One Mile = Five Seconds

Sometimes, shooting a series has its own special complications. When creating a series, you need to repeat certain themes that are the core material of your over all vision but you have to do so while still keeping the visuals fresh and arresting enough to hold your audience; and in the case of "Ghost Sniffers," that audience is vastly varied in age.

In Episode 11, which wrapped yesterday at 7:30PM, Maxo finds himself in a fantastical world with towering trees, crazy twisting trails and road signs with names like Flying Squirrel, Croaking Frog, and Trepidation. In order to secure the footage of such a grand forest and such fanciful signs, I knew exactly where to go.

Then the car broke down.

Our family of five was already split that day with Cris, Faith and Maxwell going to see Kyra (Potro of the Four and Wiz from EP7) in a staging of, among other things,"Fifteen Minute Hamlet," so it was just Brianne and I who were going to drive to the location in our borrowed second car and hike in. There was no way I was going to tell the kiddos that they couldn't go see their friend perform, especially since the acting group Kyra is part of (a group of homeschooled kids with an acting coach) is what I based Forge's CPAC on! And so Brianne and I waved goodbye to the three of them with smiles on our faces. Away drove our only working vehicle.

After a few moments, Brianne said, "So, I suppose we'll bike to the location. It's only three miles away and then about two miles of biking the trails to the get the shots you need."

Apparently, when I once mentioned to Brianne that TWENTY YEARS AGO I had ridden a bike and enjoyed it, she took that to mean that I (1) could still ride a bike, (2) could bike on steep, rocky, rooty, muddy, wooded trails, and (3) could still ride a bike. You see, of the three adults in our household, there is about a decade and a half between each of our ages. There are times when we forget this and just assume we're all in our 50s (and so we're more willing to let go of caution and act crazy-silly as Crazy Cat Lady or a talking squirrel or a fey all in white). There are times when we all think we're in our 30s and we buckle down and make deep, personal sacrifices in order to pay bills and keep doing what we love even if it means less sleep and harder work. Then there are times when we all assume we're still in our 20s and so we mountain bike eight miles to shoot eight five-second shots.

And so I learned (and relearned) important things yesterday:

(1) Nature is grand.
(2) I can still ride a bike.
(3) When you lose control of your bike and ride into a ditch, up a mound and into a bush along a busy road, people will stop their cars to make sure you're okay; the best thing to do is laugh and wave them on.
(4) Riding a bike on steep, rocky, rooty, muddy, wooded trails is actually a lot of fun.
(5) No matter what age I think I am while biking eight miles after not biking at all in twenty years, I will still wake up feeling 38.

The real lesson for the day, my friends? Always wear a helmet ;)