Monday, August 2, 2010

Summer Movie Fare: "Dinner for Schmucks"

We saw the Paramount movie "Dinner for Schmucks" over the past weekend.  The movie’s actually not bad, even given the title. (Interestingly, the word “schmucks” was not spoken in the movie itself.) Steve Carell and the other actors are very good, and the dialogue is pretty funny. The concept is a little warped, but hey... it's Hollywood.


You may recall from earlier blogging that we were commissioned by Paramount to produce an intricate parquet floor for the set of this film. Naturally, then, you can expect we hooped and hollered over our "Hollywood" parquet floor The parquet floor filmed very well, and is quite visible during many of the dining room scenes, which take place in the second half of the movie.

I had a particularly good time because I was on the set for the filming of several of the scenes in the show, and recognized all the setups and action. Even though the movie gives the sense that action is going on all the time, and that there are relatively few people in each scene, the fact is that the set is jammed with people and equipment just outside the view of the cameras. The actors spend a little time acting, and then much of their on-set time standing around chatting with each other, getting something to eat (I met Carell at the snacks table), taking a nap, or going over lines. But not actually acting in a scene.

When scenes are being shot, the individual takes don't last very long; and they get done over and over. For example, one scene about one-half second long in the movie shows a mouse being dropped into a bucket - if you see the film, you'll recognize this scene. The actual shooting of that mouse being dropped into a bucket involved two cameras, an intricate lighting setup, a half-dozen people looking down into the bucket, and was acted out three or four different times, just during the time I was watching.

Pretty interesting stuff - that would give an efficiency expert nightmares.

Paramount has called us on two additional projects. We'll keep you posted on this "glamour" side of our business!