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closeVolunteer firefighters get taste of the spotlight
Locals appear in short film shot on the Key Peninsula
Susan Schell
of the Gateway
A group of local volunteer firefighters got a chance to see just what being in a movie is all about last month.
Wauna filmmaker Scott Gribble, a volunteer firefighter himself, invited some of his buddies to take part in the 8 1/2-minute short film, “Signal 4.” The film is about a young man who gets in a fatal car accident after having a disagreement with his wife.
“‘Signal 4’ is the East Coast fire term for auto accident,” Gribble said. “The movie’s getting great reviews. It focuses on how fragile life is and teaches a little bit of a life lesson.”
The script was written by Gribble’s wife, Olga Gribble, and shot 100 percent on the Key Peninsula in May. Filming for the accident scene began at 8 a.m. behind fire station 46 in Key Center.
The movie opens with the accident involving an overturned car with the young husband in it. The car used in the film was donated by KPFD Division Chief Chuck West and flipped over with a tractor.
“It was neat to see how they redo the shots 15 to 20 times,” said Billy Foreman, a lieutenant volunteer firefighter who played a firefighter in the film. “Our film part was only five minutes, but the shot took about six hours.”
“It was interesting. It was fun,” said Jeremy Underwood, another volunteer firefighter who played his real-life role in the film. “It was exciting just to be a part of it and see how the lighting and camera has to be done and how they re-shoot the same thing over and over from all different angles.”
Gribble, a veteran filmmaker, was impressed with makeup artist Jennifer Popochock’s skills.
“She really made him look like he’d been in an accident,” he said. “She even had a big piece of glass embedded in his head.”
Foreman saw the film at Tacoma’s 72-hour film festival.
“I was amazed at how professional it came out,” he said. “After the film, we heard a group of guys talking about it and saying how good it was. That kind of blew me away.”
Gribble will submit the film to the Gig Harbor Film Festival for consideration.
Another one of Gribble’s films, “Keep Your Day Job, Super Star,” was accepted to the Seattle’s True Independent Film Festival ’09.
The movie was shot during two months in Seattle two years ago and is about a girl who dreams of being a singer. She tries to sneak away from her work as a newspaper ad representative to audition for a television show, “National Superstar,” on the very day her job erupts into chaos. The film is an independent comedy.
Gribble’s son and daughter, Brooks and Charlotte Gribble, assisted on the film as part of the camera crew. It premiered June 14 at the Central Cinema in Seattle.
“This is the monster local fest,” Scott Gribble said. “It’s a pretty big deal. There’s been some big films in there.”