Production Day #2: “The Zombie Opera” Invades Oakland!

Posted in Film, The Zombie Opera by barrybogo on May 16, 2010

Reporting live from the Oakland Zone!

Still feeling good from last Sunday’s shoot at Duquense University, we rolled straight into Saturday’s production in Oakland. Blue skies and a nice bright sun got everyone in the mood to create one of the most difficult scenes for “The Zombie Opera.” The shoot was another success!

Production for the simulated newscast included a wide variety of talent and several challenges. Not only did we need to shoot seven different actors (while singing!), we needed to create a convincing riot with less than a dozen extras.

Nathan shooting Tommy (Soldier) and Mike (News Anchor)

With the scope of this scene, we shouted an “all hands on deck” order. Joining our crew on set was Nathan Fullerton (camera and assist), Matt Reese (assistant director), Jill Egyud (extras coordinator), Marjorie Rishel (script supervisor), and fight choreographers Sean Martin and Keith Leonard (not to mention a handful of really great production assistants coming and going throughout the day!).

As the day went on, the complexity of the scenes increased. By far the most difficult challenge of the day was directing the riot/fight that breaks out. With the help of Matt, Sean, and Keith, we were able to organize a congested group of extras around our talent making the area appear to be extremely crowded. In reality, there was no one else behind them, but with the help of a few close camera angles by Ed, the scene looked like chaos; exactly what we were looking for.

But that’s not all! Thanks to some good old choreography by Sean and Keith, the action of the fight scene came to life. The technique used a system of star stickers (yes the kind your teacher gave you in 2nd grade). By using the stickers, each actor knew if they were an intimidator or running for their lives. After watching the shots play out, the riot came off very realistic and convincing!

By 6:00 we had all of the shots we needed, but with some extra juice in the camera’s battery, we decided to let our fight guys have some fun. In half an hour, we simulated enough head bashing, gut punching, and body flipping to really amp up the scene’s hysteria. Kudos to the extras that hung around for the final minutes (especially those who didn’t mind a bit of fake blood)!

Thanks to our cast and crew for an action packed shoot!!