by R. P. Rioux
Steve left Marielle to work within these parameters while giving her the freedom to be creative. The outfits consisted of individual pieces borrowed from the rental house she worked at, but custom-tailored for each member. Sun-hee's outfit emphasized her femininity. It included a flared, leather skirt extending to mid-thigh, and a high-necked, short-sleeved top that left her slender midriff exposed. Grace exuded confidence in skin-tight leather pants with a tank top and a studded leather jacket. Heather's pencil miniskirt and black blouse covered by a faded light blue jean jacket, conveyed her charm. Erin's look was playful, with a flat-brimmed baseball cap, a leather, raglan sleeved princess cut dress, and hose. Mindy's spirited outfit consisted of shorts and a cowl neck blouse. All five wore unique pairs of heeled boots. The predominant material was black leather with splashes of white and navy-blue cotton to tie the look together.
Steve ensured they were each given handheld, battery-powered fans to keep themselves cool. Alejandra, though, struggled to keep their makeup in order as the sun took its toll on everyone. Gil Parkhurst, an exchange student from England, was tasked with photographing the band for promotional purposes. He mercifully chose shaded areas around the lot to pose each member. A picturesque spot near a magnificent Joshua tree was selected for the full group shot. Poor Meadow, though, was assigned to stand in for the band members on the broiling hot roof as Shandi practiced her drone maneuvers.
As the sun proceeded to set, the intense heat lessened. Steve ordered the band on the roof, which was easier said than done. Their heeled boots proved a hindrance to ladder climbing. "I didn't want to die this way," complained Erin on her ascent.
"Wait 'til we climb down," said Mindy.
Once in place, Erin found her bass prepped but was not impressed by the conditions. "Eww, it's filthy here."
"Welcome to glamorous show biz," said Grace.
Steve stayed on the roof long enough to block the scene, then returned to the ground to discuss options with Shandi. He allowed her one practice run with the full band in place. His plan was to go through the song several times, focusing on the close-ups of each member, followed by a master shot to capture the entire group at once. If timed correctly, this master would coincide with the setting sun, when the light was at its most luxurious. The practice run revealed the need to place shorter members, Heather, Grace, and Erin, on apple boxes to prevent Shandi from having to adjust the drone's altitude each time she moved from one to another. This adjustment delayed the first take by 15 minutes.
Since the mics were not recording, Heather and Sun-hee sang aloud in time with the music playback, a method that produced the most natural-looking results. Mindy played the drums live as her timing was spot on each take. Steve was less concerned with guitar and bass accuracy since they would be less noticeable. He encouraged the musicians to interact with the camera instead. They played through the song three full times. Shandi used different flying patterns to give Steve plenty of editing coverage later.
As they were finishing close-ups, a cloud of dust in the distance signaled the imminent arrival of a vehicle. It was the first one they'd seen since arriving. As it approached the set, the white Jeep Cherokee slowed to a crawl. The driver looked suspiciously at the crew, vehicles, and equipment spread over the lot.
"Looks like we have company," said Phil. Steve stopped to watch as the Jeep lingered at the intersection before turning onto the paved road and speeding away.
"What do you suppose that means?" asked Steve.
"Your luck could be running out."
"All right, let's finish this," Steve ordered with urgency.
The master shot was to be a single take with the drone starting off in a hover position directly in front of the band. As the song built to its climax, the drone pulled up and back, revealing more and more of the surrounding terrain. They aborted the first attempt as the drone vibrated on the ascent. The second attempt went smoothly, but after watching the playback, Steve felt the sun was still too high above the horizon and the sky too bright.
"Okay, relax for a bit, but stay in position," he instructed from his chair at the playback monitor. As they waited, the white Cherokee returned, but this time the driver pulled into the lot and stopped near Meadow. The two exchanged words before she pointed out Steve's location.
A tall, overweight man in his mid-30s with a trucker cap and Houston Astros shirt, emerged from the vehicle. He approached Steve and asked, "What production company is this? I didn't hear of a booking this weekend."
"Miracle Pictures," responded Steve.
"Miracle Pictures?"
"Yeah, you know what they say. If it's good, it's a Miracle."
The driver looked neither amused nor convinced. "I'll have to call this in. He dialed a number on his phone. Steve looked at Phil sheepishly. Before long, the driver grew frustrated. "Damn service out here. I'm going into town to see Freddy." He drove off the lot and disappeared down the desert highway.
Before the dust could settle, Steve said, "Places everyone! We have one more attempt at this."
A single run would have to suffice. The unexpected delay meant the sky would look darker in the shot than Steve would have preferred. Shandi adjusted the exposure as much as she dared, and they simply went for it. The take wasn't perfect. Evening winds stirred, causing slight vibrations. The pullback was well executed, however, and the band suffered no miscues. When they watched the playback, Steve concluded the sunset would look radiant once color corrected. Rather than risk sticking around until the Jeep returned, he accepted the shot for what it was and called for a wrap.
The equipment was packed hastily. Two vehicles were slated to return to L.A. carrying most of the gear and those crew members not needed for the morning shoot. After the sun dipped below the horizon, they noticed two sets of headlights coming their way. "Meet you at the rendezvous point," shouted Steve.
The crew dispersed in two separate directions away from the approaching menace. Steve told Gil, the driver of the passenger car, to keep the headlights off as long as possible. As they made their escape, he kept glancing at the rearview mirror to see if they were being followed. When the pursuing vehicles reached the crossroads, they followed the L.A. group without hesitation
15
Mindy
By the time the overnight group arrived at the campsite, the last rays of sunlight had vanished. The moon would not rise for hours. The night was pitch black. For lifelong city dwellers, arranging a campsite by flashlight was an exercise in exasperating futility. Steve, who had claimed to be a former boy scout with plenty of desert camping experience, tasked Jason to help. Erin, too was recruited, her sole qualification having been a camping trip to Yellowstone with her family. The goal was to erect four tents for 10 people. While Gil built a fire, Meadow organized the cooking equipment. Shandi cleaned and prepped the camera equipment for the next day. The remaining cast members pitched in wherever they could.
Mindy made herself useful by shining a flashlight for the tent crew to see by. She watched Erin with amusement. The girl was a study in contrasts. Despite being graceful on the dance floor, she was comically awkward in most other situations. Wide-eyed and innocent, her default expression resembled a newborn kitten freshly dropped by the side of the freeway. After 15 minutes of inserting tent poles into fabric loops only to discover each time she had missed some, Erin became pouty.
"Why don't you rest?" said Mindy, struggling not to laugh. "You've had a long day." Erin's frown turned to delight. She wasted no time accepting her unnie's suggestion. Mindy had watched her long enough to comprehend the basic principles of tent assembly and got to work.
Sun-hee and Heather found some battery-powered lamps in the equipment van. The added illumination made everyone's job much more manageable. It wasn't long before the tents were ready, the water for the instant noodles was boiling, and the warmth of the campfire was staving off the cool of the desert night. The scent of burning mesquite made her yearn for barbeque long before she knew the actual me
nu.
Despite the rudimentary conditions, the two volunteer chefs found themselves working in, Meadow and Grace's evening dinner was a success. The crew's half-starved condition certainly contributed to their reaction, but the meal also had some welcome inspiration. At her mom's suggestion, Grace brought along some extra ingredients to spice the dish. The makeshift budae jjigae, or army stew, was a smash hit even among non-Koreans. To the instant noodles were added Spam slices, Vienna sausages, pork and beans, enoki and oyster mushrooms, green onions, cheese slices, and of course kimchi.
Naturally, there was alcohol too. As the unnie of the group, and at 22, the one member over the legal drinking age, Mindy brought along some bottles of soju to warm the party's spirits. She doubted the authorities would be checking IDs anytime soon, and she heard no complaints when the bottles were revealed.
"What is this?" asked Erin. "I like it." The four other Koreans stopped what they were doing and stared at her in disbelief. Erin looked embarrassed. "What?"
"You're Korean, and you don't know what soju is?" asked Mindy.
"I'm telling you I lived a sheltered life," explained Erin. She felt intimidated by the looks she was receiving. "Give me a break. I was the only Asian in my hometown."
"What was that like?" asked Heather.
"Uh, where do I begin?" She thought a moment. "Don't take what I'm about to say wrong. My adoptive parents were wonderful. If I wanted to embrace my heritage, they'd have supported me."
"But you didn't," said Mindy.
"Not then." Erin, delighted to be the center of attention, began to ramble. "My town had 3,000 people in it. My adoptive sister, Abby, was my best friend, but I was mostly an outsider. That's if people paid any attention to me at all, and truthfully, when they weren't' making fun of my eyes and telling me I was ugly, I was basically invisible, which was better than the alternative. Outside of movies, I didn't see another Asian until I went to Oklahoma City when I was nine, so you can't blame me for preferring hamburgers and pizza, can you? The closest we had to Asian food was canned chow mein at the grocery store."
This comment produced an outburst of laughter. At first, Erin looked hurt by their reaction but gradually saw the humor in the situation too.
"A frog in a well can't know the sea," said Mindy.
"Sorry for laughing," said Sun-hee, "I can't even imagine."
Erin continued, "Seriously, I didn't want to have anything to do with Korea, so I blamed my birth parents for abandoning me, and my goal was to act as American as possible to fit in, because if I adopted my culture that would have made me feel even more isolated."
"It would have been easier if you'd lived here," said Grace.
"When I got older, my curiosity grew, but my options were limited, so I read every book on Korea at the library at least six times each, but whenever I expressed an interest in attending university in L.A., my parents understood why, so you can imagine when I was invited to join this group, I couldn't believe my luck. It was a dream come true."
Shandi left the table. "All right, guys, thanks for the stories, but I'm calling it a night. Keep it down, will you? We need sleep."
"What are we doing tomorrow?" asked Heather.
"The opening and closing shots," explained Steve. "You'll be walking down the highway in slow motion, the sun rising behind you. It should look awesome. We'll need to be awake well before dawn, though." Steve ignored their collective groans. Meadow, Jason, and Gil used that prompt to retire as well.
The five band members and Steve moved to the campfire, where Mindy gave the uninitiated a primer on proper etiquette for drinking soju. She noted that the maknae's job, as the youngest of the group, was to keep the glasses of her elders full. Erin was less than thrilled with this news.
The group talked into the night. As the one among them who had been a K-Pop idol at one time, Mindy was peppered with questions. Most of them were trivial, but some delved into more serious topics.
"Is it true that idols aren't allowed to date?" Steve asked.
"What?" asked Erin. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah, mostly. Especially for the younger, less-established groups," explained Mindy. "Idols must appear innocent yet desirable at the same time. The fantasy is shattered if they're seen dealing with messy love interests."
"Kind of like the old studio system in Hollywood that controlled their stable of stars," said Steve.
"That's the goal, but reality is different." Mindy now had their undivided attention. "Think about it. You've got these gorgeous young people in the prime of their youth working together. Things are bound to happen. The fact is, idols do sometimes date, but they must hide it. If the news broke publicly, it could cause a scandal, bring shame to the company, and result in dismissal from the group."
"For dating?" asked Erin.
"I've seen it happen," confirmed Mindy.
"The veil of perfection surrounding idols is inviolable," added Grace.
"How do they hide it?" asked Erin.
"With the whole world watching your every move, it's not easy. Also, young groups live in chaperoned dorms, which means they have no privacy. Love hotels are off-limits because they'd draw immediate attention."
"So, what do they do?" asked Steve.
"Get creative," said Mindy. "We'd borrow someone's car with tinted windows and find a place to park in private."
Erin laughed. "We used to call them submarine races in high school." The statement caused the group to assess her in surprise. Erin quickly qualified her observation, "That's what I heard." Once again, they burst into laughter.
"Sure, Erin, I bet you won your fair share of races," teased Grace.
"I'm serious," she said, laughing.
Mindy continued, "Honestly, though, I'd still advise discretion in your relationships. You'll avoid trouble. Fans can be possessive. And boyfriends too, come to think of it."
"Do you miss it?" asked Sun-hee. "Being an idol, I mean."
"I don't want to sugarcoat things," she responded. "Looking back, I'm glad I left when I did. At first, I was in shock. For more than two years after, I refused to listen to K-Pop. The industry is universally rough, but girls have it worst."
"How so?" asked Steve.
"Boy bands have been known to make mistakes and recover in the eyes of the public. If a girl group slips even once, it's usually the end of their careers. The pressure for constant perfection is immense. You're under constant scrutiny. By the time WeR5 disbanded, we weren't enjoying it anymore. The stress was too much."
The group sat in silence. Heather was lost in thought. Mindy snatched a small branch from the ground and used it to play with the fire.
"What brought you back?" asked Erin.
"Because I hope to re-spark my love of performing again."
"What did you mean leaving was a shock?" asked Erin.
"The way it ended."
"You had a contract dispute, right?" asked Grace. "That's what I heard."
"The agency tried to save face by spreading that story. The truth was much messier. Our company was young, with inexperienced backers. They felt substantial pressure to succeed right away and didn't understand how long it takes to build a fan base. Our debut didn't go well. No matter how hard we worked, our numbers wouldn't increase. One day, they called us into the office for a meeting. We thought they'd propose a new album concept. Instead, they told us we were being replaced. Like that, we were gone."
"Brutal," said Steve.
"We, of course, protested, but they insisted we'd never be popular. The investors didn't want to lose their brand investment, so they reformed the group with new members under the same name." She tossed the small branch she had been playing with into the fire and watched the flames pop before continuing. "For years, we were treated like family. When that meeting ended, though, security guards escorted us to our lockers. They wouldn't even let us say goodbye."
"Jeez," said Steve.
"As if that wasn't hurtful enough, we ran into our replacements on the w
ay out. All were trainees we'd worked with before. They'd known, but couldn't say anything. We just stood there, eying each other. Out with the old; in with the new."
"Talk about awkward," said Grace.
"What happened to them?" asked Erin.
"They disbanded a year later. Not surprising, really. The few fans WeR5 did have rejected the sudden change, and the complete overhaul confused everyone else."
As the logs cooled to a deep orange glow, Grace shifted them around, which served to reignite the flames and brighten the campsite.
Mindy continued. "I remember the first day of idol training. The instructor told us to raise hands if we were the leads in our school plays, or the first chairs in our orchestras. Every single person did. And then he goes, 'You're here now. In this place, you're nothing. Get used to it.'"
