The blog of In My Footsteps Podcast host and author Christopher Setterlund. It contains a buffet of topics. The wackiness of daily life with Initial Impressions 2.0. There is a link to the weekly In My Footsteps Podcast. Poetry collections, life topics, some history, and more. There is something for everyone here much like with the podcast.
1. This was the final shooting day for my feature film The Cabin. It ended up being the tale of two halves. The first half was an exciting last filming location, while the second half was driving - lots and lots of driving. It might have been the most I'd ever driven in a single day, at least in terms of time.
2. It was a Sunday. I needed to take care of everything at the motel I had called home for the previous five days in Mansfield, Pennsylvania. This consisted of packing thoroughly and carefully. If I forgot anything, there was little to no chance of me getting it back. I had a little more room in one of my bags because some of the clothing I had brought with me was used as the costume for the creature. Since it had been sliced up and coated with blood, there was no need for me to take it back home. I made sure to rearrange the furniture back to the way it was. I had moved a table to give me a setup similar to my desk at home. Everything was cleaned, the bed was made, and after checking for maybe the fifth time, I grabbed the room key and headed out. The manager wasn’t in the office, but he was at the top of the stairs, which led to his apartment on the premises. I made sure to get his attention as I dropped the key into the box. I didn’t receive any sort of negative email in the days after, so I assume I left the room looking fine. I sat in my rented Honda Accord and took a few breaths; the trip was almost over. I felt like I had lived a month in a week, and although there was still one shooting day to go, I already felt the dopamine crash that comes after you have an exciting experience and then have to get back to ‘reality.’ I pulled out onto the quiet Main Street as I had every other day that week, and made the drive to Mark’s house in the neighboring town of Wellsboro. I tried to soak in every hill and every curve, every shop and billboard, anything that might make a good entry in the blogs that would follow. Who knows if I will ever see that area again? If not, both Mansfield and Wellsboro were fine places to stay and spend a week.
Thank you, Mansfield Inn, it was a fun time.
3. I knew this final day was going to be something different from the moment I arrived at Mark’s house. On previous days, when I arrived, I parked my car in the grass next to his driveway. This let me leave at the end of the filming day without being blocked in or blocking someone else in. When I pulled up on this day, I hadn’t been there for more than a minute or two when Mark gave me the location where we were going on location to shoot. He said I could leave ahead of the rest of them to get some photos and videos. I enjoyed carpooling and connecting with the rest of the crew, but I was really craving some alone time, driving and playing the music I wanted while soaking in the new scenery. I took that chance. I punched in the location: Morgan Marine, Penn Yan, New York. Slowly, I pulled away and left Mark and his house in the rearview. It was time for our final rendezvous for The Cabin.
4. Each morning, when driving from Mansfield to Wellsboro, it was roughly 15-20 minutes of driving. I began this day with that drive. Getting from Wellsboro to Morgan Marine was about an hour and a half north. We were to be filming the final scenes of the movie on Mark’s boat and at a marina located on Keuka Lake, part of the Finger Lakes in New York. Things looked rough within the first half hour of the drive as the skies clouded up and it began to sprinkle. It was brief, though. The majority of the drive was beautiful, peaceful, and sunny. It made me wish I had some sort of GoPro, or other camera that I could have filmed the trek with. It was rolling green hills, small lakes, and good music, at least in my opinion. I wanted to make sure I had a little while at Morgan Marine by myself, so I was testing my luck with my speed. I was lucky in that I never had any sort of close encounter with police. Considering how much I drove on highways, I was a little surprised. Later on, though, I got to see someone else have an issue with the cops, but we’ll get to that. During my 90-minute drive north, things felt relaxed. I was thinking of all of the amazing things I had seen and done in the span of a week. That trip down memory lane was interrupted by a different feeling. In order to be ‘up’ for this final day, I began the morning with a slightly more potent energy drink. Within an hour of driving to the Finger Lakes, I knew I needed to find a bathroom. It became a battle between my desire to have some free time to shoot at Morgan Marine and my bladder telling me that wasn’t likely to happen. At one point I stopped my car to get a photo of an amazing view. I stopped right in the road. I very nearly took the chance to run into the grass to pee but wasn’t willing to risk it. The final leg of the drive was filled with a lot of leg bouncing just to keep my bladder distracted. Then, there it was, Morgan Marine. I made it. Before doing anything, I basically ran to the bathroom. Unfortunately, it was for members only and was locked. That was nearly the end for me, but I held it together and hustled over to the docks. There I asked a pair of teens who were working where the nearest bathroom was. I got pointed in the right direction, and within moments my nightmare was over. I calmly walked back to my car to grab my camera equipment to get some footage of the marina before everyone else arrived.
Yes I thought about running into the bushes to pee there.
5. Throughout my adventure on this movie shoot, I did my best to stay in the moment and appreciate all of the new experiences I was having. As excited as I was, and am, for The Cabin to be a finished product, I was more keen on enjoying each memory as it was being made. I could have easily sat in my car and waited for Mark and the rest of the crew to arrive at Morgan Marine. It was, after all, a 90-minute drive early in the morning. I knew I’d regret it, though. Instead, I wandered all over the docks of the marina, capturing video and photos. I had never been to the Finger Lakes. Even though it would be brief, I wanted to get as much footage as possible so that memories, and blogs like this, would be chock full of details. There were dozens of boats docked, but surprisingly very few people in them. It ended up being a ruse. Only later on, when we were there filming and needed the appearance of isolation, did boat after boat of people come cruising by. It was a pleasant morning with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the mid-60s. I wanted to stand and soak in all of the sights and sounds of the marina and Keuka Lake, but from in the distance I spotted the rest of the crew arriving, so it was time to get to work on the last scenes for The Cabin.
Some of the boats at Morgan Marine
6. In reality, we only needed a handful of scenes to be filmed. A few of them were on the docks, a few were in and around Mark’s boat, and a few were on the water. Luckily, when greeting the crew, I heard about us going out on the boat to shoot. I get terrible car and sea sickness, which is loads of fun. It leads to me doing most of the driving when going on any sort of road trip. It also means I need a fresh stock of Dramamine when I go on any car or boat adventure. I popped one pill and then hoped we’d take our time filming on the docks so that the meds had time to kick in. Cody, it turned out, wasn’t the biggest fan of the water. I offered him a Dramamine, but he said he’d be alright. As I just mentioned, only when we started filming did a seemingly endless stream of boats and even jet skis start to arrive and depart from the marina. The scenes are supposed to be in a very isolated area, so any sort of sound ruins the illusion. It was funny at one point I was filming behind the scenes, and Mark had to stop his own filming due to a plane going overhead. His giving the plane the middle finger had us all cracking up. Another laugh came when Jeff dropped his script on the dock, and a page went into the water. Fortunately, it was a scene we had already shot, so the sopping wet paper could be thrown away. The scenes on the docks went smoothly, so all that remained was getting some action shots out on the open water. By this time my Dramamine had kicked in, so I was itching to go. I just hoped Cody would be okay.
7. Keuka Lake is one of eleven lakes in the Finger Lake chain. It is unusual for its Y-shape. We were all the way at the northernmost tip of the eastern end of that Y shape. The lake is 20 miles long. I was hoping for a nice long cruise around but was also realistic. I knew we needed to get a few scenes on the water and that business came first. One scene included Jeff driving the boat. Mark had to get it going and then get out of the driver’s seat. Next, Jeff had to sit down and start driving carefully while also reciting his lines. My job was to sit, watch, and get some behind-the-scenes footage. I definitely had it easy. Once Mark got back to driving, we picked up speed and started cruising. I was thoroughly lost in the sights and sounds of Keuka Lake. I tried to get as many photos of as many lakeside properties as I could so I could remember the moments. It wasn’t lost on me just how much I had seen and done in such a short time. The airfield, the cabin, the university lab, the group dinners, the sunset chats in the front yard, and now a boat ride. There was so much to remember and talk about for so long to come. All good things do have to come to an end. After probably 20 minutes of cruising, we headed back to the marina. There was one final scene to be shot, and very fittingly I missed Mark saying ‘that’s a a wrap on The Cabin.’ I caught the last moment and had to then ask him to repeat himself, wicked smart. Jeff, Cody, and Michael headed back to dry land while I helped Mark put the cover on his boat. With each snap attaching the cover, I felt the reality sink in. My time on the movie shoot was ending. I knew it was meant to be a very full but also very fast shoot, but still it felt like it was over too soon. I savored each snap of that cover.
8. Despite the others quickly heading off to the parking lot, I knew they wouldn’t be going too far. One because Mark was driving at least some of them, and most of all because the end of the shoot meant it was time to dish out payments. This was a lot of fun. There I was pulling my bag out of the trunk of my rental car, whipping out my checkbook, and asking people how they spelled their last names. Without disclosing any numbers, because that would be lame, I will say that I ended up giving extra money to everyone who acted in the film. Seeing their hard work close up inspired me and made me feel like they deserved a little more than Mark and I had originally agreed upon. One by one, I wrote checks. I shook each person’s hand and thanked them for being a part of this project. I truly meant it. I had wanted to be a filmmaker since high school. I had written The Cabin book in 2008. So, standing there on the shore of Keuka Lake after wrapping filming and looking at these people who had chosen to be a part of the film, it was humbling and left me full of gratitude. Mark joked that I was setting the bar high with extra pay and all of the thanks. When the time comes to do a second feature film, I will still have that same level of gratitude. I hope I never lose it.
9. It was time for us all to go our separate ways. Being smart, I ran to the bathroom one last time. I watched Mark and the rest of the crew begin the return trip south to Pennsylvania. I, on the other hand, was staring at one of the longest drives of my life. Mark had said that driving to Keuka Lake would leave me 90 minutes closer to Cape Cod when it was time to leave. This was not the case. I actually was 90 minutes further away. It was nearly ten hours straight through. I needed a break somewhere in the middle. It was then that I realized that a spot I had wanted to visit for years was literally right on my drive home. It was the Saville Dam in Barkhamsted, Connecticut. This was only 5 ½ hours away and would allow me a built-in break to stretch my legs and get some long-awaited photos. It was just before 1 pm when I threw the address into my GPS, also remembering to avoid toll roads, and rolled out of the Morgan Marine parking lot to begin the very, very long drive back to Cape Cod.
10. I headed southeast through the rolling hills of Western New York. In an interesting twist, I ended up not seeing any deer on my long drives to and from Pennsylvania. When I had done a 6-day, 2,100-mile road trip around the Eastern U.S. in 2019, I saw so many deer in New York and Pennsylvania that it was akin to seeing squirrels along the roads on Cape Cod. What I did see a lot of on this particular drive was Pennsylvania Dutch people. I don’t believe they are specifically Amish. These folks were dressed in 18th-century garb and rode on the sides of the roads using horses and buggies. Even if I didn’t see the buggies, I knew they had been by since there were nonstop piles of horse poop all over the roads. It was truly unique to see what probably added up to a dozen such vehicles within the span of an hour. If I had not been at the start of such a long drive, I might have been tempted to stop at one of their roadside stores, but my rental car needed to be returned by 9am the following morning, and I had no plans of spending more money on another hotel stay. It was Cape Cod or bust, Pennsylvania Dutch or not.
11. When undertaking such a long drive, it is important to stay awake and alert. This is obvious. But how do you do it? Music, podcasts, and having a passenger are all good ideas. I tend to break things down into smaller bites. I’d use my GPS to break the trip down into chapters based around each new command. There were, however, long stretches of time where I had to force myself to pay attention. Much of the highways in New York and Pennsylvania were as rural as the road out to the cabin where we filmed. There was beautiful scenery everywhere, but sometimes no other vehicles in either direction. Then came the defining moment of my drive. In a patch of busier highway, I saw a car coming up on me. I was in the slow lane, just enjoying the drive. This car was speeding, and I knew this because a state trooper pulled behind them and put their lights on. I was both happy and sad since it wasn’t me, but that car was going to get pulled over. Or so I thought. Now, I don’t know about you, but if a cop puts their lights on behind me, I pull over as soon as possible. That’s kind of the point. I didn’t measure the distance, but I’d have to say that the car behind me drove for well over a mile without pulling over. Maybe they didn’t see immediately, but after going on two minutes, there was no way that person didn’t know a cop was on their tail. I was saying out loud that they needed to pull over. The cop was not happy and pulled into the other lane, right up alongside the car. They must have yelled and pointed because moments later the car pulled over. I don’t know how long you have to keep driving while a cop is on you with their lights going to qualify as fleeing, but this car had to have been close. I do not want to know how much their tickets were because I am assuming the cop gave them more than one because they were pissed off.
12. The drive back to Cape Cod was sunny and pleasant. It was a far cry from the monsoon that I drove through to get to Pennsylvania. The only times that I got off the highway were to use a bathroom at a rest area and then to find dinner. One thing that was a good and bad discovery while I was on this trip was the fact that I could use Venmo to pay for food. When I open the app on my phone, it is now littered with payments to McDonald's, because they are everywhere. For dinner, I stopped at a McDonald’s in the small town of Valatie, New York. It has less than 2,000 people and is about 20 miles south of Albany. I noticed that prices are somewhat lower for a lot of things in Pennsylvania and New York compared to Cape Cod. Saving a few dollars on food was good after the rental car, hotel, and other expenses of a week-long movie shoot. I sat in the parking lot just after 4pm, listened to a podcast, and did some people-watching as a way to recalibrate before continuing on the long drive home. By this point, I had already driven over four hours and nearly 250 miles and was still about 90 minutes from Saville Dam. There was no rush; I knew I had plenty of sunlight left in the day. Before getting back on the highway, I stopped and got gas at a Stewart’s Shops, which was right down the street. This was another place I’d never been. It’s a chain of convenience stores with more than 400 locations in New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont. After eating dinner, though, I had no desire to go inside and buy any food, so it was just gas up and go. Sorry, Stewart’s, you weren’t that important to me.
Here is the Stewart's Shops in Valatie, NY.
13. The anticipation built as I got closer to the Saville Dam. My fascination with the spot has lasted for years after seeing numerous photos of it on Instagram. Being about 3 ½ hours from Cape Cod, a drive out there wasn’t a quick trip, so it had to wait. Visiting it was the unexpected cherry on top of the sundae that was an incredible week. It was just after 7pm when I arrived. There was still a little time until sunset, leaving me plenty of opportunity to get all of the photos I wanted. I parked at the west end of the dam because it was the first parking spot I saw. If I had gone across to the eastern end, I would have been better prepared for the surprise that awaited me. In a public place, you have no control over who will be there or what they might do. I understand this. But there’s a big difference between families with screaming kids and what I saw here. At Saville Dam, closing in on 7:30pm on a Sunday, there were at least ten cars parked along the road in front of the beautiful gatehouse, which is the main photo point of the area. These cars were all owned by young people, probably in their late teens and early 20s. Oh, but they weren’t just parked. No, they were each taking turns racing by the gatehouse like a single-sided drag race. These idiots had no concern for any normal people who might have been driving that road or stopping to get photos of the area. I did my best to get all of the footage I needed. I can always overlay nature sounds on the video and mute the stupid cars. I stayed there for about 30 minutes, and by the time I left, it was almost dark, but the kids and their cars were still there. It was a weird mix because the Saville Dam itself was exactly as cool as I’d hoped, but the noise and foolish idiots racing there made it so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I might have if they weren’t. After sharing a few photos of the gatehouse on social media, it was time for the final push back to Cape Cod. 3 ½ hours of driving in the dark lay ahead of me.
The gatehouse at Saville Dam
14. I fully enjoyed driving the Honda Accord I rented. It had a lot of tech upgrades that my Toyota Corolla doesn’t have. There were LED headlights that turn from bright to normal depending on whether there’s a vehicle coming toward you. It felt good to finally give people a taste of their own medicine, seeing as how I have been getting blinded by LED headlights for years. They should be illegal. I enjoyed having the song display right in front of me along with the speed, plus the lane departure warning came in handy as it got later in the night. It also had a device charging pad located right under the radio. This was a great feature, but when you’re trying to see the GPS display and your phone is lying down, it became a bit annoying, so I didn’t use the charger as much as I thought. The next morning I filled the gas tank as is expected when you rent a car, and it made me even happier that I rented an Accord. Yes, the fill-up was a lot of money since gas probably costs double what it should currently, but it could have been much worse if I had been a fool and gone for the SUVs. I say that because the basic rental price of an SUV is less per day than a typical sedan, but you end up getting gouged on the gas. In the end, I would definitely rent that same type of Honda Accord again. Who knows, maybe when my Corolla is finally ready to be put to pasture (hopefully not for a few more years), I will buy one of those Accords as my next car.
15. The night drive through Connecticut, Rhode Island, and finally into Massachusetts was a war of attrition. I was just trying to make it home in one piece. In a funny twist, after seeing the Saville Dam for the first time, I ended up passing another spot that’s been on my New England photo bucket list. Jerimoth Hill in Foster, Rhode Island, is the highest point in the state. I have wanted to try to visit the highest points in all six New England states. So far I have visited exactly one, Mount Greylock in Massachusetts. I passed the sign for Jerimoth Hill at probably close to 10pm so I wasn’t going to hike to the top in the dark. Granted, it’s only about 811 feet high, but I’m not going to wander around a place like that in the dead of night. For a moment, I had thought that I put ‘avoid highways’ on my GPS because I seemed to be on a lot of local roads rather than highways. Finally, I found I-195 in Rhode Island, and it was smooth sailing home. I pulled into the driveway at 11pm. I had left Keuka Lake around 12:30pm. Yes, I stopped to pee, get gas, eat, and shoot the Saville Dam, but still it ended up being more than ten hours of almost nothing but driving. In total, I put more than 1,200 miles on that Honda Accord I rented. My Corolla at present needs some exhaust work and probably a few other smaller things. I couldn’t imagine having tried to pull that trip off in it. I’d probably have left it in a field near one of those horror houses in rural Pennsylvania.
16. I made it inside carrying all of my luggage in one trip. It was about all my body could handle. Even after driving for so long, I knew that I needed to take a few minutes to put everything away before simply collapsing into bed. I unpacked and drank some water. The next morning I needed to return my rental car by 9am. Only when I was about 7 hours into my drive home did I regret that decision. It all worked out for the best, though, as I saved money on an extra day of rental fees, plus however much I’d have needed to spend on a hotel room. The night ended the way most of my time on the movie shoot had; I did all I could, knowing that I’d have time to reminisce and enjoy it later. All of the photos, videos, and memories would be waiting for me in the morning. I had made it home after a marathon drive and a marathon week that felt like it had a month of memories crammed into it.
1. This was my fifth day in rural North-Central Pennsylvania and the third full day of filming for my feature film The Cabin. The heat and humidity finally broke, leaving us with perfect weather for our last day of shooting in the middle of nowhere at the cabin in Osceola. This day was a bit easier. The weather helped, as did the fact that we had left all of our stuff at the cabin the night before. We really only had to bring ourselves. I began the day as I had all of the other days: a quick energy drink and a protein shake. Then I was flying out the door to drive from Mansfield across to Wellsboro so we could carpool out to the middle of nowhere.
2. I had been meaning for days to stop at a spot near Mark’s house in downtown Wellsboro. It was a beautiful fountain surrounded by flowers on the town green. On this day, I finally left a few minutes early to allow me the chance to grab some photos and videos. It was a classic hurry up and enjoy it later type of shoot. I probably spent three minutes at the fountain before I had to rush off to Mark’s house. Later on, I learned that the fountain is called the Wynken, Blynken & Nod Fountain. They are characters from a Dutch children’s poem, and the sculpture inside the fountain features those characters sailing in a wooden shoe. I would have regretted not stopping to get those photos since I kept saying it every time I passed by it, whether I was alone or with someone.
3. The first thing we saw when we pulled up to the cabin on this day was the carnage I left behind from the night before. The front door had two bloody handprints from where I, as the monster, busted through to attack. Inside the bedroom, in a pile on the floor was the outfit, consisting of clothes from my own closet, that I had worn as the monster. They would be getting another use on this day. We were like a well-oiled machine by this point. The cast entered the cabin, and within ten minutes we were shooting.
4. Laughs were had as we realized an error we had made the previous day. Even though the humidity had broken the previous afternoon, we had wondered why the cabin interior remained like a sauna. We figured it must have been well insulated and retained heat. Now, one walk around the entire cabin would have told us that wasn’t true; still, we believed it. The tradition became that we showed up at the cabin and turned on whatever power we needed from the fuse box next to the front door. This is when we realized that somehow, someone had turned the heat on the previous day. We only figured it out when we spotted the thermostat set at 75. This meant that the previous day, when it was 85 and humid outside, we had the heat on inside anyway. No wonder we were cooking the previous day. Although, to be fair, wearing a huge trench coat inside during the summer would likely have made anyone sweat. During the morning, it was definitely more comfortable inside the cabin than it was the previous day. However, by early afternoon it was starting to get warm inside. This made us question our theory on the heater being turned on. Luckily, this was our final day at the cabin, and as long as we remembered to turn the heat off when we left (we did), then everything would be fine for the owners when they returned.
5. There were a few scenes inside the cabin where the main character was sitting at the dining room table eating. We had brought some food for us to have during downtime, so we figured we’d use that as props for the film. That being said, we did make sure to take the time to explore the kitchen to see if there was anything of use. Anthony and I had fun poking around looking for kitchenware and utensils for props. There were also some interesting choices as far as food left behind. I mentioned previously that the fridge included loads of beer and condiments. In one of the pantry cabinets, there was a stash of canned goods. This was dominated by green beans. I don’t know why we thought it was so funny and odd that this hunting cabin had several cans of green beans. I guess because you looked around and saw an obnoxious amount of deer heads and a month’s worth of beer, and you get one image in your head of a typical hunter, but then they have to have their veggies for health? Besides that, there wasn’t much else of note left in the cabin when we arrived. Well, except for the human-scent masking shampoo and deodorant in the bathroom. That was definitely interesting but also made sense as to how they managed to shoot so many deer.
6. One of the most memorable moments of my entire trip to Pennsylvania happened on this day. We had a scene in the film where a person had been killed and their body needed to be dragged from the cabin outside to be stashed somewhere near the water. The person who originally played that character was unavailable until much later in the day. Not wanting to sit around the cabin for hours, we decided to improvise. We had Anthony stand in, well, his legs did. There was a brief scene inside where Cody grabs Anthony’s legs. It then cuts to outside in the grass. Anthony is a big boy, so we were trying to figure out the minimum amount of movement we’d need to make it look like he was being dragged. We again had Cody grab his legs and then, through movie magic, filmed Cody close up moving backward to simulate dragging a body. I know, so far that’s not very interesting, but oh wait, the best is yet to come. We hadn’t wanted Anthony to have to lie in the wet grass, so I found a pretty grungy white tarp in the basement. A basement that looks to be right out of a Saw movie, by the way. Once he was on the tarp, we figured out that with more movie magic we could have Cody drag Anthony on the tarp with a few of us helping to drag it off camera. So Anthony lay on the tarp while one by one the rest of us pitched in to try to move him. It was an exercise in futility. Not even four of us together could get the tarp to budge. We all were laughing at the scene. Jeff laughed the most, so much so that he had to walk far away to hide how much he was laughing. I had wished there was someone to film this scene, but I had been in charge of the behind-the-scenes footage, and at that time my hands were busy trying to drag Anthony on the tarp. Mark wondered aloud if there was some other way to get the tarp to move. For his part, Anthony said a weight loss program would help. Mark said deadpan that we didn’t have time for that. This entire scene became the main source of laughs for us throughout the rest of the shoot.
7. When people weren’t needed on the set, they tended to venture off to be out of the way. Anthony and Michael had a few times when they went for walks or went exploring. I mentioned before that this cabin was probably a mile from any other house. The dirt road that passed the cabin saw at most three vehicles pass on any day that we were out there. So you could imagine my surprise when I saw an ATV slow down at the end of the driveway. We were shooting inside. Anthony and Michael were at the end of the driveway. A guy on an ATV slowed down, then stopped briefly, and continued on his way. A few minutes later, he returned and stopped for a little longer next to Anthony and Michael. Then he was gone again. I went over to help Mark and the crew any way I could. A few minutes later I looked back out the window and noticed Anthony and Michael were gone. My common sense said that they had gone for a short walk and probably weren’t far away. A small part of my brain wondered if that guy on the ATV had lured them back to his house of horrors with promises of candy, or beer, or something else. Maybe Anthony and Michael were being turned into skin suits as we spoke? After a few minutes of finishing up a scene, we decided to find out. Cody went out on the deck and shouted for them like he was a parent calling their kids home for dinner in the 1980s. Cody’s voice echoed, and then moments later we heard the callback. They were fine. We did make sure to tell them what we thought might have happened. Just in case they got the itch to wander off into the rural abyss. Oh, and as far as that ATV guy went? He lived on that road and knew the owners of the cabin. He had stopped to ask if one of them was there. Anthony told him they’d be back in the next few days, although he said he actually wanted to tell the guy we were robbing the place.
Deserted, until it wasn't
8. As we got closer to wrapping the shoot at the cabin, it was time for me to get back into costume as the monster. The outfit, coated in fake blood, was sticky and a bit cold. I had to be doused in the blood again. These scenes were part of the big climax of the film. There was lots of running and fighting. I loved the mask that Anthony had made, but there was a problem; it didn’t offer much in the way of vision. In fact, I had less than a quarter-sized hole’s worth of sight and only in my right eye. The rest of my vision was blocked. That meant I needed assistance when it came to movement. For my chase scenes, I asked that any rocks and roots be moved, and I would run in a straight line. I still went for it, though. I’d run, and scream and growl like I was trying to scare any nearby animals away. Of course, after nearly every scene I needed the mask removed since the only air coming in was from that tiny hole of a right eye. We had fight scenes where I had to do some stunt work, like taking a flat back bump (that’s a pro wrestling term). When swinging at people, whether with fists or weapons, I did my best to hold back since I couldn’t see well. I am happy to say I didn’t really hit anyone. In one scene, Cody had to hit me with a weapon. We chose a shovel. The mask provided a bit of cushioning, and I told Cody to give a good swing, not full-force but more than a love tap. In all of the takes of that scene, I barely felt anything but reacted like I was really hurt. Without revealing any major spoilers, I will say I got to have my Michael Myers moment in this film.
9. Once my scenes were wrapped, I was able to get out of the blood-soaked clothes and clean up. There was a problem, though. We had been keeping the water pump off because it seemed to be having trouble pulling water from the well. It was counting down to the end of the shoot at the cabin, and we didn’t want to break anything, so we thought it might be better to leave the water off and use the woods as a bathroom if needed. This was not helpful when it came to cleaning fake blood. We had to improvise. Anthony grabbed a few bottles of the ice-cold water from the fridge that we had brought. I lathered up with dish soap first, and then he started pouring. It was not a pleasant experience. I tried to hold it together but ended up shouting and cursing from the cold. This got us yelled at by Mark, who was filming a scene right outside. We finally broke down and put the water pump back on. Thankfully, it ended up working because I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning the rest of the blood off my neck and chest with ice-cold water. The costume and mask were kept as potential props for future films Mark might do. I told him he should make a comedy where it’s the same monster, but he’s just doing everyday things like laundry and mowing the lawn. Maybe that will be coming to a theater near you in the future.
A pile of (fake) bloody clothing
10. It was mid-afternoon when we wrapped filming at the cabin. We had worked so hard, with few breaks, and ended up far ahead of schedule. We honestly thought we’d have been at the cabin until well after sunset. Instead, we were cleaning up around 3pm. This was an arduous process. We all had to go room by room and put everything back the way it was. In reality, we left that place cleaner and better organized than we had found it. All of the kitchen utensils went back. We remembered to snag the black sheet off the bedroom window. It would have been interesting for the cabin owners to come back and see that setup, though. They might have wondered what kind of movie we had made. Everything was packed up, and we were ready to go. I sat at the dining room table taking one last look through my belongings. It wasn’t like if I forgot something, it was an easy trip back to the remote cabin. While I was sitting, thankfully, I noticed something. There was a big bloody handprint on the side of one of the chairs. We likely would have missed it if I hadn’t sat down. I’m sure Mark would have gotten a call about blood, even fake, left on their furniture. We cleaned it up, shut down all of the power, and headed out. We took one last look at the property before leaving down the quiet country road back to civilization. In total, we had spent something like 20 hours filming at the cabin. It was a fun time.
11. With the cabin scenes wrapped, and with there being time left in the day, we decided to celebrate. Mark said there was a local restaurant where he liked to go with the crew anytime he finished a film. Now we weren’t done, but we were close. The next day would be the finale. Since I was planning on heading back to Cape Cod right after filming wrapped, there was no other time for us to enjoy a celebratory meal than right then. The place was Harland’s Family Style Restaurant on Pearl Street in Wellsboro. Anthony said he was there a few times a week. He wasn’t kidding. When we all walked in, he got a reception like he was Norm entering the bar on Cheers. The restaurant was quiet, as it was 4pm on a Saturday. We got a big table. It only took me a few seconds to see what I wanted. On the first Saturday of each month, they did a meatloaf special. Since it was the first Saturday of the month, I knew what I was getting. What arrived was a gigantic slab of meatloaf and a healthy pile of French fries. The ultimate irony is that the veggie that came with the meal was green beans. Anthony and I laughed about how there had been so many cans of them at the cabin, and here I was having them with my dinner. We all ate and talked about what we had filmed and what was still to come. It had been an amazing adventure thus far, but it wasn’t over yet. Naturally, we retold the story of Anthony and the tarp a few times, mostly to see how much we could get Jeff to laugh. He is very quiet and reserved, at least that’s how I saw him, so seeing him get so animated, laughing at the tarp story, was great. The food was excellent. When I went up to pay for my meal, I explained to the woman that I was visiting from Cape Cod. She went on about how she’s always wanted to visit the Cape. I had debated giving her my number, but I didn’t want to seem like a creep, so I just thanked her for the food and walked away.
12. The shooting day wasn’t done, though. We went back to Mark’s house because we needed some scenes of his large shed that doubled as another cabin in the film. The only issue was that these scenes were at night. We all sat around on his porch waiting for sunset. It was fun to just hang out and chat for a few hours on a quiet street. I tried to make sure to remain present throughout the entire trip. Sitting in the front yard on a perfect summer evening was an unexpected but welcome part of the whole experience. I passed the time by doing a few cast interviews in Mark’s backyard. These will be a part of the bonus features on the future DVD release. Finally, it got dark enough to film. We needed longer to set up the lighting than we needed to actually shoot. It was a few simple yet creepy shots that will go nicely in the film. As producer, I tried to make my job being available to help in any way I could. I hauled equipment, handled the script, and even acted in a few roles. I figured I’d learn as much as I could in my debut as a producer so that when the second film comes around I’d have way more knowledge and could be more helpful.
13. By the time I left Mark’s to head back to the motel in Mansfield, the next town over, it was almost 9pm. We had eaten a little after 4, so I was feeling hungry again. I decided to stop at Weis supermarket, which was on the way. There I grabbed stuff for the morning and also decided on what I’d do for second dinner. I had become too familiar with the Mansfield McDonald’s. Running out of ideas as I drove, I figured I’d hit up the Sheetz near the motel. I’d grab something quick and easy I could toss in the microwave. Little did I know what the scene was like at Sheetz. I pulled into the parking lot and was shocked by how busy it was. There were cars and people everywhere. I guess Sheetz is the late-night summertime hangout for a lot of younger people in Pennsylvania. I couldn’t imagine hanging out at a Cumberland Farms on Cape Cod on a Saturday night. Once I found a parking spot, I ventured inside. I tried to make it a point to eat as many things on the trip that I couldn’t find on Cape Cod. McDonald’s aside, I think I succeeded. At Sheetz I had a big ol’ chicken sandwich which felt pretty dense. I also grabbed Herr’s chips and a sugar cookie-flavored whoopee pie. Healthy? No way. Tasty? Absolutely. I ate my second dinner at about 9:30pm. What was amazing about this trip in general was that no matter how much my adrenaline was pumping during the day, my body knew to shut it down by 10:30pm so I could get close to a full night’s sleep. I finished eating, had a short time to decompress, and then my body began to shut down. It was time for bed. There was one last day to come, as far as filming and my trip in general. It would end up being one of the longest driving days I’d had in my life.
1. I began the fourth day of my time in rural north central Pennsylvania by downing an energy drink and trying my best to wake up quickly before exiting the motel room to head over to Wellsboro to meet the rest of the crew. I found it amazing how fast my body will wake up when I have fun and exciting things on my schedule. If it was a typical work day, my body would have been like a Ziploc bag full of oatmeal. Yet, there I was on that morning, very tired but fully awake because of the adrenaline that kicked in as soon as my eyes opened. Each filming morning required me to be at Director Mark’s house in the next town over from where I was staying by 8:15am. No matter what time I managed to fall asleep, I was alive and kicking by 6:30am at the latest.
2. This was the first day that we would all be heading to the cabin to shoot. We were lucky in that Mark knew someone with a cabin nearly in the middle of nowhere. They were willing to allow us to use it for nothing. We had gone a few nights earlier to clean the cabin to get it camera-ready. That day, we packed up gear, loaded the food I had bought at Walmart, picked up anyone who needed to carpool, and started the journey to the tiny township of Osceola. I thought Mansfield was small, with a population of just under 3,000. Nothing prepared me for Osceola. Its population is under 600. On each of the drives out to the cabin, we would pass by many dilapidated houses. These looked like if you got a flat and needed to ask for help, you’d be shot before your foot touched the grass on the edge of their property. In fact, there was one time when Mark had to stop to wait for another car to catch up. I was carpooling with him. I was on my guard as we parked in front of one of these sketchy houses. When a person stepped out onto their porch, I was ready to duck and cover. There were never any issues with anyone on the drives out to the cabin, but it felt like the threat was always there.
3. A daily highlight on my drives, not only to the cabin, but just around where I was in Pennsylvania, was the fog and clouds. The elevation in the area ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 feet, and so there were times, especially in the morning, when the fog and clouds would be right at eye level or just above. We get tons of fog on Cape Cod; the spring is the worst of it. However, I hadn’t seen it hovering just off the ground, the same with the clouds. I couldn’t get any photos while I was driving, but managed to grab one while on a drive out to the cabin on that first day of shooting. It won’t do justice to how cool it was, but it’s better than nothing. Mark told me that the fog/clouds and the heat lightning that I found so exciting were so routine that it didn’t even faze him. I guess it’s the same as how I feel about the summer traffic on Cape Cod. No, wait, that’s never exciting or fun.
Looking at the fog on the horizon traveling toward Osceola.
4. The cabin itself was an interesting character not only in the film but for my trip in general. I mentioned the obnoxious amount of stuffed animals inside, and not the cuddly ones kids have on their beds. We arrived and, first off, had to turn on the power. This would come into play a few times throughout the shoot. There was a breaker for the pump, which allowed us to have running water. Not wanting to overdo it, we would only flip the switch for short bursts periodically when we needed to use water or the bathroom. I was honestly fine with just wandering off behind some bushes, but I know that’s not for everyone. We unpacked the food and set up the props, lighting, and scenery we needed. Even though we were only there for two full days, it did feel like we were arriving at an Airbnb. There were a few perishable items we brought: meat, cheese, and bottled water, so we had to shove them in the fridge. Surprisingly, the fridge was full. We didn’t get too excited, though; it was mostly condiments and copious amounts of beer, which I am sure the cabin owners had counted. There would be some time to explore the cabin thoroughly, but once we had everything settled, it was time to dive right into shooting.
A pano shot showing how isolated we were.
5. It’s funny, regarding the trip in general, I can tell how busy the days were by just how many photos and videos I got. This day was the busiest by far, with the following day being only slightly less busy. It should come as no surprise that, since we were shooting at a cabin roughly a mile from anything that the cell reception was nearly nonexistent. I would get flashes of one bar of service, but it was never anything that allowed me to post any updates on social media. I was, for all intents and purposes, off the radar for two entire days. I still shot a handful of videos on this day. I even began uploading one to Instagram around 10:30am. By the time we left the cabin, which was close to 9pm, that story was maybe 30% uploaded. I ended up canceling that upload and throwing all of the footage up once I got back to my motel room and civilization.
6. Being that we had a small cast and a small budget, I had a feeling that I might end up with a role or two in the film. One came about by my own foolishness. I was checking over the script while still on Cape Cod, and on the first page, in the very first scene, I saw that there was a character that I never cast. It was another friend of Will, the main character, who is being given the lowdown about why he was quitting his job. Since I was pressed for time, I decided to just record those lines myself, so that was my first role. Secondly, I took on the role of an investigator near the end of the film. This was relatively small, so I wasn’t too worried about remembering lines. This role was memorable because it came with a costume. Mark’s son Anthony, who is such a sweet person and a very talented visual effects person, brought this hefty trench coat with him. I agreed to wear it in my role as the investigator. The trench coat was memorable for two reasons. For one, it was 85 degrees and humid, so wearing it was like having a portable sauna. Secondly, it was too big. I looked like a five-year-old who got into daddy’s clothes. All I could do was laugh when the cameras weren’t rolling, of course. I was so inspired by the incredible acting jobs that Cody and Jeff did that I took on some extra lines and lightened the load for Michael, who played another police officer. A funny thing that won’t come through in the film is that my character was interacting with Cody’s character in a scene. The only issue was Cody had to run home to let his dog out. So we shot my scene with me interrogating an empty chair off-screen. I got really intense too. I hope I scared that invisible ghost I was yelling at.
7. As far as my roles in The Cabin go, we save the best for last. My third role ended up being that of the mysterious creature that stalks the main character. Coming into the shoot, I don’t think any of us had a clue who would be in that role. I had brought the outfit for the creature from my own closet. Anthony had made the mask. So we had the creature costume but nobody to play it. I didn’t need to have my arm twisted too much to play the role. For one, it had no dialogue, just a lot of growls, grunts, and howls. Also, it was another perfect full-circle moment. When I used to make skits with my friends with my camcorder in the 1990s, I enjoyed being a bit of a stuntman. I would fall and throw myself around to make things look good. Granted, I was now 30 years older, but how much different could it be? The answer was very similar but also very different. I had to get made up in the monster garb, which included a horrifying mask with one tiny eye hole for sight. There were also copious amounts of blood to make me look as gross as possible. A fun little issue came after nearly every scene where the neck of the mask needed to be tucked back into the collar of the shirt I was wearing. I looked a bit like a cross between Jason from Friday the 13th Part 4 and Sloth from The Goonies. The setup was all good to go, but could I pull off being the creature?
8. Yes. But seriously, we shot the initial monster scenes at night, and so with very little vision I had to basically use The Force to make my way around. This included crashing through a door, killing one person convincingly with no real way to see them, and then viciously trying to bash my way through another door. I was told that my performance terrified the others. Mark said as he was filming that he thought I was going to really break the door down, but he didn’t want to stop me. I left blood all over the cabin, some of which we wouldn’t find until it was time for us to pack up and leave. The initial crashing through the door was nuts. I went all out. Not being able to see much in the dark and with a quarter-sized eye hole made it easy for me to appear to be wild. I was throwing chairs, growling, and causing utter chaos. The only downer was one guy whining that I got blood on his shirt. It’s like, you’re acting in a movie; nobody forced you to come. Later on, as we were all leaving, we saw him pulled over in his vehicle, changing his shirt. He must have had a date that he didn’t want to know what he was up to. I would have another crack at being the creature the next day, but we’ll get to that when the time arrives.
9. Throughout our time out at the cabin, I tried to manifest a nature encounter. I saw a few deer, including one that walked into the front yard to eat apples. There was a rabbit that really seemed to enjoy hanging out in the back yard by the shed. Those were all well and good, but what I wanted was a black bear. Oh, I’m sure if I had been jumped by a bear I’d have regretted asking for it, but I never got the chance. I didn’t go all out and start playing bear calls on my phone or anything, but we were in the middle of nowhere in bear country; I mean, come on. A few times I wandered up into this clearing behind the cabin hoping that I’d sneak up on a bear foraging for berries. Yes, I did think to myself how stupid and dangerous it was, but damn it, I wanted photos of Yogi doing stuff. The closest I got to a black bear while in Pennsylvania came when I was walking the bike trail earlier in the week. I heard some noises coming from maybe 20-30 feet in the woods off the trail. I figured it was either a group of squirrels or maybe a deer. Mark said it was more than likely a bear since they like to forage for food in areas like that. I never saw it, so there’s no proof, but Mark lives out there and would know better than me. Therefore, I am considering it a near-miss with a black bear. In the future, the story will evolve into me fighting for my life against the bear, which is why I was unable to get any photographic evidence.
10. There were several hilarious moments during our shooting at the cabin. One that only became funny after the fact was as follows. It was broad daylight, but we needed to get some night scenes done. This required some lighting trickery, including shooting day for night, which will mostly be applied during post-production. A more practical way to make day look like night is to cover windows with something black. We had a sheet that would do the trick. First, Anthony and I tried taping the sheet over the window from the inside. This was a failure and included us losing the tape as soon as we put it down, despite neither of us moving from where we stood. It ended up being wedged between the mattress and the side of the frame. We even sent Michael outside to see if somehow we dropped it out the window. The next bright idea was taping the sheet to a pair of lighting stands outside and raising it up to block the window. The sheet was taped, but as soon as we attempted to lift it, everything unraveled, and the sheet fell to the muddy ground. Yes, the ground was soft and muddy, which made everything else harder. Finally, Mark found a ladder, and we were able to nail the sheet to the window frame. It ended up being like a scene right out of the Three Stooges. It took five of us about a half hour to get that sheet in place. We nearly forgot to take it down when we were leaving too. I could only imagine the cabin owners showing up and seeing a window totally blacked out. They’d probably have started wondering what type of movie we had been shooting.
Three Stooges Seal of Approval
11. Being on a tight budget, you have to become creative. I wish we had a more robust budget to use on props and effects, but that wasn’t the case for The Cabin. In the script, there is a scene that includes the main character finding the dead deer. Sure, we could have found stock footage of a deer to put in post. But what made more sense was grabbing one of the many, many deer heads off the wall and using it as practical effects. I grabbed one, which weighed next to nothing, and brought it outside to lay in the grass. It ended up working perfectly. Cody came around the corner of the cabin and spotted the dead deer, brilliantly shot by Mark. In the script, it is supposed to be all bloodied up, but that probably can be done in post-production. We just needed the one shot and then to get it back on the wall no worse for wear. My greatest fear was that I had hung it back up improperly and that it had somehow fallen off the wall and been destroyed. I figure if that had happened, the cabin owner would have called Mark, and at least as of this writing, I have heard nothing about damaged deer heads.
The one in the middle was used in the film.
12. After a long day of filming, you can get hungry. Sure, we had a lot of food that I got from Walmart; that was part of the budget after all. But finger foods like granola bars, donuts, bags of chips, and even peanut butter and jelly sandwiches don’t fill you up unless you eat a ton all at once. I had been picking at stuff when we had the chance, so by the time we called ‘cut’ to end the day, which was close to 9pm, I was starving. As I was in Mark’s car, being brought back to his house where my rental was, my wheels were turning as far as where I could go to grab something quick for dinner. I only knew a few places along my driving route back to the motel. One was a McDonald’s located maybe two minutes from the motel. I decided, why not? I was technically on vacation, right? Something exciting, but also troublesome for me, that I discovered was the fact that I could pay for my food through the app using Venmo. Not only was everything slightly cheaper than on Cape Cod, but now I could just click one button, and it was paid. I grew up in the analog age of the 1980s and 1990s. Most things I learned about now require fewer steps, which I don’t mind. I think if you grew up before technology took over, you appreciate the advances. If you are born into a world where everything is simple and convenient, you likely don’t appreciate it. I didn’t think about that much while enjoying my late-night dinner, though. All I could do was eat and hope that my adrenaline wore off soon enough so that I could get a relatively good night’s sleep before another full day of filming.
1. This was my third day in rural North-Central Pennsylvania for the shooting of my feature film debut, The Cabin. It was also the first official day of filming. I had arrived during the late afternoon on Tuesday after driving 450 miles from Cape Cod. The next day was mostly spent laying low and exploring a little. By the time Thursday arrived, it was all systems go. Unlike a typical ‘vacation,’ I had to be awake and out the door as if I was going to work. Mark, the director, wanted all of the necessary cast to be at his house by 8:15am. For me, driving from Mansfield to Wellsboro, the next town over, took roughly 15 minutes. Luckily, it was pretty much a straight shot on Route 6. The drive ended up being a regular occurrence, so I got used to the amazing hills. You really could fly down some of the hills. I know I got up to over 60mph at times. I have no idea how people drive up them during the winter months. The hardest part for me, besides just waking up at 6:30am on my vacation, was fighting the urge to pull over and get photos of the beautiful countryside scenery. It was literally all around me. It was especially hard when I passed a beautiful fountain on the green near Mark’s house. It took me until my last day in Pennsylvania before I finally got my photos and videos of that location.
2. I arrived thinking I’d be late, but I was actually earlier than most. Those of us who were there exchanged some small talk. I might do a lot of public speaking for my books and record weekly podcasts, but still deep down I am an introvert. Initiating conversations is not my strong suit. This is exacerbated when I am surrounded by people I don’t know. Mark, I had met a few times, so I was at least comfortable around him, but most of the other cast was new to me. As the shoot went on, I got more comfortable with everyone, but that first day I spent a lot of time being quiet, listening, and speaking when spoken to.
3. This shoot was a full-circle life moment for me. When I was in high school, I spent my savings on a Sears camcorder. I wanted to be a filmmaker. In those days, though, it was a lot of very loosely developed skits that I performed with my friends. There were no scripts. It was ideas like I thought I was a dog, and my friends took advantage of that with hilarious results. As a writer, I am all about symbolism. My plan for the first day, and more specifically the first shot, of The Cabin was to have something that tied it back to those camcorder days of the 1990s. A few years ago I found the red flannel shirt I used to wear all of the time in high school. It still fit, and didn’t disintegrate when I washed it, so I brought it along. I did get a smirk or two when I put it on, as it was humid and in the 80s when we were filming, but I didn’t care. I didn’t even take a photo of myself in the shirt on the set. The moment was only for me to symbolize that I had not given up on that high school dream, and in a small way, I had done right by my teenage self. I sat on the stairs in my red flannel as Mark yelled ‘action’ to begin filming The Cabin. It was a simple scene of the lead character coming home. Cody, the actor who played Will (the lead character), walked through the front door and past the camera. Nothing explosive, but I made sure I was rolling with my own camera as this scene played out. It was a seminal moment in my life. I did, however, take the flannel off not too long after since it was still a hot and humid summer day.
4. Nature was everywhere in Pennsylvania, even in the backyards of a typical neighborhood. I mentioned in the last blog about the deer that enjoyed sleeping in Mark’s backyard. On this day it was time for the groundhogs to shine. I mean, it is the home state of Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most famous groundhog, so of course they’d be everywhere. There was one that was hanging around a shed that we would end up using as another cabin for the film. I wanted a photo of it, and doing so through a window wasn’t going to do. I gently turned the back doorknob. It clicked ever so faintly. That was enough for the groundhog to scurry under the shed. Damn survival instincts kicking in. I eventually did get a photo of it, through a closed window.
It didn't want to stick around for a close-up.
5. The first morning of shooting was exclusively at Mark’s house. It was easy to have it double as the main character’s house. We took care of a lot of miscellaneous scenes that required me to do a lot of reading lines. Before leaving Cape Cod, I had recorded a series of scenes for the film with friends acting in the film. They’d all have been interacting with the main character, Will. Little did I realize while recording those scenes, where I did the lines Will would say, that I’d in turn have to do the same thing on the opposite side once I was in Pennsylvania. I had to read dozens of lines for Cody to keep time as Will. My voice started getting hoarse, which was pretty funny. I said to Mark after that there was a reality where we could layer my voice as Will speaking to my voice as each of the four characters that I recorded while on Cape Cod. I guess if our budget had been that small, it probably would have been close to that situation. Me as every character, just with different clothes and wigs. I found myself apologizing to Cody many times during the shoot for the long strands of dialogue he had to read. The joke I made was that The Cabin was just a remake of Cast Away, except instead of Wilson the volleyball, the sidekick was a pocket recorder. Cody really was 75% of the film, and he killed it in every scene he did.
6. The highlight of the first shooting day was our journey out to the Grand Canyon Regional Airport. It was a 10-minute drive from Mark’s house. We were lucky enough that a man who worked there was allowing us access to his Cessna plane for some scenes. It was a hot midday when we arrived. The scenery was amazing with the elevation. I was smart and put on some sunscreen, figuring that with my luck I’d get burned and then be miserable for the rest of the time there. We waited probably 15 minutes, wondering where our man was. We had knocked on doors and looked in windows, but it felt like we had been forgotten. Then, from a distance, we heard a motor. It got closer, and we spotted a red motorcycle. It pulled right up to us, and slowly the driver pulled his helmet off. It was a man in probably his mid-70s, definitely a surprise. His name was Skip, and he was the one who was gracious enough to allow us access to his plane. Not knowing how long we had, I was a madman, shooting as much video and photos as possible. I made sure to chat with Skip so that he could be included in the behind-the-scenes extras on the eventual DVD. It was another surreal moment as he pulled the Cessna out onto the airstrip and allowed us to begin shooting our scenes. I hung back and let Mark direct and Cody and Jeff act. It was weird at times because we were all there because of something I’d written, yet I’d often stay in the background and let the people with experience do their thing. Not everyone at the airport knew what was going on. Some guy in a pickup truck came barreling over to where Skip was standing and asked what was going on. They seemed to be fine with it, and we were allowed to keep filming, but momentarily there was a bit of panic as we thought we might have our time cut short. In all, everything went off without a hitch. We got all of the shots we needed. I got to get photographed inside the Cessna. There was even a plane that landed while we were there. I got that video and have sent it to Mark for possible inclusion in the film. We left the airport feeling enthused about the project, and it had only been a few hours of shooting. There was a lot of daylight left, though, and we had another location we needed to get to.
In between takes at the airport.
7. The Cabin is not Mark’s first rodeo. He has directed more than 100 films in his life, many of them shot around the Wellsboro and Mansfield areas of Pennsylvania. He knows where to go and what to look for as far as locations go. It was my first rodeo, but I was lucky to have Mark. I put my total trust in him as far as bringing much of my original vision for The Cabin to life. So when we left his house in the mid-afternoon to go shoot at Hills Creek State Park, I knew nothing of where we were going except that Mark said it was perfect. The spot he chose was the Beaverhut Boat Ramp, about a ten-minute drive from his house. Naturally, being a rural area of Pennsylvania anyway, this location was deserted. It was meant to be a stand-in for a secluded lake in Northern Canada, as was in the script. This was one of a few areas where the echoes when the actors would yell were mesmerizing. The sun was dancing in and out of thickening clouds, and I hoped that my sunscreen would hold on. It ended up being an eventful shooting location.
A perfect setting.
8. Cody, being the main character, was in nearly all of the scenes. With the film taking place over nearly two weeks, there were a bunch of wardrobe changes. We also tried to shoot all scenes in the same area at once, even if they took place on different days in the film. This meant that Cody had to change clothes repeatedly. At Mark’s house, or even later at the cabin, he had a clean and sanitary place to change. At Hills Creek, it was either change out in the open or hide out in a pretty putrid outhouse. I know how nasty it was because I had to use it at one point. I am sure it was checked on every now and then, but it felt like if I dropped anything on the ground in there, I’d have just left it behind rather than pick it up. It wasn’t as bad as some porta-potties I’ve seen in my life, but it was not a place I’d wanted to have needed to sit down in.
9. Just a friendly reminder, if you’re going to turn over something in the woods, be it a rock, log, or a canoe, be prepared that there might be something living underneath. For one scene in the movie, we needed Cody to act like he had just canoed across the lake. Luckily, there were a few overturned canoes on the shore. Unfortunately, the one that we chose had occupants. When Cody flipped it right side up, he immediately recoiled. Slithering around under the canoe was a pair of garter snakes. Now, honestly, these are small. The pair were probably only between 2 and 3 feet long. Cody doesn’t like snakes, so he was not happy. I, on the other hand, was practically falling over myself to get photos and videos. I knew they were harmless, and I didn’t intend to hurt them, so it was a win-win. In an interesting twist, one of the snakes had milky blue eyes. I thought maybe it was blind. After researching, I found out that it was because it was getting ready to shed its skin, and fluid builds up around the eyes to allow easier shedding. I didn’t try to pick the snakes up or anything. I have done that in the past to freak out other hikers. This time it was just filming them and being surprised that they stayed around the canoe despite there being a bunch of people around. Maybe they had eggs buried under there?
Ol' Blue Eyes
10. Our time at Hills Creek was almost finished when we got an unexpected guest. A few vehicles had passed by on the nearby road, but none had ventured into the parking lot. That was until a park ranger came rolling down in his white SUV. I knew enough to keep my mouth shut and let Mark do the talking. The guy was friendly and curious. He even said we didn’t have to tell him what we were doing. Mark was open about us shooting a movie. The ranger said he was new to the job but thought it would be wise to reach out to someone in charge to make sure it was okay. Mark said he would, but that was just to make the ranger feel like he’d done his job. When he mentioned that the film was a script I had written, the ranger started asking me questions about my work. I was surprised that I still had a few old business cards in my wallet. I gave him one, but as of this writing haven’t heard anything from him. The other funny part of this interaction was Mark explaining that we were going to be shooting much of the movie up at a remote cabin. He even gave the ranger the road it was on, inviting him to come on out and see. For the entire time we were at the cabin, a running joke we had was whether the ranger would end up showing up. He never did, unless it was long after we left. I mean, we didn’t say how long we’d be there. Sorry to him if he showed up later and the place was deserted.
11. It was getting close to 5pm on the first day of filming, but we still had another location to go to. This time it was the university in Mansfield where Mark worked. He was able to set up an abandoned laboratory to look like a hospital room. This was necessary for a few scenes near the end of the movie. The irony of this location was how close it was to the motel where I was staying. It was literally a 3-minute drive away. This would have been amazing for me when we wrapped shooting for the day, if not for the fact that we carpooled. After we got done, I had to be driven all the way back to Mark’s house to get my rental car and drive back basically to where I had just been. The scenes in the abandoned lab were fun. It was a battle finding outlets for the lighting, but everything seemed to work out for us during the shoot. As producer, I spent a lot of time managing the script. This meant that as the actors were going along, if they needed a line, I’d provide it. A lot of the shoot consisted of me asking Mark what I could do to help. This was all new to me, so I needed to be coached. For one scene, an actor, Michael, was playing an investigator. He had a lot of dialogue explaining some in-depth plot points. He had some trouble remembering all of the lines, which was understandable with how long the speech was. In order to put him at ease, we set me up in his line of sight with the script so he could just read the lines without it looking awkward on camera. This university location was another where I didn’t really have time to stop and soak it in. Luckily, I got a few shot videos of the laboratory, but those were interviews for the DVD extras.
A creepy vibe
12. When I am on road trips, one thing I enjoy is visiting stores that we don’t have near me on Cape Cod. I find them as exciting as attractions you’d find on TripAdvisor. I’ve already mentioned Sheetz. Another such place was Weis supermarket. There was one right on Route 6 on my drive back to Mansfield from Wellsboro. Needing something for breakfast the next morning, I stopped in. No, it wasn’t anything game-changing as far as a grocery store. I actually ended up stopping in a few times. Their flavored seltzers were good. I looked through their à la carte section, energy drinks, and barbecue sauces. Why the last one? Because many years ago my all-time favorite barbecue sauce, Cattlemen’s, was discontinued at every local store near me. I hold out hope that maybe some obscure market still carries it. Thus far, I haven’t found it anywhere. Now, to be honest, I can order it off Amazon, and I have several times. But I like the potential excitement of finding it in the wild. Much like with Sheetz, I got myself a few plastic bags with the store logo on them. Yes, I don’t spend loads of money on souvenirs; I just get plastic bags.
Yes it was an exciting visit
13. The first day of shooting ended with me returning to my home base motel well after 9pm. I had my Weis seltzer and stopped by McDonald’s, which was only a few minutes from where I was staying. No, it wasn’t the healthiest eating habits while on this movie shoot. Then again, it wasn’t the point. My entire reason for being in rural Pennsylvania was to film The Cabin. It wasn’t to hike, or run, or sightsee; it was for the movie. It kind of took the pressure off me as far as extracurriculars went. I didn’t have to feel bad about eating terrible, or needing energy drinks to get me in gear early in the morning. None of that mattered. If I ended the day feeling good about the work we all got done, then the day was a success. I could always amp up my diet and exercise heading into the fall. I wasn’t always going to have an opportunity to produce a feature film based on a story I wrote.
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