Every year in Film Arts we seem to pick up an Honorary Member of the Program. This is always someone who is closely connected to one of our current students. This year, that Honorary Member is Char Hoyt, the girlfriend/partner of Christopher O'Brien, Director. Char is an artist and has been extremely generous with her time and talents, not to mention her apartment, in helping out on a number of Film Arts shoots throughout the year.
It was my pleasure to meet her a few times, most recently on the set of "True Love" which she designed with Christopher. It was hugely impressive! The amount of artistic detail and loving attention she had paid to every element added up to a marvelous cocktail of invention for the look of that film.
Anyhow, Char heard about "Bad Parenting" and offered her talents to the Art Department. Thrilling words indeed. So, she is our official Art Director, working with Naomi Mark (Director) and Shevon Singh (Writer), who had also expressed interest in the Art Department.
I had a meeting with her on Thursday, July 5th, in which we went over the script in detail and talked about what I had in mind. I showed her some pictures (of the location, as well as pics I had downloaded of clothing choices, fishing gear, some looks) and we talked about it all. Subsequently, she did a preliminary breakdown of the items needed. I am publishing it herein:
ART DEPARTMENT MASTER LIST - GROUPED – ‘Bad Parenting’
VEHICLES…
-CAR.... Kevin's … older 70’s-90’s hatchback or station wagon or sm SUV (Allison's pathfinder if necessary) need spacious interior and room for a 'body' in the back and to have nice coverage of the baby in the backseat... Color doesn't matter much but not too flashy (no bright yellow ect.)… note, it will be used for the ‘windshield-hood-jump’ stunt and we may be denting the hood. – do we need a ‘stunt double car’ ? can we find two identical cars? One we can mess up? – lots to discuss ;)
-CANOE… Bert and Grover's .... Rickety... Color? Caitlyn has one? ...Grover in the rear, paddling ... Bert in the front sitting facing Grover.
- PADDLES - will need at least 4?... Need to be able to break one or two of them for the stunt... Note, there is only one paddle in the canoe with Bert and Grover, then Bert eventually breaks it on Kevin’s face! …. making their getaway with one broken paddle very slow! Stunt duplicates made out of Balsa wood ? Ivan?
-CAMERA BOAT… needs to be big enough for 4 people, Quiet, motor-less… paddle boat? Floating dock? Sturdy and not wobbly
* new -SPARE BOAT… Canoe? Or small craft… we can have a set deck crew in the spare boat ready to fish stuff out of the water, armed with an extendable net pole... we don’t want to loose any of our props to the bottom of the lake.
SPECIAL EFFECTS PROPS
- HATCHET… Prop shop!... Needs to be light and safe and able to ‘stick into’ Stew’s head…
- a SEVERED ARM.... Just under the shoulder, bloody and gross but mostly intact.... Female with wedding ring ...so it needs to be a left arm... No clothing.... We should have more than one! 2-3?... starts out inside one of the burlap sacks ends up hooked like a fish… note, we need to be able to puncture the arm with the a large fishing lure and get it wet.
- PADDLES - will need at least 4?... Need to be able to break one or two of them for the stunt... Note, there is only one paddle in the canoe with Bert and Grover, then Bert eventually breaks it on Kevin’s face! Then making their getaway with one broken paddle very slow! For the stunt…duplicates made out of Balsa wood ? Ivan?
-BURLAP SACKS...3 + 3 Backups 6 total… (more maybe? What if one or two sinks!)..... they are in the canoe at Bert& Grover's feet ... The lumps are body parts, we can have our severed arm bags and ones just stuffed with body part like stuff and mud and dirt... The sacks need to be heavy so they sink and we need to attach the sacs to the boat with fishing line and have an extendable pole net to retrieve them from the water just incase.... we will also need a TIE for the sacks... Hemp or jute cord ... Natural color, not white, could be black.... Will need 3 equal length pieces cut .... Plus spares
BLOOD- lots of it …make fake stuff… kristof had a good recipe
CAMPSITE … set deck
- Remote… Kevin and Stew drive their car into the ‘abandoned’ site….
But this is one of Bert and Grover's sites, one of many they have around the lake possibly?... It's a bright sunny spot with a dark side… it’s surrounded by trees… you can see out, but you can't see in...
the stuff in it needs to be worn- in , dirty, very old and creepy feeling, everything's covered in soot and dirt.
- the SIGN .... An old wooden board .... Crude black faded painted words
" welcome to the lake ! " … most likely I will find the board and paint the sign
- an old creepy large fishing LURE... Is stuck into the sign
- the PICNIC TABLE....Carved up , rickety, swear words are carved in wood .... Need to find an old used one, that we can carve up… dark color preferred, or ‘old wood’ grey… not a ‘fat’ parks board one, old 70’s style is best
- HATCHET… need 2 - one real - one 'prop' ....
Real.... Leans against chopping block, old, rusty and used …dark blood stain?
Prop... Needs to be light and safe and able to ‘stick into’ Stew’s head… we will need lots of blood ;)
- the CHOPPING BLOCK.... An old stump? Round, used , dirty … burnt a bit… need lots of wood bits and splinters too… we can do some chopping but I don’t want it to look like fresh cut wood… we have to age-distress everything
-car TIRES.... Old weathered, only one or two… maybe a bike tire or spokes?
-WORK BOOTS... Bert's ? Or someone they killed? Need to be very old and abandoned burnt? Are they sitting together under the picnic table … or strewn about?
- TIN CANS ect.. Again… old, used, bent.... Looks a bit like leftover garbage.... This is where we can bring in some reflective elements, shiny things ( only one or two - to reflect our 'lure' inspiration) maybe there’s a piece of glass in the fire pit … or a frayed bit of bright colored rope laying around.
KEVIN AND STEWS STUFF…
- FISHING RODS.... 2… Not 'fly '... Strait up, reel ‘em in, regular lake fishin rods… they need to be strong enough to catch the baby basket and the burlap sack… believable
-LURES.... 4-6...Stew hooks the severed arm in the burlap sack and Kevin hooks the basket, baby inside and pulls it out of the canoe. They both need to be different and big enough for us to believe they can accomplish those feats.... Both need to be big serious scary lures , three pronged or single hook .... They cannot be fly fishing lures
- COOLER…Big enough so it needs to be carried by two people when full of beer, but not so big that they can't run with it together, one on either side... Need to find one with good handles on the sides … ice and beer inside – the color matters, it should not be the same color as the canoe… maybe blue or orange
-BEER... At least 24 , twist off, bottles...I have a good relationship with R&B brewing, will try them first... We don't really need the beer, just the bottles.
- ICE... Strait up ice yo.... For In the cooler... Will need a lot because it will melt… it needs it’s own separate cooler, will need to replenish supply. daily?
-FOLDING LAWN CHAIRS... Need 2 at least .... Spare set? I have two turquoise blue chairs… if we can find two more the same color that would be awesome!
CHARACTERS – WARDROBE IDEAS….
KEVIN- Male 25 ... The not so great father.... But is the more prepared of the two... He has lucky fishing vest, he pulls it out once a year, should be used but not really worn in.. I'm thinking he's a little clean cut but only because his wife is whipping him a bit lately ... lighter colored t-shirt with a short sleeve button-up layered over top… Knee length shorts, board shorts? Dark-ish color... White socks and runners? Crocs? (lol!) Regular ball cap? Or no hat, maybe he’s all about the vest
STEW- Male 25… the best buddy from way back… he was a little bit rocker in his youth… maybe a bright colored rock shirt (red or yellow maybe)( my friends band is named Trout – I’ll try to get a t-shirt) He has on his kick –ass fishing pants, lots of pockets, keeps his harmonica in one of them, maybe they zipper into shorts right above the knee? Cargo pants? He has his cool fishing hat on too, with lures sticking in it…. Not a tilley hat , something more city cool- doing country … Hoodie?
BABY GIRL LIVE- newborn to 3 months...needs a little pink bonnet or something girlie. She's swaddled in a blanket, soft, light in color or with a faint pattern maybe (not blue) an infant swaddling blanket would be best
her BASKET... tight bound wicker basket, large enough for a baby but not so big that it cannot be 'hooked' by a lure and pulled from the boat, it needs a strong handle, should be oval, needs to float. The baby should fit snug into it, so it doesn’t fall out during the various stunts
BABY GIRL DOLL - newborn to 3 months ...needs to be wearing exactly the same thing as the live baby! ... Her head is the most important part... Must find the perfect life like doll ... We will swaddle her in the same blanket as we find for the live baby. Note... The baby needs to be ‘spiraled’ at one point, must be wrapped snugly
BERT- think Outsiders / meth lab skid – he’s a bit rocker hillbilly cause of family ties, he’s musical (harmonica) he’s covered in dirt…. Super faded dark colored heavy metal t-shirt, sleeves rolled up onto the shoulders, where does he keep his harmonica? Back pocket? – Dirty strait leg boot cut jeans… not too tight, not skinny jeans. Uneven rolled up pant legs? Red bandana? Kicks? Chuck Taylors or high tops? White socks … messy and dirty… need doubles-triples of all clothing! Including shoes
GROVER- the meaner one I think- a real greaser- I see him chewing on something, stick-smoke-chew? He wears an army green? stained t-shirt –maybe it’s a lighter color so dirty it looks dark… stained with sweat and dried blood around the collar (we will need to manage the sweat stains and keep the clothing wet for after they go in the water- im thinking a mixture of spray bottles and a bucket) pants? Jeans too? Big work boots? Army boots? Lace ups? Or… cheap rubber boots? They are on the water after all… need doubles-triples of all clothing! Including shoes
OTHER PROPS AND SUPPORT MATERIALS…
-HARMONICAS...2 + a spare? ... One for Bert and one for Stew
-WET SUITS…for Bert and Grover dive
-WATERING CAN – SPRAY BOTTLES to keep the actors wet when they are supposed have been recently submerged in the lake
-CLEANING SUPPLIES- Windex, paper towel, we will need a full water station set up for Make-up and Special fx…
- EXTENDABLE POLE WITH NET
- FISHING- MONO- FILLIMANT LINE
STUNTS…
HATCHET TOSS –
PADDLE BREAK ON FACE-
TACKLE / BABY SPIRAL -
DIVE OFF CANOE + SWIM-
DIVE ONTO HOOD/WINDSHIELD+ FALL-