This is it, the big scene: I finally meet my hero, Otto Tiberius Parker, after searching for him for years. It’s funny how things work out. Otto was only created because we had the father/son duo of Ricky and Matthew on this film. So, we split them into the same character, just 20 years apart. Now the mystery surrounding Otto has become the central plot device of the movie. Not to blow this movie out of proportion or anything, but Ricky brought a different style to Otto than Matthew did and it really helped advance the character, I think. Young Otto was exasperated and intense in his interview, Older Otto was more laid back and gentler. It worked great, showing how much he has changed over his (spoiler alert!) 20 years as a farmer in southeast Asia.
Seth was tasked with getting us permission to shoot at a local coffee house. But that fell through towards the last minute as they were going to have an event that evening, so they were having a landscaping crew come in Saturday morning. They said we were still welcome to shoot there, but we figured the leaf blowers and weed eaters probably wouldn’t be conducive to capturing good audio, so we scrambled for a plan B.
That plan b came in the form of Geer Street Garden in downtown Durham. They have a great patio and told us we could use it as long as we cleared out by 11, when they open. Seth and I went to Geer Street the Thursday evening prior to scope it out and determine where we would shoot and set up the cameras, etc.
We all arrived promptly at 8am on the big day. First thing to shoot was me pulling into the parking lot and getting out of my car. I can tell you that I have never really thought about how I get out of my car. But, boy did I get self-conscious about it once the camera was rolling. I have a 2008 Honda Civic, so it ain’t a big car; I, on the other hand, am 6’3″ of pure muscle. So, imagine one of the great, Greek statues emerging from a car and you’ve got a fairly accurate visual. After reviewing some of the footage, I can definitely state that I do NOT exit a car gracefully. Oh well, we can’t all be great at everything, I suppose.
Anyway, next up was me entering the restaurant and looking for OTP. Seth and Sean played extras in the background so as to make it look like something other than a restaurant that was not yet open. Then we set up the cameras in different locations and the real meeting began. Dan was on camera one and Seth was on camera two. Sean documented the whole process and helped with the framing of the shots. We captured audio with the shotgun mic attached to camera one and set up the lapel mic in the flowers between Ricky and me.
Ricky was great as the slightly world-weary Otto who is curious about his enduring fame. I was great as the guy who sweats a ton in the North Carolina summer humidity. I had known this would be an issue, so I had brought along a roll of paper towels to wipe my brow throughout. Film making isn’t always glamorous.
We wrapped in about 2.5 hours with some really good shots, I think. I only reviewed camera 2, which was focused on OTP’s face. This epic film is finally coming to an end. One more shoot left and then the real work (editing) begins.