of me as scenes were set up and tape eventually rolled. No problem at all...until the actors started moving out of my line of vision, behind a massive trailer. I stayed in the same spot, just kind of staring at the spot where the actors had been seconds, then minutes, earlier. It was time to move around, despite my worries of somehow interrupting the serious tone of the set.

Here are twenty-some college kids clad in puffy winter coats, all completely professional about the scenes they must get through on this Friday night. They could be out amongst the belligerently drunk Court St. crowd, but instead they all talk in hushed tones -- as steam escapes from their frozen lips -- about second takes and reflection of lights on trailers. And there I was, afraid to move, while I just watched -- and did not hear a word they said, with the exception of assistant director Jillian Jacobs' voice screaming out, "TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONES...ALL QUIET ON SET!" I couldn't stand the thought of interrupting their "flow" somehow by moving about, though I'm still not sure what exactly a filmmaker's artistic "flow" is (but the term is thrown about a lot, you know? -- must be important).

I eventually moved, making my way toward associate producer Jen Taylor, who set up the scene that was being filmed that night. She said the following in regards to the scene:

"This scene is at the end of the movie; it's really the closing shot, except for the short wrap-up at the very end. What's going on here is that we're faking a fire tonight, and we're actually burning down a trailer tomorrow. We have lights set up to fake the fire and the actors are running around to figure out where all their loved ones are, so it's sort of organized chaos."

The fire trucks that ended up on set that night to film the simulated fire scene were clearly marked Albany Fire Department, but there was confusion over which local fire department would provide the fire truck. "The problem actually wasn't worked out until 5 p.m. today," Taylor said.

Despite the problems, there was much excitement and buzz surrounding the trailer-burning scene. As I picked up the Monday issue of the Athens NEWS this week, the front page photo of a blazing trailer and headline of "It's not arson; it's filmmaking!" hit me like a speeding train. My first thought was, damn, that is cool. More photos of the trailer-burning can be viewed at the behind-the-scenes blog kept by "Trailerpark" set photographers.

If videos are more your cup of tea...

This is a video made by the "Trailerpark" production team, which features interviews with some of the folks I have spoken to and will be speaking to about the project in the upcoming month. It's a relatively short video that captures the essence of the project, so I'd encourage all you folks to give it a look. More behind-the-scenes videos from the "Trailerpark" team can be viewed on its YouTube channel.

Furthermore, I made a trip to the "Trailerpark" set two days ago and really soaked in the atmosphere of the makeshift trailerpark out at Lake Snowden. I'm still in the process of editing my photos from that adventure (some of the producers thought my roommate and I were hooligans breaking onto set when we first walked up!), but I will have a slideshow readied in the next several days.

Welcome to the "Trailerpark"

It is my distinct pleasure to introduce this new blog endeavor, which will track the production of the Ohio University student film project "Trailerpark" throughout winter quarter 2009.

This blog is being produced in conjunction with a class called Online Journalism Fundamentals (JOUR 314), which seems fitting given that "Trailerpark" is being produced as a part of a class in the School of Media Arts and Studies called Advanced Video Projects (MDIA 419). I know a lot of people rag on students because of their amateur rank, but I believe that students -- motivated students, at least -- have a sense of fresh energy that their adult peers might not possess. Under the direction of knowledgeable adults, students are quite capable of professional results. I've noticed that there is a sense of infectious energy among many of the students involved in "Trailerpark," and with as extensive as this project is, it is certain that there are adults -- such as MDIA 419 professor Frederick Lewis -- advising the filmmakers. Surprisingly, "Trailerpark" will be ready to view by the end of spring quarter 2009.

Enough with the mushy stuff, though -- this is journalism, for crying outloud! I'd like to tell you a bit about the project's background. "Trailerpark" in its literary form is a 1981 book of interrelated short stories by Russell Banks, the author of 19 books (as well as the official author of New York State from 2004-2008, according to his biography on his publisher's Web site -- who knew states had official authors?!). I'm told by crew members that Banks' book was optioned to HBO for a mini-series before he offered it up to OU for the MDIA 419 project. The curious little description of the book on the Harper Collins (its publisher) site reads as follows:

"Get to know the colorful cast of characters at the Granite State Trailerpark, where Flora in number 11 keeps more than a hundred guinea pigs andscreams at people to stay away from her babies, Claudel in number 5 thinks he is lucky until his wife burns down their trailer and runs off with Howie Leeke, and Noni in number 7 has telephone conversations with Jesus and tells the police about them. In this series of related short stories, Russell Banks offers gripping, realistic portrayals of individual Americans and paints a portrait of New England life that is at once dark, witty, and revealing."

So how exactly did this book of short stories about a New England trailerpark turn itself into a script? Students, of course. A small writing team -- comprised of several of the film's directors and producers -- gathered last spring quarter (EDIT: as far as winter break 2007 a script was in progress, co-director Patrick Muhlberger later told me) to adapt Banks' book into the script that is currently being used by the production, according to one of the film's assistant directors, Nick Knittel. Just for comparison's sake, let's take a gander at the film's plot description from the "Trailerpark" site:

"Trailerpark is a film centered around the lives of rural Ohioans who reside in a rundown trailer park. There is Flora Pease, the newest resident, who has a fondness for erratic behavior and small creatures; Merle Ring, the oldest resident, with a strange streak of luck and an even stranger sense of humor; Bruce Severance, the town hippie, who has a dangerous plan up his sleeve; and Terry Constant, the single black resident, who finds himself constantly out of place. There are other residents, each unique and interesting, and all living under the motherly eye of Marcelle, the owner of the park. Throughout the year the residents face conflicts with drug dealers, lottery winners, and guinea pigs, but, most of all they have to learn to live with and support each other."

Fall quarter was spent raising funds for the production, both through the encouragement of private donations and through organized crew fundraising efforts at locations including Cedar Point and King's Island, Knittel said. The crew also spent the quarter preparing for the film's production by casting actors and readying sets, most of which are located in Athens County near Lake Snowden. Additional scenes are being filmed in the snowy tundra of Michigan, near a frozen lake.

The first day of the film's production was several weeks ago, January 24 to be exact. According to the "Trailerpark" production blog, snow was brought in by the film's art department from Bird Arena. Between now and then, it has snowed and melted twice over, so it should be interesting to see how the set looks when I head to the "Trailerpark" set tomorrow to see the cast and crew hard at work, filming part of its climax fire scene. The film's coordinating producer, Conor Hogan, has warned me, though, about being "uber quiet" on set and "finding a producer before walking anywhere" so that I am not accidentally in a shot. This should be an adventure indeed!