That voodoo that you do so well

November 7, 2009

The rainy season is upon us, which makes it imperative for our film crew to get as many of the outdoor scenes out of the way as possible. Luckily, today was our day. No rain, a clear California day.

Maybe we should give our character Jacinthe the credit for the absence of inclement skies. He is, after all, a voodoo priest. If he can raise Uncle Louie from the dead, he sure as heck ought to be able to call in a few favors to get us good weather.

Our set was located in the back yard of some friends on the Los Gatos/ San Jose border. Now this was no suburban back yard, but one of the most unique residential yards we’ve ever seen. For, you see, our friends have chickens (within the city limit no less!) and these birds provided a wonderful soundtrack for the filming of today’s voodoo ceremony. With all their clucking and squawking, you might think that it was one of them that was to be the sacrificial victim. Or maybe it was. But no, isn’t our dog Fidel the one that’s supposed to die so Uncle Louie can live again? Have to wait and see...

In addition to the soundtrack provided by our friends’ chickens, we had the brilliant drum work of Craig Ward, who plays Jacinthe, and who is a musician and teacher in real life.

A diverse group of extras witnessed today's black magic. Grown children, the favorite Mangelli granddaughter, wives, neighbors and friends of the writers and director, mostly. All ages, all walks, and fairly representative of the ethnic groups here in the county of Santa Clara. One of them fainted when she got a load of Jacinthe’s voodoo. A beautiful girl, check the cast and crew page to find out who she is.

Day of the Dead...Zio Luigi!

October 31, 2009

Today our cast and crew brought Uncle Louie back from the dead. No, we didn't just get an injection of cash to prevent the shutting down of production.  Rather, our cast and crew raised our favorite dead uncle from the grave. It was only fitting that we shot this segment on Halloween.  Utterly accidental and serendipitous was the timing. We swear. 

Of course it all started with the work of our makeup artist, Vroula; she made Louie look appropriately cadaverous.  But that was just the beginning. Louie's burial suit was covered with grass stains, tufts of dirt, and dusty soil by the time she was through with him. Then presto! Our gangster ghost arrived, a bloodless and startling apparition, fresh from the laborious work of pushing up daisies.




November 1, 2009

Today was about stamina, and it showed us what we were made of. There were periods of the filming day that were fraught with frustration, but when it was time to wrap up, we held fast to our hopes.  And with good reason.  Many of the scenes  we played back on the monitor were as good or better than we imagined.  Particularly satisfying was a high shot of Uncle Louie enjoying wine and anti-pasta on our dining room table; conceived by the director and the DP, this shot involved a strenuous set up and hand-held work by camera operator Kyle Mayer. The quiet, contemplative scene captures the solitary bliss of one of life's simple pleasures: the consumption of good food and wine.