I just got back from an interesting evening. I went to the Mirage about 4pm for the filming of a new 3D commercial for the show Love. I was invited (along with a thousand others) to attend as an extra to fill audience seats so the background would make it look like a live show. Due to the objective of the project, it wasn't going to be a real show. Also, the amount of equipment required to tape a commercial did not allow enough stage room for a real show.

I've been through the filming of several commercials and it's a very long drawn out deal. This was no exception. It was kept interesting (to me) because they kept the volume up on the communications between the actors, the stage hands, and the film crew. The stage director and her assistant also had a PA microphone to keep the crowd abreast of what was going on. If you've ever seen Love, you know that the overhead cranes, the stage, the lights, and the music system are all very complex. When they were not filming, there were a lot of extra lights on where you could see just about everything. Inbetween shootings, there was time to ask questions of the actors, stage hands, and crew.

Some of the fun facts I learned were that there are over 120 cranes or lifts to raise people and objects up off the stage level. There are over 60 actors. The big white octopus in the Octopus's Garden is a guy. The queen that rides in the ring that goes up and down…that's a guy too. He is from Romania and was in the 2000 Olympics. They told us how many lights and speakers and stuff like that there was, but I can't recall. The youngest actors were two 8 year old boys. The oldest cast member was a 75 year old lady who was more physically fit that most women half her age. She does yoga, running, and gymnastics to stay in shape.

They filmed the Octopus's Garden first. It took 2 takes to get all they needed. Then they filmed Get Back and another number that both used the rooftop scene with the bricks and chimneys. It took 4 takes to get that one. On the first try, they started the smoke, got into a delay, and by the time they got going, the smoke generators had left moisture on the stage and a dancer slipped and fell. They filmed Sgt Pepper and the finale several times too. So in reality, I only saw 3 stage sets and parts of about 5 or 6 songs.

They had enough of us audience members to fill about a third of the seats. We were constantly being moved around to fill up the area where the camera angle would get full seats. I got to see parts of the show from different angles in different seats, so that was kinda cool. I think about a third to halfway up, anywhere around the theater is the best seats. Too high or too low gives you new perspectives, but you miss a lot.

Overall, it was really neat to see the stage in action with all it's traps and inclines and drops and elevators, etc. It was interesting to observe the safety measures when different things were moving. I certainly would NOT recommend a commercial taping to anyone. It's a firehouse mentality with lots of boredom and brief moments of thrills.

They were not taping audio at all. In fact, the music volume was turned up just loud enough for the actors to hear their cues. You could still hear the director and stage manager over the music level. They hope that they have enough material to make some movie trailers for 3D movies, advertise on new MRI 3D advertising monitors, and maybe do some 3D commercials for future 3D TV programing. They would like to finish putting it all together by Christmas of this year. The same 3D company used in Avatar was being used on this project. But this time, they were using more modern equipment.

So we got out about 9:45pm and they gave us 2fer1 coupons. I got to my car on the 6th level of the parking garage and it was like a parking lot.<G> Cars everywhere and not much movement, so I went back to the casino. I ventured over to TI and had a late dinner at Gilley's. That was the most highest priced/lowest value meal I've had all year. Not much bang for a whole lot of buck. So I started back to catch the tram to the Mirage and found that Mystere was just letting out. So when I left the Mirage parking garage, traffic getting out of TI was jammed. Oh well. It was a fun night.

The 2fer1 c0upon was for Love? If so, they don't give out many of those!

Your meal sounds pretty bad, but what where you expecting? Gillys would not even be on my list of places to venture into. I know your a Texas boy, but that time you took us into Toby Keiths @ Harrahs was about as country as I can handle! LOL

Thanks for the insider information on Love. You always get to do cool stuff!
Lee-PA

The 2fers were for Love only. There was a lot of fine print that I haven't read just yet. I remember limited shows and expires Dec 2010.

What was I thinking? Kill an hour and let the crowds leaving the Love theater get out of the parking lot. Also, I had been in a theater for about 5 hours with no food or water. And while I was not real hungry, dinner was a better option at the time than a walk, a drink, or sitting down at a machine. The time was creeping up on 10pm so I needed a place that was open and in walking distance. None of the hotel coffee shops in the area sounded good.

If that meal would have been at a quiet mom and pop shop off the strip and would have been half the price, I would have considered it expensive and bland.

Gilley's is a train wreck. It looks country. They were playing Michael Jackson's Thriller when I walked in and some cop shooting rap when I left. There were some country songs, but not all country. To enter the restaurant, you have to walk through the night club's dance floor to get there. As you walk in, the open kitchen is on the right and the dance floor is to the left. Beyond the dance floor is the mechanical bull which was not even lit up. Also, when I say open kitchen, it so open that a drunk could easily barf from the dance floor and hit the food. Wanna here more? How about the cowgirl waitresses? I have my own ideas about what one should look like. As old and hard headed as I am, I'll give in a little to creative times. So black short shorts and a black halter top and black cowboy hat aren't really my idea of how they should be decked out, but add to that dragon tattoos running up the leg, down the arms and who knows where just doesn't cut it for me. And it's not very appetizing. It doesn't get better from there. And I'll end it with saying those kinds of girls are one more reason I have no desire to go to the hotel pools.

Yes, I made a long series of bad decisions before I paid $35 for 6 ribs, a quarter chicken, a bowl of beans, a bowl of mac and cheese, all of which had no flavor. I don't know if my sweet tea or the BBQ sauce on the table had the most flavor.

I am on a quest to find good BBQ in this town and that's why this place was on my to do list. It was very low but it was kinda on the list. The saddest part of this whole deal is that I am also desperate to find good fried chicken too. It's one of the few items that I can't cook as good as the craving I have. And fried chicken is on their menu. So I might be back. Again, it's very very low on my to do list.

JMT - thanks for the description of seeing the LOVE commercial being shot. I would have LOVED to have seen that! That kind of behind-the-scenes stuff is right up my alley. You're very lucky.

MikeD, I feel likewise and have been fortunate to have been on many movie sets and met many top stars in the process.

Latest was a short visit with AVATAR.

Very talented people do 'that stuff'!
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This past weekend I watched my nephew doing MoCap work in San Francisco with a cable car on rubber wheels.

They were shooting San Francisco scenes for the forthcoming Planet of the Apes which has been in production in Vancouver but they could not duplicate the city of San Francisco, so off they went to the City By the Bay!

Oh, yea! My nephew is the ape.

I was in the Mirage today and noticed a little display for Love in a wall across from the check in area. They had a TV showing a 3D promo for Love. I'm sure I sat in the audience for much of that promo...at least the scenes where there is a background audience.

On an unrelated note, I've noticed that the big brass statues of the topless mermaids near the casino entrance have been missing for a year or so. They're back.

Even mermaids need a vacation once in a while.