Recently I got a chance to watch a few hours of filming on a local Michigan made film “Aladdin 3477.”
It was the first time I’ve ever been on a professional movie set, and the first time since college that I’ve been on a set at all.
The writer-director Matt Busch, who I’d never met before stopping by the set, was extremely gracious and made the experience a truly one-of-a-kind day.
PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of "Aladdin 3477."
PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of "Aladdin 3477."
I was invited out to work on a story about one of the actors in the film, Wyandotte resident Tony Miello, who I’ve known through various projects since a few weeks after I started at The News-Herald. He’s making his acting debut in the movie, and has a large sized role in the project.
I arrived at the studio, an unassuming building in Macomb County, and immediately thought I was in the wrong place. There wasn’t anything identifying the building other than the address, and the front door was locked. Before giving up, I wandered around back and gained access to the set.
The small studio only has room for one set at a time, forcing the production to take a couple of years, rather than weeks or months like some other projects.
I was given a tour of the place and quickly introduced to the entire crew.
Then it was time to start. After talking with Busch briefly about what they were doing, Miello came out of the wardrobe area and was ready to start.
While they were setting up the first shot I was able to chat with him, and then the filming began.
I stood and took photos and a few video clips of the production, and was quickly blown away by just how fast paced they moved.
They filmed three or four scenes in about an hour, which went faster than most since Miello was the only actor on the call sheet and they were all green screen scenes.
Because of that, I was treated to see Miello’s acting abilities in a raw form, no one to play off of, and not even any scenery to interact with. Yet I felt like I was in the scene with him at times.
During breaks in filming Busch showed me a quick 60 second teaser trailer that was only shown once at a German Comic Con and isn’t available anywhere else.
Then it was time to leave.
I came away impressed at how quickly they moved, and how good the few scenes and pages I was able to see where.
My only complaint now is that it’s going to be a year or more before I get to see the movie.
I can’t wait.
