The Way the Wind Blows

It’s hard to believe that it’s mid-September. The last time I actually thought about the time of year was probably back in July. First day of shooting for Legend of Oz was on the 18th and the rest is kind of a blur.For Oz, principal photography ended a week ago [blog post coming] and like Oz is now, Untamed Lands was in pickups at this time.

Pickups, for those not in the know, are those shots and/or scenes that we didn’t get to as scheduled within the principal photography window.

The weekend of Sep 13 and 14, 2008, was the official end of production on Untamed Lands. This was the weekend that marked the end of full weekends. Full weekends that had been ongoing since mid-May four months earlier. We had shooting days after that weekend, but only one was even close to a full day. There were no more 2-day weekends. Production was dwindling down.

Honestly, when I looked at the call sheets, and started writing this latest flashback, I didn’t remember that. Really, I didn’t really remember much about the weekend at all – call it the end of a long summer, the fact that I had just started school at that time, or the jumbled nature of pickups just confusing me for a bit. So I started to write about some mundane happenings and the more I thought about it, the more I remembered. Once I realized what this weekend represented, I knew exactly what to flashback about. [I also remembered that nothing in Untamed Lands was mundane. ]

A year ago this weekend saw two of the most momentous “how did I not remember that right away” events in the production of Untamed Lands.

The first… haha, Penguin, how I love thee.

Penguin is pretty infamous for a lot of reasons and Sep 13, 2008 is key in its notoriety.

For the climax of Untamed Lands we used these three, large, pyramid-topped obelisks. Measuring five feet tall and about eight inches in length/width, they were weighted down with sand so as to stay upright. They were awkward to carry but up the steep hills of Penguin trod we.

We celebrated wrap that day with an Obelisk Toss. The idea was, rather than carry them down the hill, we’d throw them. We were done with them and it was time for some fun destruction.

The first was tossed, and made it about half way down the hill before skidding to a stop. Friction, what can you do? Andrea (Mora) decided to take a run and help it along by kicking it the rest of the way down. There were cheers. One down, one to go.

The second was tossed with an identical result. Half way down the hill, it skidded to a stop. This time it was Sam (one of our PAs, near Andrea’s age) who ran in to help it along.

The Obelisk won.

Where Andrea had slowed herself down before reaching the Obelisk, Sam plowed into the Obelisk at full speed. She tripped, flipped, and landed further down the hill than the Obelisk. In what was the single greatest injury in the production of Untamed Lands, she made a mess of her hand on the gravel and scraped up her leg but she was laughing all the while. [Not so much when we got home and I spent an hour plus cleaning and digging rocks out of her hand.]

Down at the bottom, we finished demolition on the Obelisks undaunted and stuffed them in the garbage cans.

The next day, September 14th. What we were celebrating as the last official full day of production, we were back at Stony Swamp. Stony is a wonderful location with a diverse ecosystem (big science word of the day) and we were there for probably about 60% of the shoot.

Not unlike the Obelisks, we had a big awkward set piece in use at Stony. It was the Bouldox, AKA the Box-rock. It was a giant boulder pedestal. Shorter than the Obelisks at maybe 3.5 feet tall but it was almost 3 feet in length and width. *Really* awkward to carry. Stony, for the record, has no hills. Instead it has flat, very rocky paths (hence the name). And shooting tends to be an average of 20 minutes away from parking.

At wrap, we were all too happy to smash the Bouldox.

With a sledge hammer.

Which is where the story really starts.

Because the big event of the day was the Hammer Throw.

Some background: Crow’s weapon in Untamed Lands, one of the few things that poses a threat to Mora, is a powerful war hammer called the Spirit of the Sea. The prop hammer is actually pretty light and wasn’t an accurate guage of how to wield it as a weapon. To correct that, what I did was to bring in a 12lb sledge (borrowed from Andrea) as a base comparison. From then on in that was our benchmark for how the SoS would be wielded in battle. Ian (Crow) now had a feel for a weapon with its weight distribution way up on the head, as opposed to one with the head and shaft close to the same weight as in the case of the prop.

Now in Untamed Lands, the hammer is thrown. And that’s where the debate began. The decision was made that the hammer was best thrown underhand, like in the Olympic hammer toss. This, which came to be called the Ballerina Toss, is how the hammer is thrown in Untamed Lands. But VG (Roarke) always argued that the hammer would be more effective as a weapon if it were thrown overhand.

The argument went like this: Underhand you couldn’t really throw the hammer with accuracy (VG), but it had a lot more momentum to carry it (Ian). Overhand, the hammer throw could be more accurate (VG), but you couldn’t really throw it that far because it relied entirely on your own strength (Ian).

On the 14th, after wrap, with the sledge present, both Ian and VG stated their cases one last time before each throwing the hammer according to their style. The result… Well, nothing was actually settled. Both guys were right, and they still couldn’t agree.

My position, by the way, was with Ian since I’m the one who had him throwing the hammer that way. As to the accuracy issue – it was a MAGICAL hammer.

Still, good times.

And to celebrate the anniversary of this weekend, I give you, friendly blog readers, a choice. Both of those events are video documented. I’ll track down and post one. You decide which.

Comment below and tell us whether you want to see the Hammer Throw debate or the Obelisk Toss and Sam’s fall at Penguin. You have till the end of September. After commenting, check out the production stills over on Facebook (and fan up), or visit the Untamed Lands website.

And for you Untamed alum, tell us your memories – of those events or of any others – in honour of this one year anniversary.

[And so you all know, the smashing of the Bouldox actually went off without any injury or alarm. It was cathartic, but uneventful.]

A little over a week ago, we challenged you, both here on the blog and on Facebook, to bring the Legend of Oz fan count up to 100. You were to invite people, pester people or force people at gun point to fan up.

All of your work paid off and in the last week and a half we’ve gone from 65 to 108 fans so as promised here are some new promo pics of our four leads. Each photo links to a higher quality version.

Ain’t they stunning?

As a bonus, here’s a new group shot, optimized for desktop wallpaper in both 1440×900 and 1048×768 resolutions.

1440 x 900 || 1048 x 768

Leave us a comment and tell us what you think. Then check the Legend of Oz on Facebook (if you haven’t come from there) to see more pictures from the set.

In the next week or so, there should be a new Legend of Oz post about our last shooting weekend so check back for that. As well, before the end of September, I’m going to make another photo post. BUT, I need you to tell me what kind of pictures you want to see. On set behind the scenes? More (and higher quality) production stills? HQ versions of stills already on Facebook? Action shots? Photos from rehearsals or fight training? More of those ass-kicking Wheelers? You tell me.

All tallied I’ve got about 8,000 pictures to choose from and I’ll try and post what the majority wants to see, so when leaving your comments, let me know what you want me to upload. How many photos go up will be based on how many comments we get so don’t be shy.

Leave comments here.

Met up with Maura today. (One of our actors from Untamed Lands, who did some on set photography for Legend of Oz.) We chatted for a while (like an hour and a half – good times) then she was kind enough to come make-up shopping with me. I think I’ll leave writing about the “Great Dark Powder Hunt” to her, but the reason for the hunt was that, somehow, I’ve inherited make-up duties this weekend. ["Somehow." - I make it sound so mysterious when it really isn't.]

Me doubling as make-up artist is not unheard of, but at the level our wonderful make-up artist has established… you’ll have to wait for the next Legend of OZ BTS post to find out how it went.

For now, something a little different than the usual. I came across this snippet of an interview with Peter Jackson via CinemaTech and thought I’d write about it.

“You know, in the old days it was very difficult to make movies ’cause you had to have 35 millimeter cameras, which were phenomenally expensive. Or you had to have rich parents that could send you to film school. Nowadays, anybody, any kid or young person with a desire to make films … (has) access to this equipment. You have great video cameras and the quality’s fantastic. You can make soundtracks and do visual effects. You can do very competent computer effects quite easily.”

…”There are no excuses anymore. If people really want to make movies, they can go out and do it. And I think we’re going see in the next 20 or 30 years a real influx of creativity to the world of entertainment because I believe a lot in the young generation coming along … the pop culture generation who now can grab these cameras and go make films with them.

I think his 20 years is a gross overestimation but the sentiment echoes what I tell people all the time. Not only is the equipment accesible, but this new generation of movie makers also have access to one of the most powerful marketing and distribution tools ever: The Internet.

Creating and distributing quality content has never been so … possible. [I won't say easy, because it's anything but. But it is possible.] Those with the desire and drive should be doing it.

There’s a lot more that could be said, but I’ve got way too much to get ready for our last weekend of full production. I recommend you check out Bill Cunningham’s place over at Pulp 2.0 for somebody who’s been saying all this – and articulating it better than I could hope to – for a good long while now. If you’re the movie making sort, you need to be reading him.

But that interview snippet, plus thinking about Untamed again when I was talking to Maura, reminded me of something that had been on mind a little less than a year ago, as we were wrapping up.

What we accomplished with Untamed Lands was truly remarkable. It really became a testament to what a passionate and talented group of people can achieve when they’re dedicated to the common goal of making a quality movie. (Or any goal.)

So to anybody else who has that fire in them. If you’re not doing it, what are you waiting for?

As always, leave us a comment, then check out Untamed Lands or Legend of Oz on Facebook plus the Untamed Lands website.

Sorry about the no-post last week. There’s a lot to catch up on so the daily recaps will be Cole’s notes versions but I’ll throw up more detailed summaries later down the road.

Individual Promo Pics — Only 3 people commented on “The Big Reveal” so while maybe I’ll send the pics to the commenters, there were less comments than there were to be pictures which means you’ll have to undertake the latest challenge at the bottom of the post to get those individual promo pics of our leads.
Shooting Day 6 (Aug 15, 2009) — Seven marked, for the company, a return to Penguin. The Penguin Picnic Trails in Gatineau park is a great place to shoot, but it gets a lot of hate. The big reason is that from the parking lot to the shooting location there is a hill, about 20-30 feet high, that’s just a little less than this steep: /. Once you get to the top of it, about fifteen feet down the way, there’s a second hill, no different from the first. Once you get to the top of that, there’s a third almost immediately following. … Penguin remains the only shooting location where we almost always break on the way to set.

Anyway, there’s a whole blog post, or three, that can be written about Penguin between Untamed Lands and now Legend of Oz – and I’m sure there will be one day soon – but for now let’s talk about the shooting day.

First up were scenes in Tip’s Camp. This was the only set we really constructed, meaning that we put up a bunch of tents and tarps. After that scene, one group went down the hills to get lunch prepped (they would then have to come back up), while a smaller group went out to the lookout – up 2 more hills – for a pair of small scenes between Tip and Dot. Including the kissing scene.

After lunch, running behind as per usual, we dug into one of our fight scenes. This was a fight with Spyder. Spikes for hands and the most make-up work out of anybody. This scene became a test in on the fly re-writing as we ended up having to cut a few bits out and streamline the scene so as to not be there all night. It also turns out that there were audio problems over a portion of the scene which means we’ll be doing some ADR for that one at some point.

Shooting Day 7 (Aug 16, 2009) — After our day in Penguin it was a nice change to spend the day shooting interiors. We were in two rooms in close proximity to one another. One doubled as an Emerald City briefing room, the other as a rehearsal hall. The six scenes were good, the day went smoothly, and we wrapped within 10 minutes of schedule.

Lighting was the most interesting concern. My expertise with lighting isn’t advanced, but I have a fair understanding. [Lighting and VFX Post work are the least developed in my skillset right now.] My overall philosophy, make things brighter (and, of course, natural looking), was tested in the “briefing room” because the native lighting there was way too dark. In the rehearsal hall, the native lighting was great and we even shot one scene without adding anything. For another in the rehearsal hall, I went against the overall philosophy, turned off all the native lights and shot the scene in shadows – which, somewhat ironically, required the most work to light.

It wasn’t all perfect, but it did end up looking pretty great. So, aces.

Shooting Day 9/10 (Aug 22/23, 2009) – This was “Epic Battle Weekend”. Our mornings each had a pair of scenes to get done. Then there was a company move to another location and our afternoons were spent shooting the climax of the movie. It turned out to be a weekend full of delays, some expected, and some unexpected, making it surprising we got as much done as we did.

To start, it was supposed to rain all weekend. Saturday was to be a day of thunder storms. Sunday was supposed to be nothing but wet. What’s interesting is that on a typical shooting day, scenes can be adjusted to shoot in the rain if needed. If our group is trudging in the forest and it rains, then it becomes part of the scene. This weekend though, the scenes we were shooting followed scenes that were indoors. For all four of these scenes, our characters went outside on purpose. There was no real reason the characters couldn’t take care of business indoors and so doing the scenes in the rain would have been a weird sell.

Fortunately, it didn’t rain. At all. Saturday was partially overcast. And even though the forecast on Saturday night was that it would be heavy rain Sunday morning, afternoon, and evening, there wasn’t a single drop. In fact, on Sunday it was clear skies and blazing sun. It actually turned into one of those days where the sun was just incredibly draining.

The call times for Saturday and Sunday were roughly 6:00am. That very early start, plus that sun, made this probably the most demanding weekend we’ve had.

On Saturday, we got started an hour late thanks to rendezvous miscues and forgotten costume items. We were also at a lockstation, generally quiet, except for the unexpected frequency in which they opened the locks. [Think of a loud toilet flushing that lasts about 5 minutes. Not good for audio.] We got through the two scenes and ended the morning only 30 minutes over schedule. But when things start to slide…

During the company move, each of 3 vehicles had a specific job. Vehicle 1 carried the 1st AD, who needed to get on location ASAP to get things ready. (About ten people weren’t on morning call and were meeting us there.) Vehicle 2 was intended to pick up a set piece we were going to use on location. Vehicle 3 was going for a lunch run on the way. At least such was the original plan. How it happened was that Vehicle 1 had trouble finding easy access parking, vehicle 2 had to take on the lunch run in addition to picking up the set piece because vehicle 3 had to make a run to the other side of town to pick up needed costumes that were just being finished.

Then there was make-up, fight refreshers, and costume problems. All of which added up to serious delays before we shot anything.

On Sunday, we again started almost an hour later, but got our scenes done and ended the morning close to on time. The company move went more smoothly, except that we were blocked off from our usual parking area. If it isn’t one thing…

That day, we had an extra coming down to play a homeless street girl. She’s 17 and it was her first on set experience. In a longer post I’ll go into more detail about the wonderful location we’re using for this climax, but one of the problems it had is also one of its key selling points. Its very dystopic. Very abandoned and bleak. Lots of unsavouries come around and break shit. There’s broken glass, mostly from beer bottles, everywhere. I’ll keep this short because you already see where it’s going. Our extra, wearing sandals, cut her foot open. Pretty much her first on-set experience. More, the scene required her to run, and there was no way she could do that with her foot cut open, so we didn’t get to shoot with her.

So yeah, fun weekend. And I’m sure I’m probably leaving something out. Keeping in mind that this climactic sequence, running just over 7 pages, is a piece that they’d easily spend almost a month on in any big budget picture, it was probably a bit much to expect to get it fully done in two afternoons – but I sure didn’t see all of that coming. There’s still a lot to do in the scene but it’s great that we got as much done as did.

By the way, our extra is fine. There was no glass in her foot and she’s eager to be back on when we reschedule.

Shooting Day 11 (August 26, 2009) – One actor, Alison, in our frequently visited swamp location. It was about a two hour shoot and went off pretty splendidly. There is a story there (Alison isn’t actually the only actor in the scenes we shot) but it’s one for another time.

Shooting Day 12 (August 29, 2009) — There technically was no shooting day 12. It turns out our weather miracles couldn’t hold out forever so Saturday was was cold and wet. It wasn’t raining hard but it was enough that once our six actresses had gotten wet – most wearing skimpy clothing and two under the weather already – they’d have spent the day shivering and totally miserable. We waited it out in a very old, fairly creepy, turn of the century farm house until the “Point Of No Return”. [That moment where, even if the rain broke, we wouldn't be able to get the needed scenes done.]

It was supposed to be a day shooting with the Winged Monkeys, our five girl group of [sexy] mercenaries. They harass Dot and Fright, there’s a fight, a chain saw, and some guns. It would have been, and will be, a pretty great sequence. The actresses are all wonderful and while the scene will definitely benefit from being shot on a warm and sunny day, the most unfortunate consequence of this loss, is that we won’t be able to reschedule the scenes in question until next spring.

Now, technically, shooting isn’t ever really finished until picture lock but this is a door I was hoping very much not to have open. My hope is that all five of our girls will still be available when we get to rescheduling – because they all looked so great together – but there’s never any way to know for sure.

We did take some time to do a photoshoot (note the above photo) and otherwise did our best to make the most of our time. What we actually did will be revealed down the road but suffice to say that cameras were rolling and we made full use of the location.

This day is also noteworthy as sparking the idea for my latest top-secret-project which is guaranteed to be a whole lot of fun and awesomeness. You’ll hear more about it, in a lot of vague, secret ways, in the coming months.

Shooting Day 13 (August 30, 2009) – Which could be called the day I tied a guy to a fence and tortured two actresses. … It reads like the premise of a horror movie when it’s typed out.

Anyway, not to dismiss the fence incident, we shot a fight scene. It takes place in the water. It was cold out. I don’t think I really need to say much more.

I’ll cover the rest of the day later.

A Production Update — Before this weekend, it was a weird sensation. It was hard to believe we’d shot more than half the movie already. The big reason for this, I think, is that most of what we’d shot was all towards the back end of the movie. We hadn’t shot a lot from the beginning yet. That changed on the 30th, and the scenes set for the 29th would have been early, too. This weekend everything we’ll shoot will be for the first half of the movie. Production is a strange beast.

We’ve only got one full shooting weekend left for Legend of OZ. Then a couple of pickup days, including finishing that climax. Down the road, there’s a few odds and ends to clean up including that lone shooting day next year, but at least for this year, we’ll be wrapped by October 4. [Hopefully sooner.] Then it’ll be full on back into post-production for Untamed Lands.

And that’s just about it for this extra long post. The last thing on the list is the new challenge.

Simply, the challenge is to bring the Legend of Oz fan count on Facebook to 100. It was at 66 the last time I checked, which means we’re more than half way there already.

All you need to do is:

a) fan up, if you haven’t.

b) go to the Legend of Oz facebook page, look at the options under the profile pic for the link that says “Suggest to Friends”, click it and check off all of your friends.

When the fan count makes it to 100, we’ll post a commemorative blog post with the individual promo pics of our four leads. Easy-peasy. Even if only half of the current fans bring on one person, we’ll hit the mark. (One shy actually, but it’ll be close enough.)

And for a bonus challenge: When our fan count gets to 250, I’ll start posting two promo/behind the scenes photos in each blog post like I did with this one.

As always you can check out the latest production stills on our Facebook fan page, or follow us on Twitter for even more updates. And of course, leave us a comment, let us know who you are and when the last time was that you had an unfortunate glass incident.