AND THE RACE IS ON! 07/23/2011
 Sean Leonard, Editor Extraordinaire Photo by Larry Frank BAD NEWS IS GOOD NEWS Well, it's been awhile and a lot is happening. First off, we have a change in personnel...kind of. Our Director of Photography, Sean Leonard, is a busy guy. For the past month or so, he has been working in Los Angeles. He called me one day with some awesome news: He had been offered a position to work on a feature film! After I congratulated him he dropped the other shoe: The feature was scheduled to be shooting during the same time as NAGO. This was a real blow, as I REALLY wanted Sean to work on my movie. Then, true to his nature, he said that he didn't feel right taking the job while he was obligated to my film. I laughed and said, "Who am I to stand in the way of you landing a big job on a REAL movie?" I told him that it was fine...it was awesome that he landed such a cool gig. Sean said that he still loved the project and still wanted to work on it. So he asked, "Can I edit it instead?" SCORE! While I have always admired Sean's cinematography skills, I am in AWE of his editing skills. I honestly believe that Sean is the best editor I've ever met. Up to this point, I was unsure of who to approach for editing...and NOW I have the best editor around! I can't wait to see what he does with the footage. One thing's for sure...it's gonna look great!  DPJack Lipke IV. Photo by Larry Frank. Stepping up from Camera Assistant to the newly vacated position of Director of Photography is Jack Lipke IV. Jack grew up in the production world, his father having a long career in television. Jack has shot numerous projects for filmmakers in Bellingham, including jobs for Darkheart Visions, Revolutionary Productions and Hand Crank Films. Jack's eye is going to be a huge asset to NAGO!  Jack gears up for a typical shoot.  Jessica Francis trying on her serving wench costume I'M GOING THROUGH CHANGES We recently were able to gather some of the main actors together and head over to meet Michael Watters at Melody Hall. Michael has an amazing collection of costumes and props and has been providing both to film and stage productions in Bellingham for years. Michael took notes on the main characters and how they dressed, measured the actors from head to toe and began to collect individual pieces of wardrobe for the shoot. We are incredibly lucky to have Michael in our corner as our Costume Designer.  Sue Mattson, Line Producer. Photo by Larry Frank. WHILE WE'RE AT IT Since we've been looking at different team members, this might be a good time to keep our earlier promise and meet some more NAGO crew! Sue Mattson's enthusiasm and tenacity are evident when you look at a typical project for her. Recently, she arranged to shoot a short film in a local restaurant and needed to get insurance. The insurance covered more time than she needed for the shoot....so she went and shot a trilogy! As Line Producer, there's not a whole lot for Sue to do prior to production...but when the cameras start to roll, she's gonna be busier than the proverbial one armed wall paper hanger! This is where she gets to put her organizational skills to use...and gets to yell at us! =)  Mr. Birger himself, Dann Warick! Photo by Larry Frank You don't have a good movie if you don't have a strong lead. That's where Dann Warick comes in. I met Dann when I was doing makeup for Sean Leonard's ASPECTATOR. Dann had been cast as the lead in this twisted tale of voyeurism, actually playing two roles. I was immediately impressed with his acting ability AND his dedication. For ASPECTATOR, Dann had to endure extensive special effects makeup, being stripped to his waist, bound with leather straps, have an apple stuffed in his mouth, squeeze into a small wooden chest, have fake blood splattered all over him and whatever else Sean decided to torture him with. Through it all, Dann maintained a great attitude and delivered an excellent performance. Since then, I've worked with Dann on a couple of commercials and it's always been a positive experience. I'm greatly looking forward to seeing his take on Charlie Birger!  Now THAT was a party!  Scot White, Emissary From Hell. Photo by Larry Frank Scot White has a background in theater acting, but, more importantly, he's a bartender. As such, he has to act the entire time he's at work. One face for this customer, another for that one. I know Scot from working with him at The Skagit Valley Casino and when it came time for me to look for my Stranger/Demon/Emissary From Hell, one name and face popped up: Scot. Scot has been teased a little. Every time he tells a friend that he's going to be playing The Devil in a movie, they invariably respond with "Oh, you'll be perfect for that!" And...they're right! Don't let that grin fool you...there's a demon in there, I'm telling ya! Scot's going to do a great job on this! =) Next time around, we'll look at some MORE folks who are working hard to bring NAGO to life.  Ravel, wrapped in duct tape! Photo by Jen Walker Owen. METAMORPHOSIS "What happens when two grown men wrap a teen aged boy in duct tape?" "You call the police?" "NO! You start the process of building a DEMON!" Early on, I decided that I wanted an extremely thin actress to play the demonic form of the stranger. The key word here is THIN. The demon is meant to be cadaverous, emaciated and very zombie like (as far as it's body is concerned). I didn't really think of using a male for the demon, as I couldn't readily think of any really thin guys. I was starting to worry as my first two attempts at securing an appropriately shaped actress ended with dead ends. Then Ivan Owen suggested using Ravel Boyce, a 16 year old boy. Genius. Ravel has just the right build, can do some weird things with his arms, is not claustrophobic and has no problem being encased in a rubber monster suit. The first step in changing Ravel from a normal teenager into a decaying demon from Hell involved wrapping him in plastic and duct tape. He showed great bravery as Ivan and I wrapped him up and followed that with cutting him out of the shell with a combination of scalpels and scissors. This duct tape shell will be stuffed and used as a body form dummy to build the creature up on.  Ravel sporting a look made popular by The Tin Man. Photo by Jen Walker Owen.  Twins. Photo by Jen Walker Owen. As creepy as these pictures may be, rest assured, Ravel is going to be far creepier when he gets into full demon gear! That's it for now, but some new stuff will be coming soon! Until then, have a great day! Commentssue mattson Sun, 24 Jul 2011 07:36:12 Yay for Sean! That's so awesome for him. Jack will do a great job. I'm wondering why no one thought of using a thin boy, but this is GENIUS! I'm glad you found someone. Langley West Sun, 24 Jul 2011 08:00:31 Yeah, I'm getting more excited by the day! Even if we don't reach our fund raising goal, thanks to the efforts of everyone involved, we'll STILL end up with a cool film! Leave a Reply |
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