Scenes & Shots

 

Most shots not taking place from on the bus will be shot into and out of shadow box sets: adjacent to each other, open to the sidewalk, curb, and street beyond, with ‘across-the-street’ CGI scenery scrolling past in the background.

Below is the view from above: Shadowboxes, adjacent to each other, partly or fully open to the elements out front. This would create an endless array of crossing foot traffic, appearing without warning, marching across the screen or into the scene. At the curb beyond would sit a hippie bus, parklet, cop car, sky bus, Etc. B ehind that would be CGI traffic and scenery going by. A camera dolly would be behind the back wall.

A second camera dolly would be facing into the shadow boxes, adjustable to shoot from as close as opposite the check-in desk, the near sidewalk…

 … or opposite side of the street.

This shooting configuration, easily and inexpensively implemented on a small soundstage, makes it possible for the bus to pull up to any indoor or outdoor location in San Francisco, built into the shadowbox with some CGI. With more CGI, shadow boxes can be looking across the street to the park, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, a marathon, fleet week, Dolores Park. This shooting configuration makes it possible to shoot the jaw dropping mayhem that is a San Francisco tourist season without having to pay for location shots. The same will work in 360° from inside the hippie bus. (see following) It also allows for the wide variety of mom and pop shops which fill San Francisco, in stark contrast to their neon-lit franchised brethren.

(An aside: the initial spark that has led to this proposal came on a busy summer Sunday in Dolores Park, wanting to share the magic that was there with the “Fox News Families” who ask once a month if we were going to drive through “the neighborhoods where they pooped in streets that were covered in needles”. The Golden Gate Bridge is beautiful but the fact that the Tenderloin is virtually free of litter and graffiti, yet covered in art, is absolutely jaw dropping. I wanted to show the Middle America I had just returned from what things would look like if they elected people who spent their tax dollars on them. That’s where this all started. Just saying…)

 

The Sidewalks

Cutting through the middle of every shadowbox set, and just outside of every tour bus are the titled ‘Sidewalks of San Francisco’. Since much comedy, as well as drama, is based on repetitive themes and surprise, what better vehicle than a sidewalk with a curb and traffic whizzing by behind it? Anything can appear from the left and be off the screen moments later. …or stick around and be part of the story. Most of the bus scenes will be shot looking through the bus into the shadowboxes beyond. Businesses at the Wharf and on Haight Street will be central sets on the show, but virtually any location, indoor or outdoor, can be re-created in a shadowbox with CGI.

The Wharf:

Much action takes place at the pickup spot, across from Alcatraz, on Fisherman’s Wharf. Moonstruck’s represents the corporate, franchised meeting place and fuel stop for the Wharf. It is meant to represent the impersonal, Wall Street, corporate side of things. We will never see out of the Sky Tours shadow box and it will always have a haze of exhaust smoke in it, the slight sound of coughing mingling with the seals in the background. Other Wharf businesses, permanent and temporary, can extend out in shadow boxes to the left and right.

The Haight: 

Things in the Haight center around VWJG’s garage, with a pot dispensary to the left, and the Huddled Masses Hippie Outreach on the other side. Outside the dispensary will be one of the San Francisco parklets, parking spaces turn into public parks. Things in the Haight are meant to reflect the more laid-back, mom and pop lifestyle here. Across the street will be Golden Gate Park and some yet to be determined businesses.

Shadow Box Sets:

The Wharf Pick-Up Spot:

Specific decor to be worked out, there would be a sign in desk, waiting area, and a beeping and blinking reservation board that works by waving a Phone at it. Hippie decor. Uniforms? Wigs? A sidewalk full of San Francisco Street life and tourists just outside, hippie bus at the curb, Sky Bus to the right, Alcatraz in the background.

McMoonstruck’s:

corporate owned coffee place at the Wharf. Big TV on the wall. Counter in the back manned by ‘Kid’, ‘Gammy’ or ‘Gamps’, the barista to the right, Bathrooms to the left.

VWJeGenius’s Garage: Hippie buses and cop cars would be on lifts to the left, rugs under them. Psychedelic lights, lava lamps, incense, and 60s music complete the decor. Well. No one will ever be seen working here, but everything will always be ready to go when needed. (except for the Feds) There will be a waiting area and office, situated around some kind of forge fire pit. A dog, bird, and cat live here. A bong sits nearby.

“Buds R Us” Pot Dispensary & Parklet: The layout mimics Moonstruck’s. But the lighting is softer, the music better, seats, too. The barista station is now an “edibles” snack honor bar. Between the Dispensary and Parklet traverses one of the most interesting sidewalks in the world. Skylights everywhere versus the neon at the Wharf.

Huddled Masses Hippie Outreach: HMHO would have a fireplace along the false wall with a gathering place of old sofas and floorspace in front of it. Two doors would lead to the Director’s and Ass Director’s offices. Other decor to be determined

(Note: Most shadow box sets give the option of having characters turn into the camera. Same can be done out of any seat on the bus: to the sidewalk or traffic beyond. This can be used to interact with, street people, other characters, perhaps even Owner or Senator? This enables phone conversations without seeing the screen. Best of all, this can be used for characters to address the audience.)

On The Bus Shots:
With camera tracks encircling the bus in 360°, all on bus interaction can be kept up with at a pace keeping up with the material. This shot enables the sidewalk to be between the bus and the camera, with all the crazy opportunity that entails.

Bus Inside-Out View:
This shot enables those on the bus to interact with each other and the streets and businesses going by, particularly the sidewalks just outside the window. Shots can be done from just behind the head, or in the first person.

Bus Outside-In View: with the track outside the bus, shots can move up and down the bus, shooting into it or through it to the traffic or shadowboxes beyond. Again, either behind the head or in the first person. This shot will enable characters to come up to the bus in the first person, perhaps Owner or Senator?

Picture Spots: 

The Golden Gate Bridge: the bus would drive into this shadow box set and unload. The bridge would be behind and below with the Marin Headlands in the background. Things will make it obvious that this is Federal land.

Twin Peaks:This would be an audio bumper halfway through the show, with conversation from on the bus playing as it drives past. The instant it exits the screen: cut to break. A second audio only bumper could be inserted at the Palace of Fine Arts or Lombard Street.

Dolores Park: this picture spot would re-create the benches and brick area tatop the hill . People could walk into this set from left to right, or even uphill. Show all that is Dolores Park in the summer with some CGI in the the background.

Owner Shots:

Episodes would progress with the owner on his cell phone in line at the bureaucracy. If he spends the first half of the show at the San Francisco bureaucracy, the second half is spent with the Feds. Used as a bumper, the line would get smaller each break, until he reaches the window.

SF City Hall Bureaucracy: …all marble, brass, old, and warmly lit. “For the people!” …staffed by friendly, helpful folks who throw tax dollars at your problems.

Federal Building Bureaucracy: …all two-way mirrors, glass, stainless steel, modern, sterile, Harshly lit. Security – crazy, with 1984-like announcements over the intercom. Barking dogs. Machine guns. Mirrored sunglasses. Everything at the Federal Bureaucracy cost big bucks at the window but never resolves anything.