A Carousel In Silhouette

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They were in first grade. Alan Gaetz said something mean to Sophie about her glasses and made her cry, so Gary punched him in the nose and then Alan punched him back and the teacher made them both write lines on the chalkboard. The next day Alan said sorry for making you cry to Sophie and the three of them played kickball for the rest of recess.

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"This isn't going to work, Gary."

"What isn't?"

Craig pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "The boom mike. We won't be able to get it low enough to hear the actors without it casting a shadow on the screen."

It was yet another in a string of problems. He was the Director and the Producer, which meant that all the decisions were his problem.

Today was the first Saturday in May. Midterms were over, one less thing to worry about. They only had this weekend to get the whole set put together, then three weekends of filming. He still hadn't cast The Banker, so he knew he was going to have to shoot those scenes in the third week of the month rather than next weekend. He'd have to shoot the whole thing out of sequence.

It was barely-controlled chaos in the warehouse, even with just the six of them, and the only control at all was Gary. Everything was on him. Everything was coming out of his pocket.

"Maybe we can get some wireless mikes?"

"I thought of that already. Here's the kind you'd need." Craig showed him the webpage on his phone.

Gary gave a low whistle. "That's nearly as much as it cost me to rent this warehouse. We gotta figure something else out." Looking over Craig's shoulder, up a ladder: "Hey George, we're not gonna use any key lights for this shoot, you may as well take that one right back down - the other one too. Thanks." Thumbs up.

Alan and Trevor were putting together the platform that would be the stage. It was about eight feet by sixteen, raised up off the concrete about a foot. You can do rather a lot with a bunch of plastic milk crates zip-tied together. Eight groups of four crates, four at the corners and two on the sides and two groups in the middle-ish, then sandbags in each group of crates, then planks and plywood - the wood was the expensive part - it took them the better part of the afternoon to get it set up, as well as some two-step stairs on each side, but it was solid. A bunch of cables and extension cords snaked under the stage from front to back.

Craig was working on the sound, trying to figure out how to get sound from every part of the stage, and damping out external sound. George was now setting up the green back lights, easily the most expensive thing Gary had to rent, two rows of four big lights with green filters, one set above the other. Those would later be wired into the master console that Craig had set up next to the camera, allowing Gary to control all the lights and microphones. That way Gary could leave the left side of the screen dark and brighten the right or vice versa, all from behind the camera.

The screen would have to be installed tomorrow, they just didn't have time today. Sophie had set up some folding tables and stacking chairs in the area that would become the three dressing rooms, which would end up being curtained-off areas in the back of the warehouse behind the stage. There wouldn't be any water in the dressing rooms, so she had to get some basins for the actors to use when taking off their makeup. The mirrors were rentals, too, with lights around the outside. The curtains that would eventually become the walls, also rented. There were extension cords and cables and boxes all over the place.

On Sunday, Gary and Sophie and Trevor were back at it - George had a practice, Alan had to work, and Craig was way behind on his Chemistry homework. They got the "walls" set up, poles that bolted together really, and hung the curtains. Those poles made a handy place to get the extension cords off the floor. The curtains everywhere not only marked out the boundaries of the dressing rooms, they were also placed at the sides of the stage to help deaden echoes. The screen had to be assembled flat on the floor and then hoisted into position, and it was surprisingly heavy when it was all put together - where's George when you need him? - but they got it up and in position. The tripod was right in front of the middle of the screen, set just far enough back that Gary's trusty old camera could see most of the screen.

While the boys were wrestling with getting the screen and lights parallel, Sophie took a knife to a sheet of styrofoam. Satisfied with the result, she duct taped a meter stick to the styrofoam, and moved it up and down in slowly in front of her. Yup, that'll do.

"Hey, you guys ready to do a screen test?" She grinned at her own joke and waved the styrofoam at them.

Gary smiled. "I think so. Why don't you go up on stage and we'll get the lights." He turned on the laptop and camera, "actually, I'm going to need a minute to boot up..." Ok, double click on this, ok, camera... He hit the green back lights on the console. "Trev, can you shut off those fluorescents? Thanks."

Sophie stood on the stage, holding the meter stick with the styrofoam cutout. "How about you sit down on the stage and hold that up? Move closer to the lights... a little closer... Oh, that looks great, can't even see your shadow. Ok, now move it up and down. Uh, make it more cyclical like a..." Heh. Whaddya know, trig can be useful. "Like a sine wave."

Trev spoke up behind him. "That would be cool for an opening title sequence. Looks just like a horse on a merry-go-round."

That gave Gary a few ideas. "Spud, can you keep doing that but just move it to the left... no, my left... yeah, right there. Just ten seconds there. Ok, great, now to the right. Keep going, try to keep it the same pace...Perfect! Ok, cut, let's have a look."

Trev and Sophie looked over Gary's shoulder. He scrolled back until the carousel horse was on the left side of the screen. "Ok, so the title can go here..." he pointed at the blank spot, and then the horse switched to the right. "...and then more text here... and then I can just flip back and forth between the two, and there's the whole title sequence." Sophie held up her hand; Trevor gave her a high five. Gary looked over his right shoulder. "Nice job on the horse, Spud."

Gary allowed himself maybe five seconds of pride. This was it! He had finally officially started filming The Carousel. Craig's words from yesterday brought him crashing back down. "We have to test the sound."

They brought the boom mike as low as they could; the tip of it was casting a shadow on the screen, but Gary's camera wasn't covering the entire screen all the way to the edge. A centimeter lower and it would have been in the frame. Gary had Trevor and Sophie sit on some (rented) stacking chairs on the stage and had them run through some lines from scene nine, on the airplane.

Craig was right. The sound was awful. And there was no way he could afford those wireless mics. Gary did have a couple of handheld microphones, and they duct taped those to the chairs and ran the cords down the legs and out to the console. The console was plugged into the computer, so the sound and video were at least synchronized automatically, one less thing to worry about. It was Craig's console, something he used for DJ stuff but it worked just as well for Gary's purpose, and Craig had loaned it to him for a month and showed him how to put everything together. With the extra mics, the sound was... passable. Not as good as he wanted, but it would have to do.

The studio was as ready as it would ever be. They had some fun making shadow puppets with their hands, and then shut everything down and left for the night.

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That week Gary and Sophie had to make up four sets and the costumes for The Actress, Little Miss, The Politician, The Rock Star, and The Husband. Gary had figured on only being able to get each actress for one day, and had basically arranged the shooting schedule around the availability of his five actresses, which took a little juggling. He still hadn't been able to cast The Banker, but the way the schedule worked out he still had a week to fill that role.

This coming weekend he'd be shooting scenes eight and nine on Saturday, with The Politician and The Actress and The Rock Star, and then on Sunday it would be scenes six and seven with The Rock Star and Little Miss and The Husband.

Denise Boychuk was running late. She had a bunch of errands to run Saturday morning, and then got a flat on her car, and then of course she couldn't miss her workout - no time to play with Ramon at the gym afterwards, she'd gone straight to the studio after her workout. Too bad, he was a good fuck, but she was already getting bored of him after a few weeks and had her eye on a couple other guys at the gym anyhow - but of course, there was no time. She would just have to live with being horny.

She hadn't always been like this. Up until a couple of years ago she wouldn't even have considered getting a little something on the side. But then there had been that ski trip that she and Trudy Richards and Jessica Crane had chaperoned - it had gotten a little wild, and awakened something in her, a craving for some strange. Trudy's little boy had been born nine months later - thank God he kinda looked like Trudy's husband!

She pulled into the parking lot, and spotted Gary standing in front of a bay door. He saw her as she started walking from her car, and waved. He held the door for her, and she walked into a room with curtains for walls. He led her through the warehouse, pausing to show her where the washroom was, and they walked past the screen and the set, where he showed her to her dressing room. It, too, had curtains for walls.

"Oh, how pretty," she thought as she saw the flowers off to the side of the table in front of the mirror. There was a wine bottle and wineglass there too, how thoughtful. Maybe later. Then there was some makeup and a basin and a washcloth and small hand towel, a wig on a styrofoam bust, and a stacking chair in front of the mirror.

She got into her costume. This was the easiest costume for Gary, since he didn't need to make it at all, just take the longhair wig and do it up in a clip. He'd just asked her to wear the kind of dress she'd wear on New Year's Eve, and she had brought a slinky red number and some strappy heels.

The makeup was pretty basic. Gary had told her to put it on like a mask. It was a hideous purple color, and she slathered it all over her face. Then the wig. She looked ridiculous. She went over her lines until Gary called The Actress and The Politician to the set.

The guy playing The Politician looked even more ridiculous than she did. His suit was too small, for one thing, and he was a little chunky, which made the buttons strain. He had on a clip-on tie. The wig he was wearing made it look like he was bald with only a fringe of hair. The weird makeup obscured his face, and it was further obscured by a fake nose and glasses and bushy eyebrows - was that a Groucho Marx mask with the mustache removed?

They might have looked ridiculous to each other, but their shadows sure looked the part. He was the middle aged career politician, one too many trips around the barbeque circuit, and she was the elegant but past-her-prime actress. She had no clue who that guy was, and she was sure that her makeup was having the same effect. Completely anonymous to each other and the world.

The scene took place on an airplane. The set consisted of four stacking chairs, each pointing to the left and each with an identical cardboard shape duct taped to the side. The shadows were supposed to represent first class airplane seats. There was plenty of leg room. The Actress and The Politician were to be seated in the second and third seats, the first and fourth left empty. Hidden behind the cardboard, microphones were taped to the backs of the first three seats, the cables running off the front of the stage and under the screen to the console. The second and third seats had extensions up the back, some PVC tubing with a couple of 90 degree angles formed in the shape of an upside down U, each duct taped to the back of a chair and barely hidden by cardboard. Those represented the tops of the headrests, giving the actors some physical cues.

Gary figured that Clint Eastwood had the right idea about directing: treat the actors like they're horses: just lead them around and don't spook them. He chatted with them a little about his expectations for the Mile High Club scene, asked if they had any questions, and then said, "Ok, then, whenever you're ready, go ahead."

"I love flying First Class," said The Politician, starting the scene.

"Me too. It isn't normally this empty."

"Ah, redeye flight. Say, I think I recognize you. Didn't you do a bunch of movies?"

"Well, mostly I'm on Broadway now. I think I've seen you before, too... Senator...?"

Back and forth, the conversation became flirtier. "It's hard for a man in my position..."

"Well, there's all sorts of positions..."

"You know, I might have a position for you."

"Let's stop it there. Ok, you guys are doing great, but there's a lot of lines in this scene and I'm going to need you to get through that first part, up until 'a man in my position', just a little bit faster. Make it like the two of you click immediately and it's banter, and then with that line it becomes flirting and the two of you are seducing each other. Ok? Go ahead, Politician, whenever you're ready."

"I love flying First Class."

Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn? Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis? Not quite, but The Actress and The Politician knew their lines. They got through the first part faster, and then they were flirting. She was kneeling on her chair, her breasts resting on crossed arms on the "headrest". It looked pretty convincing.

"And, Cut. Ok, that was way better. I think we're going to need to move the scene along even faster, though, so Actress, how about you do that kneeling thing you were just doing, start doing that in the middle of the 'banter' part. And start playing with your hair about that time, too, and then don't say the line about the men in Hollywood, skip ahead to 'How do you manage to find the time?' Ok, let's try it again from the top. As soon as you're back in position, Actress... no that's ok, don't worry about it, you're doing fine, really. Ok, Politician, go ahead."

They ran through the scene again, a little faster, bouncing lines off each other, and skipped those few lines seamlessly. She liked this actor playing The Politician. He smelled nice. His voice was a little raspy, and she thought it was kind of sexy, like Rod Stewart or Bryan Adams. Or Bonnie Raitt, for that matter, she laughed to herself. She really was flirting with him, licking her lips, laughing gaily and playing with her hair.

Gary was pretty happy with this take. It flowed, it was building at a good pace, and The Actress was clearly getting into it.

She moved the scene along, getting up out of her chair and moving around to stand between her chair and The Politician. "You know, maybe there's a way we could make this flight a little more - memorable." She put her hands on his knees, knelt down, and ran them up his thighs. "It could be our little secret." Hmm, nice quads. She was missing her afternoon romp with Ramon, and the lights and the lines and the flirting were making her hot. What the heck, nobody but this guy is ever really going to know what I'm doing back here, he seems nice...this really could be our little secret. You're about to get the surprise of your life, buddy...

Her hands kept roaming further up his legs, and Trevor was loving every second. This chick had some really nice long legs and a great ass. Nice boobies, too. And here she was, saying these lines from this super hot script and really doing it.

She was unzipping his pants, and then pulling them down along with his underwear. Not bad, average size, she thought, and happy to see me. Well, I'm happy to see you, too. Let's have a taste.

The shadow of her head was bobbing up and down in The Politician's lap. He had his head tilted back, pressed against the PVC. Then her shadow stood and turned around, and the skirt was hitched up above the waist, and then she was bending at the waist and the shadow of her G string came down her legs. This looked even better than Gary had imagined.

The Politician did something she didn't expect. He put his hands on her ass, pulling her butt cheeks apart. She was bent at the waist, wrapping her hands around the PVC, and The Politician stuck his face into her bottom. His tongue was licking her from behind, that ridiculous nose resting in the crack of her ass.

"Cut! That chair just moved. Actress, can you just reset that chair there on the marks on the floor? perfect. Ok, uh, reset your costumes and let's take it from where you get up out of your chair. Oh, and try to just rest your palms on that pipe without closing your hand around it, you wouldn't be able to do that with a headrest. Ok, whenever you're ready."

She got up out of the chair, said her lines again, kneeled again, and then she was sucking The Politician's cock again. Poor guy, getting two blowjobs in the space of five minutes. She got up, hiked up her dress and slid off her panties, leaned over with her palms on the PVC, let him lick her for a few seconds.

She was really horny now. She stood, turned around, pushed on his shoulders until he was upright again. Hands on his shoulders, she kissed him. Then she turned around again, put her hands on his knees, and slowly sat down on his cock. Up down, up, down, rocking forward and back a few times, up and down again. His hands were on her tits, he was kissing her neck and that soft spot above the collar bone. She was bouncing and rocking and rolling her hips in a circle, making his cock reach every part inside her.

Trevor was on cloud nine. This chick was one hot slut. What a fantastic ass, god her tits feel awesome, and they're real...oh, fuck yeah, she's been doing Kegel exercises.. fuck this feels great. "Oh fuck, I'm gonna cum."

"Yes, do it." She didn't stop riding him, just rotated her hips and flexed inside. That sent him over the edge, and he squirted in her.

"And cut! Good job, you two. That worked out really well, the pacing was really good this time. Actress, go ahead and take a break while we set up for your next scene. Politician, you're done for the day, well done, that banter was great."

She was back in her dressing room, touching up the makeup. Sone strands had come loose from the wig, so she took out the clip and fixed it. There that's better. Well, better than before, but it's like eating half a spoonful of ice cream. That guy had been all right, but not like Ramon. Ramon is thick. This guy... ok it wasn't like throwing a hot dog down a hallway, but... I need something more. Maybe this next guy...

The scene was set in a coat room at some swanky party. Again, a simple set. A couple of one inch PVC tubes about seven feet tall, PVC base holding each vertical, fisheye bolts holding a couple coat hangers, and a couple of light jackets. The microphones were duct taped at about waist level, covered by the jackets and their cords hidden by the poles. Total cost for the set, less than twenty bucks.

Gary called The Actress and The Rock Star to the set. There were a lot fewer lines in this scene, so Gary asked them to kind of stretch the second half out a little bit. That was ok by Denise. Who cares if he's shorter than me? Burn through these lines and let's get to the fuckin'.

"Ok, whenever you're ready, go ahead."

"This is some party, huh?" They ran through the lines, and then she was standing close, rubbing his bulge.