Making Nothing at the Age of 20 by Rolfe Kanefsky --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Shoot, part 8 The Morning After The next day. The serene exterior shots of the house were actually filmed about a week after we had wrapped filming. It was probably the only time we would be able to shoot the house when it was calm and film crew-free. Virginia and Joya were great about everything though. They were starting to regret letting us film at their homes, but that's normal and we had warned them. Anyway, they never kicked us out and just watched everything from afar with their video cameras in hand, strained smiles on their faces. The next few scenes were probably the easiest of the film. Jim, Stacy, and Nick try to figure out where everyone is. In fact, the next four scenes were all shot with one camera set-up each. I wanted it to go as fast as possible and not waste time. These scenes were for the actors and I let them act. This sequence also contains the infamous "Nick vs. the rake" scene. You know all about that. The last shot, as Nick drives away to get the plumber, was filmed on the crane. It's was a subtle, complicated shot that required exact timing, careful crane movement, and tricky placement of the mics. In the film, it looks like a normal, simple shot that doesn't call attention to itself. That is why I love it so much. Nick drives off, Stacy takes a swim, and Jim goes to see how Doreen is doing. Then the action resumes, and the rest of the film is a nonstop rollercoaster of comedy, action, and thrills with hardly one static camera set-up. That was the plan, and I think that's exactly what we accomplished. The Attack of the Evil Alien The action sequence starts with an alien tentacle ripping up through a bed. The bedroom was actually in Virginia's house. Her bed was removed and ours was installed. The "bed" was really a mattress laid on a couple of apple boxes (wooden crates which are pretty much what they sound like), so a special effects person could get underneath with his tentacle glove. A hole was torn through the matress, then covered with the bed sheet. At the right time the tentacle shoots straight up, looking like it's ripping right out from the bed. I shot this scene three times because it had to perfect. As it turns out, this scare is the biggest jump in the entire film, and a great way to begin the second half of the movie. Jim then has his death fight with the creature. The fight was extremely simple: a tight shot with the tentacle attached to his mouth. Mark pulled off the entire fight himself. He got so into the scene that when he jumped back against the wall, his shoulder punched a hole in it. I decided to use it for added effect. When the creature lets go, Jim's head slides out of frame and you can see the hole in the wall. It works because it makes the creature seem very strong. Out in the pond, Stacy hears screams and runs back to the house, then up to the bedroom. There are three shots of her running. The first was shot on a dolly with track, the second on the crane, and the third with the Steadicam. All the shots are smooth and show just how many different ways you can capture the same action. I avoid the simple panning shot from a tripod because if you're trying to capture movement, I feel you should move with it. Most low budget films only use a tripod because it's easy. Well, easy isn't always the way you should make movies. When Stacy arrives inside, the creature turns and for the first time in the film, you see a real face shot of the creature. Then it shoots green rays out of his eyes! This was not done on the set, of course. It was one of the few optical effects to be done in the film, so I will talk about it when I get to post-production. The following action runs through three different homes in a matter of seconds. Stacy enters the bedroom (Virginia's house), runs out and down the hall (Joya's house) and into her bedroom (the Kim's house). The creature follows, rips the doorknob off, and chases her. Desperate to escape, Stacy runs to the window and jumps through it. We're back to Virginia's house, and for the first time take the actress out and put in a stunt double. She was a Swedish girl by the name of Anna. She doubled for all the girls in the film. She was not a professional stunt woman, but rather a gymnast who decided it would be fun to try stunt work. Well, she's dead now but... I'm kidding, I'm kidding. We did hire a stunt trainer for this stunt, however. Cardboard boxes and mattresses were set up on the ground below the "window" (there actually was no window on this side of the house, but you don't see it anyway because of the angle used). Anna climbed up to the roof, held a rope for balance, and simply jumped. The idea is to land on your backside. And on the padding, of course. Two cameras were used to film the stunt. Anna, who has blonde hair, put on her Bonnie wig and the bikini. We shot the jump twice. Nobody got hurt and it worked fine. I wasn't two excited about it though. Next came the second half (and more difficult part) of the jump. This was interesting. In the script, Stacy has to land in the pond. To accomplish a believable fall into the water, a special metal swing was built. Anna stood on the swing, a platform that was suspended between two metal bars. The platform was then swung back and forth to build up speed and height. Once it reached full extension, Anna leapt from the platform and her momentum sent her flying out into the pond. Again, two cameras were set up. The stunt was fun and it worked very well. She sailed up and out into the pond. When this stunt and the other fall from the roof are cut together, it looks as she jumped out of the house and into the pond below. More movie tricks. Well, Anna disappears under the water, and in one fast cut, Bonnie comes up. She climbs out of the pond, is very dizzy, spins around. Suddenly, she is grabbed by a hand and pulled out of the frame. This Steadicam shot is my favorite shot in the film. We got this shot, however, on what was probably the worst day of the shoot. It almost worked out. The story must be told. Bonnie had already admitted that she hated working on this film, and was just doing it because of the contract she signed. In the shot, Bonnie climbs out of the water and wobbles around on the grass. Now, she had to be barefoot, and that could hurt, so she brought in a pair of pink ballet shoes to protect her feet. I had no problem with this. We would just keep the camera raised so you couldn't see her feet. Well, when we were about to shoot, Bonnie swam out and when I cued her, she dove under, then burst out of the water. We started rolling. Bonnie emerged, but came up with dialogue that wasn't in the script. She yelled, "Cut! One of my slippers fell off!" Bonnie then proceeded to swim out of the water. I exclaimed from the beach, "Well, couldn't you just reach down and grab it?" Bonnie answered back, "That's not my job." She then got out and walked away. I was in too much shock to even answer back. What followed was a three-hour dive into the murky water by six PA's to look for her missing shoe. Insanity doesn't even come close to describe the state of the crew. Well, they couldn't find it. Finally, someone came up with an idea. Actually, it was Bonnie. She suggested we wrap her feet in cloth and duct tape for the shot. They did it. A PA then came up to me and said, "They're wrapping her feet in duct tape? But duct tape isn't water resistant. It comes off in water." I stood there for a second, "Did you tell them that?" "Nobody will listen to me." Okay, we shot it once. The tape came off at the end of the shot. They wrapped her up again and it came off again... but luckily, after we got the shot. It was finally over. Half a day wasted on one shot that should have taken an hour at the most. Now you can understand why Bonnie and I didn't talk much during the shooting of the film.