Guess who’s got two thumbs and got to do some motion capture yesterday! This girl! *points thumbs at self*

I got a text Friday afternoon from the director of Tree of Knowledge asking what I was doing the following day. I texted back that I had some workshops and if this was about ADR. He texted Mo-cap and I immediately responded that I can cancel!

We were at Just Cause Productions. I got there and got suited up. Then this fellow Vince stuck a bunch of little dots all over me and then reinforced them. Unfortunately it didn’t occur to me to to the bathroom before putting it on, so I was going to have to wait until we finished (or lunch, whichever came first).

When I showed up I didn’t even know what I was going to be doing since my character isn’t in the animated section. Turns out I got to play the freaky giant rag doll. It’s supposed to be like 10 feet tall so sometimes I was on my knees, but still had to be about that same height as Emily, so I would kneel on a pillow on some apple boxes. That way my body was shaped right and then hers was too. They will have a bunch of adjusting to do later, but I think it should work out well. We got to see some real time before we started to give us an idea of scale. I ended up acting with my body mostly normal even though the doll’s head and body were taller than my skeleton. It was super neat to dance around and see it on the screen though.

We rehearsed a little while they were setting up, so when we started capturing we did most sections in one take. We had a prop stick that was a little awkward since it has an extra bar sticking out so they can capture rotation.

We got it all done before lunch but I really needed to use the bathroom, so they took a break to help un-dot me. It was so much fun!!

Man, I cannot wait to see the finished film! It’ll be a long time, but if they send over any screen shots or anything I’ll post them.

Got up early this morning to shoot my scenes for a student film for LA Valley Community College. My costume was rad. Stripey wool pants, tan button down, suspenders and a belt, round sunglasses, beige bowler, bow tie, and one of those knit winter hats (I forget what the name is) but with the top cut off so it was like a neck and mouth covering. I had it on all day so I still kind of feel like it’s on my face. Weird. Anyway, I looked way sinister. Once again I forgot to take a picture for myself, but I’ll get someone’s or post once I get footage. Oh and I also had a really creepy Dummy too.

So luckily we started with the heavy stuff. As the day went on I got pretty tired, so it was nice to have it out of the way. I think it went really well. Patrick, the director, seemed really happy with it. I shoot a guy in the nether regions, and then later I shoot a guy in the head. They don’t show it, but they had a few special effects of the guy whose guts would be blasted out. Then I was also shot. We did all that and then the rest of the actors came for my other scene where I just have to sit there with my dummy. So even though I was tired, it didn’t matter. I just have to shoot that guy in the head and look creepy. Oh, and operate the dummy. It was a simple pull-string kind and easy to use.

At some point the zipper on the vintage pants I was wearing disintegrated all at once and the teeth went all over (like those nightmares where all your teeth keep falling out.). I managed to get the zipper down enough so they would come off and then pinned it, since by then I was mostly sitting at the table and they didn’t see it. Sucks about the pants, but that can happen on vintage stuff. Hopefully they can replace the zipper without affecting and value of the pants. The wardrobe girl, Alanna, owns a vintage shop so we got to use a bunch of stuff from her collection.

Near the end of the day, my 2 sports bras that were keeping my feminine figure in check (I was disguised as a man) started getting really itchy and I was really warm with the wool pants and neck wrap and hat. But then we finished. I even made it home in time to catch the last 3 matches of Wrestlemania. (We recorded it so I watch the good parts I missed later.)

Very fun character stuff, violence, some blood, and finished in one day. Not too shabby.

Yesterday was awesome. My pals at Funbox Comedy are working with this director, Joy, and they are producing a sci-fi comedy web series. I auditioned for the lead, but did not get it. Joy really liked my read though so she had me come and be an alien for their faux dating site ‘Date a Human.’ I was a cat-like alien with tall blue hair and another girl was a sparkly fish-like alien. I had full on prosthetic appliances, airbrushing, synthetic hair. I remembered I still had fangs from The Night Life so I got a ride over to my place and got them. I wasn’t really paying attention, but I’m sure we got some funny looks. I looked like a Who from Whoville.

The whole process took over 4 hours! I will post pictures as soon as I get them. They took a bunch so I didn’t think to take any for myself.

We alternated shooting still shots and video. It was part scripted and part improvised. Some were over a green screen to use in the series as a sort of hologram and others were just inside and would just be for the website. They got coverage of both since they weren’t sure how they would use it in the series. They may end up using both styles if it works in the effects.

I was surprised all that stuff on my head didn’t itch at all, though the slits for the nose holes were limited so I did a lot of mouth breathing all day. She stuck it on really well, so I could move my face without worrying about it coming loose. Then it took like an hour to get it off at the end. And I had to take a long hot shower to get the remaining little goobers and paint all over. I probably still have paint on me today. But that’s ok because it was super rad. I can’t wait to see it. I love that type of thing. Even if it takes 5 hours.

You know, it’s not the sight or the feel of pig intestines that gets to me. It’s the smell. That’s what we used for guts last night and it was ok at first, but after the 3rd take I was reminded of 8th grade biology and got a bit queasy. Bleh.

And speaking of evoking childhood queasiness, the fake blood we used for going in our mouths was labeled ‘Zesty Mint,’ but I would actually define it as ‘Sullen Mint.’ It reminded me of the flavor of the fluoride they made us swish in elementary school. Ugh.

Ok, enough talking about how gross it was, it was also super rad! I had pretend blood running all down my face. And then the other actor surprised everyone by licking it off my face, which was hilarious and awesome. So was the point where one of the intestines was thrown directly at my face by accident. Hilarious, awesome, and gross.

So now I’ll go do some foley in a few weeks and it should screen at the school at the beginning of may. Tra la!