For one of our Mind Rip trailer scenes, we needed to put together a makeshift science lab. In the scene, the lab’s psychokinetic test subject has just killed again, and tensions are running high.
We used an existing warehouse/tech space as a backdrop, then put a few tables and a computer in the foreground. But what about the reverse angle? What should we see on the computer monitor?
We’re monitoring psychic energy, so we should be seeing brain scans. Lots of them.
So I went to the internet (you can find anything on the internet) and asked Bing for brain images. I then ran them through Flash and came up with some animation that looked pretty darn funky on camera.
In one particular Mind Rip scene, Sheriff Edwards sits at his desk reading an old horror comic. So it fell to me to make a fake comic prop for the scene.
EC comics like Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror were an influence on writer John Vincent. He worked them into the story, giving one of the characters a comic collection. The film’s monsters are spawned from the comics’ nightmare images.
For a prop, we wanted to avoid using the trademarked EC Comics, instead giving the impression of those publications. Of course, we couldn’t resist having fun with it. (The Vault of the Crypt of Terror? We loved the redundancy of that title.)
The back cover came from an actual ad seen in classic comics:
I cast myself (in various Halloween costumes) as the three ghost hosts:
The comic needed a dingy, used look. Here’s a blow-up to show the applied texture.
The first of our trailer scenes takes place in a restaurant kitchen. Two smart aleck cooks insult each other while chopping vegetables. An unexpected monster-type noise from outside catches their attention… and a severed head smashes through the window, flying into the room. The head flips end over end, landing with a splash in a pot of lentil soup.
We began with storyboards, drawn by John. This gave him a way to demonstrate the proposed shots to the cast and crew. (See the black & white image below.) On the day of the shoot, we had extra time and inspiration, so we added some more shots, which I sketched out on site. (The blue boards below.) Click either image for a larger view.
This was a fun shoot. We spent all Sunday in a local restaurant, shooting the kitchen from every angle imaginable. We built a fake wall with a break-away window (more on that later). Our “Uncle Fester” head was provided by Michael Del Rossa, and it was a thing of beauty. A little goopy blood and a stick rammed in from behind, and that head was ready to smash through the window repeatedly.
Here are some pics from the shoot, courtesy of Johannes Bockwoldt.
John does surgery on the severed head.
Just another day on the job for Mikey.
Having fun? Oh yeah, fun!
A practice run, without the glass. For the final smash, Mikey wore a black mask to remain invisible.
The story of Mind Rip involves comic book monsters that are brought to life through psychic means. One such monster is “Boil Head,” a slobbering hot rod driving fiend. Inspired by the legendary Big Daddy Roth’s “Rat Fink” designs, the Boil Head will appear on screen as a stop motion puppet.
John began with a ball and socket armature, and now he’s applying oil-based clay over the top of it. Eventually, when the sculpt is perfect, he’ll make a mold from it.
It barely looks like anything right now, but I insisted we take some pictures for comparison purposes later. Also in these pics, you can see the original sketch and the hot rod model that Boil Head will be driving.
The overarching plan for Philrose Productions is to have several projects in the queue, ready to go. With the script for Lake Midnight completed, this summer we’re turning our attention to shooting an updated promotional trailer for Mind Rip.
We’ll be capturing new scenes to supplement our previous cemetery shoot, then cutting something in the style of drive-in/grindhouse trailers of the 70s and 80s.
I’ve been going through my own collection of trailers, looking for style influences. Below is a smattering of title cards I like for font styles and exploitation language. Yes, if you saw the Rodriguez/Tarantino feature Grindhouse, you saw some parodies of trailers like these.
I’ll be posting more behind-the-scenes photos from this trailer project in the coming weeks. Check back soon for updates!
