we open tomorrow!

Last night, we haunted the Ragan Theater until exactly Midnight, working and re-working the intensely intricate motions of this show. Spike tape litters the stage like confetti on New Year's Eve. Electrical wires and power cords lay like vines, snaking up light trees and cameras. Every detail of every scene change was assigned, re-assigned, worked, and re-worked. A cast and crew of forty-or-so college students maintained an incredible level of concentration, while working costumes, makeup, and set changes for six nonstop hours. If we're not ready, it isn't because we're not busting our butts.

What impressed me the most last night was a short walk I took across the stage at around 11:00. We had been rehearsing furiously for 5 hours. At this point in a typical rehearsal, students would have checked out. But as I walked surreptitiously from station to station, I noticed that every single conversation - and there were at least ten - was totally focused on solving a specific problem on stage. Nearly everyone at nearly every moment of this production process has been intently, patiently, and urgently focusing on making Nosferatu work.

I'm literally awed by the work this cast and crew have accomplished.

So, barring some sort of catastrophic event this evening (when we run the whole show for the first time ever), we're good to go.

We are in the final stages of rehearsal.
Lights are lighting. Sets are setting. Cameras are filming. Actors are acting. Cues are called. Costumes are clothing.
Next step ... Makeup is ... making?

By now, all of the actors who are applying their own makeup have seen Mandy for makeup training and have the necessary supplies. If not, shame on you.

Makeup should be pretty easy, and hopefully, everyone remembers what to do.

Step 1. Apply light base coat of 'blithe spirit' with sea sponge.
Step 2. Add dark circles around eyes and contour face using 'death purple'
Step 3. Deepen shadows using black
Step 4. Highlight if necessary.

Thats basically it.

Fall Break?

Fall...break...crash...kaching...thud...thud...thud...wait for it...KABOOM!

And my weekend went down in flames of a baby shower, wedding, work, peek at homework - no, no, NO! back into the flames it goes, and back to lots of NOSFERATU interrupted by sleeping, eating, and this blog.

I thought about calling up Bekah and seeing if she needed help with puppets or something. Oh well, it's the thought that counts. Right?

On the bright side of life, I could have been somewhere in the backwoods on a hiking trail or at least polishing off one of the hydra heads of homework. But I hear the whip cracking right now. Hell week, indeed...

8 Days and counting... "Fall Break"

Since apparently I'm the only one who posts anymore (hint hint guys) I'll give you an update on the show (as far as I have understanding):

We have set the lights for the entire show-
Scenery is spiked.
Cameras are spiked and framing set.
Music has been chosen (right Chris?).
Title Cards are finished.
Footage is in order.
Placeholders are in place for all those pesky "Narrative" title cards.

Anyway- its really amazing to see the show coming together on the big screen... there is some real freaky stuff and some quite beautiful stuff.

I'm going to say this once and I'm going to say this proudly- this show is going to rock. your. socks... and its mostly likely going to rock them right off!

12 days and counting- "Hell Week: Day 1"

Day 1 of what we in the business like to call "Hell Week" (tech week) has started. I'm at my day job at the moment and completely ignoring all the work I have to do so I can be prepared for tonight.

We have 3 cameras, 4 or 5 tripods, hundreds of feet of cable (video and power), 5 monitors, a switchboard, a computer for footage/title cards (of which there are roughly 120 cuts) and a maze of headsets... Not to mention, an editor, three cameramen (rushing to do around what I'm guessing to be about 30 different set-ups EACH) and myself calling most of the show.

That's all just on the video end.

On top of this- we have a copious amount of lighting needed to be set in the next few days for every single angle we do- using a full separate crew all being coordinated by Mike James;

Scene changes, prop placement, etc all being coordinated by Kyle Hess;

Sound cues being coordinated by Jeremy Showgren, later to be called by Kyle Hess;

The scenery itself being coordinated by Jared Lewis;

Costumes and Make-up being put together by Anna-Marie Johnson, Mandy Lions and Bekah Wilbur;

And of course trying to keep the actors' performances fresh, honest, and keeping the story beats where they should be (and of course- overseeing the overall vision of the production) all being coordinated by Christopher Clark...

Did I miss anything?

You can see why we call this "Hell Week". To make matters more interesting, its more like- "Hell Three, Three Hour Days and One Full Day"... (yep, that's how much time we have to get coordinated into a well oiled organic-mechanism)

ALL of this and I still can't wait!

Tom is creepy...

But beside that- I just wanted to give you a little side by side comparison of what we're doing...

First- watch the original scene from the original movie:


Now, watch what we have been doing in rehearsals... remember, this is being shot in real time! (also, its rehearsal, so no lighting, sets, make-up or costumes... you'll get the idea)


Well- there you have it!

how appropriate

While researching various polyps to model a puppet after I stumbled upon some rather appropriate information. The particular polyp used in Nosferatu, the hydra cnidaria, is even more vampire like than they make it out to be in the movie...you see, the hydra is biologically immoratal. It never ages, and only dies when killed by a predator. How cool is that?!