Howdy, SL-LOST readers. Some of you already know me as “Carmel Wilber” from our Second Life LOST Island; others might have bumped into my LOST video podcasts titled “Find Lost with Carmel”. I planned to join the writers of this fabulous blog in September when I will be traveling to the island (Hawaii) to do LOST location tours and attempt to run into some LOST filming. However, fate (or was it free will?) sent me an aperitif:  a surprise visit of LOST’s executive producer and director Jack Bender, in my hometown: Tel Aviv.

This introduction post is herby turning into a report from Bender’s meeting with LOST fans and local film students. Many stories that we already know were retold and others that we found out recently (like the fact Hurley was supposed to see himself in Jacob’s cabin) were explained in greater detail. Only 3 questions were asked by LOST fans, others were film students eager to hear about LOST’s cinematography concept. I tried to collect everything that added interesting information for fans. Here are what I consider to be the highlights of that evening:

First video:

· Bender’s wife, Laura, is a Rabbi and also does looping on the show, taking care of the whispers, as she demonstrates to us. A fan asked if the whispers texts are on script or is it just two guys goofing around. Bender confirmed some whispers contain hidden messages and “there’s more” he hints.

· I asked about the rough production errors of season 5 wondering if they’re pure sloppiness or narrative clues. Bender suspected I was a script supervisor but confirmed errors like little Ben’s bullet changing sides or the woman in the dark behind Sun when meeting Christian - to be just errors. That woman wasn’t Claire but their second AD. However, the dialog of the Oceanic 6 and Ben from the LA marina, which was shown a few times with different scripts and settings, was on purpose. It was shot from different characters perspectives and it was done for a reason. You can theorize on that reason…

· He speaks of the problem of spoilers and says they consider shutting the set in Hawaii and shooting the finale someplace else just so it won’t get spoiled. He tells an interesting story how Damon saw the setting of the Marketplace in Iraq from Season 4 online, because a fan had filmed the filming from across the street.

· He talks about the series ending, describing it as very satisfying and thrilling. He says Season 6 will be like Season 1 in the sense of focusing on the core world of the show and the original cast.

Second video:

· When Bender was asked about his ability to influence the story, he revealed that one of the few times he made a major contribution was choosing Shanon to be the one suffering from Asthma, instead of an unknown couple. He also came up with the idea of Vincent swimming after the raft in the season 1 finale and surprised the guys in LA with it. You should listen to him tell the wonderful stories behind these scenes.He adds some cool details on Hawaiian ecology that effects the story.

· As executive producer he didn’t always agree with the decisions of other directors. He tells a story I never heard before about a director that did only one episode on the show “raised by another”, and she wanted to do Claire’s dream where Locke appeared with backgammon eyes, in black and white. He is very persistent about the real & natural look of the show.

· Recently Damon and Carlton revealed that Hurley was supposed to see himself inside Jacob’s cabin in “The Beginning of the End”. Bender tells the whole story of how a production problem/accident made Christian Shepherd become a part of the LOST mythology. He might have been less important if they hadn’t changed the original plot line. Makes you wonder where they were going with their original plot line.

Third video is made of some left overs from the more cinematic questions:

· He talks about the making of the scene of Ben killing Locke.

· He talks about another director that made Iraq too blue inspired by “Black Hawk Down”.

· He lays out the production schedule, pretty interesting to hear how they find out tidbits because of needs to prep and how they turn Hawaii into other places in the world.

· He admits the show has many problems with how CGI worked like the submarine and sometimes their wigs are problematic too…

I hope you’ll enjoy watching and talk to you next time from Hawaii.

Carmel.

Related posts

• Your Daily Dose of LOST News in One Big Jughead-Size Post (2)
• Season 6: Filming Begins August 24th, Jack Bender to Direct 2 Hour Premiere (22)
• Season 5 Revealed [Sky One] (11)