Because I spend the majority of the day at my computer working with shots, it's easy to forget that I'm working in the film business. Sure, I have to walk past the sets on my way to the lunch room, and I have to run all my work by the directors before they get sent off to editing, but I'm not involved in the filming process much. (Hence the term, post-production...)

But, then there's some days when the film industry lands in my lap. Like yesterday. Out of the blue, the production manager ran into my office and swept me away to go on a whirlwind bout of location scouting. We needed to film some plates of water that will later be composited into greenscreen backgrounds, and since I am the one who will be doing the compositing, he brought me along to consult on the shots. We had a little camera with us so that I could do some test composites before we shoot it on the good film.

The majority of our scouting took place along the little sloughs off the side of north Idylwyld, so before you go thinking that it was some sort of glamorous Hollywood type affair, think again. This is Saskatchewan. Our locales amount to sloughs and bluffs. And horizon shots. Lots of horizon shots.

Anyway, we marched around the sloughs a little while, pointing out different shots and arguing about the angle of the sun at certain times of the day. This was interrupted every so often by me quietly squealing and pointing out marshbirds. The redwing blackbirds were out in full force, as were the catbirds, and there was one big old goose who wadled out of our way, but sat across the pond from us, honking. I was particularly fascinated by the eared grebe that kept paddling in and out of one of our shots. They're such distinctive birds, with their bright yellow 'ears', red eyes, and sleek black feathers. The production manager, on the other hand, kept hoping that 'that darn loon' would get out of the way.

Anyway, birding aside, we're going out again tomorrow for the actual shoot. We've got two different sloughs that should be perfect for what we need, provided the weather holds, and if everything goes well, we'll be able to make it down to the Victoria bridge to do some overhead water shots at about the time the sun will be at an angle to get some good sparkle off the water. Hee! I have a film shoot tomorrow. I feel all professional and stuff. ;)