Tricycle Video Shoot (part 3): The Kids Are Alright
Tricycle Video Shoot Part 1
Tricycle Video Shoot Part 2
Dave's old man has a fine taste in shoes
We spent the morning at the playground shooting the kids running and sliding and the band with the kids swinging and climbing. While the rest of the production wraps up at the playground and then continues on to the next location, we go back to the house for a costume change and to get latex applied to our faces for our scenes as old men.
At this point my knee was bothering me from my bagel fall earlier so I figured limping around like an old man would be easy. A couple of Advil and I’d be back to normal.
I plopped into the makeup chair to be the first one to have latex applied to my face. For the latex to wrinkle up properly we have to stretch the skin on our faces out while the latex it painted on, dried and then powdered. It’s not a particularly hard process, but we do end up looking more ridiculous than normal as we feign surprise or mental illness while the makeup is being applied. The latex smells a bit, and a hair dryer is used to dry the latex on. 
When having latex applied to simulate crows feet you get used to having air blown directly in your eyes after a while. It also takes approximately 3 to 4 layers of latex to get the effect. Let’s just hope it shows up on camera.
For our costumes we went to four or five Goodwill/Salvation Army stores throughout the Bay Area looking for the most ridiculous clothes that we could. Most of the clothes that were found were at the first Goodwill store we shopped at in Fremont.
By the way; the Palo Alto and Menlo Park Salvation Army/Goodwill stores have the nicest stuff, which was useless for our purposes but might be good for your bargain hunting in these tough times. Fremont must have a short population because the thrift stores had mens clothes mostly donated by people who were under 5′ 8″. Must be that dwarves are generous people when it comes to donating to the Goodwill or The Sally. Some people’s times are tougher than others.
The production came back from the last location and started setting up some of the last shots for the kids. It was also the last location for the day.
Brian the D.P. breaks out the wheelchair dolly
The first shot here was on the sidewalk of the kids on their bicycles. Brian, the DP got to use his coveted wheelchair dolly, so we were all very happy for him. We also had an opportunity to use the tricycle because one of the kids hadn’t learned to ride a bike just yet. I don’t know how the Director felt about that, but the band was happy that the trike was getting used before it’s big finale.
The final set design was of a clubhouse or attic that the band used throughout our lives. In the video we will see the band as children, as ourselves today, and as old men in the clubhouse. The kids final shots would be of them playing our instruments in the clubhouse.
Tom studying the behavior of dust on the set
Dmitri
We brought down our instruments for the kids (André had set up his drums the night before) and the first thing that I noticed was that Dmitri was shorter than the bass guitar. I had to get a picture of that.
I gaff-taped the strap up on the bass so that it wouldn’t drag on the ground and let Dmitri have fun. Diego was behind the drum kit bashing away while his dad Effron helped coach him. While we were working on the bass guitar strap, we discovered that Brandon, the kid playing Dave in the video, actually knew how to play guitar and he was playing it well. He was playing “Johnnie B. Goode” and “Sunshine of Your Love” and doing a great job of both of those songs as well.
We left as the kids jammed out their parts for the crew. It was getting crowded on the set with all of the people looking on so I split for another part of the house.
The Kids Are Alright
Once that shot was finished the kids were done for the day. They did a great job and we’re glad that they could join us and we hope that they and their parents had a good time. Our thanks again to everyone!
In part 4 of our story we will bash our heads on the ceiling, take one for the team, listen to the same song over and over, and finally get out of this damn latex.
