On-set Saturday

Set-up at location
It took a while to get set up at the location, but we were very lucky to be able to work there (thanks Fraser!). We had a cottage to work out of, varied hilly woods, and power in the garage. We were very well set up. I helped carry things, find things, and generally try to spot where people needed help. Fraser was awesome at leaping up to help people in all sorts of ways (including donating his belt). We didn't start filming until close to 11.30ish? Nick and Luke were up first, while Debbie got her last costume elements sorted out.

Awesome costumage
All the costumes were kick-ass. Debbie looked fantastic in her professional monster hunter attire, the uniformity of the mooks was excellent, and the two male leads certainly looked relaxed and optimistic.

Rain
It was raining a little when we arrived, but the forecast had been for it to clear. Sadly, this did not happen, and it got worse as filming continued. I headed down to set and collected umbrellas from various people's cars, then donated my warm jacket to Michaela and switched to a bright yellow fisherman's rain slicker. Then I stood in wet bushes holding a polystyrene board for light reflection (flecky?). Branches were poking me in the back of the knees and making my legs both wet and sore, but it was nothing compared to what the cast was going through.

Mud
When vast quantities of water fall onto dirt, then lots of people walk over it, it turns into MUD! There was a lot of this around, very treacherous under foot. Actors were sinking ankle deep into sludge, and had to hide their fear of slippery-death. I didn't have to hide my fear, as I wasn't in front of a camera. I'm fairly good at falling over in relatively normal conditions, so was petrified that I'd fall whilst holding something important (like my camera). Fortunately I stayed on my feet, and only saw one fall (which did not produce injuries).

Monster-Makeup
When we broke for lunch, we headed back to the cottage to get as warm as possible, and have some munchables. When we walked in, Morgue was getting the full Melty-man makeup treatment. It was awesome to see, and looked highly impressive. Having people chatting and eating lunch around melty man was slightly surreal, but was neat.

Mooks!
The mooks were neat. Uniform and organised and cool. Dobby was great with giving guidance to the actors on a variety of things.

Mud
It got worse.

Rain
It kept going. People got wet.

Flecky boards
I held a flecky board for many takes. between some of them I used it as a rain shield for actors, as I was rain-slickered and they were in light-weight costumes.

Seaworld/Wet'n'Wild
Luke and Nick kept cracking jokes throughout the morning. One of them was during a shot where they had to wade through particularly deep mud. The conversation went something like:

"Dude, we are so wet."

"We're wet'n'wild."

"We are SEA WORLD!"

"We should mud-slide through this shot."

"Yeah, and there should be sharks swimming in the mud."

The shark comment might have been me. I have a very fond but fuzzy memory of much of the weekend.

Slippery Bank
The final scene took place just off the road, next to a slippery bank that kept getting closer and closer to the action as more of it crumbled and collapsed under Morgue's monstrous onslaught. It was terrifying seeing Morgue throw himself around so close to a slippery fall. He is a well balanced monster.

Monster death
Morgue's death scene was chilling. He really sold it.

Awesome Acting
I'd seen the rehearsals, and Debbie and Luke's performances on the set were their best. Fantastic!

Back to base
At about 5pm the first tape was done, and I packed up and headed back to Indigo City, base camp. It was great to have been on set and seen and helped out with some of the filming. Next job? Editing.