Photo shoot -- July 26

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Yesterday? Oh, that was nothing. There were two phases to today's festivities. The morning involved a photo shoot for TV Guide's Fall Preview issue. They shot singles of everyone and then many rolls of group photos as we played with expandable rulers. Again, don't ask me the significance. It was TV Guide's idea. There is some sort of "measuring your growth" angle there. We also did on-camera interviews to be aired on the TV Guide Channel, which was formally the Prevue Channel, with the scrolling TV schedule on it. David and I sat together for our Q&A and did a respectable job. I think.

After lunch, we set to work on a collection of shots for ABC's advertising department. (Yesterday's shots were for the publicity department. I know it sounds very similar but it is different.) Just like yesterday, it all seemed so simple at first. A wall, some lights, wardrobe and a few straight-forward standard photos. A few of me, a few of Steven, a few of David... everyone took a turn, including different pairings and groupings from the five of us, or six counting the dog (Beans).
It seemed to me that we were moving into the grand finale when Andrew, our photographer, started to experiment with some interesting camera angles. We followed him with our eyes. This was a piece of cake. All we had to do was look into the camera, he could put it wherever he wanted to.
And then high concept took over. This wasn't the end of the day, it was only the beginning. Swing sets and pup tents were just the tip of the iceberg yesterday. We all loaded onto a tipping couch as if we were knocking it over. Even Beans tried one of these shots.
Then the three guys worked their way through a number of scenarios. We were getting some ice cream, riding a rocketship, checking out some art, having a barbecue. These were actually pretty fun to shoot. We were in situations where certain moves and looks were more naturally motivated. And I think we understood more today what we were trying to do. It was more about the characters and how they interact with each other and less about a group of random people on a swing set. Who knows?
Regardless, it was a fun day. We put in a full nine hours and must have gone through 200 rolls of film. We have a couple of TV Guide interviews done and even enjoyed some fine chicken for lunch. But really, shouldn't we be shooting a television show one of these days?

Go on to On-Air Interviews.

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