April 9, 2008
Part 7 - The Bear
Matt Said:
I believe this was the first completed sequence of the entire movie and it’s probably my favorite scene. Miniature Monsters is close. Maybe I’ll change my mind once I write a blog for that song.
Several scenes in the screenplay were never shot because they were impossible.
-One involved Strategic Air Command mistaking the can that flies into orbit with a nuclear missile, resulting in the accidental destruction of New York City.
-The Musician—dressed in bomb squad attire—attempts to disarm a bomb at an elementary school. He has to choose between two different colored wires to cut. Just before the clock hits zero, The Bartender shoots the correct wire—disarming the bomb.
-In an homage (rip-off) of The Empire Strikes Back, The Musician wakes up hanging upside down from the ceiling of an ice cave. He tries to free his feet but they are firmly frozen into the ceiling. He spots his gun sticking out of the snow just out of reach. He closes his eyes, meditates, and telepathically ‘forces’ the gun into his hand. Just in time to shoot the arm off an approaching ice monster.
-There was also a sequence where The Musician learned how to do rope tricks but none of us knew how to do rope tricks.
At least we got The Bartender shooting the can into orbit then shooting the star. I wasn’t sure how we would do those scenes. I assumed we could animate it. And we did! God bless you, Photoshop.
While shooting the train training sequence, we noticed a police cruiser sitting along the tracks a ways away from us. We weren’t sure what they were doing but we had strong suspicions that they didn’t appreciate our guns nor our climbing on the parked train. So, we moved a few feet away from the train and shot some scenes without the guns visible. Soon, another police car showed up. They had received a report of someone climbing on the train. I told the officer we had been ‘near’ the train but not on it. I don’t think he believed me but he didn’t pursue the issue. He just told us we couldn’t be by the tracks. So, we shot the rest of the scenes in the parking lot near the tracks. As for that other police car, turns out a previous officer had been called to the scene and he tried to drive along the tracks but it was too muddy and the police car got stuck. A tow truck eventually came and dragged the police cruiser out. Oops. We would have another, minor encounter with the Chicago police during the shooting of Miniature Monsters.
Since we’re on the subject, I never got written permission from any of the businesses or locations we used for shooting. Alcala’s, Ragstock, CTA, Metra, Random Cemetery, Club Foot, Craig: don’t sue me, please.
As a side note: Every time I see Craig reading those library books, I break into a cold sweat—wondering if I returned them. I did. I think. Pretty sure.
Matt Weber Writer/Director
Craig Said:
The Tree Wipe!! We had two shots of the graveyard that I was trying to cut together effectively for a while. One was a tracking shot of tombstones ending on a tree and the other began on a different tree and ended on Amelia and I. I eventually got the idea to go frame by frame and cut along the edge of the tree from the first shot into the second. Thus, the tree wipe was born. I got the idea after watching Pan’s Labyrinth. They do it all the time. It’s impossible for a tree to not wipe in that movie. Someday I’ll tell my grandchildren of this technique, since by then we will have exhausted all of our natural resources and they will never see a moving image outside of a flipbook.
In case anyone is wondering, and I’m sure you’re not, here’s the original copy of my writing during the Charles Bronson/note taking scene:
This song was probably the most fun to film and edit. A real crowd pleaser. After sitting through all that boring drivel, finally, a training montage!
Many of the scenes were filmed on different days but they were all exciting and not too difficult to pull off, except maybe the cans flying. We filmed most of this early in the production when I still wasn’t convinced we were actually going to finish the movie. Maybe that lightened the burden. Who knows? It’s still not my favorite part of the movie, though. That would have to go to Miniature Monsters. But that commentary, my friends, is for another day….
Craig Benzine Actor/Editor/Guitarist
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