DRY BONES Days 16, 17 and 18: Home Stretch
Yes, I've fallen behind - it's called exhaustion.
After the brutality of our first big special make-up effects day, it was a relief to have a non-effects day... almost like someone scheduled that way on purpose. Day 16 was a breeze compared to Day 15 - even with four company moves. First we returned to the Medina Theatre to shoot the remainder of our bar scenes, this time with Debbie Rochon. The bulk of the scene consisted of a table conversation between Michael O'Hear and Debbie. We did a slow dolly in on each character, and those dolly moves will be intercut in the editing; I've had this in mind from the beginning, my ode to Mart Scorsese. Unlike the first time we went to the theater, we had quite a few extras, including a gentleman I'm interested in casting in another project. We fed everyone pizza, then hit the road.
We rendezvoused at my house, then headed to the home of Jenn and Bill Brown. My good friend Tommy Sweeney drove up from the NYC are for a cameo at the end of the film. After we shot his scene with Michael and Debbie, I had him and Debbie improvise a voice over argument, which resulted in this gem: "Get rid of that goddamned cat, I feel like I'VE got a hairball!" We had another scene to shoot at the location, but we had to wait for dark, so we went back to my house and grabbed some pickup shots. Then we returned to the Brown home, where we shot a "walk and talk" (you've seen hundreds of these on LAW & ORDER) between Debbie and Michael - a strong scene with excellent night time lighting by Chris Rados.
On Day 17, we were back in Special Effects Land. This time I had Debbie at the lab at 8 am, and scheduled plenty for us to shoot while we waited for her to emerge as the succubus. The entire make-up and costume transformation took seven hours the first time; I hoped to see that time cut in half for the second day, but it took the same amount of time. Too long in my estimation, but I'm not there in the lab, I don't see what the problems are, and there's no denying that the end result is worth the effort. The only problem I saw was that Debbie was left alone several times, mostly made up, and no one bothered to tell her what was happening, or what needed to happen... she was just in limbo, and as the day wore on she would politely ask the questions that needed to be asked. I felt bad, but the reality is that we're a much smaller unit than on Slime City Massacre (we have no assistant director, no production manager, no assistant camera person, no sound mixer ((just a boom operator)) and only two effects people, who have been stretched thin despite the extra month of pre-production they gained when I cast Debbie).
This time the bulk of succubus action was comprised of sex scenes between Lilim (the succubus) and Drew (Michael). There were at least four such scenes, and Debbie was fantastic: between the make-up and her performance, we've entered Evil Dead territory, and yet we've created something different. I've always wanted to create a classic styled monster, and I think that as a team we've done it with Lilim. Michael was very good in these scenes two. He plays the lead character, but he's often the straight man surrounded by humorous characters. This was his chance to shine, even though he was on his back the entire time. I think we got Debbie out of make-up around 8:30 pm - twelve and a half hours after she reported for make-up. She never once complained, even though the yellow contacts she wore were causing her discomfort. When you're in that kind of make-up - she wore silicone gloves, had broken wing stems protruding from her back, and had pre-fabricated sores all over her body - all you can really do is sit and relax on your down time.
The big gag of the night was still to come: in a key moment, Lilim exposes her breasts to Drew, squeezes them, and sprays a vile fluid out of her nipples at him. At my request, the fake breasts (previously used on Model Hunger) also had hair on them. If you're going for a gross out, be really gross. Arick and Rod tested the gag earlier in the day. I asked Debbie to stay and wear one silicone glove, and my wife Tamar to wear the other (she doubled succubus hands several times in the shoot). We held the chest piece low to the floor, over a sheet of plastic. I realized the shot needed to be Michael's POV, so we raised it... ultimately, Paul McGinnis stripped off his shirt and "wore" the piece. On "Action," green slime oozed out of the nipples, just like I described in the script... and then they bubbled and stopped. We did not get a spray. We shot the bit three more times before I got enough discharge to cut with the shot of the spray striking Michael in the face (priceless,,, Roy Frumkes is going to love this). That's showbiz, folks: effects take longer than planned, sometimes they work the way you want, sometimes they don't, and sometimes they work well enough. I always feel bad for the effects guys when this happens - so much pressure - but I also have to worry about everyone else who's been on set all day.
Day 18 was another "recuperate from effects" day: we concentrated on a sequence in which Debbie's character surprises Michael's at his home. A number of dolly shots, a number of scenes which allowed Debbie and Michael to show some chemistry (they've worked together a few times now), and one bit in which I felt Debbie showed a different comedic side of her (sort of a perky comedic side, as opposed to a dark edged horror side...which comes later). I called an early wrap because I know we have a killer day tomorrow, Day 19, our last dance.
After the brutality of our first big special make-up effects day, it was a relief to have a non-effects day... almost like someone scheduled that way on purpose. Day 16 was a breeze compared to Day 15 - even with four company moves. First we returned to the Medina Theatre to shoot the remainder of our bar scenes, this time with Debbie Rochon. The bulk of the scene consisted of a table conversation between Michael O'Hear and Debbie. We did a slow dolly in on each character, and those dolly moves will be intercut in the editing; I've had this in mind from the beginning, my ode to Mart Scorsese. Unlike the first time we went to the theater, we had quite a few extras, including a gentleman I'm interested in casting in another project. We fed everyone pizza, then hit the road.
We rendezvoused at my house, then headed to the home of Jenn and Bill Brown. My good friend Tommy Sweeney drove up from the NYC are for a cameo at the end of the film. After we shot his scene with Michael and Debbie, I had him and Debbie improvise a voice over argument, which resulted in this gem: "Get rid of that goddamned cat, I feel like I'VE got a hairball!" We had another scene to shoot at the location, but we had to wait for dark, so we went back to my house and grabbed some pickup shots. Then we returned to the Brown home, where we shot a "walk and talk" (you've seen hundreds of these on LAW & ORDER) between Debbie and Michael - a strong scene with excellent night time lighting by Chris Rados.
On Day 17, we were back in Special Effects Land. This time I had Debbie at the lab at 8 am, and scheduled plenty for us to shoot while we waited for her to emerge as the succubus. The entire make-up and costume transformation took seven hours the first time; I hoped to see that time cut in half for the second day, but it took the same amount of time. Too long in my estimation, but I'm not there in the lab, I don't see what the problems are, and there's no denying that the end result is worth the effort. The only problem I saw was that Debbie was left alone several times, mostly made up, and no one bothered to tell her what was happening, or what needed to happen... she was just in limbo, and as the day wore on she would politely ask the questions that needed to be asked. I felt bad, but the reality is that we're a much smaller unit than on Slime City Massacre (we have no assistant director, no production manager, no assistant camera person, no sound mixer ((just a boom operator)) and only two effects people, who have been stretched thin despite the extra month of pre-production they gained when I cast Debbie).
This time the bulk of succubus action was comprised of sex scenes between Lilim (the succubus) and Drew (Michael). There were at least four such scenes, and Debbie was fantastic: between the make-up and her performance, we've entered Evil Dead territory, and yet we've created something different. I've always wanted to create a classic styled monster, and I think that as a team we've done it with Lilim. Michael was very good in these scenes two. He plays the lead character, but he's often the straight man surrounded by humorous characters. This was his chance to shine, even though he was on his back the entire time. I think we got Debbie out of make-up around 8:30 pm - twelve and a half hours after she reported for make-up. She never once complained, even though the yellow contacts she wore were causing her discomfort. When you're in that kind of make-up - she wore silicone gloves, had broken wing stems protruding from her back, and had pre-fabricated sores all over her body - all you can really do is sit and relax on your down time.
The big gag of the night was still to come: in a key moment, Lilim exposes her breasts to Drew, squeezes them, and sprays a vile fluid out of her nipples at him. At my request, the fake breasts (previously used on Model Hunger) also had hair on them. If you're going for a gross out, be really gross. Arick and Rod tested the gag earlier in the day. I asked Debbie to stay and wear one silicone glove, and my wife Tamar to wear the other (she doubled succubus hands several times in the shoot). We held the chest piece low to the floor, over a sheet of plastic. I realized the shot needed to be Michael's POV, so we raised it... ultimately, Paul McGinnis stripped off his shirt and "wore" the piece. On "Action," green slime oozed out of the nipples, just like I described in the script... and then they bubbled and stopped. We did not get a spray. We shot the bit three more times before I got enough discharge to cut with the shot of the spray striking Michael in the face (priceless,,, Roy Frumkes is going to love this). That's showbiz, folks: effects take longer than planned, sometimes they work the way you want, sometimes they don't, and sometimes they work well enough. I always feel bad for the effects guys when this happens - so much pressure - but I also have to worry about everyone else who's been on set all day.
Day 18 was another "recuperate from effects" day: we concentrated on a sequence in which Debbie's character surprises Michael's at his home. A number of dolly shots, a number of scenes which allowed Debbie and Michael to show some chemistry (they've worked together a few times now), and one bit in which I felt Debbie showed a different comedic side of her (sort of a perky comedic side, as opposed to a dark edged horror side...which comes later). I called an early wrap because I know we have a killer day tomorrow, Day 19, our last dance.
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