Bits & Pieces Nov.

Bits & Pieces of our Lives
Nov 2005

Excitement filled our small town (Pop. 300) when McGee Street Productions decided they wanted to use the main intersection for part of a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, "Valley of Light". We were told an advance crew of around 80 set people would be coming to get the town looking like 1946. But we certainly hadn't expected so many people and vehicles when it came time to shoot.

People swarmed over the old gas station turning it back into a
respectable 40's station with coke cooler and all. The City Hall was
aged and a sign hung declaring it to be the post office. Old rigs drove in from parts unknown and parked along the streets. Gravel & dirt covered the paved roads.

Since we live around the block from the main intersection, on a gravel road that's handily tucked behind the old historical museum, our road was chosen for the parking of all the grips & lighting rigs. The entire road filled up by the afternoon before the first day of filming. The entire area was bustling with activity and people all scurrying about on a mission.

October in Oregon is often my favorite month, clear, crisp and sunny with grass growing, leaves turning lovely colors; a month to feast the senses! But by the third week the rains tend to move in, along with winds. This year was no exception and the movie people were hurrying against the forecasts. The first two days were cloudy but the rain held off until late afternoon. By the third day the rains & wind arrived bearing cold & misery, leaving mud and sogginess behind.

Huge lights with special filters were set up turning the dark afternoon into bright sunlight, on the "grocery store" porch. (Really, it's a person's residence. It was a grocery store in the 1940's and the entire first floor once again had stocked shelves of food.)

Scotts Mills Friends Meetinghouse was used for a scene or two. Ed handed them the keys to get in and when we went up later to make sure everything was cleaned up I noticed the runner I'd woven years ago was still gracing the top of the old upright piano. Later I asked one of the set managers if it'd been left on during the filming. Yep! Watch sharp if you see the piano in the church scene, you just may catch a glimpse of my weaving! Wahoo.

A week after the actors and directors and traffic directors and the huge amount of people it takes to put on even a relatively small production, descended on Scotts Mills, they quickly and efficiently packed up everything in the pouring rain and left. Crews should be returning tomorrow to finish restoring the town to the way it was, somewhat.

Ed became exasperated with the tramping back & forth, and trucks almost entirely blocking off access to our driveway but I was caught up in the energy of the atmosphere. I managed to snatch time on the way back from taking packages to the Post Office to watch some of the filming. By taking a little back trail from the P.O. I'd come out between the City Hall & the "store" where the filming was taking place. Arriving there I'd be among the crew who were for the most part very friendly and didn't mind my standing among them for awhile. :-)

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