Production Notes PDF - Visual Hollywood

nights at the Hansen Dam Recreational area, where the temperatures plummeted as the night wore onand shivering actors and background artists raced for down jackets during breaks."There were some less-than-ideal weather conditions," notes Jaysen. "Some nights our cast was veryscantily clad, doing some of the fun summer pranks you see on screen while temperatures werehovering around freezing. Some days at the Arboretum, they went through hours of strenuous cheerperformances during 100 temperatures. These guys were champs."And it wasn't just weather that caused problems. "I would say one of the biggest challenges for me onthis film was subduing my horror when, during our actors' more emotional scenes, the Arboretumpeacocks began howling," says producer Weinstock. The peacock population at the Arboretum is quitelarge, and the cacophony of their piercing shrieks was a continual presence during the weeks theproduction shot cheer competition scenes there."The peacocks were always prancing around the set," says Olsen, "but one of their favorite things to dowas wait until they'd say 'Action!' and then..." [Olsen makes peacock sounds.] "I had dreams aboutkilling peacocks." Production assistants were occasionally pressed into service to keep the birds fromstrutting into a scene.When production designer Marcia Hinds talked with director Gluck about the look of the film, "He toldme he really wanted a 'blue skies' movie, outdoors and open, and you can't get that on a stage. As wescouted various universities to find a location for the cheer camp, we chose Occidental College, whichhad a relatively 'clean palette,' compared with UCLA or USC, which have been used so much in films.Occidental is a small, gorgeous campus."Hinds and her team combined elements of the college with The Arboretum of L.A. County in Arcadia toserve as the setting for the film's cheer camp. At the Arboretum, a 127-acre horticultural and botanicalcenter, an outdoor performance area was created for the film's cheer competition scenes. Hinds and herteam installed a "spring floor," used by cheer teams and gymnasts, which provided cushioning andbounce for the hard-impact moves the cheerleaders were required to perform. The spring floor wassurrounded by a border of water, similar to a moat, and provided a unique setting for the cheercompetition.CHEERWEARCostume designer Mynka Draper researched cheer regulations when creating costumes for Fired Up,which had to be attractive as well as flexible for the athletic maneuvers the cast performed."I didn't know a lot about cheerleading before I began this movie. There are all sorts of rules Idiscovered," says Draper. "For instance, cheerleaders don't wear jewelry when they cheer, and they allwear white shoes which must be perfectly flat on the sole so they can easily stand on each other's handsduring stunts. I was hoping to outfit one of the teams with boots, but I learned that although some NFLcheer squads wear boots it's not done in high school cheerleading."Draper and her team created approximately 4,000 costume pieces - each team had multiple pieces fortheir uniforms, as well as regular casual wear.