D.W. Moffett, Friday Night Lights: "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"
D.W. Moffett, Friday Night Lights
Hello there all you FNL fans!
D.W. Moffett here, and as they say so very loudly and so very proudly from the canvas rings of Las Vegas, "Let's get ready to rumble!"
This is the episode where the fireworks begin and the blaze starts.
You will see how it gets put out (or not?!) over the next few weeks.
So ... here we go!
• This week a little word pops up - "re-districting." It will have great ramifications on our little show over the next few weeks, so keep watching for that.
• Also this week, Gramma Saracen launches herself into a new storyline where the words "managed care" are used frequently.
• And what about our favorite non-couple? You won't believe what Landry agrees to help Tyra do. Help!
• J.D. McCoy keeps it going with his little hottie, much to the dismay of yours truly! In fact, I get so dismayed that I really, really behave badly! (I should maybe add another "really" to that sentence.)
Now for the fun stuff to watch for in this episode.
Keep your eyes peeled for the name cards at the bridal shower. I swear one of the girls is named "Aquanette." You would only really see something like that if you were watching a show for, like, the 10th time or reading my blog!
Much of the second half of this episode takes place in the rain. The bridal shower, the football game, the aftermath of the football game ... all in the soaking rain. Shooting scenes with rain, particularly heavy rain, is a sight to behold and truly something to see if you are at all interested in how they make "movie magic."
In order to simulate rain, you need to pump a lot — and I mean a lot — of water into your shot. For some reason, rain doesn't even register on-screen unless you create a deluge. You do this by renting what are called "rainbirds," these big, huge contraptions that are basically one big pipe on rollers and it's pointed up at the sky with three or four smaller pipes dangling off it. Then, way up high, these smaller pipes have little sprinkler heads on them. When you blast the water up the big pipe, you get huge cascades of water coming down on your scene (and your actors, and your costumes, and everything).
So, just imagine being halfway through your scene and someone forgets their lines, or a car that's supposed to drive through gets the wrong cue, or any number of other things go wrong and you have to start over. Only it's not so easy as that seeing as EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN IS NOW SOPPING WET AND YOU HAVE TO DRY OUT THE ACTOR'S HAIR AND DRY OUT THEIR COSTUMES, AND ON AND ON.
This can make for very exciting, very focused, very intense work when the rain is really pelting down. Everyone knows we better get it right and that there is a lot riding on everyone's efforts to do their very best the first time out of the box. No one really wants to sit around all night in wet underwear while we dry out someone's costume. You'd think they'd offer to dry out the underwear. but they never do. Hmmmmm.
Check out the scene with the McCoy family after the game. Extremely intense — and all the more so since it plays in a downpour. It's really cool stuff for an actor, and hopefully for you as well.
Enjoy the show.
Till next week,
D.W. Moffett
