This was a deceptively complex shot. I had to figure out how to spin Amanda and land her briefcase onto Kim’s table in a very limited number of frames, in such a way that the briefcase could be opened with the painting facing Kim.
Well it turns out I only had to make a 90° turn since Amanda is still on roller skates and the painting was facing the right way. There was a 50/50 chance of this, so I lucked out. Otherwise I would need to spin her 270°.
My next challenge was lighting. I didn’t have many mini key lights available (yet), so instead I animated Dennis’ cockatoo wings to spread out enough to drape behind Amanda in such as way as to provide contrast for her silhouette. Otherwise she would have blended in with the dark gray wall behind her. This also helped drive home the idea that Dennis was truly desperate for attention, if not love.
Vonky has introduced Kim to an American delicacy: Pringles. This amazing prop was made by JCMiniatureShop on Etsy. I animated the chips sliding out using tweezers and little dabs of LocTite FUN-TAK. Note the plastic lid held in Kim’s right hand. Sounds effects will be added from an actual Pringles can.
Dennis is transforming into a cockatoo while begging Amanda, “Won’t you be mine?”
This is done using two exposures per pose: One with Rodman’s head, and one with the cockatoo skull. Then the two exposure layers are blended together in post, in varying proportions. Did you ever see the 1980 sci-fi movie Altered States?
This was trickier than it sounds because the puppet body and its wings are inside a cage. So it helped to keep the neck joint as loose as possible. The swaps had to be done without moving Amanda and without Rodman falling on his broken leg. If either of those things happened, the pair of frames had to be reposed and reshot.
This overhead swivel shot gives us our first look at Vonky and her skimpy sex slave costume. The green screen inside the spherical view screen will get filled in later.
This is a fun overhead swoop shot, achieved by placing the bunker set on the floor so I could have both side walls up and still reach inside from the top. But that also meant our curious cat Bella had easy access to the open cage end, which was full of bird bones and feathers. “You can look but don’t touch!” Occasionally I would find set pieces missing while shooting these scenes.
Technically, I ramped my iFootage Shark slider along the top of the set box, upside-down, so that my eMotimo Spectrum and Canon camera were underslung — barely skimming the top of the cage and the puppets’ heads. I also bought a special 8mm F/3.0 aspherical fisheye lens for this shot to make the bunker feel big. I couldn’t use that lens for many other shots because it’s super wide angle. But I love the effect.
Here’s our first real close-up of Dennis in his cage, transforming even more into a cockatoo. More on that later.
During this shot I bumped the camera a few times, so I turned that bug into a feature by making Rodman mess with the camera lens as if it were the water bottle in a hamster cage. A subtle sound effect for each bump really sold the effect.
Amanda tries to squeeze between the cage and the bunker wall, which was less than three feet at 1:6 scale. The creature is suddenly a cockatoo, grappling at Amanda and even grabbing one of her roller skates for a curious tasting. Having owned a cockatoo decades ago, I do remember that they use their tongues to explore almost everything they can reach.
The skull is part of a complete sulfur-crested cockatoo skeleton I purchased from Skulls Unlimited International for $320. They supply skeletons to museums and other collectors, from animals that have died of natural causes.
I didn’t know this bird of course, but I assume it was a good bird and I named it Dennis. I did splatter most of its bones with neon paint to cover the cage floor. And I’m sure he didn’t mind at all.
That bloody skeleton you see was featured back in Act 3.
As Amanda skates toward the business end of the bunker, she is suddenly attacked by a large, caged creature. This shot features a sharply twisting MOCO move to sell the disorientation of the moment.
Here’s the moment Amanda asserts power over Kim, Vonky and Dennis — literally by killing the power in the Bunker of Evil on her way out.
The live Asteroids screen is tracked and composited into place via a greenscreen card tacked onto the arcade cabinet. And of course we get a nice view of one of Kim’s propaganda posters to close all the loops.
This was shot months before the previous scenes because it takes place on the other end of the same, recycled bunker set box.
