Came before we knew it, but suddenly a bunch of us were in Harborage Yacht Club and Marina celebrating the wrap on Natalie, Queen of Scots, our very own freaking feature film.

It was a pretty unbelievable day.

The video above was our “congrats on five weeks of hardcore filming” present to the crew — I edited together some of our footage and photos, and it’s a cute little video, I think.

Some pictures of the party below, courtesy Chelsea Parker.

Location: The Jensen Beach Causeway in Jensen Beach, FL

Phrase of the day: “Get this girl some electrolytes!”

Thanks to all the kids who came out to be extras for the shoot today! One of our last outdoor shoots, and it was a blast for all involved (well, maybe not for sound – it was awfully windy the entire day).

This was also our first shoot day with Phil Morales, the stellar actor playing Natalie’s father. This week is all about bringing in the parents and filling out the film, and on Monday we introduce Natalie’s mother, Jennifer Jones, to the movie. We’re really excited about all of our actors, and hope you will be too!

For now, check out some great pictures from the shoot today.

Yeah, she’s real.

Day: 23

Location: The hills of Jensen Beach, FL

Phrase of the day: “Whoa!  Is he, like, a trained alligator?”

Today we abandoned working with children and chose a different, equally challenging path – working with animals.  Tim Williams, Gatorland handler extraordinaire, came down with the lovely lady you see above and two trainers to get us (in my opinion) one of the best shots of the film.

See, about eight months ago, Brian and I were sitting in a restaurant, talking about how Natalie and Nicholas would meet.  And, for whatever reason, Brian thought it would be hilarious if they bonded over escaping from an alligator.  A twelve foot alligator.

Well, eight months later, after about 80 pages of paperwork with SAG and Gatorland and American Humane, Brian got his alligator – he even got to pose with it at the end of the shoot.

His producer concedes that yes, it was pretty fantastic.

Photographs by Misti Guertin.

Jacob Hill (Director of Photography) takes a second job in these hard economic times.

Day: 22

Location: Stuart Photo, in Stuart, FL; St Lucie Catholic Church, in Port St Lucie, FL

Phrase of the day: “This is the photo they’re gonna use on the news if I ever get arrested for anything.”

Poor Jacob.  It’s not enough that he slaves away day in, day out on this set — today he had to get another job.  Yes, the cinematographer swallowed his pride and became… a one hour photo tech?

The story was this: long ago, we thought it might be funny to have a weird cameo for the one hour photo shop.  However, when Bruce Campbell and Will Arnett fell through, we realized that we had the perfect guy for our cameo shot right here on set – who better to portray a grumpy photo worker than our camera-man himself?

Remember – in these tough economic times, your one hour photo technician could very well be an award-winning cinematographer between jobs.

Later in the day we returned to St Lucie Catholic Church for a few more exteriors and some funny line-work by our two leads.  Anyone know who’s on Nick’s shirt in these scenes?

Kelli couldn't get over how funny Jake looked.

In position.

First AC Dan DeLude is overjoyed to actually look through the camera. But Jake still gets the light meter.

Kelli and Jacob stare down.

Kelli (Natalie) prepares for the scene.

Brian explains to Nick the intricacies of "Oh. Sorry."

Nick has the answer! (and it might relate to what's on his shirt)

Photos by Chelsea Parker.

Angry storm. Sad crew.

Day: 21

Location: Castillo de San Marcos, in Saint Augustine, FL

Phrase of the day: “Four weeks in and this is the first day we’re rained out? Not terribly bad, I guess.”

After four hours north, some rain, and four hours back around again, the crew is again united in Stuart. Sadly, we didn’t get to film at the Castillo thanks to some big, angry, vicious storm clouds. But we’re not giving up – even if it means we have to schedule a pickup day after we wrap.

Day: 20

Location: Ross Witham Beach, in Stuart, FL / St Lucie Catholic Church, in Port St Lucie, FL

Phrase of the day: “Wrap on the beach – can everyone say YAY?!”

Today was our very ever last day on the beach (thank goodness) and we celebrated by throwing Kelli (Natalie) into the water for her first confrontation against the ocean.  Nick (Nicholas) was pretty happy that this time HE wasn’t the one being pelted by sand.

After that, we drove over to St Lucie Catholic Church to film one of Sara’s “spying” escapades.  She dressed up as the Virgin Mary and had a great time playing “Scooby Doo Adventure Time” with various statues around the place.  The entire staff of the church has been more than gracious to let us film there, and everyone’s really excited about it — so thank you, St Lucie Catholic Church!  We appreciate it.

Kelli shows off some of her jujitsu skills on Dan, the AC.

Destruction.

Brian talks to Sam about proper snooping techniques.

Photography by Chelsea Parker.

Day: 19

Location: St Lucie Catholic Church, in Port St Lucie, FL

Phrase of the day: “Okay, that’s it, I’m making you run laps.”

We here at “Natalie, Queen of Scots” would like to take the time to profusely thank St Lucie Catholic Church before we go any further for allowing us to film and being incredibly gracious about giving us access to an incredible location.  This was a great shoot, and our first day with Din Thomas, the actor playing our clergyman and resident UFC fighter – he runs a studio right here in Port St Lucie (that, coincidentally, Kelli (Natalie) and her brother attend).

Great stuff today, including some really stellar work by Nick (Nicholas) — at one point, Brian (the director) took him outside and ran a lap around the church with him to get him out of breath for a scene.  Scene looked great, though!  We also set up what Brian’s been referring to as “The God Door” — you’ll see what I mean when you look at pictures.

Inside the church.

Natalie laments her situation.

Setting up the god door.

Jake (the cinematographer) models the finished GodDoor.

Nick has important things to say.

Day: 18

Location: Port Salerno Elementary in Stuart, FL

Phrase of the day: “I’ve told you before, you can’t say that we’re doing a ’school shooting’ because then I feel like someone’s gonna call the cops on us”

Today, the cast and crew of “Natalie, Queen of Scots” took a field trip into Port Salerno Elementary School to film Natalie’s classroom.  We had over forty excitable extras on set for three school scenes, and they all did a bang-up job.  Special thanks goes to Danielle, who played “Rebecca,” and Heidi Condon, for playing “Mrs. Ollie,” our lovable manatee teacher.

Some highlights of the day:

Our Art Department made hundreds of manatees to decorate the walls.

Gabriel Dias as our token "volcano project kid".

Everyone wanted lunch props.

Nicholas and Natalie plan for war.

Thanks as always to Chelsea Parker, our makeup designer/costume guru and photographer extraordinaire for the shots.

The final showdown between Natalie, Sara, and Nicholas.

Day: 17

Location: Harborage Yacht Club and Marina, in Stuart, FL

Phrase of the day: “Can we be done with shooting outdoors near water now?”

Our Sunday took us to Harborage Yacht Club and Marina over in Stuart, where we’ve shot several times before and where Natalie’s mother works in the film. Crazy day – but great location, and some really phenomenal footage. The kids, despite a long, wordy day, were cheerful and ready to roll, as always. Special thanks to Gary Guertin over at Harborage, our associate producer and also a real nice guy, for having his fantastic staff cater lunch for the troops today.

Natalie's hero shot.

Our sound guys groove to the radio mysteriously coming in through their sound equipment while they were filming.

Nicholas, next to cinematographer Jacob Hill.

Photography thanks to Chelsea Parker.

Day: 16

Location: Jensen Beach Traffic Circle, in Jensen Beach, FL

Phrase of the day: “I don’t care if you guys are shooting a movie, I want to buy some lemonade — 50 cents, right?”

Hot day – perfect for some lemonade! Today we shot the second half of Nick’s lemonade stand scenes. The set was catered complimentarily by Tropical Smoothie Café in Jensen Beach – thanks guys! Talk about a pep-up lunch, nothing gets people more excited after a hot day by the train tracks than 25 ice-cold smoothies.

Dodging the train to deliver important news.

Sara Boswell, the loneliest girl in off-whites.

Nick's not too happy about using his lemonade stand money for bribery.

Fight an alligator, come back to the stand for Happy Hour!

Photography courtesy Chelsea Parker.