My First Time In A Movie: 'Love Different'

Wow!  Where on earth to begin! I guess the beginning is the best place to start ('The Sound Of Music', anyone? ;). 

So I told y'all about trying to get a part in 'POLAR'...and I told y'all about auditioning for 'Loving', but I never told you about 'Love Different'!  Well, it actually turns out that 'POLAR' is one and the same thing as 'Love Different'. Apparently they changed the name or something so I had no idea until just a few hours ago that they were the same! ;) Anway...  

On July 1st, I received an email from AMTC regarding extras that were needed for an up-coming faith-based comedy called 'Love Different'.  I looked at the requirements and realized they didn't need my resume and they didn't even need me to audition. What did they need? If I was interested in being an extra, they just wanted me to email them and let them know which day, out of the many dates they posted about needing extras for, I could go!  I texted my AMTC friends and let them know about it as well (in case they hadn't seen/received an email).  One of my friends, Victoria, was going to go but the only day she was available they already had enough extras. :( The only catch with me being able to go was this: since I'm under 18, I have to have a parent or legal guardian with me on set. : /  Thankfully, Daddy opened up his schedule so he could take me! :D  I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family!! :)  And since dad had to stay with me on set the whole time anyway, I went ahead and asked if they could use us BOTH as extras.  Might as well, right?  Everything to gain, nothing to lose!  Well, I emailed them on July 6th, and we were confirmed on July 7th as being booked!  At the same time I had been corresponding with another AMTC friend, Adonis, who was trying to be an extra the same day as my dad and I.  Only a few minutes after dad and I were confirmed, he was too! :D  I was super exited! On Friday, July 10th, 2015 at 3:00pm in Silver Spring, MD, we would be on our first movie set!

Even though July 10th was two days ago, it feels like it's been ages! So much has transpired in the past 36+ hours!  

On the day of the filming, my dad and I left our house at 8am.  Dad had a few yards he wanted to cut on the way up to my grandparent's (and then MD) so a head start was needed. :)  Upon our arrival at the first customer's house, we were amazed to discover that one of the wheels on my dad's 16ft trailer was completely gone!  Not even the rim or lug nuts or anything was there!  NOTHING!  Of course we wondered how in the world we hadn't noticed but dad then realized that the bump he had felt the night before when he was driving must have been when it fell off. ;)  After we finished working at that house, we drove to 3 different trailer repair places that were nearby to see if we could get it fixed.  The last place we stopped at had the lowest price and they were kind enough to let us leave the trailer there so we could continue our journey northward.  They have to order a whole new axle so it'll be at least 2 weeks before it's fixed. : /  Anyway, moving on....

With the trailer delay and the fact that dad didn't have his big mower anymore, we didn't do any other yards on the way up to my grandparents. We arrived safe and sound at my grandparents around 11am.  We visited a little while before heading out for lunch at DQ! Yum!  :)  I had a grilled cheese sandwich, fries, and of course a cookie dough blizzard! :D We had to be on set in Silver Spring, MD at 3pm but we were also picking up Adonis.  This made for a 1:00pm leave time.  We left straight from DQ to head towards MD, the bus stop, and our first on set experience! 

We picked up Adonis around 2pm and made it to the set by 2:30pm.  :)  Perfect!

We were going to be filming 2 scenes inside the Living Well ABC Bookstore.  They were closing the store early for the filming but when we got there they still had 30 minutes until closing.  We followed some of the camera crew to the back of the building where we, and a bunch of other extras/crew members, sat in chairs eating/drinking the provided refreshments, talking, reading, texting, etc. I love meeting new people so it was a joy to meet some fellow AMTC family members and hear about the different points there were at in their journey.  :)  It was especially helpful talking to a lady that I sat next to, whose son graduated from AMTC in 2010.  I got some helpful tips from her son as well on how to be preparing myself for SHINE. :) When we had arrived, they had told us they would be filming two different scenes that day.  In the first scene they would only need some of us, but in the last scene, they would use us all.  Of course, I was hoping we'd get a chance to be in both of the scenes!  Before we got started, though, the CD (Casting Director), Anthony Hackett, opened in prayer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  What a blessing to be on a set run by fellow believers! :)

  After a while I saw a crew member picking out some people (I figured for the first scene).  I looked at him and he pointed our direction so I assumed that meant he wanted us as well.  I got Adonis and Dad and off we went for the first scene! :D  

In the first scene we were filming a part that, in the movie, will be AFTER the second scene we shot.  So we were kind of working backwards.  In order for the first scene to make sense to you, I'll explain the second scene first.  

Brief Synopsis Of Scene 2:

In the second scene we shot, Lindsey (the lead character played by the wonderful Jenn Gotzon), goes to the checkout and discovers she has, as her cashier, the same store employee who's been getting on her nerves ever since she got to the store.  When Lindsey is told that what she thought was a credit card (but was really an EBT card) has been declined she goes ballistic and starts yelling and jumping at the cashier.  In this scene, all the extras were involved.  Many of them were milling around in the store while this event occurred and some of us were in the line at the other register or behind Lindsey.  At the end of the scene, Lindsey is pulled/dragged away by her boss (I think it's her boss) who ends up taking care of the purchases (and cashier) himself. 

Brief Synopsis Of Scene 1:

That being said, the first scene we shot occurs after her freak-out.  She has been dragged away by her boss who meets back up with her after he's taken care of her purchases.  He then introduces Lindsey to his wife.  Then Lindsey's son, Brandon, a rude and disrespectful 13 year old, shows up after he had already been told to stay in the car.  Brandon is introduced to her boss and his wife and then he and Lindsey create another ruckus by Brandon's getting upset at her sending him back to the car.  He stalks off.  Lindsey is told to go home and relax and then they all exit the store.

SO, what did we do in the first scene?

In the front of the store there were two check-out lanes we used.  One where Lindsey freaked out, and the other one where the other customer's were purchasing their items.  They placed some of the extras in the background and told them to stay in such and such an area and look like they're shopping. Adonis was in the background with a cart full of whatever items he felt like collecting. ;)  Dad and I were placed near the front of the action and I was thanking Jesus the whole time! :D Dad was the second person behind Lindsey in her freak out scene and I was first in line at the other register.

You can just see my head in front of the guy with the purpleish/grey shirt.  Dad's behind the guy with all the chips in his hands at cash register 3. ;)

   Like I said, this is after scene 2 where Lindsey went crazy.  So at this point we are continuing with our purchases while she is talking with her son, boss, and boss's wife near the exit of the store.  So those of us at the register checkout and walk past them as they're having their conversation.  They only wanted one person to walk past during their conversation, though.  Someone that was not in Lindsey's line.  Well, that ended up being me!! :D  So after they filmed some shots with those of us in line, they sent everyone else back to their seats- except me and the crew! :D :D   Then they filmed some closer shots of the conversation Lindsey's circle was having and had me walk past them at the same point in the conversation I had walked past them earlier (when the other extra's had been there).  We did this multiple times (take one, take two, take three, take....you get the point ;). Then they brought everyone out for the final scene.

A view of the two check-out lanes (lanes 2 & 3) where we filmed.  You can see the camera & camera guy, the boom-mike & boom mike guy, and some of the extra lighting equipment they were using as well. 

What we did in scene 2:

In scene two we are in line (and Adonis is still with his cart) as Lindsey freaks out, is dragged off, and has her purchases taken care of.  Dad was once again ended up being the second person behind Lindsey but didn't get to that point until she was getting dragged off.  This time, I had 3 people in front of me, all who had to leave the line by the time the scene was over.  That way Dad and I both ended in the same positions we started with in scene one.  Make sense?  Two of those people in front of me were gone before Lindsey completely lost it.  When Lindsey started freaking out, me and the lady in front of me looked at each other in shock and horror.  Then the guy behind me nudges me and I look at him and the phone he's holding to record the crazy incident. ;)  It's quite funny! ;D  We were all reacting as you would expect if such an incident were actually to occur. 

Lindsey (Jenn Gotzon) getting dragged off/away from the chashier, BoneQuesha (Gabrielle Donadio).

Then voila!  After multiple takes of that, we were done!! :)  Before we all left, we got a group picture in front of the store:

Most of our crazy awesome cast and group of extras! :D 

Ms. Jenn Gotzon and I after filming. :)  

She's a super sweet, crazy energetic, Christian lady and was more than happy to get a picture with me. :)  She also happens to be an AMTC graduate and award-winning actress! :)

__

After we left the set, we drove Adonis to his hotel for the night. I told him he had to sing with me as payment for us picking him up (if you remember back to THIS post, I talked about how we were practicing singing together for the Sing-Off). We decided to sing the first part of "Mighty To Save" after which we got a group picture:

 Yeah, we have fun. ;)

Dad and I made it back to my grandparent's house around 8:30pm to pizza and conversations. :) After grandpa and grandma headed to bed, dad and I stayed up until 1am watching 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. :). I had only gotten 6 1/2 hours of sleep each of the past two nights so I was really tired, but I pushed through the headache for the movie. ;). No pain, no gain, right?!

The next morning....well, it wasn't morning.  I didn't wake up until 12pm. ;) I promise I've never slept that late before!! I guess I was super tired or something!  Anyway, I went downstairs and everyone was gone.  Dad was out power-washing my grandparent's deck while grandpa and grandma were out and about. So I read my Bible until grandma got back with some nuggets and potato wedges from KFC. :) Then dad and grandpa joined us for lunch (well, their lunch, my breakfast ;).  After lunch, dad went back out to work on the deck and grandma and I went through a bunch of her jewelry (though not all ;).  A little while ago, she had said she would go through it with me sometime but she had been dreading and avoiding it....not this time, though. ;)

A small amount of the jewelry we went through.  We cleared out a bunch of it (though we kept even more ;).  In some of her jewelry cases we discovered some old pictures of my *adorable* dad when he was younger and some other mementos. :)

This is a napkin from my mom and dad's wedding! 8-8-92

And a few pictures of my super cute dad:

No wonder he was a lady killer, right?! ;)

Anyway, by the time we finished going through some of her jewelry it was 4:30 and dad was just finishing up the power-washing.  Dad then had a few more yards to do before we would head home.  Grandpa and grandma had a church service to go to at 5pm so once they left, I sat down and started on this post.  ;) 

Grandpa and Grandma got back around 6pm and about 45 minutes later dad was done his work and we headed home.  We did one more yard on our way homeward. :)  We also stopped at the place where dad's trailer is to see if they had left it out, but thankfully they kindly put it behind a fence with some other things of theirs so dad's mower/trailer wouldn't get stolen. :)  Then we went to Lavender Fields and picked up dad's old 12ft trailer that he had traded to a friend of ours.  We had contacted our friend when dad's trailer got messed up and thankfully he was willing to let dad borrow it until the 16ft trailer can be fixed. :)

We got home around 9:30pm and settled in our den with the rest of the Wassenberg family left at home.  With mugs of home-made, fresh-churned, oreo ice cream in our hands we relayed the events of the past day's adventures with our family. :)

And here I sit, at 12:25am, finishing up a post for all you lovely readers of mine. :)  

I hope you have enjoyed this update- there will be more to come so stay tuned! ;)

May the Lord's peace and blessings be with you all!

~Alexis Noel

www.lovedifferentthemovie.com