This is just a brief list of etiquette tips for young zombie gentlemen acting in zombie films.
* When someone tells you to wear "old clothes" they generally mean worn clothes that you don't mind treating roughly as opposed to your costume from Pirates of Penzance.
* Before creepily hitting on the makeup artist, you should probably learn her name.
* The following aren't good ways to flirt with girls you barely know: cheesy quotes from "Robin Hood Prince of Thieves," pretending to bite girls on the neck, yelling at any other guys who try to interact with said girls, following those girls everywhere they go.
* It's not nice to throw things at chubby girls who can't chase you obtain revenge.
* For the sake of the filming process maybe you shouldn't dance behind the people being filmed so that you won't be in the background of the shot. For that matter, dancing in front of those being filmed is also not good because then they can't be serious and deadly as an actor needs to be in a zombie film.
Those are the observations I made. I know there were more, but it was a month ago and memory fades!
Showing posts with label zombies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label zombies. Show all posts
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
More zombie adventures - Part 1
Well once again I took part in the filming adventure that is Arkea Productions' Day/Night. This time I participated by doing the makeup, entertaining the zombies by acting as a target for their pine cone throwing games, and being a zombie myself.
Doing the makeup was fun, but it was the first time I've done it without some theater student around to show me the real way to do it, and it was also the first time we didn't have white foundation so hopefully no one will notice that in this footage the zombies are flesh colored instead of white. But really, why should they be white? Either all their bodily function froze (including the rotting thing) and so they look just the same as when they died (plus whatever little wear and tear they've experienced along the way), or they continue the life cycle and so they'd be greenish looking. But white? These aren't zombie ghosts!
Being the target for pine cone throwing practice was not so fun. Apparently something in my genetic makeup or my overall aura is irresistible to those who like to torment others. I've been told that people "just can't help" teasing me. So when the zombies were experiencing down time, they threw pine cones at me from all different sides and angles. Of course being the klutzy oaf I am, there was never any possibility of me catching them, which just made it all the more fun. At least they stopped standing behind the camera dancing and trying to make the actors laugh!
As for my zombie role, well I've already been killed quite a few times for this film. Once David even hit me on the head with his shovel by accident, so I was almost killed for reals. This time I pulled all my hair over my face and hoped no one would pay attention. It's fun being undead!
Part 2 will include more about the aforementioned zombie/pirate and the pine cone throwing boys. Stay tuned.
Doing the makeup was fun, but it was the first time I've done it without some theater student around to show me the real way to do it, and it was also the first time we didn't have white foundation so hopefully no one will notice that in this footage the zombies are flesh colored instead of white. But really, why should they be white? Either all their bodily function froze (including the rotting thing) and so they look just the same as when they died (plus whatever little wear and tear they've experienced along the way), or they continue the life cycle and so they'd be greenish looking. But white? These aren't zombie ghosts!
Being the target for pine cone throwing practice was not so fun. Apparently something in my genetic makeup or my overall aura is irresistible to those who like to torment others. I've been told that people "just can't help" teasing me. So when the zombies were experiencing down time, they threw pine cones at me from all different sides and angles. Of course being the klutzy oaf I am, there was never any possibility of me catching them, which just made it all the more fun. At least they stopped standing behind the camera dancing and trying to make the actors laugh!
As for my zombie role, well I've already been killed quite a few times for this film. Once David even hit me on the head with his shovel by accident, so I was almost killed for reals. This time I pulled all my hair over my face and hoped no one would pay attention. It's fun being undead!
Part 2 will include more about the aforementioned zombie/pirate and the pine cone throwing boys. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Zombie Adventures
So my brother David, the co-creator of the Zooby News Team as well as such short films as Searching for Sasquatch and Uncovering Unicorns, is now co-directing and producing a full length film entitled Day/Night. The idea the movie explores is that one day zombies might actually become a reality. "So?" you might say, "Don't we already have Dawn of the Dead, Shawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and so forth covering this topic?" Well, yes, but those movies mostly deal with the immediate reaction to a zombie uprising. This movie will deal with surviving for the long term. What happens after the people make it through the zombie swarms to the remote island? How do they survive? Day/Night answers all these questions and more. As always, I am my brother's biggest fan and his willing assistant/slave in this project for whatever he needs. So far that has included smothering my face in liquid latex to be a zombie (tearing off my eyebrows in the process), getting hit on the head with a shovel, driving car loads of people to kingdom come. Today my role was a little more adventurous.
My brother's idea is that in the event of a zombie invasion, people will hole up away from the places that were heavily populate deep in the woods/countryside. Not only do they get to hide away from the zombies, but this also means we don't have to try to build any elaborate sets or find abandoned apartments to film in. Today's scene was to be filmed at the entrance of a cave, the cave the survivors are living in, and I was going to be the Camera Girl. Unfortunately there was a cement blockade and a cop car blocking us from driving to the cave, and the stream that was fordable in late winter has now become a raging river. So my brother decided we would come at the cave entrance in a more... vertical fashion, by which I mean that we drove to a lookout directly over the cave mouth and attempted to climb down.
First let me say that I'm not the most athletic of girls, partly because I have asthma and mostly because I'm lazy. But in the name of art (or theater?) I'm willing to try anything. Unfortunately for me, that didn't change the fact that I was wearing Jelly Shoes, that the terrain consisted of both shale and loose dirt rather than convenient stairs or ladder rungs, that the wind was blowing about 70 mph, or that I have absolutely no sense of balance. So rather than skipping merrily down to the cave entrance, I stumbled and huffed my way yards behind my brother and his co-creator/cast member. Finally I caught up to them only to find that the ground had switched from the not-so-ideal loose ground to even worse sheer rock. As it turned out, we were no match for a rock face worn smooth by decades of running water. No problem, right? We turned around and headed due north.
This is where I became a hassle rather than a help. I'm pretty sure after today that if there were zombies, I'd be the first sacrificed to their clutches. But I digress. Once again I quickly fell behind the men, but this time it wasn't because the rocks in my jellies were cutting my toes, it was because the asthma was seizing and clutching my lungs. Or maybe it was because I'm way out of shape. At any rate, long before I reached the top I was convinced I would collapse and be left to join the mysterious skeletal remains I found mingling in the shale. But before I could give up for good, the cheerful calls of my brother pulled me on until I finally made it to the top.
For future reference I'll be glad to help in any way the cast and crew need, unless it involves hiking!
ADDENDUM: Since I'm vain and self important, I wanted to add this quote from another blog (wewatch.wordpress.com) about my participation in the aforementioned zombie movie:
"Susan too–a queen of unyielding support...." Hey, it's not much but it's all about me.
My brother's idea is that in the event of a zombie invasion, people will hole up away from the places that were heavily populate deep in the woods/countryside. Not only do they get to hide away from the zombies, but this also means we don't have to try to build any elaborate sets or find abandoned apartments to film in. Today's scene was to be filmed at the entrance of a cave, the cave the survivors are living in, and I was going to be the Camera Girl. Unfortunately there was a cement blockade and a cop car blocking us from driving to the cave, and the stream that was fordable in late winter has now become a raging river. So my brother decided we would come at the cave entrance in a more... vertical fashion, by which I mean that we drove to a lookout directly over the cave mouth and attempted to climb down.
First let me say that I'm not the most athletic of girls, partly because I have asthma and mostly because I'm lazy. But in the name of art (or theater?) I'm willing to try anything. Unfortunately for me, that didn't change the fact that I was wearing Jelly Shoes, that the terrain consisted of both shale and loose dirt rather than convenient stairs or ladder rungs, that the wind was blowing about 70 mph, or that I have absolutely no sense of balance. So rather than skipping merrily down to the cave entrance, I stumbled and huffed my way yards behind my brother and his co-creator/cast member. Finally I caught up to them only to find that the ground had switched from the not-so-ideal loose ground to even worse sheer rock. As it turned out, we were no match for a rock face worn smooth by decades of running water. No problem, right? We turned around and headed due north.
This is where I became a hassle rather than a help. I'm pretty sure after today that if there were zombies, I'd be the first sacrificed to their clutches. But I digress. Once again I quickly fell behind the men, but this time it wasn't because the rocks in my jellies were cutting my toes, it was because the asthma was seizing and clutching my lungs. Or maybe it was because I'm way out of shape. At any rate, long before I reached the top I was convinced I would collapse and be left to join the mysterious skeletal remains I found mingling in the shale. But before I could give up for good, the cheerful calls of my brother pulled me on until I finally made it to the top.
For future reference I'll be glad to help in any way the cast and crew need, unless it involves hiking!
ADDENDUM: Since I'm vain and self important, I wanted to add this quote from another blog (wewatch.wordpress.com) about my participation in the aforementioned zombie movie:
"Susan too–a queen of unyielding support...." Hey, it's not much but it's all about me.
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