March 29, 2007 - The Grass is Greener Outside the City

I got up at 6:15, far too early for my tastes. I was a walking zombie for my first few hours. The crew was told to arrive at 8am. Preparations began early, as filming took place in Stanton Island today. A courtesy van drove us in, arriving sometime around 9. I saw lots of interesting sights along the way. We passed Ground Zero (it encompasses a huge square of land), went through the Battery Tunnel, and over a large suspension bridge.

Stanton Island itself is incredibly scenic, at least from what I saw of it. I wish I’d brought my camera, because their first filming location was beautiful – a wooded lake. It was something I certainly didn’t expect to see so close to the city. Watching the cast and crew do their thing was enjoyable. I learned a few new things about setting-up shots, preparation, and lighting. I never knew so much work went into outdoor lighting.

Sometime after 2 o’clock, the crew moved to another location, a nearby house in an older neighborhood. I have to say it was a welcome sight. I haven’t seen freestanding houses with grass and trees (and property!) since leaving Michigan. The locals loved having the show film there. Dozens of people stood along the sidewalks, watching. The crew had a few of them appear as background in a few shots. There was lots of downtime for Vince and Kate, while preparations were underway inside the house. Residents used this opportunity to take snapshots with them and get autographs. Vince and Kate seemed to enjoy it. They must’ve posed for dozens of photos.

The weather today was nice. It started out a little cold and breezy, but warmed up to around 60 degrees. Even though it wasn’t hot, I was surprised to come home and find out that I got a pretty bad sunburn.