Guest Blogger: Kay Panabaker Pt. 2

OK, I had to include a photo with Catherine, to show you the difference between a REAL rider and someone who just plays one in a movie. Catherine was a local girl worked on the film to earn money to buy a saddle (it's such an expensive hobby/sport!) and I learned a lot by watching her with the horses. When you see Checkers with his hair braided for the competition, you're looking at Catherine's handiwork! Her horse, Brownie got to be in the film, too!

This was my lunch hour almost every day. I'd wolf down some food and then spend as much time as I could on the horse. Because we were shooting scenes all day long, and most of them didn't involve me being on the horse, lunch and weekends were the only time that I really got to work on my riding. You'll notice that Kirk and I are each riding a "Checkers". Both of these horses played Checkers in different scenes - one was better at doing tricks and one was better for riding, but I loved them both - Picasso and Trigger!

Moondance Alexander is the story of a young girl who, over the course of a summer, and through her friendship with a horse, not only challenges herself, but those around her. I don't want to give too much away, so I won't go into great detail, but there's a little something in it for everyone. Anyone who's ever struggled with fitting in will be able to relate to Moondance, whether it's the mean girls from school, the boy she makes a fool of herself in front of, a painful family situation, or learning a new sport. The adults in the film also struggle with their own issues - hiding from a past, uncertain of a future, trying to do the right thing when you're not exactly sure what that is. And of course there's the gorgeous backdrop of the Calgary countryside, the talented and beautiful horses, and the thrill of competition to add to the character's stories!

So if I'm going to tell you about my time on the film, the first thing you have to know, if you're not from Calgary, is that in the summer the days are LONG! As in the sun comes up early and sets late, so we spent 12 hours a day (or more!) out in the sun. I got the best tan I've had in 10 years last summer without even trying! I also got in shape from all the riding. I was cast for my acting ability, not my riding ability, so I had a lot to learn in a short time. Before I went to Calgary I rode for 2 weeks here in LA, every morning, just to get the basics - to learn how to hold myself, to gain balance and muscle, and to get comfortable enough so that I'd look believable on camera. Once I got to Canada, the real work began!

When I got there, it was a whirlwind of wardrobe fittings, rehearsals, and meeting everyone involved. I got to spend some time with the horses so that we could bond, but just as soon as we were getting to know each other, it was time to start shooting the movie. There was a lot more to this movie than riding, and for the first week of shooting we didn't do any scenes that involved me being on the horse. So that meant we were shooting scenes all day (in the house, at the school, at the art studio, at the store) and I didn't get to spend any time with the horses. Then the first scenes we did with a horse were those where I'm standing on the ground with the horse, so while it was great that the horses were on set, rather than riding them I was practicing "tricks" with them - having them take a hat off my head, things like that. But we could see that we'd soon be shooting scenes where I had to be able to ride, so we used our lunch hour to practice riding - which meant the trainers gave up their lunch hour to work with me. Great guys! So great, in fact, that they also gave up weekends to work with me! Any equestrian will tell you that no one learns to ride in a matter of days or weeks, so I really needed all the practice I could get, and that meant weekends.

Our whole last week of shooting was spent in this spot (don't you love the location? the hills in the background?) and that's where I learned to jump. It looks like we're just walking through this jump, so it must have been early in the week, but I had to start somewhere!

Again, I don't want to give the film away, but let's just say that jumping a horse is a bit more advanced than simply riding, and the original plan was to have a double do any jumping that my character *might* have to do. Well, by the last week I didn't need to practice my riding at lunch anymore, so we moved on to jumping! There's a picture here of that first day - the jump is small and the horse isn't going full speed ahead, but you start small and move up. There were a lot of scenes that involved reaction shots and other characters talking to each other that week, which meant that I wasn't on camera every minute, so that gave us extra time for practice. We concentrated on staying on the horse (which I did!) and skipped over some of the finer points (sort of like learning to drive a race car really fast, but not how to park or back up or anything else) but we could only do so much in the time we had. (That's why I'm taking horseback riding lessons now - to pick up everything I missed the first time!)

Weekends I rode with TJ Bews. Part of the time it was work, practicing my riding for the film and bonding with the horses, but it was a great way to relax, too, just getting away from it all. On the weekends there were no lights, no cameras (OK, I guess someone had to take this photo with a camera, but no movie cameras!) no hair and makeup - just us and the horses.

Well, it's back to the books for me - I have a paper to write and a final exam to study for, but once they're done I'll stop back by. I've been asked to describe "a day in the life of Kay Panabaker while shooting Moondance Alexander" and to tell a little bit about what I have coming up. (For those of you reading in the US, I have a Lifetime movie airing Saturday, September 8th and Monday September 10th called Custody with Rob Morow and James Denton. Canadians don't get Lifetime, but it was shot in Ottawa so maybe someday it will air on Canadian television? Sorry for that little advertisement, but by the time I post again it will be over!)
I've heard from several Moondance Alexander crew members that they're planning to come to the September 23rd screening at the Calgary International Film Festival, so it should be a great time! They're a superb bunch of people and I'd love to have anybody that's reading this come and meet them and ask them questions about their end of movie-making! Let's face it - they worked with animals and a kid on this one - that's tough! And if any of the crew is reading this, I CAN'T WAIT to see you in a couple of weeks! I'll be there early and stay late - hey, it'll be just like a day on the set - NOT! For one thing, it'll be air conditioned..

You've never met a harder working bunch than this crew. You can tell how long they were out in the sun by looking at those tans! This photo is with the assistant directors, who made sure everything ran smoothly no matter what the day held. Left to right they're Jess, Cory, Jesse and Alex.