Lazarus Day 4 part 1
Okay so this post is really, really late. In short we had some trouble updating the blog to the all new singing and dancing ‘blogger’ which meant I couldn’t access the darn thing to post. But it’s all sorted now Hurrah! Anyway you’ve waited long enough so with out further a do, here’s the post…
The site was booked from 10:00 to 18:00. The schedule had us on site for only 5 of those 8 hours. Someone, somewhere was being optimistic.
Sarah arrived nice and early to pick me up and we filled the car for the cosy 10 mile drive to the fort. Four people in a car with a ton of kit and five 25ltr chemical drums, well at least they were empty. The last mile of the journey was especially cosy as we had to stop and pick up an extra body, the director.
Once on site Sarah and the others started to unload into ‘the monster room’ (the general chill out, make up, kit storage, tea making room) while keeping an eye out for the other cast and crew arriving. While this was going on I gave the director a quick tour of the site. As we toured the various rooms and corridors of the fort I re-iterated to the scenes that were relevant to each location. I got the impression that what was discussed on Thursday was starting to make a little more sense.
Tour over we returned to the monster room to find a gaggle (not really sure what the proper collective term is) of cast and crew. Sarah had already started industriously making up zombies, while the sound and camera men were busy giving their kit its final check over (this largely involves drinking teaJ)
The director gathered the first unit and headed out to shoot all of the scenes that they could which didn’t have zombies in. Sarah worked furiously making people up; while I dished out costume and motivations (‘How many times do I have to go over this, you want brains!) In a moment of spare time I even got zombied up myself.
As Sarah finished off the crew returned and we were off for some zombie mayhem. First scene would be the big chase and fireball scene numero 56 to be precise. As the zombies mobbed up in the curvy corridor of doom I took my place at the back. Direction was a little hard to hear back there, but it appeared we were going to get some shoots of the zombies chasing the principles down the curvy corridor. Someone shouted action and we were off, half running, half shuffling all moaning. Now it’s probably worth mentioning that the curvy corridor is deceptively long, it just keeps going and going and going. It also has no features so it’s really hard to work out how far along you are and due to the curve visibility is limited. These were the things I was thinking when I suddenly found myself sailing through the air before landing in a crunching heap of writhing bodies. A little shaken I pulled myself to my feet and staggered around giggling. Somewhere someone shouted ‘Cut!’ What exactly can bring a savage horde of zombies to its knees so easily?
Remember those chemical drums? Every explosion needs a source of fuel, even if it’s just a milk tanker. The source of our explosion was to be a stack of large chemical drums marked ‘flammable’. Clearly I needed to draw attention to these barrels in the script. What better way for the hero to notice them, than for him to use them to initially slow down he’s pursuers, before explodifying them. Thus one of the greatest clichés of cinema and TV was inserted into the script. Hero knocks over item, pursuer trips over item. Of course I never believed for one second that it’d work in real life.
However experience now proves that large ravening hordes, of tightly packed, fast moving zombies, are especially susceptible to the tip hazard caused when a number of 25ltr chemical drums, that they are largely unaware of, are knocked into their path.
We did that a couple more times before making all of the zombie’s line-up and fall over in the main corridor as they exploded. A quick tea break and our final star arrived on location.
First unit shot a number of scenes with the fresh on set actress before it was time to split into smaller groups. As I lead off my lead actor, make up lady, camera man and a handful of zombies, I was about to learn that preparation and forethought really are everything…
But enough of the drama, how about some outtakes?
Oh go on then, you’ve convinced me. Click the video!
The site was booked from 10:00 to 18:00. The schedule had us on site for only 5 of those 8 hours. Someone, somewhere was being optimistic.
Sarah arrived nice and early to pick me up and we filled the car for the cosy 10 mile drive to the fort. Four people in a car with a ton of kit and five 25ltr chemical drums, well at least they were empty. The last mile of the journey was especially cosy as we had to stop and pick up an extra body, the director.
Once on site Sarah and the others started to unload into ‘the monster room’ (the general chill out, make up, kit storage, tea making room) while keeping an eye out for the other cast and crew arriving. While this was going on I gave the director a quick tour of the site. As we toured the various rooms and corridors of the fort I re-iterated to the scenes that were relevant to each location. I got the impression that what was discussed on Thursday was starting to make a little more sense.
Tour over we returned to the monster room to find a gaggle (not really sure what the proper collective term is) of cast and crew. Sarah had already started industriously making up zombies, while the sound and camera men were busy giving their kit its final check over (this largely involves drinking teaJ)
The director gathered the first unit and headed out to shoot all of the scenes that they could which didn’t have zombies in. Sarah worked furiously making people up; while I dished out costume and motivations (‘How many times do I have to go over this, you want brains!) In a moment of spare time I even got zombied up myself.
As Sarah finished off the crew returned and we were off for some zombie mayhem. First scene would be the big chase and fireball scene numero 56 to be precise. As the zombies mobbed up in the curvy corridor of doom I took my place at the back. Direction was a little hard to hear back there, but it appeared we were going to get some shoots of the zombies chasing the principles down the curvy corridor. Someone shouted action and we were off, half running, half shuffling all moaning. Now it’s probably worth mentioning that the curvy corridor is deceptively long, it just keeps going and going and going. It also has no features so it’s really hard to work out how far along you are and due to the curve visibility is limited. These were the things I was thinking when I suddenly found myself sailing through the air before landing in a crunching heap of writhing bodies. A little shaken I pulled myself to my feet and staggered around giggling. Somewhere someone shouted ‘Cut!’ What exactly can bring a savage horde of zombies to its knees so easily?
Remember those chemical drums? Every explosion needs a source of fuel, even if it’s just a milk tanker. The source of our explosion was to be a stack of large chemical drums marked ‘flammable’. Clearly I needed to draw attention to these barrels in the script. What better way for the hero to notice them, than for him to use them to initially slow down he’s pursuers, before explodifying them. Thus one of the greatest clichés of cinema and TV was inserted into the script. Hero knocks over item, pursuer trips over item. Of course I never believed for one second that it’d work in real life.
However experience now proves that large ravening hordes, of tightly packed, fast moving zombies, are especially susceptible to the tip hazard caused when a number of 25ltr chemical drums, that they are largely unaware of, are knocked into their path.
We did that a couple more times before making all of the zombie’s line-up and fall over in the main corridor as they exploded. A quick tea break and our final star arrived on location.
First unit shot a number of scenes with the fresh on set actress before it was time to split into smaller groups. As I lead off my lead actor, make up lady, camera man and a handful of zombies, I was about to learn that preparation and forethought really are everything…
But enough of the drama, how about some outtakes?
Oh go on then, you’ve convinced me. Click the video!
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