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I have always believed that honesty is the best policy but I also knew that
if I wanted to get the film done that floor had to be repaired before I told
the owners. At least I had to see if I could repair it or have it
professionally done. I was responsible. So there goes more money out of my
film budget.
Lucky for me that I have taken woodworking classes in
High School and floor finishing. I went to the store and bought finish
remover and set about removing the reaming wax and finish on the stairs,
ornate woodwork and floor. Then I re-finished the wood and relaxed the
floor. It sounds easy but you should try it sometime. It's a lot of work. I
spent my entire Saturday there from sunup to sunset. Twelve hours in all.
Once all of that was done to my satisfaction I placed fans in strategic
spots to dry the wax. I thought that wax would never dry. Finally I could
step on it without leaving a footprint and knew it was finished. Only if you
looked closely could you tell that it has ever been redone. Satisfied with
my work I went back home exhausted but happy. After I had a good sleep and
recovered from my ordeal I called up the owners of the house to tell them
what had happened but also made a point to tell them that they need not
worry because I had already corrected the problem and the floor and woodwork
were as before. They came to inspect my work and were relieved that I had
been so conscientious to solve the problem. I told them that I didn't want
to worry them about it till I knew how serious the problem was. I had been
able to correct the problem myself and asked them not to be angry with me.
So another disaster had been averted and filming resumed the next week. 
I have never liked location filming as the filmmaker has no control over the
elements or outdoor sounds. This proved to be true as we began to shoot the
police officer scene. My actors were in full police uniform and I had asked
them to briefly parade in front of my actors while we were working in the
house and to hassle them a bit. One of my tech crew came to me very upset
asking what the cops were doing here and at first I did not tell him that
these were only actors.
Now we were preparing to film our scene
outside and about that time it decided to rain. We needed the rain as the
grass outside was brown but as a filmmaker I did not need it. I tried to
make due by placing a plastic garbage sack over my camera so the filming
could go on and I began to direct the scene. I had placed a blue revolving
light we had borrowed on the top of my car and since my car is the same type
the police use it looked very believable. So much so in fact that every time
my car came down the street with the light on all the other cars would pull
over. They actually believed that this was a police car. So I would have to
stop filming and run out to tell the people they could go on and that we
were making a movie.
My other location problems were so strange
that they were laughable. I swear that every car in that little town of
Tiskilwa we were filming in must have decided that time was when they wanted
to drive by the house. We were filming on the porch and I had my camera
focused on Sandra & Robert on the porch swing. I swear that we had cars,
motorcycles, lawnmowers, you name it, all pass by. We were in the midst of
the love scene from my film when Robert realizes that he cares about the
girl and as he moves in for the kiss suddenly a semi-truck passes by and we
hear a BEEP, BEEP of his horn! I can't even remember how many takes we had
to do of the scene but finally we got it in the can. |
One
time after we finished filming in there and it was over a hundred
degrees with all the lights I was using but a few seconds after the
lights were turned off and I was alone in that room it grew icy
cold. How could there be such a change of temperature in such a
short time especially when it was Summer and very hot outside? The
old lady probably had died in that house. I know it all sounds
strange but there is no other explanation for this. As we filmed
there day after day, week after week I sensed a change in the
feeling of the rooms of the house. All of my actors and filming
people also felt more comfortable there. It felt more
friendly. Work went smoother and I think that after a while the
ghost got used to us and enjoyed having some company. I had a tarot
card scene to do downstairs in the kitchen a few days from then on a
Saturday and I promised the owner that I would not write something
that would anger the spirit in the house as she did not mind
being with us. I would not write an exorcism scene..