On location, when I asked the actress for her natural reaction to the tree ornamented with appes, she started laughing. So we just shot her laughing, instead.
The actress (playing the impudent artcritic-wannabee) liked the warbling-mouth depiction of her character.
Some things, such as kicking over the bag of apples, originated from accidents during rehearsal. But we liked the accidents and kept them.
The two actresses (playing the art critic and the girl) were actually roommates and good friends. They often cracked up during these shots.
Flinging the apple originated when I was doodling storyboards beforehand. I kind of liked it, and on shooting day asked the actress to fling the apple as well. When she did, the apple hit the nearby frozen river. It made a fantastic glide across the ice. My groupmates (crew) were mesmerized by this apple locomotion. So was the other actor, who was still being shot on camera.
Five people (including the male actor) helped dress the tree with apples.
At least eight people stopped by to ask what we were doing, before and during shooting.
Appletoons
I ended up taking home all the leftover apples. Thanks to this film, I learned how to make apple pie. As to what happened to the other apples ....
Below: the effect of throwing apples at the Charles River during winter, as mentioned in my storyboards.
