on location in J-town

There's an old joke about Independent Film crews in San Francisco. When shooting here, you've got to be careful not to film the crew at the next corner. The latest member of my extended family to join a ragtag guerilla film outfit? My Uncle Ben (married to my Aunt Kate) from the Sacramento area. A Facebook friend-of-a-friend of Ben's needed a last minute actor replacement. The part was described along the lines of: "50-something, Asian male, loafers, khakis, polo shirt". Ben's never acted before, but that didn't stop him from saying yes to the role. We went over to Japantown on Sunday to check out the production.


Above, the main crew members: DP shooting HD on a Canon DSLR camera (the 5D), tethered to a small monitor held by the Director. Sound Guy (bandana on head) wearing all his equipment around the neck.


Ben's daughter, aka Cousin Liz, is taking this opportunity to learn about filmmaking:


Film production is actually very boring when it's not your production. We walked into J-town to shop for plastic items and have lunch. There are no shortage of places to have lunch. It reminded me a bit of traveling in a foreign country, where you have no idea what to choose. Fortunately, we chose well and ate amazingly fresh sushi.


Later we rejoined la familia, who still weren't done with Ben's scenes.



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