It’s Filler Time! – When Driving In Europe, Make Sure You Don’t Run Out Of Gas.
Before I begin, I’d like to thank anyone who is still subscribed to the blog for sitting through my nostalgia session. It’s been a lot of fun for me to write about these, hopefully it’s been entertaining.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula came out in 1992. Since it was rated R I never saw it in high school (I was a good kid that way) but it made enough of a pop-culture impact.
The recap: John and Marsha’s car breaks down in the middle of Europe in the middle of winter, which we all know is truly the best time to visit Romania. After walking for some time they find a castle to stay in for the night owned by Rico Suave, Europe’s trendiest bachelor / castle owner (did you catch his episode of ‘Cribs’? It was more like ‘Crypt’s’! Ba-dum CHING!). Rico lends them some gas so they can go on their way in the middle of the night, but… TWIST!
I’m not sure why, but every one of these I did I was pushing myself to do something a little more ambitious. Since this was going to be the last one, I wanted to go as all out as possible, and for a 17 year old in 1994 I think I did okay. There’s green screen shot over a Targa-painted background
There’s my first 3D computer animation ever, the giant doors opening.
There was rack focuses because I thought they were cool
There was even morphing using $7 software!
This was the only one of the Spanish videos where I didn’t play the main character, and hoo-boy, that helps. I think the opening is the only time in four years I’m doing anything that approaches ‘acting’. My friend Ryan did the camerawork, which was the best of any of the videos, Jason and Amy return as actors appearing as Dracula and Marsha, and Meadow Lake makes it’s third appearance.
On second thought, maybe my first bit of acting was lying jacket-less on the ice without screaming “OH MY GOD IT’S COLD!”
I’d learned from Batman not to try to write my own music. The music is “Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony” which is a personal favorite of mine. Considering I was working with VHS tape to tape editors with two audio tracks, I’m honestly how subtle the music cuts are.
My one making of story: we shot most of the movie over one evening. For the dinner scene, my mom made a huge dinner for all of us because she thought it would make the scene more realistic if there was actual food on the table. I looked through the dinner scene, and I couldn’t find one instance of food getting into the final cut. This is the horrible son I am.
Nowadays when I think of making a movie I think of schedules, craft services, lighting, and equipment, but it’s fun to see what could be done with some friends, a camcorder, and a satin cape. Of the four Spanish videos I did, this one is my favorite. I admit it has it’s flaws and the ending live up to the setup, but when I watch it I’m still surprised how much of a filmmaker 17 year old me was. It makes me want to make movies again.
February 14th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Was this the very first thing produced under the Nicreations name? Nicely done. Wish you could have ADR’d the exterior dialogue but maybe that would be a bit much for a school project. :-)
I have definitely enjoyed the nostalgia entries…my younger brothers did some amateur video work in their early days but they never really got beyond shooting footage. Someday I still want to edit it together but I don’t know if that will happen.
February 18th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
First off, I knew there was something amiss about Jason!
Second, I remember when Chris first showed me that morphing software. I thought it was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. And for $7, it seems to have done pretty well.
Third, I love the look you give after Jason snaps his fingers to open the CGI doors, a sort of “Oh, that’s cool, I can trust this guy!”.
Good stuff. I enjoyed this.