Shooting in the Buff: The Making of Act Naturally

I can’t tell you how many times I get emails from Facebook with comments from our Act Naturally fan page with people asking, “when will this be available on DVD?” I promise you all that we are eager to get this film into your homes and lives, but love takes time. That being said, we are getting close.

On May 25th, the first of multiple feature-length audio commentaries were recorded, featuring most of the actors (Katie L. Hall, Liz Lytle, Josh McVaney, Courtney Abbott, and Sadie Alexandru) along with JP Riley (writer/director/producer/editor). We are still waiting on an exact date, but we are planning a big above-the-line commentary track featuring JP, Christine Sheaks (producer), Katie L. Hall (writer/star/producer/editor), and myself (cinematographer/producer/editor). Yeah, we wore a lot of hats on this film, but that is indie filmmaking.

To get my mind thinking about our process again, I’ve made this companion piece. Since we’ll be focusing our energy trying to be funny on the commentary — much like the master commentators of View Askew — I’m guessing I won’t have many opportunities to get into the nitty-gritty technical adventures of the film. There is also quite a lot of backstory that would be neglected on the DVD. Enjoy.

How It Started

JP and I first collaborated while students at Northwestern University, where I served as one of his camera operators for a live concert shoot for the Verve Pipe back on March 15, 2003. We share many friends but didn’t really keep in touch after graduation — he stayed in Chicago to work the commercial and music video scene while I left immediately for Los Angeles.

During a fateful weekend in April of 2008, JP and his girlfriend threw a party for one of our mutual friends in Hollywood and we ended up spending a good amount of time talking shop and catching up. Two months later I got a call from him asking if I’d be available to shoot his feature film debut. He was going to finally pursue — and predominantly self-finance — this passion project of his, after slaving away for clients in Chicago. I said yes immediately.

Then he pitched me the idea. While I loved the story, I wasn’t sure how comfortable I was with nudism. That is how most people approached the film initially: great script, but I’m not sure about the whole “naked thing.”

It’s strange writing this now considering how many days I ended up spending not only working in the buff, but also genuinely enjoying our textile-free days off on location. Like most people, I’m not totally comfortable with my physical appearance. I’ve struggled with maintaining my weight my whole life, and yes, I was teased for being “fat” when I was a kid. I’ve never felt at ease in locker rooms, and although I love the rush that comes with skinny dipping, I attempted to limit that activity to places with very little ambient light.

Nevertheless, I took my apprehension with me to Liz Lytle’s house for our first table read on July 11, 2008. If our collective enjoyment and laughter were any indication, we had a winner. I was officially on board. Even with an excellent screenplay from Katie L. Hall, Annie Levine, J.P. Riley, and Brock Wilbur, finding cast, crew, and a location for a project with our themes wasn’t easy. We decided to shoot the opening 10 pages first — just two actors and minimal equipment — with the hopes it would extend our talent pool. Finding great actors who were cool with nudity at paltry SAG Ultra Low rates (the union has established extra compensation when certain body parts are exposed) was a feat. We already had our two leads cast and shot those first megabytes on July 22 at Liz’s house. The scene features one of my favorite quotes in the entire film: “your dad died. He’s dead.”

Camera, Crew, and a Near-Fatal Hike

The fact that JP personally owned a Panasonic HVX-200 and the Letus35 Extreme meant we were covered camera-side. Unfortunately, it also meant that we didn’t carefully examine such a crucial decision and weigh other options that would’ve made production much simpler in other ways. Calling the production of this film a “challenge” would be a gross understatement. The native ISO of the HVX starts at an unimpressive 320ASA, drop that over a stop with the Letus adaptor, and compound that because you have to zoom into the achromat so you can’t be wide open on the camera’s iris. Our wide lenses opened to T2.0. The 50mm and 85mm were T1.4, but it’s nearly impossible to get sharp focus on anything at that aperture with non-cine lenses and no focus puller. All this to say that we needed a lot of light and power for proper exposure.

Leading up to the shoot we selected various lenses to supplement the Pentax mounts JP already owned — some purchased, some bid on via eBay. Our best acquisition was the HELIOS-40 85mm f/1.5, which was spectacular and made us briefly second-guess our commitment to the idea that comedy is best played wide. We used the indiRAILSpro XV handheld rig from indisystem, and later added the Zacuto lunchbox counter-balance for better balance on my shoulder — the thing was crazy front-heavy otherwise.

After two and a half days shooting our estranged half-sisters in apartments and cars, we reconvened on August 1st with Kat Namey to shoot some “Bear Lake” footage at the beautiful Deep Creek Hot Springs. The trip was great, although we almost lost our director to heat stroke — that hike is not so pleasant in the dead of summer.

To get myself mentally prepared for the approaching three-week stay at a naturist resort, I took a trip with my girlfriend to a potential location to ease myself into the lifestyle. I was kind of shocked at how easy it is to be in the buff full-time (certainly the heat of Palm Springs in August encouraged us to wear less). The amazing thing about these places is that you feel “normal” when nude because that is what everyone else is wearing. When you attend an ugly sweater party, you feel right at home among the atrocious garbs. Conversely, if you walked into a black tie event in shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and flip flops, you’re gonna feel out of place.

On August 27th we scouted Olive Dell Ranch (ODR) in Colton, California. The owners, Bobby and Becki Kilborn, were excited to host us as long as we were willing to shoot in the upcoming off season — the chilly winter can make clothing a necessity for survival. Aside from friendly residents, the resort features an assortment of colorful birdhouse-looking cabins. While they aren’t the most exciting prospects from a cinematography standpoint, they offer a quirky element to the production design. Bobby also kindly acknowledged the safety risks involved with filmmaking in the buff, so we were permitted to remain clothed during work hours (most resorts wouldn’t budge on this issue). We unanimously decided to move forward with shooting at ODR.

To help spread awareness, I designed and launched the film’s official website on September 11th — not a political statement, merely coincidental. We planned our first leg at the ranch from September 26th through October 5th. Then big news: JP was hired to direct a major film shooting in Pennsylvania. We pushed the shoot indefinitely, believing the delay would bring us more casting leverage and hopefully some new investors. It also freed me up to head to Miami on September 19th to shoot a two-day music video with a budget comparable to our entire feature.

JP’s Pennsylvania project kept getting pushed and after several months waiting, we decided to go ahead and refocus on Act Naturally. The silver lining: Christine Sheaks joined our producing team and positioned our film in front of great talent. In December, we locked ourselves into shooting at ODR in March of 2009. Everything happens for a reason. If it weren’t for Christine’s efforts, we wouldn’t have had the amazingly talented Susan May Pratt, Alan Cox, Rob Roy Fitzgerald, or Sadie Alexandru in our humble film. The remaining key casting choices were easy because they had worked with JP in the past: Josh McVaney, Katie L. Hall, Liz Lytle, and Courtney Abbott.

Production

After much debate, JP and I decided that having two cameras the whole show would speed things up. We even squeezed two cameras into the tiny cabins whenever possible, which was interesting. Given our tiny crew and the cost of renting a second rig, it was a tough call. In the end, shooting mediums and close-ups simultaneously saved our asses in post. Our second package came from Jay Ellison at Shadowcast Pictures, featuring a more robust Redrock handheld rig and Zeiss ZF SuperSpeeds. The change in glass could be explained story-wise because we were now at the resort where the girls would forever see the world differently — can you notice the optical difference between the start of the film and the rest of it? We also added two 7″ LCD monitors to make operating and focus pulling easier for Cameron Shaw and myself since we performed both tasks simultaneously.

Just before leaving for the ranch, I made the mistake of buying a used HMI 1.2K fresnel from a friend for only $400. It seemed like a steal. In hindsight, it was a great mistake and further cemented my personal creed to never purchase used items from friends (thankfully our relationship wasn’t sullied). Aside from the cost of repairs, losing such a key light on such a small package was detrimental to my lighting plans. The craziest instance occurred for scene in Ned’s cabin where the girls go through his personal belongings: a moth flew onto the lamp’s lens and exploded on it. The trauma cracked the fresnel lens and rendered the light out of commission until late the next day when we were able to get a replacement brought in from L.A. (Colton is about an hour east of town). Let’s just say that wide shot is a lot darker than it would’ve been otherwise.

I’m kind of shocked and embarrassed looking back at the microscopic electric order:

1 x 1.2K HMI PAR
1 x 1.2K HMI Fresnel (that super unreliable one I mentioned)
1 x 4′–4 Bank KENO
1 x 2′–4 Bank KENO
3 x 1K PAR cans
1 x 750W ETC Source 4 LEKO
Various household globes, sockets, china balls, and squeezers

Freshman at Northwestern have more units to work with than I did. When we shot the big hot tub scene, we had lots of fun trying to find enough amps. Aside from popping circuits and running around the ranch with about 1,000′ of stingers, our actors were forced to sit in a hot tub for hours and hours. That was one of the hardest nights on set.

With a car full of gear and food, I headed to Colton on Monday, March 9, 2009 for the main leg of production. I loaded into the yellow birdhouse that would not only be my home for the next 17 nights, but also double as the camera truck and downloading station. As I looked at the bare walls, I regretted not bringing a few posters to give it a “lived-in feel.” The next morning we didn’t pull any punches: the entire cast would be naked, together, for the wedding scene. What better way to get everyone’s gawking out of the way immediately? Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t friendly — the high temperature was 64°F and the low registered at 34°F. JP vividly remembers his iPhone telling him it was 38°F when we rolled on the wide shot. Considering our first shot rolled around 9am, I don’t doubt it.

In preproduction, JP insisted that we blow out our windows for all day scenes at the ranch. Part of the reasoning was practical: we were invading the homes of many residents and couldn’t risk having people looking into the camera. From a creative standpoint, JP wanted to pop the windows for characters who had “seen the light” and embraced nudism. The choice of blowing out windows also allowed us more flexibility in shooting night for day — those small cabin windows were particularly easy to pop when both HMIs were functioning. There are several “day” scenes in the finished film where, if you listen closely, you can hear the cicadas signaling nighttime.

Day 2 of photography was in the large-windowed cabin of Rusty. Those windows overlook high-traffic areas at the resort, and blowing them out meant we could power through long takes without any bogies interfering — no one looking into the camera. It was also one of the most enjoyable scenes in the film to shoot. In what would be my first of two consecutive features working with the hilarious Rob Roy Fitzgerald (the second being Assassin’s Tale), Rob brought the funny in a serious manner. When we watched the dailies of that scene, we were dying as we caught the nuances of his sharp performance.

My favorite aspect of shooting at ODR was the hot tub. With the exception of the opening few shots of the film, every single scene is handheld — and having that steamy soak every night made my body much happier than it has ever been on a physically demanding job. I certainly longed for it while shooting my next feature a few months later. It was also a great place to socialize with the cast and crew after a tough day at the office.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to accommodate everyone on-site at the ranch, so we rented a house nearby for the overflow. In a perfect world, we would’ve all been together. There is something magical about location shooting — a main element of that is the fact that people are living together under one big roof (or in this case, many small birdhouse roofs).

OK, so I didn’t realize how much I have to say about the making of this film, because there is so much more to tell! Please click this link to continue where I left off. If you live in the Southland, be sure to come to our screening on the 19th of June! For the most up-to-date information on upcoming screenings, be sure to LIKE us on Facebook. In the meantime, enjoy our behind-the-scenes featurette: