Monday, July 16, 2012

Hilarity Ensues ~or~ Permission to Dazzle: Granted!


It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I work nearly incessantly. I’m up at all hours, and nearly all of those engaged in one or another of my professions. Only husband, pets, or books (or, occasionally, sleep) can conjure sufficient draw anymore to pull me away from my labors. And while my jobs are work, in many ways, they aren’t. I do what I love. And even money hasn’t been enough to tarnish the luster of my fondness for the things I do to put a roof over my head. If there is another path to bliss, I’m unaware of it.


One of my most especial joys is my students. Martial Artistry attracts the most creative, intelligent, generous, open-minded and fun-loving people in New Mexico. House of Flying Squirrels has been the perfect venue for them to apply their many and varied talents. Every Movie Stunt Class, every filming session has been full of fun and engagement, with ideas springboarding off one another in a veritable Cirque de Soleil of invention.

The important thing is to encourage students to see everything as an opportunity:  to explore an idea; to tell a story; to generate a smile.

Our kung fu school in Albuquerque has really great floors: two inch thick, carpet bonded EVA foam. We have 2x4s to hold it in place down the 65 foot length facing the door. Over time, some of the 2x4s have twisted, making the surface a toe-stubbing hazard. I’m not sure who first realized the photo op created by Mr. Baker’s adzing them even, but, hilarity ensued.

“We should have the squirrels chewing the boards!”
Om-nom-nom-nom!

“It looks like James is kissing M!”
"Oh, 00Squirrel! Behave!"

“Uh-oh! Wait until Princess Ai Chu finds out!”
"James! How could you?"

See what I mean by springboard? The ideas came faster than we could shoot.


This is raw video. Once we finish editing it, adding sound effects, music, dialogue, it will no doubt make another hilarious outtake -- all thanks to one student's initial, "what if?".

Until next time, happy movie-making!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Friday Film-Making Finds: Detonation Films

July 13, 2012

Our school’s Movie Stunt Class has among its cast of wild and crazy characters:  a cyborg,


Jackson as Cyborg Samurai


a fairy-princess that launches cupcake grenades with her wand,


Velvet the Cupcake Fairy


and Natasha Badenov, a spoof of Jay Ward’s cold war spy temptress, Natasha Fatale, infamous for her bombs.


Natasha Badenov (Natasha McGinnis) confronts Ding Bang, Abbot of the Jade Fender Temple (Ed McGinnis)


You know what this means. Explosions!



What’s a novice girl movie-maker to do? Why, go to an expert!


Enter Detonation Films. Effects stock footage? Got it. Everything from explosions, to contrails, to gouts of blood. Almost every special effect clip you may need on the path to movie destruction is here --many of them free, or almost. Need tips or tutorials on how to build your own green screen, composite in various video editing programs or make your very own explosion effects? Got that, too.


Happy film-making! Oh, and, watch out for those cupcakes.





Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Ain't Creation Grand ~ or ~ Mr. Toad's Wild Ride


Natasha Badenov (Natasha McGinnis), Wen Lo Gai (Ryan McGowan) and Ding Bang, Abbot of the Jade Fender Temple (Ed McGinnis)


The first task for the students of the Martial Arts Movie Stunt Class was character creation - a subject near and dear to my purportedly blackened and shriveled heart. So many possibilities! So many opportunities for parodies and paradoxes, outlandish exaggerations and wild and crazy combinations!


Chen Wang (Diana Ma) mixes it up with the catty fashionista, Macy Nordstrom (Mia Burdeau)


This much freedom absolutely paralyzed some of my adult students. Despite explanations and prompts of simple ideas that could become the kernel of a character (animal! profession! parody!), some in the class were completely stymied.  For our next movie-making class, I plan to have a good supply of one word idea cards to stimulate the creative juices of those more reticent students.


Grumpy Asian (Kuan Ma) is about to ruin Billy Joe Jimmy Bob Buckett's (Jesse Stephens) day.


Unexpectedly, it was my youngest students that excelled at character creation. Still used to tapping their imagination without fear of ridicule, they created spectacularly detailed and original characters, which I then promptly hijacked and twisted, causing irreparable damage to their tender, young psyches.


Cyborg Samurai was the elaborate creation of young Jackson.



Just kidding.  I think.

The-Student-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named came up with this gloriously awesome character, Velvet the Cupcake Fairy. News Flash: Cupcakes are bad for your health. Very, very bad.


Long story short, the character concepts varied greatly. From some I got as little as, “she likes to clean”. Others catalogued everything about their character, from fighting style and tag lines through languages and powers.


Dorothy Stender is absolutely priceless as the (almost) unstoppable Grumpy Tai-Tai.


But, while I gave the students full rein to create their own characters for the movie, in the end, I was the one who would have to write the script. So, after the initial character genesis, I hunched over the wheel of creative control with white-knuckled hands and careened down the road like Mr. Toad, while my students pointed out directions and enthusiastically honked the horn.


Billy Joe Jimmy Bob Buckett (Jesse Stephens), Queen Rilo'a (Ellie Wilson), Neato (April Dawn Duncan) and Ooo Long (Lee Ann Haluska)


I did my best to keep their original concepts intact, but in a necessarily short movie with 20+ “stars”, back story often went by the wayside, and details had to be tweaked, refined and brightened. Still, no one has complained. And I must confess, compared to the delayed gratification of my normal venue, it is great fun to hear the students giggle over their lines, quote each other’s characters, and ruin our takes with spontaneous guffaws.


Grumpy Asian (Kuan Ma) demonstrates to Queen Rilo'a (Ellie Wilson) the hazards of ignoring the "Keep Off the Grass" sign.


Stay tuned as I feature each of the characters from this movie, and talk a bit about the original student concept and how each character evolved.