Keeping you up to date: West Bancroft Side Story

Who was it that said working is no fun? Whoever said that must not have been in the film business.

Just before Thanksgiving break, the cast and crew members of "West Bancroft Side Story" started filming what will eventually become the first snippet of the miniseries: a music video-style preview and the opening scene of the first episode.

The best way to describe the beginning stages of filming is "a process." We had no idea how long each snippet would take to film, and we didn't know how many takes we would need for each clip.

The answer to both of those questions: much longer than we expected.

On the Saturday that we filmed, the weather was absolutely beautiful – particularly considering it was November in Toledo – which was lucky for all of us, since WBSS takes place early in the fall semester. It was also lucky for the crew members: any idea how difficult it is to handle a camera with gloves on?

As it turns out, the cast members may not have needed the heavy winter coats after all.

The first filming day was also the first day that the cast members worked with the WBSS choreographers for the dance sequences. We are lucky enough to have four choreographers, three of whom were at this particular filming.

My favorite part of filming had to be the dance practices, even though it took up quite a bit of time that we could have used other ways. There were also several different parts, but the sections I was most interested in were the two devoted to the same part of the song, danced by two different groups.

One major part of the miniseries is the Romeo-and-Juliet-style, Montague-versus-Capulet rivalry between the students living in Ottawa West and the students living in the Dowd-Nash-White complex, which is usually referred to as "the Quad." My favorite dance sequence deals with the rivalry in a rather interesting manner.

Yet that wasn't the best part.

The two groups of dancers in the segment are separated by Ottawas and Quads, focusing on two of the main characters: Marky, the Mercutio-like ringleader of the Ottawa circus, and Greg, the aggressive older brother of the Juliet character who leads the Quads.

The choreographers did a great job breaking down the dance steps for the cast members, many of whom had never taken any type of dance lessons. They taught them in segments and took it nice and slow for the ones who were having a little trouble learning the steps.

When we finally got to the point of filming my favorite segment, it was nighttime, and the cast members were starting to feel the cold. The crew members started showing concern. Was there enough light to continue filming?

Between the producer, Carina Cornieles, whom I mentioned in my last column, and the director, film major Scott Corsi, a solution was found: illuminate our outdoor set, the parking lot outside the Quad, with car headlights.

Originally, they only wanted to illuminate one set of dancers as they approached the other group. The crew then decided to also use the headlights as a backlight for the other group of dancers, the other side of the Ottawa-Quad faceoff.

The effect was fantastic. The set and the cast members looked amazing. Cornieles commented to me that, on film, "It looks just like a Backstreet Boys music video."

While that may not have been precisely the effect we were going for, it was still a pretty awesome effect.

Our first day of filming was amazing, and I hope that carries over into the footage.

Plus, the guy playing Marky will never live down the Backstreet Boy thing.