Tuesday,
2001 May 1
DAY OFF!!!
Most part of the crew went home to Budapest to grab some summer
clothes and sun creme, and to have a good sleep. In the afternoon
calls the special effect cameraman to tell us that an insect
probably ate the lily of the valley's root, so he had to stop
the recordings. The biologist went again to the coldest places
of Hungary to find another bud.
Wednesday,
2001 May 2
With renewed strength everybody start working in shorts and
beach sandals. It's summer in the village. This is the first
day for the professional actors of the film: Ági Margitai, Eszter
Ónodi and Attila Kaszás. Today will act two children too; they
are villagers. At the beginning of shooting Gáborka starts to
cry, Szimonetta waits an hour to do the same thing. (The grownups
made fun of her.) After lunch both of the children calm down,
and - disregarding the 20 times shooting of one scene, and the
depression because of that - everything goes well. The owners,
Uncle Miska Király and Aunt Manci endure with patience us working
in their garden, despite the fact that they usually go to sleep
at six o'clock.
Thursday,
2001 May 3
We planned to start at eight o'clock in the morning, but we
can't start even at 10. We have to gather 40 people and to dress
them in mourning dress. In short time appears the local funeral
director, solves the problems. He wants to make a funeral parade.
We have to talk him out of doing that. The parson goes home
for his white ceremony dress, and for altar-boy clothes. By
nine o'clock the actors are on the scene. The Királys came,
regardless of the yesterday's chaos. Regardless of the funeral,
the actors of Budapest can't stop laughing at Uncle Cseklik's
hiccups. The crowd is revolting. It's more and more uncomfortable
to shoot in the heat. At three lunch break. After that the tired
crew can make only the inserts. By evening arrives from the
film laboratory the material shot until now. We watch the muster.
Friday,
2001 May 4
It's a steady-cam day. At Uncle Cseklik's house we shoot the
remained scenes. We follow the boar. Anaesthetise a cat at Királys
again. We want to shoot the pigsty too, but we can't use the
steady-cam. We try with the fahrt.
Saturday,
2001 May 5
Day of supplements. We shoot the scenes with the postwoman and
the midwife. The walk of the boar. The contra-cut of the mating.
The midwife's kitchen. The G's crew is brilliant. At five we
call the day. Some members of the crew are recording inserts
with flowers. Back to Budapest.
2001
May
Preparing for the next stage. Watching of muster. We talk about
the recorded images. The list with the postponed scene's list
is growing fast. The recordings with the plant's grow is finished.
Three times (three cameras) three plants, namely nine settings.
It's clear that we can't do this scene with only one cut. We
are a little disappointed. Test-cutting. We put together some
images for the crew and mainly the director to see that the
film is working.
Wednesday,
2001 May 23
Welcome back in "Kesernyés" (Bittervile). Most of
the crewmembers arrive during the afternoon to Pipó's coffee
shop "terrace". Here we meet with two new colleagues
of us, since the assistant producer and the script editor moved
to another much well paid production. The new assistant is Gyula
Robotka, and Krisztina Hájos does the script. We spend the evening
in good mood. The director and the sound editor visit the women
choir's usual Wednesday evening rehearsal to confront the songs
necessary for the wedding scene with the women's repertoire,
and to discuss which songs they have to learn.
Thursday,
2001 May 24
Thirteenth day of shooting! And right in the apiary… Exactly
on the scene from one year ago exactly with the same actors:
six million of bees, the beekeeper and Böske. But this time
there are more victims: besides the camera optician, the bees
sting all three lighting men. Moreover, one of the lighting
men is panic-stricken afraid of them, so after being stung he
is not willing to set foot in the farm he finds shelter in the
car. And when we need him badly, he dresses in "spacesuit",
he puts on a helmet, over that the hood, and with adhesive tape
he fixes the rubber gloves to his sleeve.
The other great enemy is the allergy, which showed both on the
two Gábors: the assistant cameraman and the first assistant.
While the assistant cameraman is sneezing, the assistant gets
into coma from the anti-allergen pills, and he often dozes off
in the shadow of the walnut tree. Despite all these, the work
is going on very well, it's the first day we managed to shoot
everything we have planned. However, learning from the last
year's experience we thought that it would take two days to
shoot here. We changed the previous version of the scene with
Böske. We record the spinning, when the honey is gained from
honeycomb by spinning it. The hardest turned to be the scene
taken from the rift between the beehive showing the beekeeper
taking off the top. In the end, by sunset we manage to solve
this problem too. Only the beekeeper takes us for fools… When
everybody is seized with nausea from the honeycomb we are awaited
with dinner in the pub.
Friday,
2001 May 25
For today we planned to shoot four scenes. We have a lot to
do. In the morning everybody is happy since due to the night
shots we start only at eleven. Everybody is ready to work.
We start in the vine cellar, where - according to Uncle Miska
Király's story - during the war lived 13 persons. Today's cast:
the beekeeper's wife and the policeman. Both are acting great,
the G's crew are giving the best of them. (It's hard for them
due to the drones - they don't sting - we take for the wasp's
nest.)
By four in the afternoon we try to shoot Jimmy walking home
alone, but he is not willing to walk alone, he is very hungry.
He stops at every grass knot. We can record only the scene with
him arriving home. And it isn't easy, too. Meanwhile the G is
having a fight with the residents from Bezerédy Street, who
are not willing under any circumstance to agree to switch off
the current for a few hours because the nocturnal rain-machine.
It's understandable, because it's Friday night and everybody
is watching "Dáridó". The mayoress tells us that she
cannot switch off the current in the whole (only in a half)
street. In the end the residents are persuaded with two thousand
Ft. for each, the mayoress gives the approval, and around nine
we start the technical preparations. Unfortunately this took
a little more time we thought, so we started the recordings
only after eleven. The sparkling coming out from the horn is
made successfully by the assistant producer with a vacuum-cleaner
put in the stove. One car from the village and the water-tap
from Uncle Cseklik's house owner assure the water supply. The
whole street is outside - maybe we are better than Lajcsi? For
sure this is sheer comedy…We shoot till one in the night. Everybody
is feeling cold, is soaked to the skin and terribly angry.
The atmosphere is getting better at Pipó's pub - thanks to the
venison stew that warms up the body and the soul as well. Really.
Saturday,
2001 May 26
The day of the hardest shoots at the beekeeper's house. Due
to the last night shots we start again at eleven, but the spirits
are not those of yesterday's morning. Everybody is angry and
grumpy the G's crew fight with the director and between them
because of one police car, the assistant offends the director
mortally, the director offends him back, the assistant producer
makes a scene because of his car. And the lady actor is worrying
because her husband threatened her with a knife for not to go
to the shooting.
Then slowly we get the hang of it. We are two hours late. Exactly
the protagonist of the day, Öcsi left for the lunch. The village
is closed due to the inaugural of "Illyés" Museum.
The policeman clothes were left in the assistant producer's
car. But by afternoon it seems we can make up for lost time.
At this point we receive the first bad news. The postwoman who
was disposed to be here at half past three is at Nyék at church-ale.
Fast re-organizing, we switch between the scenes, the executive
producer left for Nyék. Until then we work with Öcsi, correction:
we would like to work with him, because he disappeared again:
at four he has date with one of his girlfriends. (Compared to
this he arrives at half past four.)
By seven arrives the postwoman too; work is going on well. We
shoot a lot of complicated scenes. It seems that we finished
earlier. We received the radiographs for tomorrows shooting.
The KGB visual workshop printed the last square of the future
to be animation.
When we have the last scene and two short inserts to shoot,
the executive producer informs us that the mayor of Igar-customs,
despite of his promise from a month ago - probably on the local
lady doctor's pressure - is not willing to assure the consulting
room for tomorrows shooting. A bolt from the blue. Month ago
we visited all the nearby consulting rooms and this was the
only one suitable for shooting. Everybody is perplexed. We start
making calls, but the mayor is not willing to give us the town
clerk's telephone number who is at a wedding right now. All
these remind us the former regime… More than that we can't shoot
the next scenes, because we need the special technique planned
for the given day.
At lighting up of the last scene the director and the cameraman
start a serious debate that last almost an hour, so after recording
the remained inserts we do overtime again.
We take Aunt Virág - the woman that worried about her husband
- home, and after half an hour the atmosphere became so good,
as we dare to leave her alone with her husband. Aunt Virág is
happy, and we are dead tired and completely embittered. What
will tomorrow bring? We hope for the best luck; the tomorrow's
disposition contains the consulting room.
Sunday,
2001 May 27
In the morning we don't have any news about the consulting room.
The executive producer goes to find the town clerk, the rest
of the crew and Balázs Révész are shooting inserts with steadycam
with Böske on the bike. Noon is passed, and we have no news
about the consulting room. Both the two assistant's phones is
switched off, and the 30 extra will come at two to the coffee
shop. The crew has to decide whether to shoot the scene from
the cemetery or to keep hoping.
We remain with the hope. By half past one the G calls and asks
the cameraman and the chief lighting man to be in front of the
consulting room. Well, they were successful. However everybody
started to give up hope. It seems that there are no impossible
things in front of the G.
Around three o'clock we transport the extras to the scene. The
scene is very complicated. It starts with only one cut from
the consulting room through the waiting room, out to the street,
and is finished with beekeeper walking far away to his death.
It requires a lot of concentration both from our part and the
actors as well. Again we have to fight with each extra for not
to look in the camera. And at every stop we have to explain
them that they have to stop acting and they have to start from
the beginning when we restart the shooting. The beekeeper understands
also hardly how he has to "fall down like a sack".
Then the first assistant shows him the movement (with his face
in the dust). After several rehearsals, rearranging, some ice-cream
(the ice-cream man sold about 100 balls…) at dawn we manage
to shoot the scene.
Tuesday,
2001 May 29
We start at nine. Boar. Jib-arm. It doesn't work. Pub. TV station
from Pécs. Aunt Juci disappears. Rain. Lunch break. Fish pond.
We don't shoot, we rehears.
This is a bad situations day. That explains the few words. The
afternoon goes by without shooting anything. There is too long
distance through the lake to have a comprehensive scene with
the boat. The water is dirty, and we have no solution.
Wednesday,
2001 May 30
We start at five in the morning. The teacher, one of the actresses
of the scene has to take her class to field trip at eight. The
water is dirty, oily. Action. Some saving inserts. Impatient
disputes, tantrums. Back to the boar. It's already noon. We
need some frog. We'll get them. We shoot Aunt Juci agonizing
in the midwife's house. Uncle Cseklik is hiccuping on metronome.
We finish at half past four. We go home to Budapest.
Thursday,
2001 May 31
Day off.
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