Cryptid Shooting Diary
Tuesday July, 8
Day 1
First day of shooting. Actors Frank Palangi, Spunky
and cinematographer Jay Ruzicka arrive at my (very hot) apartment.
We shoot from about 5:30pm until 11:30pm. I want to thank Frank,
Spunky and Jay for bearing the heat. The two fans I have were
somewhat of a relief but I was still sweating like an oinker.
We filmed most of Frank's and all of Spunky's scenes. Just a few
pick up shots of Frank are needed. Jay shot the master shots with
his Panasonic DVX 100B miniDV camera. It has the best "faux
film" look I have ever seen in a miniDV camera. I can't wait
to see what it looks like on the big screen. He also filmed the
"monster vision" shots with a small camcorder I have.
The monster puppet that was used looked pretty good... considering
its amateurish look.
Sunday December 7, 2008
Day 2.... 5 Months Later
The second day of shooting the monster short concluded.
On set were Michael (a darn good actor) Cannon as Dr. Nonac, the
mad scientist; Aaron Lambert who played Billy, the unfortunate
lab assistant, and Kyle Murphy, crew person and eclipse maker.
Shooting started at around 2:30pm after everyone arrived
at my place. Michael was very good, and enthusiastic, as always
in his mad scientist role and Aaron was a good sport weathering
the cold in my car as he met his demise.
Kyle was great and ever willing to what I needed him
to do in the mid December cold of the North Country. Everything
from shaking the creature's box to putting up black bags around
my car to block out the sun to using his own body to make an eclipse.
Wednesday December 10, 2008
Day 3
I shot several minutes of the monster's point of view
with my small consumer camcorder. I first tried lashing the camera
to the underside of a boad and then tied the board to the hood
of a remote control car and then drove the car around but, for
several reasons, this was not successful. The string I used to
tie the camera to the car interfered with the tires moving and
turning and the car's battery died due to the cold. I needed to
beat an oncoming snow and ice storm that night so I finally just
walked along holding the camera inches above the ground.
Wednesday December 17, 2008
Editing has continued... finally.
Wednesday December 31, 2008
The title of the "monster movie" has been
given the official title of: CRYPTID.
Saturday May 30, 2009
The first segment of CRYPTID premieres online.
August 22, 2009
Did some location scouting for a jail cell at the historic
courthouse in Lake George.
August 28, 2009
Received a photo from special effects artist, Jared
Balog, of the creature molded in clay. It looks VERY nice and
creepy.
Tuesday September 22, 2009
Went to Prospect Mtn and filmed several shots, guerilla
style, of Frank Palangi walking through the forest. We also filmed
one very nice shot of him looking out over Lake George. It was
a beautiful panaoramic shot.
March 2010
Conversing with SFX artist Jared Balog about finishing
up the new Cryptid puppet. After viewing several photos and making
suggestions for changes it looks like it will be cast soon.
Tuesday May 4, 2010
After almost a year, got a call from Jared Balog saying
the creature should be finally finished by the end of the week.
Saturday August 14, 2010
Shot the scene between the conspiracy theorist (Kyle
Murphy) and clones (Mark Pezzula).
Monday September 20, 2010
Shot part of the Hazmat Clones scene with Matt Erickson.
Sunday October 17, 2010
Shot the Hiker Scene with Matt and Mandy Erickson.
It was a great, fun, short shooting day dodging bow hunters, rattle
snakes and ticks. Matt was the only casualty with a tick. The
creature made its acting debut with Matt as puppeteer. Unfortunately
the craftsmanship on the left leg was not so great and the rubber
had disintegrated unexpectedly. I did a repair job with an ace
bandage which will need to be painted over for future shoots.
October 19 - 20, 2010
Editing of the Hiker Scene. The glidecam footage looks
great! It looks so professional. It is a great piece of equipment
that is making this project look nice.
October 21 - 27, 2010
Editing more of the Hazmat Clones scene. Adding muzzle
flashes to the machine gun toting clones involved. Tedious work
making the flashes look realistic. Painted the repaired left leg,
claws and eyes of the creature to more realistic colors to improve
on original paint job.
November 11, 2010
Another good day of shooting. Did some pick-up shots
with Mandy Erickson for the Hiker Scene then shot some footage
with the creature puppet showing it walking, hopping, standing
around its Adirondack habitat.
November 20, 2010
Another fun day of shooting CRYPTID. The Lake George
Historical Museum allowed me to shoot a scene in their basement
which contains several jail cells. Jennifer, Frank Palangi and
Tim Hatch were great and professional on set. Jen and Tim even
got to have a paranormal experience during the shoot when they
both got a whiff of rose scented perfume. I was oblivious to the
smell as I was focused on setting up the next shot, and that is
the fragrance usually wear. After talking to the head of the museum
he confirmed that several people have seen orbs and spectres there
and smelled rose perfume in several locations in the museum...
including the jail cell area.
copyright 2010 Archangel Productions