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B-17G Shoot - Yankee Lady

July 12th

Having experienced the rigors of travel while trying to make a film was an experience, and not a great one. I had fun, but sort of in an adverse way. The United States Aviation Museum has a show every year 30 miles from my house. This could be enjoyable. And I could get a few toys there with minimal fuss.

Part of the deal with USAM (the museum who was putting on the show) was that for my unrestricted access, I had to shoot all of their acts, whether they would go into my movie or not, and edit them together. For the access I get, the deal was a bargain.

My day began around 7:00am to shoot the first planes coming in. I have set up a tent at the show to serve as a base camp/information booth. I hired Julie Yonek, film student, to pass out literature. I also had ripped out my entire home theatre system and put it in the tent to play The Restorers trailer all day. I was just their with my camera and sticks. I had a dolly coming, but that wouldn't be until that afternoon. I also didn't have Kevin until the next day, so all of my footage was silent. All in all, a good day of filming, looking at planes, and meeting pilots. I get to go up in the B-17 Yankee Lady, from the Yankee Air Force Museum. Great ride, good footage. A Corsair, T-6 and TBM also go up with us for formation flying over Cleveland.

A P-51A mustang shows up to land. No one told me this was coming because no one knew it was. I hustle down and shoot it taxiing up to her parking spot. A man named Doug Rozendaal gets out and Heather and I greet him. He's just passing through. He's interested in my film, so we show him the trailer at the tent. He's very impressed with it. All of the sudden he yells, BECK! Apparently, Gerry Beck and Bob Odegaard in Fargo had restored his P-51A. He loved that they were in the film. After being there a whole 20 minutes, he takes off again, giving me a real nice & low pass as he leaves.

At 5:30 pm, my dolly arrives in the back of my friend Rich's pickup truck (a last-minute ad-lib). These are the things you must wrangle when shooting-directing-producing your own movie.

It was also the first shoot of The Restorers that I had female crew members in the forms of my girlfriend Heather and my intern Hallie. Let me tell ya, if you ever want to open doors with pilots, male pilots, make sure you have a woman with you. It sounds sexist, but they sure as hell didn't want to talk with me all day. I think the ladies liked it, too.

July 13th

As if 7:00 am wasn't early enough, Heather and I arrive at the airport at 5:30am to shoot the planes in the dawn light. Heather is also the photographer for USAM. Very rewarding footage & stills. Very large coffee. Hallie wakes up late and shows up an hour after call time. That's okay, it's easy to push your own dolly.

When the gates open, the crowds flood in. We're just shooting, shooting, shooting. Kevin shows up and gets suited up immediately. I'm clear at the other end of the airfield shooting bomber landings. We need to get some walkies.

As Yankee Lady preps for another flight, I cook up an idea. I want a shot where the camera dollies out from under the bomber's wing while the engines are starting. I talk it over with the flight line safety crew and they okay-it. Now, I just need a push on the dolly. Time to start teaching the intern some things. There's a first time for everything, including pushing me with $60,000 worth of gear 15 feet from a big Wright-Cyclone during startup. She did great.

All day we keep hinting for an interview with the crew chief of Yankee Lady, Norm Ellickson. The bomber crew has been selling rides all day, $450 per 25 minute ride. The crew hasn't stopped in 7 hours. They have a waiting list. Norm promises that we can have him first thing tomorrow. The problem was, I lose Kevin tomorrow by way of a prior commitment. Hey Hallie, how'd you like to learn sound today?

July 14th

Sunday morning comes with the weight of the world on my shoulders, or so it feels. Being the fourth day of early rising, and the previous three being 18 hour work days, takes it's toll on your shoulders and feet. Coffee...much coffee.

We jump on the airport early and get to the bomber ahead of the crew. After waiting about 20 minutes, Norm and the crew arrive. We set ourselves up in the Navigator position in the B-17. The position looks good with good background and there's good light coming in on Norm's face. Heather keeps the bomber crew quiet outside for us and Hallie does a nice job on audio. She doesn't bring shorts to wear, though, like I told her to. Kids...

With such a good interview, Yankee Lady becomes a featured story for the film. This is not confirmed until after I shoot the subject sometimes and this airshow was one of those times. I knew there would be a few possible story opportunities there at the show. I just showed up and waited to see which would present itself to me. A slightly risky way to do filmmaking. Each one of the planes that came in had a story and the people flying them had stories as well. You just have to weigh those things against what you already have lined up in the movie. I didn't have a heavy bomber in the movie yet. Simple. Plus, people love them. B-17's are always show stoppers.

I concentrate on getting as many good angles of Yankee Lady as I can. Since she continues to sell rides, I have plenty of opportunity to shoot her from a variety of angles. The crew allows me to send a mini-dv camera up again mounted in the front nose section. I start it on the ground, get out, and let it run the whole flight. Great stuff. On the next flight, I mount it to the plane's dashboard, pointing back at the pilot. It got bumped, so the framing is off a little. The footage is still good, though. No real way to get film footage from those vantage points. Compromises.

Again, I'm glad when the end of the shoot comes. I hurt, and I'm out of film. My crew (Hallie) is pretty tired. Heather is tired from helping me and helping the airshow, her main priority at this show. I know I got sexy looking stuff while there at the show. I just need to sell this thing so the next time I do this, I can hire some help.