The Filmmaking Experience "Killing Lawrence" Part 4

By 4:30 p.m. Steve and Jim had finished with the coach's closeup scene. Steve is now back in the gym where the boxing ring is. The actors had been working out a sparring routine to film and discuss it with Steve. Steve decides to shoot 87-93. Patrick continues to practice the scene with Frankie. There's a good amount of banter and laughter about a word selection in one of the lines.

PATRICK: And you say ' what ' , ' what '. ... You made comments about me.

FRANKIE: No I was commenting about the words here (slight laughter)

PATRICK: Oh I gotcha. Alright.

FRANKIE: (slight laughter) I was commenting about the words.

PATRICK: Oh yeah, ' do each other '

FRANKIE: (emphasizes a line) ' when it came down to it, we do each other ', I went whoaaa (laughs)

PATRICK: ' We off each other ', is that better? Would that be more suitable to the.. ah..

STEVE MOON: I like ' do ' . ( all laugh and add more quips )

PATRICK: Alright, whatever, And you say ' keep it up ' ah no, ' we're trained to kill, only he chickens out ' ...

Patrick continues with the dialog. His character is getting angry during the scene, Patrick starts getting emotionally worked up as he goes through his lines. He then turn toward Frankie and says,

PATRICK: ( calmly ) And you say ' we gonna fight or we gonna talk '.

STEVE MOON: Alright now remember the way we're going to do this that every time Frankie's got a line I've got to move the camera, so let's get all your stuff first. You just feed him.

There was some discussion about placement and then Patrick resumed his dialog.

STEVE MOON: I'm thinking like for ' the coward that you are ' you tell it like (sotto voice) ' like the coward that you are '.

Frankie and Patrick discuss their fight routine some more.

PATRICK: We're fighting when he backs off so.

FRANKIE: We're fighting and I back off.

They practice their lines again and go over the punches for the sparring.

2ND CREW MEMBER: Oh, you may want to emphasize ' coward ' on the second syllable, cause it sounds like he says ' like the cow-- you are ' . Laughter

PATRICK: ( to Frankie ) You are a cow. Ohh.

STEVE MOON: That means when you say that....

2ND CREW MEMBER: ' Like the cow-ward ',

STEVE MOON: Hey get Michael, we need head and we need gloves. We need masks. We need ...

Patrick goes over his lines, shouting as his character would. A woman walks into the gym and comments briefly to the cast, she goes upstairs.

STEVE MOON: Go get Michael, get the headgear and gloves.

2ND CREW MEMBER: There's some gloves right over here. ( points to a wall rack with boxing equipment on it ).

STEVE MOON: No, he's got special gloves.

2ND CREW MEMBER: Oh he does. He may be outside.

Patrick and Frankie continue to practice their lines and sparring.

2ND CREW MEMBER: Now about in what area are you.. are they going to be all over the ring or ..?

STEVE MOON: No.

2ND CREW MEMBER: Ok. I've got the reflector kind of in the middle to give you a little bit more fill.

Steve and the actors go over the motivation for the characters in the scene. There's some discussion about placement, sparring moves and what equipment to wear. Steve moves the camera back among some punching bags to frame the shot. More discussion about which colors would show up better for the equipment. Jim is positioned in the scene near the ring.

2ND CREW MEMBER: Yeah, Jim's been a manager before, in "Johnny Flynton" .

The woman comes back down and walks through again. Steve says 'no you're fine, come on through, we're not even rolling'. By 4:50 p.m. everything is getting ready to film as Steve and the actors go over some last minute instruction involving the marks for the framing of the shot.

STEVE MOON: Alright, Patrick, start in the right corner, (to Jeremy) I'm going to get him to go all the way to the .. (to Patrick) Alright Patrick you can start there and I'm going to tell you how far you can walk, keep going, keep going, stop, turn around. You can go to there, all the way to the end. Right to there. ... Walk to the stool, and then there, you're good. ... Alright, Patrick what I want you to do is start at those steps, get inside the ring. Start at the steps, walk down, yeah, ..

A question arose as to the entrance and placement of another character. Several minutes elapsed until Steve, the cast and crew worked out the details of the lines who might be coming into the scene

STEVE MOON: Alright Patrick, let's walk it one time.

FRANKIE: I'm not in this, I'm in my corner.

STEVE MOON: You're in your corner.

FRANKIE: Alright. Can you see me here.

STEVE MOON: Na. (to Patrick) Come down those steps, up there.

Patrick starts with a ta-ta-ta-da version of the theme song from "Rocky".

STEVE MOON: Alright, you're going to come down, you're going to get in the ring, on that corner, that you walk in to.

PATRICK You want me get in right here?

STEVE MOON: Yeah, go ahead and get in, look at him (toward Frankie), walk over to your corner which is this one over here to your left. And now we can just start with yours cause I can edit anything else together I need to. Let's start with your dialog. I'm not rolling, let's just do it.

PATRICK: You want me to start?

STEVE MOON: Yep. Go ahead.

JEREMY: You're walking out right there.

PATRICK: Is that really a problem? Do you need me to stop sooner?

STEVE MOON: 'Bout right there.

JEREMY: Na, still walked out. Just past the black rope.

2ND CREW MEMBER: Just on that.. yeah right there.. yeah that's got your shoulder right in the shot.

Patrick tries the walk in. There was some more discussion about his distance and the camera angle of the shot.

STEVE MOON: I just want to hear your lines.

Cause you wouldn't start pacing until you started confessing. I'm going to let y'all bitch at each other from across the ring.

Frankie and Patrick start going over their lines.

STEVE MOON: Stay in your corner, stay in your corner while you're doing this. Stay in your corner.

Frankie and Patrick keep on with their lines. Patrick's character is starting to get a little agitated.

JEREMY: Frankie stay in your corner, you're walking around with your script.

STEVE MOON: Keep going.

Frankie reads from his script and stumbles on his line. Patrick makes an self deprecating vulgar remark. Some laughter. Patrick starts his lines involving the audience. Steve and Jeremy discuss the scene.

STEVE MOON: Alright, hold on, hold on y'all stop. Y'all go line for line again in each one of your corners. Your pacing is too long for this one scene. Ah, I'll tell you when to start pacing. Y'all just be looking right back at each other. From the top.

Frankie and Patrick start over with their lines again. Steve and Jeremy discuss the camera angle and the sequence of shots and what will need to be matched up with other angles. There's some discussion about the rope leaning Patrick may be doing. There's as suggestion about an arm gesture during a line. Steve decides to roll once to see what he gets.

STEVE MOON: Alright I'm rolling on this one. When you (Patrick) acknowledge your lieutenant (Frankie) over here, stick out your arm if you have to, your right hand to point to where he is.

FRANKIE: I don't have any gloves on so I'm not getting anything...

STEVE MOON: Not yet, no.

FRANKIE: Alright.

STEVE MOON: Ah, (to Patrick) work your audience, you're talking to your audience a lot. So try not to talk to him so much.

A little discussion with the crew about the shot, Patrick starts his lines.

STEVE MOON: Hold on, hold on, hold on, here we go. Ready?

This part doesn't matter, really, it just need to get you into character because on these other shots when y'all are going back and forth the camera's in front of you, you're going to be looking at each other from across the ring. Did that make sense?

Alright, here we go, I'm rolling, action!

Patrick and Frankie start their lines, Steve halts them briefly.

STEVE MOON: Alright go back into your corner, come out, (repeats a line) ' I want you to tell them ' point to them (the audience) , ' I want you to tell them ' face the audience. Action!

Patrick starts his lines emphasizing the line and continues building up even more anger as he plays the rest of the scene.

STEVE MOON: Alright hold it!

Time now close to 6:00 p.m. Some discussion on when or if a female cast member may arrive in time before they have to be out of the gym by 7:00 p.m.

STEVE MOON: Alright, I'm rolling let's take it from the top again.

JIM: You want me to give him a cue when he should come in?

STEVE MOON: Yeah, I'll cue you, you point to him.

JIM: Ok.

JEREMY: Hey, watch 'Airplane', he's going to cue you.

JOEY: Ok.

STEVE MOON: Alright, Patrick ready when you are, start in the corner, Action.

Patrick and Frankie start their lines. Patrick gets emotional as he goes along.

STEVE MOON: Alright cut. Hold that, I wasn't ready for it. (Frankie and Patrick briefly discuss their lines.) Let's take it from the top again. Here we go, rolling.

Patrick starts with his lines getting angry again as he goes along. He ends with the line ' coward '.

STEVE MOON: Cut. Alright. Now we're going to go one more wide shot. Let's take it from the top. And then Joey's going to come in. Actually we can take it up to the line before ' you're too much of a coward '

The actors pause and kind of casually talk. There was then some discussion with Michael about using the gym again.

STEVE MOON: Ok here we go. Alright I am rolling. Patrick you're going to give him your line right before ' you're a coward ' but what I want you're going to cheat this one. You're going to do it, you've got two more steps you can take before you call him a coward, cause this one's going to be where Joey runs in, or DJ runs in, action!

Patrick starts his lines. Joey runs in

STEVE MOON: Not bad, not bad, Joey keep going, you don't know where to go. Alright, go back Joey. Let's do it again, after he says ' like the coward that you are ' that's, 'Airplane' (character name) if you'll cue Joey to come in.

Alright, ' like the coward that you are ', that's when you come in. But again you don't know what going on, you don't know if they've hit each other yet, you don't know what's going on.

Alright, like before, ' like the coward that you are '. Action!.

Patrick starts his lines, Joey comes in.

STEVE MOON: Alright, that'll work. That's all from that angle. Now I've got one more angle of Patrick, two more. One more from 'Airplane's' perspective (to Joey) we get you running in again, and then we're going to turn it around and put it on Frankie. That's when he'll need the gloves and then Michael will come down. Alright Jeremy can you give me a hand real quick. Just slide everything over towards 'Airplane'.

Steve and the crew move the camera equipment over to a second setup.

cont.

The Filmmaking Experience- "Killing Lawrence" Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5