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Filming Reports

Day 1: Wednesday, August 4

Our drive down there was not as easy as I had expected it to be; the traffic was very heavy. My dad was driving, and he was starting to get some ants in his pants ;-) At one point, he got out of the car to stretch. We were practically in a parking lot for a few minutes…but luckily, we had a good parking spot ;-)

Once we arrived in Pickering (the city where the set is), we went to the Comfort Inn there. It’s a nice hotel with a little over 100 rooms. It’s also the only hotel in that we saw Pickering. It was evident that Pickering is not a tourist area. But all and all, I thought that the hotel was pretty good.

Since we arrived pretty early (despite the traffic!), we decided to drive out to the set to get an idea as to how long it would take to get there and to find our way around. Once we turned onto the Claremont’s property, we found a "Little Men" sign. I stopped to get a picture of it. Then we drove a little more, and then we made a turn…and there were the newer buildings that we’ll be seeing in Season 2! I instantly recognized the set from the pictures that were sent to me and are posted on paxtv.com/littlemen, and I’ll swear that my heart skipped a beat when I SAW THE SET! I couldn’t believe it. Someone, who I’m guessing was a crew member, saw us and told us where to park the following day. Then we headed back to the Comfort Inn.

Day 2: Thursday, August 5

I woke up at 5:00 on Thursday morning and couldn’t get back to sleep. I couldn’t believe that I only had 7 hours between the present and the trip to the set! We were going to Niagra Falls on Friday, so we had to check out of the hotel and kill time for a while around town. Finally, it was time to drive to the set!!!

We pulled in at quarter to 12 (15 min. early). I guess the set decorator recognized our "out of country" car and knew that we were coming because she arrived when we arrived and directed us to Kevin! We found a parking spot, and then Amanda, a director’s assistant, came over and greeted us. Then Kevin came and greeted us, we chitchatted a bit, and then our tour of Plumfield began!

We started "backwards," so we approached Aunt March’s old house from the rear. It was neat to see the house from that angle, because you don’t see it that way in the series. There is a back porch, and it is primarily used for storage. We were able to extend our tour to the interior of some of the buildings, which is not always possible on an outside filming day, as the house is used for storage. One of the things that you cannot pick up from watching the show on TV is some of the beautiful, authentic ceiling work that was put into "the house." After the money was spent to make it, lights and things had to go up, and the ceilings can’t be shown without revealing all kinds of gibberish that is on the ceilings. There was also a colored pane of glass on some of the windows of the house as we approached it. This is useful for creating scenes during different times of the day. For example, the sun setting, nighttime, etc.

We also got to see another building, a storage shed, that doesn’t get a lot of attention in the series. It’s neat because that building is actually where the boy’s and girl’s bunks are. Also, the crew can pull a few strings, and then convert the girl’s bunk to Dr. Pierce’s office! They can do that just by putting up some fake walls, etc.

Then we saw the barn where the schoolroom is setup. It was neat to see the authentic desks. Some of them were rather scratched up, so I’m sure that they were pretty old!

Then we headed down the pathway that took us to the gate to Plumfield. We stopped and grabbed a few pictures, and took a shot that has the house, barn, and "shed."

Then it was time to start to keep our voices down. They were filming in town, and your voices really carry as you walk down that way. They were working on the 9^th episode of this season. We were not at a very good angle and couldn’t hear much. Then we were able move to a better angle at the next break. We noticed a few people come around and straighten up Brittney’s and Trevor’s costumes. Their make-up was also checked. I’ll include some details about the scene that we saw them filming at the end of this report.

I was also amazed at how much fun everyone has on the set. We saw one of the cast members laughing one second, then once the filming started, it was nothing but serious concentration in the next; It amazed me that they could do that. A couple of the crew members were also playing with one of the dogs on the set :-)

We were also able to see some of the "games" that the kids play on each other. I don’t want to get into the details, but I will say that after they finished one of the takes of the scenes, Alex grabbed Trevor by the shoulders and shook him and yelled "Oh no, what are we gunna do!" I was ROTFL at that one!!!

When we were done watching the filming, Kevin and Amanda took us over to meet some of "the powers that be" from Little Men: Carl Binder, Treena Hancock, Melissa Byer and one of the co-producers. I thought that all four of them were very friendly, especially Carl Binder. Also, I had no idea that the letters that we wrote to Pax had such a big influence on Little Men’s destiny until I talked to him. It was a pretty close call, and there were other factors in the renewal…but when the letters from families who watched the show together and teachers who were using the show in their classroom came in…that really made Pax see how valuable Little Men is to so many people. Also, how could you cancel a show that teachers are using in their classroom? This is just another example of how Pax is different from the other networks!

Then Carl Binder said, "Here comes a familiar face." I turned around and it was Corey Sevier, and I literary went into a state of shock!!!! I couldn’t believe that it was him. I went over and shook his hand and said hi. Then the idea of a picture with him came up (I don’t remember who suggested that), so I went over and took a picture with him. Then my mom realized how terrible the background was in it, and decided that it needed to be retaken ;-) I had missed that completely in the daze that I was in; so I was standing there trying to get a conversation going. Then finally someone said something and I realized what was happening and stepped into the picture! I felt so stupid! At least it wasn’t like I had made a fool of myself in front of anyone who is well known ;-) LOL

Then Brittney came over, and I was much more calm and collected with her. Corey was the first celebrity that I’ve had the privilege of meeting, so it was a little easier when Brittney, the second celeb., came over a minute later! :-)

Then we went to Camp Plumfield, that’s what the cast and crew call the area where all the trailers and things are, and Kevin and Amanda answered a few misc. questions for us. They had some interesting stories to share about how they couldn’t restrict the visits to the set because of the fact that the set films on a conservation area. They’ve even had some people who come back there and walk their dogs. Also, they really emphasized that when you just show up, they can’t really do much to make your visit enjoyable, but if you’ve made arrangements with Kevin in advance, they can give you the tour, try to have you around when some of the cast members are on call, etc.

Then it was time to leave, so we said good buy and got into our car and drove away :-( I still literary go on cloud nine every time I think of my visit to the set. It was just one incredible thing after another. I was excited enough that I wasn’t feeling well later that day. I got very nauseous (sp?) in the car, so we stopped and got some lunch and that seemed to kill it. I also slept 10 hours straight that night, and I’m sure that it was just because I used up a lot of energy and released a lot of emotion in my excitement at the set. It may also have been because I woke up so early, but that’s not abnormal for me ;-)

Also, I should include that my cheeks hurt until very late into the evening from smiling and laughing so much. That was definitely one of the best days of my life!!!

Day 3: Friday, August 6

Well, we drove to Niagra Falls since it was only a few hours away, but I won’t get into the details of that since it’s irrelevant.

Day 4: Saturday, August 7

We came home, and one of the first things that I did was go to Meijer’s and have my film developed ;-)

Also, I’m going to do as Breanna and Jeff were asked and not post the pictures of the cast that I took with Corey and Brittney. The people on call were Nick, Dan, Nan, Emil, and a few other characters that I don’t think we’ve seen yet. Nick wasn’t on call until later that day, and we had to go. Michelle was going to come, even though she wasn’t on call that day, but she wasn’t there by the time we had to leave. Her sister was there, but Michelle wasn’t yet. Maybe that was a good thing for me since I really would have lost it based on how I acted with Corey ;-)

One last thing, it was hard to believe how "right there" every thing was.   In "Looking Forward," you got the impression that Dan was way out in the wilderness, but in reality, he wasn't far from the house.  Plumfield isn't that far from Concord, either.  Also, Pickering is not a small town like I imagined it to be.

If I’ve left out anything, you can go ahead and e-mail me, but please don’t ask me about anything that I noted above as something that I didn’t want to explain.

**********SPOILERS**********

As promised, here the info on what they were filming. It was a scene called "Guess you paid too much." We couldn’t really hear, but afterwards, they told us that it was an episode about one of the kids finding money, and then getting a little out of hand. In the scene we saw, the kids were talking to a man, and IF I could hear well enough,he gave them $100 for "something." Then one of the kids (Nan or Emil) said (again, if my ears were working…it was hard to hear because we were back aways) that they paid $180 for it. The man told them "sorry, you paid to much."

Nan and Emil were the ones talking to the man, and Nat was in the background holding a horse by one of the Concord town buildings. Since I couldn't hear very well, I can't very well tell you much else.  However, Mr. Binder did tell us that in that episode, someone finds some money and gets a little out of hand.   We'll have to stay tuned to episode 9 for details!!!

**********END SPOILERS**********