Due to general business, I’m very late in posting this. However, we recently took a (very) quick drive to Rochester, NY to visit Sara’s brother Ben (and his fiancée Jen!).

The kids also happened to have a role in Uncle Ben’s new short, “Scavenger“.

The kids were so excited to do this. They both did a really good job. When the camera came on, Evie went ramrod straight, and delivered her line exactly consistently, take after take. She is just a very *precise* girl, and I knew she would do an excellent job.

I wasn’t so sure about Ollie, but he did a great job too. On the very first take, Ollie was feeling a little silly with all the crew standing around watching him. He’s such a class clown. He walked over to the camera and said, “HI UNCLE BEN!” Everybody cracked up, which made him feel a little embarrassed. After that, though, he got down to business.

Even when I thought he wasn’t paying attention, he would hit his line exactly on cue every time. Both kids practiced so hard, and I think it showed. I know some of the crew had not worked with children before; I think they were spoiled by this first experience! Don’t expect to have such good actors next time!

It takes a lot of people to shoot a movie, even a small one. It’s sort of funny how specific the jobs are, like “the guy who pushes the camera dolly” and “the girl who listens for ambient noise”. It was fun to be in the room and watch. Can I just say again how great the kids did?

The hardest part of the weekend was the drive. We had originally planned this because the kids had off on Friday, but Evie had practice for an opera she was going to be in, so we couldn’t leave until late. Like, 5 p.m. late, and it’s a 9 1/2 hour drive. We got there very, very early in the morning, and it was very, very difficult to stay awake. Then we had to get up early the next morning to shoot! Which is all the more reason it was impressive the kids did so well. It did make for a rather quick trip: drive, shoot all day, eat breakfast, and then drive home. (We did sneak in a trip to Dogtown!)

We are all really looking forward to seeing the movie when it’s finished, especially the kids!