Maxfactormama’s Weblog

There was some makeup mayhem at Morrison House this afternoon as I completed a second session of makeup tutes for the students. Most of the students wanted really gory wounds to scare or impress their friends so we had a fun afternoon creating really disgusting wounds and bruises. The sights leaving the building looked like something out of a war zone but they were happy!

I also did a very brief session on ageing makeup for theatre and my sister Mel was a very patient model. It was a bit of a rush job, with only a half face made up but the students thought it was effective anyway!

It’s that time of year again – the shopping centres are going crazy and Christmas is fast approaching. Got my first Gingerbread House order this week – a scary thought! The challenge will be to find time to do them this year, with all the extra stuff that I’m involved in.  2 yrs ago  Cat and I made a ridiculously large gingerbread mansion for our family – it was so much fun to make. When we brought it out at our family dinner, the kids all just stared at it til my brother-in-law attacked it with a knife! It’s become a family tradition – started several years ago when our kids were still in primary school. Somehow it has just snowballed and now we have a major production line happening!

Was just thinking I would have a “quiet spell” after finishing filming for Elindil’s Secret but then was asked to do some tutes for a local community house. The day after finishing the blue sceen filming, I did a 2 hr session with the students – demonstrating some of the makeup and special effects used in the movie. What began as a fairly standard demo of basic makeup techniques turned into a full-on “bruise and bash fest”, with nearly all of the students requesting to be made up with cuts, bruises, grazes, brand marks and knife scars! I gather some of them went home on public transport (no doubt creating a bit of a stir) and one went home to scare his family into thinking he’d been involved in a car accident! I think I’ve created a monster – next week we’re doing a session on “hard core” wounds…..lots of blood products required! In addition to this series of tutes, I also have some potential work lined up with other community groups and theatre groups. Never a dull moment!

As I finish up with E.S. film makeup, I now have to shift focus with the Careforce Christmas Production, “Christmas at Brockwell’s”. Andy is busy with rehearsals (playing the part of Mr Brockwell) and I’m rounding up my team of volunteers to help with the 7 nights of performances, starting 15th Dec. No special effects makeup required for this one – just 1940’s straight makeup and hairdo’s.

It is the final weekend of shooting for this year and a few of our Elindil’s Secret family will be “limping over the line” in terms of health. It has been a marathon effort for all concerned, with many sacrifices along the way, but most of all for Luke and Leanne. A long time in the planning before the filming ever got started and it will be along time in post production – certainly not a task for the faint-hearted! Looking at the list of scenes to be finished in the final 2 days, it looked like an impossible task, but as we have come to discover on this project, Luke has managed to pull it off!

We welcomed Florence to the set for the first (and last) time in her role as the mythical creature (or “angel”) and she did a great job with Cassie in their scene. Bread from Heaven was a crucial part of this scene and although it looked suspiciously like it came from safeways, apparently “Abigail” thought it tasted pretty good! Florence discovered the “power” of being a movie star, with a massive fan base – actually it was 4 crew holding electric fans to create the wind blowing effects but she enjoyed the attention anyway! Once again our 1st AD was multi-tasking being thong boy (his favourite role), towel boy and water boy, in addition to  body double work for “Taska” in her car with the lovely hot pink mobile phone – very cute Mike!

We had some emotion-charged scenes with Cassie and Dave in the close confines of the ute – while their scene was getting stormy inside, the fickle Melbourne weather was creating some dramas of it’s own – gusty winds then a shower of rain caused some urgent tarpaulin action to cover the deck roof (above the blue screen area) and the crash mats outside for the later scenes. John created some great lighting effects – the best one was the “road runner” overtaking the ute!

As the day got hotter, it was quite uncomfortable for the actors and crew in the closed in space – the portable electric fans were very popular – Cassie and Dave were very attached to “celcius” and were very disappointed when it had to be removed from their car! There were some strange new phrases creeping into the dialogue like – “Hello, I’m sveating from Sveden”. Many of the cast and crew took time out on the crash mats to recharge the batteries.

Once again, Rachel and her catering team did an outstanding job with catering – it was great to have a “proper” meal for tea instead of pizzas this week!

After many weeks of waiting, the “crash car” finally had it’s moment of glory and we filmed the crash scene with the 2 hoods. Lots of rocking and rolling action for this one with some definite keystone cops material added in! Mike and Blake did a great job of looking panicked despite the hysterical laughter of the crew! 

The funniest moments of filming for the day came from a wardrobe malfunction moment with Luke’s Hood costume. In falling forward for a close up shot, the hood kept slipping over his face or covering one eye, creating enormous hilarity on set! Even several strips of gaffer tape couldn’t fix the problem. Finally, after nearly 10 takes, John suggested we changed the shot and Luke managed to get it in one take. It’s strange how many humourous moments we’ve managed to create in what is essentially an action movie.

Speaking of multiple takes – Jess and Mark had their own little dramas outside, trying to dress River in her jumpsuit – clearly they need instructions or more practise! After several unsuccessful attempts, River was finally dressed but looked very bemused by the process!

The final shots of the day were the jumps, which required a lot of planning and several rehearsals before being filmed. These shots had to be done at night so as we listened to the raucous sounds from the nearby Lilydale show and watched the fireworks display, the guys set up the lights and camera for the final action. Daniel reprised his “Searching Man” role and took the first “leap of faith”, followed by Jess – who did a great job and offered to do another take just for fun! Cass was not so keen as her reverse angle dive (without a double pike) was a bit more complicated! She did very well and now has yet another accomplishment to add to  her resume! The final jump of the evening was Dave K doing the death drop with hands bound (altho for safety this was faked). It was a wrap at 10pm.

Sunday morning dawned drizzly but still warm. It was Andy’s and my 29th wedding anniversary – probably not the way we would have chosen to spend an important anniversary but we had commited to the ES project, so off we traipsed to the Blue Screen final shoot day. Down to the final day – what a surreal feeling it was for us all. We had a number of cast members having their final scenes – literally, as they were “killed off”. Dave S did an impressive death scene, complete with cigarette! Dave K also had his final moment – being suspended from the roof truss (after dropping to his “death” off the balcony on the previous night!)  Jess had a “Dickie Knee” impersonation moment in her floor shots, which created a bit of light-hearted ribbing. We also had some more interesting moments with hood costumes – one costume had developed a hole in the back (must have been one of the Holy Hoods) and another was seen to be generating some cooling breeze with the flapping motion – the flashing hood! There was quite a bit of down time for some of the cast so they entertained themselves watching you-tube videos and very quickly picked up the catch cry from Jeff Dunham’s Dead Terrorist act  - “Silence! I kill you!” This became the theme for the afternoon’s filming where we had a rather gruesome scene with the head of the Hood clan, who presided over a sacrificial ceremony. Andy made an impressive acting debut in the ES movie as a human sacrifice – great way to celebrate our anniversary!

Our final shots of the day were of Luke’s Dad, Geoff, who not only has been doing the “Behind the Scenes” video but also had the role of the Spanish Guide, who also met his demise today. Geoff had to do his “death drop” into the pool in the backyard at Rachel & John’s, fully clothed and carrying a backpack. At least it was a nice hot day to do this stunt! As we finished up with the big splash, I think Luke was extremely relieved to find we had finished an hour early and everything was done. Awesome job by everyone and it has been a priviledge to work with you all! It’s a wrap!!!!

We had an extra shoot day squeezed in this week, in addition to the weekend shoot days. Dave S and Andrew Hill were called in to do pick up shots and as I was at work for the first part of the day, Rachel bravely stepped in as makeup assistant and helped to do the basic makeup for the early scenes. By the time I got there at lunchtime, it was extremely warm and the challenge was on to keep the actors’ makeup from running down their faces! Given that they were doing a fight scene and Luke was wearing the full hood costume, it was pretty uncomfortable for the guys to say the least. By the time we’d done several takes, “Blake’s” makeup was in danger of creating a river on the floor! (slight exaggeration. LOL) After the past 3 weeks of Blue Screen shoot days, it was strange to be doing the filming without the full compliment of crew and cast. Even stranger to be only doing it for a few hours instead of the usual marathon effort we have become accustomed to! Once again safety was paramount as there was a very sharp knife being used in the fight scenes and the timing was crucial. We wrapped up at 3:45pm and I headed off to the osteopath to get my neck back into shape for the remaining 2 days of filming. Counting down!!

Shoot days 22 and 23 were long and action-packed – continuing the Blue Screen filming. There were many “Blue” jokes and “Blue” songs to while away the hours in addition to the inevitable “Moon” references – some of which were related to the crescent moon symbol and some were related to low rise pants! There were, as always, the memorable moments – the 1st AD (also known as “Thong Boy”) doing the clapper board with a brownie shoved in his mouth and baby-sitting the Qumran jar. Andrew Hill’s impersonation of the road runner in his rapid exit from the fight scene was also a highlight! John did a fantastic job as usual creating lighting effects but the “awe” moment when he turned on the brilliant golden light for a specially significant moment somehow bizarrely became an “Arrrrr” pirate moment! In another scene we were trying to create a water splash effect for Cassie and Andrew where we had 4 people lined up with containers of water to toss at the actors – we were supposed to only have one “take” as they were going to get their costumes wet. Unfortunately the sight of 4 crew “grinning evilly” and waiting to drench Cassie, caused her to have a bit of a giggle, so we had to dry them off as best we could and reshoot! We had a few additions to the crew to assist with lighting and special effects – I was “gaffer girl”, helping out with holding a high tech lighting deflector (brown mattress!) and operating “Branchy No 5″ as well as creating the water ripple lighting effect for the pick up shots from Bega. Dave Hindby did a great job rocking and rolling the jeep on Saturday- hope they caught that action on the “Behind the scenes” video! Daniel and Andy were the Branch-Twirling guys (unfortunately not as glamorous as baton twirling but very effective!) We had to improvise without one of our “Dave’s” (there are several)  so we had Blake’s stand-ins – initially it was Daniel, then Dave Donchi and finally we had a few inanimate objects to create the right “eye-line” for the shots – we had a number of versions of “Blake” (complete with cigarette!) to create the right effects. It was Andrew Hill’s last shoot day with us (til pick ups next year) and he was just glad his final scene was postponed yet again, so he has a bit more time with the gang! We had a quick break for tea then it was back into the trickiest shots of the day – the “under floor” shots of Dave and Cassie hanging from the rigging – requiring a considerable amount of effort from the remaining crew to manually haul them up and down for positioning. No need to attend a gym after this workout! Sat night was wrapped at 10:15pm. Yawn!

Not much rest for us – after what seemed like a very short night’s sleep, we were back into it on Sunday morning with more action-packed scenes. Our actors have done an outstanding job, doing all their own stunts and fights. After many rehearsals these fight scenes were timed pretty well, but we still got a few actual “hits” which were a bit unexpected! Fortunately, none of the close shaves were with the Knives! Luke has been struggling for the past 2 weeks with ill health and by the end of the day on sunday we could barely hear his croaky voice calling “action”! As well as Directing, he has been Cameraman and acting in the fight scenes – it’s a huge load and he has done an awesome job! There was quite a lot of bruising, blood effects and scratches needed for this weekend’s filming so I was kept pretty busy. Wazza commented that he’d been hit, punched, tied up, tortured, stabbed and blown up – I guess he’s got something to complain about!! As the afternoon waned and we were down to the last few scenes, Wazza & Cass delivered their lines from inside the rocking & rolling jeep (courtesy of Andy this time) and Daniel continued his “branchy” twirling action. It was finally a wrap at 7:15pm – a very long but productive weekend. Once again, Rachel provided us with great hospitality and kept all the hungry hoards fed and watered. Thanks Rachel!

We had a weekend off filming this week and our family gathered from across 3 states to celebrate the 50th Wedding Anniversary of our parents, John & Sandra. It was a big operation,  co-ordinating all the families and friends. It was also a real family affair with Matt doing the Graphic Design work for the invitations, the decorations were done by a variety of family members and all the “girls” did a musical item – singing one of Mel’s compositions, accompanied by Matt, Martin & Cat.  As people walked into the function room, they were greeted by Martin, Matt & Cat having a “jam session” on guitars and keyboard. A close friend commented when she walked into the room, “Well you can tell this function has the ‘Bilsborrow’ Touch”! We ended up with about 70 guests and it was a very successful afternoon. There were people from Dad’s primary school days as well as members of their wedding party and many friends from their years of ministry as well as their friends from Careforce. Amongst the speeches there were some funny stories shared as well as poignant memories. Many people spoke of their gratitude for the friendship, support and comfort provided by Mum & Dad over the years. It was a very fitting tribute to a remarkable couple. The cutting of the cake was not without incident – Dad had a “naughty school boy” moment when he used 2 shoe horns to stab the cake! He had been using these as props in his speech – referring to the fact that when he was first married, he was short on wisdom (using the short shoe horn), but now he was 76 he  had grown in wisdom (using the long-handled shoe horn). Unfortunately “the wisdom” flew out the window when it came to cutting the cake! It has been great to have a bit of a breather from the routine of filming but we’ll be back into it next weekend!