Location of the Month: Fort Massac State Park February 26, 2013
Posted by sinefine in of the month.Tags: fort massac state park, illinois, location of the month, metropolis
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Fort Massac is one of the coolest locations I’ve ever had the pleasure (and permission!) to film in. The first full shooting day for The Gift Bearer was filmed at the Fort. The fort we filmed at was a reconstruction of a French fort built on the site in 1760. It was later torn down due to damage suffered from the years and elements, and rebuilt in the style of the American fort built on the same site in 1803. We filmed again, this time at the new fort, in 2005 for the PBS mini-doc about George Rogers Clark.
Fort Massac is a wonderful place to visit. if you’re ever near Metropolis, IL don’t forget to check out Fort Massac as well as the giant Superman statue.
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Relationships 101 – Cat & Darion February 26, 2013
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Usually I post a character profile on the fourth Monday of the month, but this month we’re celebrating love and romance on the SFF blog so let’s talk about a relationship instead of a specific character. The most popular romantic couple out of all the characters in the SFF repertoire (according to a highly unscientific facebook poll where less than ten people voted) is Cat and De Carlo from Pandora’s Box. They are played by the fabulous Margaret Olson and Chris Hutchens.
Catalina Crims and Darion De Carlofirst met while they were both in training at the Cadets Academy. Cat was fifteen and Darion was sixteen. The Cadets Academy was basically a prep-school for teenagers who wanted to go into the army and had either the talent or pedigree (or money) to become officers. They quickly became best friends and competed with each other for ranks and grades – usually Cat reached an achievement first but sometimes Darion did.
Darion was the only son of an extremely elite military family – the De Carlos. For countless generations they have been one of the two highest ranked Generals and the only hereditary military position. They have been personal bodyguards to the Empress in cases where her life was under immediate threat, and have been fiercely loyal to the Empire and the Empress for generations. Tradition and the Army are everything to De Carlo.
Cat, however, was the abused daughter of a rich merchant who wanted to belong to the Aristocracy and planned to use Cat to marry into that class. She ran away when she was fourteen to join the Army and was able to test into the Cadets Academy after lying about her age and getting a scholarship. Cat gets annoyed by traditions and prestige and hates wearing dresses and make up and looking like a doll.
They’re an unlikely pair in many ways, but they were drawn to each other from the day they met and became such good friends that Darion and his family helped Cat get away from her father when he tried to assert parental rights and take her back. They both became generals in record time. For years they were always in each other’s company whenever possible and there were a lot of rumors that the two of them were in love. They of course denied it, but eventually they both realized it was true.
There was a rule in the army that soldiers couldn’t date each – soldiers were all considered to be brothers and sisters so dating within the ranks was considered something like incest and was against the law. If Cat and Darion had started dating while still in the army, than either one or both of them would be kicked out and put on trial, fined, imprisoned, and possibly even killed. So they tried to ignore their feelings for each other.
One night when they were both seriously depressed about different things, they got roaring drunk and slept together. Cat decided to leave the army at the point because she couldn’t stand killing people on the whim of the Empress or the bratty Princess Zarina. However, because of the timing, Darion (and everyone else) assumed that she was leaving the army so that she could marry him. He proposed to her and she refused, then she blew up the army headquarters and it was a big mess. 
The Empire put a big reward on her head and ordered Darion to hunt her down and kill her. He was super mad at being jilted and betrayed so he was more than happy to do it (or at least try to). Although this whole incident is brought up in Episode 12, there are a lot of details that you won’t find in the series. I wrote a prequel story (fan fiction?) about how they went from being best friends to bitter enemies. 
They spent years fighting each other, and after Cat joined the rebels they became ever more bitter enemies. Their friendship had turned to love, then turned into hate. Darion, being the General De Carlo, loved the army and had sworn to protect Empress Zarina, so when the Civil War began he stayed by her side. Zarina was verbally and emotionally abusive to him and he finally had enough. He wasn’t ready to leave the army yet, so he switched to the other side – the Army Faction – and got into trouble there. He ended up back with Zarina and bided his time until he could find the right time to leave her once and for all.
He decided to join the rebels, since both the army and the Empress had let him down – and there was the delicious allure of being with Cat if he joined the rebels. So in a dramatic episode he betrayed Zarina, saved Zarc’s life (Cat’s best friend), and joined the rebels. He and Cat were finally on the same side again, reunited at last.
However, Cat’s kind of a bitch and considering everything that had happened between them, it didn’t take long for the sweet reunion to turn sour. Cat and Darion started fighting constantly. The situation was made more difficult because Darion was used to being in control as a general (although being subservient to a woman – the empress – was ingrained pretty deep as well). When they were both in the army, they were both generals and were equal. However, Cat was the leader of the group of rebels he joined and he had to get used to the idea of taking orders from her like everyone else. 
Eventually they worked things out and started dating. They dated for a couple of years, then Darion proposed and Cat accepted. They got married and remained with the rebels as Commander (Cat) and Second-in-command (Darion). They settled into as nice a life as a rebel could have.
They were deeply in love and would do anything to protect each other. Cat, who once thought she would never need anyone, came to depend on him and trust as much if not more than anyone else (possibly even Zarc). However, they weren’t always mushy and had a tendency to still argue from time to time. 
When the final battle arrived and Cat and Darion were fighting for freedom in a massively co-coordinated attack, they ended up beside each other in the end. Darion saved Cat’s life by taking a bullet that was meant for her and died in her arms on the battlefield. His death drove her into a mad frenzy and joined him in death shortly after, killing as many soldiers as she could before she died. (her death is sad actually sad and ironic, but we’re not going to go there). In the end she would not have wanted to live without him.
In the TV show they have no children, however if I ever get the chance to make it a real national TV show with a budget and multiple seasons, or if I write it as series of books, they would have a son named Damien, but what happens to him and to Cat and De Carlo’s marriage after having a child is complicated so I won’t go into it.Relationships – Allies & Enemies
Although there are several people around them that have a huge impact on their lives, there are three that have a profound impact on their relationship itself.
Diyara De Quoi is a druid who is believed to be the Chosen One and destined to fulfill a prophesy. She does have some psychic talent including empathy and some telepathy (but only on certain days of the year). When De Carlo kidnaps her and seriously pisses her off one day she invades his mind and forces him to feel the fear, terror, and pain of the people he’s killed, specifically the druids she helplessly watched him slaughter under orders from Zarina. In the end, rather then drive him completely insane, she removes the memories and leaves him with only a faint impression of the pain he has caused. This is a huge, life-changing moment for him because now he finally understands why Cat left the army, and is able to forgive her in a way because now he knows what she meant when she said she couldn’t stay with the army and had to fight against the Empire. 
Diyara also enjoys playing match-maker and is determined to get Darion and Cat together because she believes they are still secretly in love with each other. She manipulates the situation whenever she can to get them together and is thrilled when they finally decide to get married.
Zarina is a very important part of what stands in their way and ironically she ultimately is responsible for them having a chance to get together by being such a bitch to Darion that he finally leaves her and joins the rebels. As Princess, then later Empress, she commands De Carlo’s loyalty. He swore to protect her and when they’re on the run from the Army Faction after Zarina has been kicked out of power, he tries to help her become a better person and be the kind of leader someone could respect instead of the bratty, bitchy, selfish child she is. If she didn’t insist on blaming every single failure on Darion and constantly abusing him verbally then he might never have left. She pushed him too far and (in an episode that was written but sadly never filmed) she even orders his death. So it shouldn’t be a surprise to her that he leaves.
In the end, she’s grateful to him for leaving because she would never have gone through her own metamorphosis, met her mentor, or become a stronger and more powerful person (and somewhat more likeable…somewhat) without his leaving her. Of course then she declares she loves him and tries to come between him and Cat and that just doesn’t end well. Also, she wins in the end because she orders the death of all the rebels. (and in the books she kidnaps their son and raises him as her own **shudder**)
Zarconia Gold is by far the most important ally for their relationship and has the greatest impact on both their lives. Cat first met Zarc when she was running from Darion who had actually succeed in almost killing her. She was close to death when she crawled into a cave to die. Zarc, then only eight years old, risked her own life to keep Cat hidden and throw De Carlo off her sent. She sent Darion on a wild goose chase and found a druid who helped heal Cat’s wounds. Zarc literally saved Cat’s life – if it hadn’t been for her Cat and Darion would never have had the chance to work things out and be together. Zarc also helped Cat join the rebels and stayed by her side for the rest of their lives.
In public, Cat treated Zarc somewhat harshly and they pretended to get on each other’s nerves because Cat didn’t want the Empire or Darion to find out they were best friends, fearing for Zarc’s safety if they did. Eventually, of course, Darion found out and kidnapped Zarc in order to lure Cat into a trap. He ended up falling back on that plan numerous times, kidnapping Zarc to trap cat, or make her do something she didn’t want to do. 
In the show he kidnaps her twice, but it’s implied in Episode 11 that he’s done it more than that, and in the fan-fiction? stories it happens about three other times. Zarc got tired of it (everyone got tired of it), and the last time he kidnaps her, he ends up saving her life and was only able to join the rebels because Zarc vouched for him. If Zarc hadn’t forgiven Darion for everything he did, then Cat would never have forgiven him. Darion earned her trust and Zarc’s trust in him enables Cat to trust him again too.
Darion was Cat’s best friend for several years, and when they turned their backs on each other then Zarc became Cat’s best friend. It made Darion jealous, seeing Cat do anything to protect Zarc, but it also gave Darion and Zarc something in common – they both loved Cat, just in different ways. So Zarc was able to understand Darion better then Cat could in some ways.
Once Cat and Darion started fighting and arguing all the time after he joined the rebels, Zarc was the only one who could put a stop to it. Darion respected her and Cat actually listened to her. This resulted in her playing mediator to their fighting and she finally got so tired of being in the middle and trying to calm them down that she went to drastic measures to put a stop to it.
She held them at gunpoint and locked them in a room, telling them to either work things out or kill each other, and not really carrying which one they decided to do at that point. After several hours they fought, talked, then kissed and made up. Zarc locking them in the room directly led to their being able to date each other.
Zarc is like a little sister to Cat and Darion becomes a sort of big brother to her (brother-in-law by default I guess). They are both over protective of her and would do anything for her. She continues to be a major player in their relationship after Darion proposes, because Cat would never marry him if Zarc didn’t want them to get married. Zarc is actually a little worried at first, not sure if Darion is quite good enough for Cat (she’s over protective of Cat too), but she gives them her blessing and is Cat’s maid-of-honor at their wedding.
Even in the last episode, Zarc is the one who interrupts their final snuggly moment with an annoyed “break it up!”. And it’s Zarc’s death that drives Cat into a fit of rage born of grief that leads Cat into a position where she doesn’t realize how much danger she’s in and results in Darion saving her life by throwing her out of the line of fire and taking the bullet for her. Cat and Darion are definitely my favorite couple and I’ve had fun over the years drawing some “fan art” of them, so I figured I’d share it here.
I also recently commissioned a drawing of Cat and De Carlo on fiverr.com and purchased this fantastic drawing from Paulo J. Hernandez.
Actor of the Month: Harmony Komiskey February 22, 2013
Posted by sinefine in of the month.Tags: actor of the month, harmony komiskey
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Congratulations to this month’s Actor of the Month — Harmony Komiskey!
Harmony joined the company in the summer of 2012 when she took on the role of Atlanta’s daughter in the Gift Bearer reunion movie Time After Time. That same weekend she also played the staring role of Emily Turner, a girl who loves fairies, in Fortunate Ones: Faerie Tale. Harmony is wonderful to work with – funny, charming, and very talented. I hope to work with her again soon on another movie. Thanks for joining the company Harmony!
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Techie of the Month: Zan Powers February 20, 2013
Posted by sinefine in of the month.Tags: techie of the month, zan powers
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Congratulations to this month’s Techie of the Month — Zan Powers!
Zan is a fantastic person and was willing to help out in whatever way she could when we filmed Twisted Tales: Cinderella. She saved the day in helping get the car out of the mud where it was stuck and in bringing her jeep to pick us up when the mud and rain was getting us nowhere. She helped to haul, found costumes, and was in general amazing to work with. My only regret is that I am not likely to be filming with her again any time soon unless I take a trip back to Kansas City and film there (which I’d love to do). Thanks for everything Zan!
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Site Updates February 19, 2013
Posted by sinefine in site updates.Tags: dream chasers, nina samii, syndi eller, the dragon and the unicorn, trojan women, twisted tales, year in review
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Your lowly webmaster has been remiss and has completely failed to update this here blog for, like, ages. So expect a bunch of posts over the next few days, but for now, here’s what you missed on the other blog:
- Production Diary: Dream Chasers
- 2012 Year in Review
- Survivor’s Club: The Muddy Road Home
- Interview with Syndi Eller
- Production Diary: Trojan Women
- Characters 101: Asarai
- Survivor’s Club: Worst Wedding Weather
- Interview with Nina Samii
- Production Diary — Twisted Tales: Cinderella
Yes, I know that having two blogs is a little strange. We’re working on how best to consolidate things. Stay tuned for more updates.
Production Diary – Twisted Tales: Cinderella February 18, 2013
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Once a month I’m going to talk about a specific production, what it was like to film it, and what was involved in making it happen. This month I’m going to talk about Twisted Tales: Cinderella.
Twisted Tales is a collection of short films with a common theme – taking a fairytale and giving it some sort of twist. I asked if anyone else wanted to contribute a script to the project and amazingly wonderful Kate Weber sent me Cinderella. There are a few twists in this script. First, Cinderella is not a servant, she likes working hard on the family farm and her step-brothers aren’t wicked, they’re just not too handsome and not too bright. Cinderella has no interest in going to the ball or in marrying a prince. The only reason she goes is to drive her brothers their in the carriage and hope that they’ll get married off to the Princess. Also the Fairy Godmother, is a Godfather who ends up their by mistake after reading the address wrong on his assignment. 
But the biggest twist is that there’s no Prince Charming, instead it’s Princess Charlotte. She doesn’t like the ball, so she runs away and finds Cinderella reading a book of fairy tales in the garden as she waits for her brothers. They start talking and Charlotte begs Cinderella to take her away from the ball for a while because it’s so dull and she doesn’t want to go back. Cinderella takes her home and they talk some more. By the end Charlotte declares her love for Cinderella who returns it and they get married and live happily ever after on a royal farm. It a funny, sweet, and wonderful twist and I really loved the script. 
I schedule filming for Cinderella in the late spring of 2010. The script called for a palace gardens and the interior of a farm house – both vaguely period. I had worked for the Kansas City Renaissance Festival the previous fall so I knew people who worked there and received permission to film, giving carte blanche as to the specific locations. Everyone was totally awesome in letting me film there and my only regret is that I filmed just one movie in such a wonderful place. This was the first movie I had produced and filmed outside of Illinois, and although I had contacts that made it easy to find a location, I had a bit more trouble finding actors. You wouldn’t think it would be so hard at a Renaissance Festival, but it was. I’m used to having a regular group of people to cast from, and I didn’t know a lot of people in Kansas City. Most of the people I knew either didn’t want to be on film or simply didn’t have the time.
I knew I wanted my friend Antatia Powers to play Cinderella. When I asked her to play the part she was skeptical. She couldn’t really see herself playing the traditional dreamy-eyed romantic version, but once she read the script she was completely on board. My assistant director was Zan Powers, Tash’s mother and my best friend in KC, who only agreed to appear on camera as one of the not-so-wicked stepbrothers because they were only seen from the back. I stepped in to play the other one since it was only one shot and long distance (if you haven’t figured it out yet I don’t really like to be in front of the camera either). 
But I needed someone to play Princess Charlotte. I asked the few people I knew who might be willing, but none of them could do it. So I turned to craigslist where I had seen posts asking for actors for no-pay short films before. I made a recruitment poster with the shooting date and details, and tried hard to stress in the ad that this was purely for fun, and although the movie would go on the internet, it was a no-budget film with no tech gear, make up rooms, or microphones, or lights. It was just for fun. I long ago gave up trying to be the next Steven Spielberg, and now only shot films for the fun of filming and to have something fun to edit. I was really nervous that I would end up getting an actress who had high expectations and would be disgusted at the lack of pretty much everything on set and the extremely unprofessional way we film – i.e. no one really memorizes their lines, there’s maybe one crew person besides me, the shooting is fast-paced bur fun, and the set is over all pretty laid back. I didn’t want an actress to show up and hate the whole thing (I had that happen once, it was a bit of a shock and very humbling). 
I had about five replies and in looking over the headshots and resume’s they sent (yikes! too professional already!) I gravitated to one named Bri Arnold. She was my first pick and I sent her an email letting her know the exact nature of the barebones, low-key shoot. She replied that it sounded fun and she wasn’t expecting it to be a big break or anything, just something fun to do. So I asked her to play the part and she agreed. YAY! Bri was absolutely wonderful to work with and she and Tash got along great and had good chemistry on screen. I was incredibly lucky to get to work with these fantastic people. 
Now that the actors were cast, the location was all set up, and the shoot was scheduled, I turned my attention to what I considered to be one of the most important aspects of any production – the costumes. This was my first time filming a movie where I had no access to costumes; neither my mother’s huge stock nor my own stash were available because they were both several hundred miles away in Illinois. I didn’t have enough money to rent costumes even from KCRF (the dry cleaning alone for a true Renaissance costume is probably more then my entire budget). Luckily Tash was able to provide her own costume, and outfitting the brothers wasn’t too hard (although Zan ended up borrowing a jacket from Roger since I didn’t tell her ahead of time to bring something for it. Sorry Zan, my bad). With about fifty bucks set aside for the budget which had to include buying lunch for the actors and some gas money for transportation, I set about trying to procure the rest of the costumes. I still needed the fluffy ball gown, the godfather’s costume, and the Princess’s gown. 
I find two pre-owned prom dresses on eBay for a really good price, and one of them served as the typical fluffy Cinderella ball gown needed for one shot in the first scene. The other was a pink chiffon dress I used as a base to build Princess Charlotte’s dress. Now, anyone who knows me knows how much I love costumes. What they may not know is that I am very judgmental when it comes to the big beautiful gown made for Cinderella by her fairy godmother – I mean, come on, it’s a magic dress that takes your breathe away and any Cindy gown that leaves me breathing kind of annoys me. What I wanted for the traditional fairy-made dress for Cinderella in the first scene I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get since the amount of fluff required in my head could only be found in my mother’s costume storage and would not fit in any kind of suitcase that I could take on a train (my method of transport from KC to CU). So I did my best with the peach chiffon dress with silver embroidery and added a few touches it to and it worked okay.
For Princess Charlotte’s dress, though, I wanted a ball gown that was truly fit for a princess. Nothing I dreamed up was anything I could afford to buy or rent – I had to build it using whatever cheap resources I could find. I purchased the base from eBay, then went to Goodwill where I found the trench coat and hat for the godfather, and a beautiful burgundy taffeta dress that would work with the pink chiffon. I went for mock-18th century and used the pink dress as an underskirt, and the burgundy dress for the sleeves, bodice, and main skirt. I cut away the front part to reveal the pink skirt then stitched the two together. I made a stomacher out of some pink and gold fabric I had that I beaded and embroidered. I trimmed the dress in gold ribbon and added a long trailing sort of cape thing (which ended being too long and got snagged on stuff, probably shouldn’t have added that). It wasn’t the best color combo, but I think it turned out really well. 
However I made it with no pattern and only a dress size from Bri. I’m sure she could have supplied her measurements but I don’t know how to use that in making a dress (I’m not a seamstress, I’m a costume finder-and-put-togetherer). So it basically fit, but it was a bit loose I think (which is why I had a ribbon tie on it) but the sleeves were bad put together with the bodice and kept falling down. They weren’t meant to be off the shoulder but apparently no one told them that. In the end we just used the off the shoulder look as a flirtation thing. *sigh* I really need to be better prepared.
The last thing I needed costume wise was the Shoes. Now, in every version of Cinderella the shoes are an important plot device, so they gotta look very nice. Not that they were important in this script, but they were mentioned as being royal footwear that was uncomfortable. How could any costumer designer turn away from a chance to design the equivalent of Cinderella’s slippers. Now there’s a mention of glass shoes earlier but since Charlotte’s shoes were going to be a prop I wanted them to be spectacular. I found a pair of beautifully beaded shoes, but I couldn’t find a dress to coordinate with their color, so in the end I covered them with the left over materials from making the gown and beaded them, covering the inside with sparkling gold fabric. I wouldn’t say they’re spectacularly beautiful or anything, though I am rather fond of them, but I will go on record as saying they are the single most uncomfortable shoesanyone has ever had to wear on my set. They’re horrible. I felt so bad that someone actually had to wear those torture devices, so I tried to not have Bri wear them any longer then was necessary.
Wednesday, May 12 arrived and everything was set to go. I checked the weather forecast (as I sometimes do), and discovered it was supposed to rain in the afternoon, so I shot the outdoor scenes first. I picked up Bri and headed out to the festival grounds where we would meet up with Tash and Zan. On the ride over I realized just how fun and cool Bri was and I was glad to have her on board. We arrived at the location and the actresses changed into costume while Zan and I went over the script. After make-up and hair-styling (which they did themselves, except for Bri’s hairstyle) we headed out to the Queen’s Gardens site to shoot scenes 2-4. 
I had some camera troubles, and realized I forgot to tell Zan to bring something for the stepbrother costume, so we were a little delayed. It took a lot longer to shoot those scenes then it should have, but at least we had fun. Watching Tash and Bri joke around while shooting seemed like they had known each other forever instead of having just met and I was thrilled to have added fabulous new members to the SFF crew. 
In my experience the morning scenes always take longer then you expect and I don’t tend to hit my stride until after lunch. So after filming the scenes we ordered sandwiches (or Zan went to get them, I forget), and had a relaxed lunch break. It had just started to drizzle when we broke for lunch so we waited while a light rain storm passed, then headed out to the place where we would film the indoor farm house scenes.
We had one major hiccup in terms of casting that day – I hadn’t been able to find anyone to play the Fairy Godfather (or godmother, but I really wanted a godfather). I had asked several people at the office if they could spare a half hour to do a quick role, and finally one of them – the supremely wonderful Roger Clements – agreed. He met us there, donned a hat and coat, and said his lines and was wonderful. I’m still extremely grateful too him for a lot of things, including this. 
Filming scene 1 wasn’t too difficult, though it did involve a magical quick-change which is never as quick or easy as it sounds. We moved on to scenes 5 and 6 where Cinderella and Charlotte get to know each other and fall in love. There were some funny bloopers including doors and costume trains that were too long and got stuck on a bench. However, the weather by this point had really started going down hill and it was pouring. For more information about the weather and how the day ended, check out the Survivor’s Club post The Muddy Road Home.
It was a busy day that ended in a muddy mess but it was a lot of fun. By the end of the shoot it felt like we had known each other for months or years instead having just met that day (in Bri’s case). It was a genuine pleasure to work with these talented ladies (and gentleman) and though we talked of shooting more films I never made it happen. I always thought I’d have time to do it later, but it didn’t work out that way. Maybe someday I’ll get to film with them again. Thanks for everything Bri, Tash, and Zan (and Roger)!Unfortunately the camera I filmed it on was a Mini-DV that I only owned for a little while because it SUCKED! This is the only film I shot with that camera and I really wish I had used Hamlet the Digital8 instead. The only way I could lighten the very dark inside scenes required me to make the movie in sepia tone instead of color. Still, it looked great!
Sadly I have had to take Twisted Tales: Cinderella down from YouTube because the classical music I used is not actually copyright free. I assumed it would be because the people who wrote the music are dead and the music, as far as I know, is in the public domain, but the individual performances are not. I’m not sure how someone knows which performance is which (I can’t tell) but apparently some people can. I wish no disrespect to artists in using their material, but I really tried to use copyright free music. Now I have purchased some royalty free music so I will be re-editing Cinderella with music I have the rights too, but it will be a while. I’ll update this entry with a link to it when I upload it.
Happy Valentine’s Day February 14, 2013
Posted by sinefine in Holidays.add a comment
Happy Valentine’s Day
from Sine Fine Films!
Interview with Nina Samii February 11, 2013
Posted by sinefine in Interviews.add a comment
Each month we’ll interview a member of the Sine Fine Film company, asking the same or similar questions, and learn more about the actors and crew.
This month I’m interviewing Nina Samii who’s been with the company since the summer of 1997.
Q:
How did you get involved in SFF? (And what possessed you to keep coming back for more torture?)
A: I got involved when I was in a play with Eleanore at Central High School and she was talking to someone else – Elizabeth Andrijasich – who was playing Paco the Taco and it sounded like so much fun, and so I begged Elea, I said “Please please! I’ll do anything! I could be anything! I could be—“ and then it just came to me “—I could be Nina the Fajita!” I think you took pity on me, so I was lucky enough to get my first part because my name was Nina and it rhymes with Fajita and I got to be the sidekick of Paco the Taco.
Who doesn’t want to be a movie star – or feel like a movie star? And even though it isn’t a big Hollywood blockbuster, someone gives you a script and points a camera at you and you feel special.
Q: What was your favorite part to play?
A:
I would have to say Lily from the Dragon & The Unicorn – that’s the first one that comes to mind. I think it’s because the character I got to play the longest was Zarina and it was hard to be mean. I know there were some tender moments with that character but I think it was cool to be the hero and to play someone who was discovering something about herself and I think that’s what I like and I didn’t have to be mean to anybody, except the villain.
You know it’s so funny, I was literally just thinking about this yesterday. I was driving home past Jen Weber’s house and it made me think of filming and for some reason that made me think about The Dragon and The Unicorn. I had this thought – would I rather play a villain or would I rather play the damsel-in-distress? As I was thinking about it I thought, the villain takes more energy, and the villain is more complex… But now that you’re asking point blank I think I’d rather be the damsel-in-distress because it’s easier and because I’m lazy.
Q: What was your favorite filming day?
A:
Pandora’s Box, filming at Allerton Park and we were filming in the gardens and right off of the gardens was that field. I just remember it being a blast and it was so hard to stay in character that day because everybody was laughing, the weather was good, it was just a really good time and everyone was getting along – it was just a magical day. We got to frolic in the field. I think that would be my favorite day.
Q: What was your least favorite filming day?
A:
I remember one time we were filming at the MacLeods and it was cold – it was so cooold! And there was this other time we were filming in the woods and Danny was there so it had to be Dragon and The Unicorn and I remember being cold – so very cold. And then there was the Vigil – it was before you figured out how to make blood and so it was like beat juice and laundry detergent and you doused me in it – that was unpleasant.
There was a scene where Zarina was going crazy and I had to throw myself around in this little room in your basement – I think that was the hardest thing I ever had to do. It wasn’t like a bad day of filming, but it was definitely the hardest.
Q: What’s your dream role?
A:
I think anything that would require me to kick ass, like if I could be like in Mission Impossible or I could be an X-Man or something. You would be like “Nina I need you to do this role, but you’re going to have to go through martial arts training for six solid months.” And I’d be like “Okay, Elea, I will do what ever you want me to do.” I think that would be really fun – where I got to like…kick butt.
So there’s that, but then the other part of it is that I’d like to be – I think maybe because of the weird life stage I’m in right now – that I could be a academic or someone who like decodes things or solving a mystery by using my smarts. I would wear glasses and I have to push them up with my index finger. I’m like Violet in a Series of Unfortunate Events and I’m tying my hair back with a ribbon and pushing up my glasses like “We have to get to the bottom of this mystery!” I want to play a smart person with glasses.
Or I could be like both – a smart, mystery-solving person who may or may not need to kick ass.
Q:
What’s your favorite production to watch?
A: I don’t know – can I say blooper reels? Because originally at the end you showed bloopers and it just reminds me of all the funny things that happened while filming. Yeah, that or Destiny. I know the least about Destiny, because I didn’t come in until late and I was a very small part of Destiny III, so I’d like to watch it because I don’t know a lot about it and it’s interesting to me.Q:
What’s your favorite costume, accessory, or prop?
A: Oh here it is – you ready? I’ve got it: my black boots, you gave me pair of cropped like sort of gray pants, and then I had this like Army, cropped jacket like thing – it was green. I put that on and I felt like my character! (Me” was that King of Elflin’s Daughter?) Yes! That’s it! I didn’t really talk much in King of Elflin’s Daughter, so all I really had was that costume, but I liked it a lot. Q:
Who’s your favorite actor co-star/actor you’ve worked with? Who would you like to work with in the future?
A: That’s a hard question. Okay, favorite people to work with? Definitely Danny Skirvin, definitely Diana Neatrour, and Rachel Anderson. I like working with Rachel and Danny cause they’re really goofy and they can lighten the mood and they’re really, really unique people – both of them. They have a very entertaining sense of humor, very non-sequitur. I like working with Diana because she’s the same way, but she keeps it inside – she’s very subtle and I’m still so glad I got to film with her. I just like her as a person, I just like to be around her.
I’ve gotten a chance to work with Brittany Ann Whalen-Meyer, she was really fun and I’d like to work with her more. I’d also like to work with obviously Annamarie, and obviously Jacob – they’re like the most talented people in the world, so wouldn’t want to work with them. I really enjoyed being around Syndi Eller as well. I think working with people is not just about how they perform and how they look but also just the kind of people they are, and that’s a really cool thing. All of them are reasons that most of the people are just people you want to be with.Q:
Sum up each production you’ve been in using only one word or short sentence.
DESTINY III – FajitaDRAGON & UNICORN – Necklace in my tea
KING OF ELFLIN’S DAUGHTER – Lip-syncing, and pretending to play a violin
PERFECT COMBINATION – Serious…THE VIGIL – The raccoon skin cap, mornings, Ryan Segovich…I think that’s all to say about that.
PANDORA’S BOX – “Find the bomb and detonate it!”
EIDOLON – We filmed by a lake. It was cold.
GODDESS ANONYMOUS – Shh! and cupcake cleavage
Q:
Top 5 favorites: (not SFF related)
Favorite Color – Yellow
Favorite Movie or TV Show –Wayne’s World and The Office
Favorite Song or Band/Artist – Song? Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. Favorite band would be
The National and REM
Favorite Food or Drink –
Honey and Water (but not together)
Favorite Holiday – Halloween!
Survivor’s Club: Worst Weather Weddings February 4, 2013
Posted by sinefine in Survivors Club.add a comment
There are a lot of days when we film in bad weather – days so hot your eyeballs feel like they’re frying, days so cold your hands might fall off, and rain pouring so hard you could almost drown on set. Each month we’ll remember one of those horrible weather days and celebrate the survivors who braved the elements in order to film. Why would we want to remember those days? Because going through hell on set has a way of bringing everyone closer together when they can say they survived mother nature AND filming on a Yibble set.
Worst Weather Weddings
In the real world, weddings are famous for having bad things happen to ruin what is supposed to be a perfect day. In the low/no budget film world it’s most often the weather that can spoil that perfect shot of a character’s wedding. There have been quite a few wedding scenes in SFF productions over the years, although most of the scenes were either pre or post wedding, rather than during the ceremony or reception. The ones that did show the whole wedding, more or less since they were mostly montages, had more problems than most of the pre or post scenes. We’re going to take a look at the top four in order from best to worst or, more accurately, from “annoying but okay” to “that’s just sad”.
First up:
The Wedding Montage from Episode 16 of Pandora’s Box
I really loved filming the wedding of De Carlo and Cat. They’re still my favorite romantic pairing in any SFF universe, and their wedding montage is very sweet. Filming it was fun, but a lot of work. The girls arrived early to do their hair and make-up, and in some ways it had the feeling of getting ready for a real wedding, because I never take that much time and care to get actors ready for anything really.
Cat’s wedding dress was beautiful and very in character for her. It was made from red velvet over a boned-bodice and had panels of hand-beaded and exquisitely embroidered decorations. However, it was tight, heavy, and way too long. We put it over a small hoop and tried to tack it up, but it kept coming undone and both Margaret and Chris kept tripping over it.
The location chosen was the Urbana Arboretum. I think I originally intended for the ceremony to be in the beautiful flower garden, but it was raining that day.
We ended up filming the ceremony itself in the covered gazebo by the herb garden. We filmed what we could, then tried to wait out the rain.
Eventually it stopped long enough to shoot the reception in the flower garden. I had bought three sizes of cake to make it look tiered, but it was august and the icing had a bit of a meltdown. There was dancing, toasting, but most of all roasting – roasting and rain, because it was hot, muggy, rainy, and AUGUST. 
But in the end we had a blast filming the fake wedding despite the soggy circumstances. Margaret and Chris got into a frosting fight, which was hilarious but hard to wipe off given the weather and the apparent stickiness of the cake.
Next it’s:
The Wedding Montage from Episode 13 of Eidolon
Clearly I like to do weddings as montages, they’re more fun that way. The wedding of Mordecai and Maria at the end of Eidolon ended up being the closing credits because there were too many flippin’ montages in the final episode (and it’s me saying that so you know it was totally full of montage craziness). It was the same situation of getting ready, only with a more modern style to the wedding and not nearly as much time allotted in the schedule to get ready for it. 
Maria’s wedding dress was beautiful, provided by Morgan herself, but with long sleeves, long skirt,
and heavy beading, the dress was not exactly breathable…and it was AUGUST! Okay, it was technically September – Labor Day weekend to be specific, but the difference is temperature between the end of August and the beginning of September is pretty much non-existent in Central Illinois. Why do I film fake weddings at the hottest time of the year?!? Oh right, because I’m a sadist.
So yeah, it was hot – pretty flippin’ hot – and most people were in heavy dresses or wearing black coats of one style or another (Brittany and Jen were okay since they had no sleeves). It wasn’t rainy this time, though, so that was good? I guess. We were filming in the late afternoon, so it wasn’t quite as hot and there was a breeze.
However the worst part of the day was the fact that I forgot to change tapes before we left the house and had to send someone back to grab a blank tape (at least the batteries were charged up). So the actors sat around for a while, dressed for a wedding and wilting in the heat. Some of the actors got a breeze by playing on the swings, the rest of us just tried to turn our hands into fans.
Ironically the actors don’t always remember the bad weather unless it was REALLY bad and nothing else went wrong I guess. I discovered this just recently when I asked some of the Eidolon actors what they remembered about the wedding shoot.
“I remember the dancing scene with all of us doing the train,” said Brittany Ann Whalen. “Also remember swinging and smoking in the dress when I wasn’t needed. Also remember you making stuff up when you were officiating the wedding since you were actually ordained.”
“I remember we had to take quite a break while someone ran to get something,” said Syndi Eller. “I don’t remember what it was, but I do remember being fairly warm wearing the coat. I like my hair like that though, I may have to go back to it.
“I remember thinking that that would be the only time I’d ever get to wear that dress,” said Morgan Thomas. “I remember people honking on the way to the scene because they thought I was actually getting married. I also remember that this was going on at a really bad time so I was (really) depressed. LOL!
I was also completely blind without my glasses so doing much of anything besides standing still I about fell over.”
So I guess the actors didn’t suffer from the heat as much I intended – I mean expected! Remembered? Anyway, the one that suffered the most was from the heat was the cake. I made it myself (yay!) and watched it melt. Since it was close to three people’s birthday, it doubled as a birthday cake. However, no one really felt like eating it (or eating at all) after filming in the heat for a while. It still tasted good once we got it home and shoved it in the fridge for a few hours. And no food poisoning! Yay!
Third on the list is:
The Wedding Epilogue from Destiny
The first production we ever filmed – Destiny – was also the first production to feature a wedding. It’s the last scene in the movie and is kind of a montage – but instead of music, there’s a voice over epilogue and obviously the shots we filmed match the monologue so it didn’t take too long to film the wedding part. The wedding scene was in the middle of the longest day of filming up to that point – the first ALL DAY shoot (first of soooooo many) where we filmed almost all the castle scenes at the totally cool looking Wesley United Methodist Church. Once again it was – say it with me – AUGUST! And although some of the places in the building were air-conditioned, the places we were filming were not – including the Chapel. And of course everyone was in multi-layer period/fantasy garb. Once again I’m a sadist. 
Annamarie probably had the best chances of survival because Melantha’s wedding gown had very short sleeves and wasn’t too heavily layered. Everyone else was in period garb or hideous green sweatshirts that were too long and had annoying sleeves. However, Annamarie did have one ouch factor – I had forgotten hairpins and wanted to style her hair for the wedding scene so I told her I was going to use safety pins. She didn’t believe me until she tried to take them out.
It was hot. Really hot. One of the top three hottest days of filming. If we hadn’t been filming in a church I would say it felt a lot like the heat in hell (not that I’ve been there…yet). So everyone was uncomfortable one way or another and although no one got heatstroke, it wasn’t for lack of me trying apparently. (saaaaadist) Chris did end the day being hit with a sword and got a nosebleed though. Why does anyone still film with me?And the last and worst wedding film shoot is (drum roll please):
The post-wedding scene in The King of Elflin’s Daughter
Yeah, it was awful on so many levels. Although we were filming it at Allerton in the Fu-Dog Garden – where so many people pay to get married – it did not end up looking like the fairy-tale wedding that should come at the end of an actual fairy tale! First of all, it was pouring rain – like buckets of rain! That meant we couldn’t film out in the garden or even on the steps of the Buddha Pavilion, we had to film inside – where it was dark and damp and really gloomy. The skies were gray and got darker as we filmed the scene but thankfully it lightened up a little by the time we had to do the very end that couldn’t be shot inside. 
But the real kicker is that the actor who was playing the groom couldn’t make it that day, so it was just the bride dolled up in a poufy dress in a dark stone pavilion with gloomy skies outside the window saying goodbye to her dearest friends who turn out to be ghosts and are leaving forever – IN THE RAIN! No, this is not the final tragic scene of an angsty drama – it’s the ending of a light-hearted, kid-friendly fairytale! Worst. Wedding scene. EVER.
There’s too long a list of people to give kudos to here, and most of them are in the Survivor’s Club already anyway. Let’s just end this post with a promise from me that I will never film a wedding scene in August again. There, now it’s in print so I can’t go back on it…right?
Characters 101 – Asarai January 30, 2013
Posted by sinefine in Characters 101.add a comment
Each month this blog will feature a character from one of the SFF productions. This month we’re taking a look at one of the few female villains – Asarai from The Dragon & The Unicorn, played by the amazing Annamarie MacLeod.
Asarai is on the surface a dark, sexy ancient vampire who has been aliveish since shortly after the dawn of time (the breakfast of time?). She’s deliciously wicked and delights in torturing people and playing games using her considerable intelligence. However, she’s evil because she was born to be that way. In a battle between Light and Dark she was made to embody the Dark. Sure the perks of living forever, brilliance, and immense wealth (not to mention the minions) are great, but after several thousand years it gets boring and a little lonely.
History
Asarai’s origin is very mythical. A goddess toyed with the affections of two gods and they fought over her, killing each other. As punishment the other gods cursed the goddess’s offspring – twin daughters – to fight each other until one of them destroyed the other. The infant sisters were cast out of the heavens and left alone on earth. A shepherdess named Dotalia (aka Dottie) found them and raised them as her own, only later did she come to learn about the curse and discover her own role in it – to raise and teach the sisters throughout time as they fight each, to make sure they are equally matched. When Dotalia learned this from a messenger from the gods, she was given two magical amulets – one with a dragon and one with a unicorn, as well as two magical daggers that would become their ceremonial weapons. The dragon was given to Asarai and the unicorn to Leona. Asarai was born alive but when she died at nineteen years old she was resurrected by the curse and forced to live an undead immortal existence. Her sister, Leona, could die but was resurrected a hundred years later to continue the fight.
For a long time Asarai loved the gig, being consequence free and doing whatever she wanted. She was even worshiped as a minor deity in some places. That changed when she fell in love with a Roman soldier named Julius. She took him into her cult and he joined her willingly, but she did not turn him. She loved him too much to make him a vampire and trap him into her cursed existence.
She tried hard to keep him away from her beautiful sister, fearing they would fall in love and he would get trapped in the curse. One day her fears came true. Julius meet Leona when she came to challenge Asarai. She and Julius fell in love and got married which permenantly tied Julius’s soul to her own and his fate to theirs – they were destined to fight over him as their fathers had done over their mother. Asarai begged Leona not to marry Julius, but she refused to give him up.
She tried hard to keep him away from her beautiful sister, fearing they would fall in love and he would get trapped in the curse. One day her fears came true. Julius meet Leona when she came to challenge Asarai. She and Julius fell in love and got married which permenantly tied Julius’s soul to her own and his fate to theirs – they were destined to fight over him as their fathers had done over their mother. Asarai begged Leona not to marry Julius, but she refused to give him up.
For the next three hundred years Asarai refused to fight Leona, because Julius was reborn as well and he and Leona always found each other again. Asarai couldn’t stand the sight of either one. Eventually she was finally able to fight them again and did so with a vengeance. She used whatever means she could to destroy both of them and make each suffer – especially her sister. During the Renaissance, Asarai managed to poison Leona and Julius promised her his life and servitude if Asarai would save Leona and let them live a happy life – she could collect him when he died. Asarai quickly agreed, but Leona tried to stop it by killing Julius before the deal was complete. She failed and both she and Julius died. Julius was resurrected as a vampire and for the next six hundred years he stayed by Asarai’s side.Each time Leona is reincarnated, Dottie finds her, gives her the amulet, and trains her to fight Asarai. As soon as Leona puts on the amulet, Asarai can find her. When Asarai tracks down Lily- Leona’s reincarnation in the movie – she immediately sees that Lily is different from her past lives, she’s special somehow. Asarai knows the final fight is coming and whoever wins this fight will be the eternal victor.
Appearance
Asarai is a little over five feet tall, with dark curly hair, pale white skin and sort of gothicy make-up. She primarily dresses in black, gold, and shades of green, and always wears her amulet – she never takes it off. Sometimes she wears red, and of course she often adorns her clothing with dragon motifs. She has been alive for thousands of years and has built up a considerable amount of wealth so she likes to look elegant, dangerous, and sometimes sexy. She has a flair for the dramatic and likes to incorporate fashion styles of the past into her modern wardrobe with vests and poufy shirts and such. Personality
She is brilliant, beautiful, bad, and bold. She loves to make trouble and cause mischief. But petty little games of turning people against each other only hold her attention for so long. What she loves is making up complicated plans that lead whole kingdoms into war. She adores games that require both strategy and intelligence such as chess, senet, and go. However, she has a softer side as well. She doesn’t kill children unless she sees that they will have a miserable life and then she kills them to save them from the suffering – ie that she wishes she could escape her fate and been destroyed as an infant. 
She punishes stupid people when they fight over dumb things – like men fighting over women or women fighting over men, etc. Ironically she ends up being one of those stupid women fighting over a man when she falls in love with Julius. Although she’s officially the Evil One, she has the benefit and wisdom that comes with living for thousands of years which allows her to see the big picture when all Leona can see is the small one. When Asarai falls in love with Julius she is smart enough to realize that he’s in danger just because she loves him – the curse threatens to engulf him. She tries to protect him but when he and Leona decide to get married she begs – literally begs Leona to let him go and live life together without being married.
Even when she wins Julius’s soul and resurrects him as one of her undead minions, she still loves him. She treats him like crap sometimes, but still loves him. In the end she is just tired of being alive and has come to realize that the only way to end the curse is to stop fighting the only way fate will allow – by letting Leona kill her. She waits until she finds a Leona she doesn’t mind losing too basically, and throws the fight. Asarai is inside a wounded, scorned lover who has always been second best to her perfect sister.
Abilities
That’s pretty much already been mentioned – she’s brilliant, brave, resourceful, a great fighter, and a heavy drinker. She survives/exists by eating and drinking human flesh and blood, and converts people into vampires to build a minion army so she always has plenty of people to mail packages for her and do the dishes. She very persuasive and she has a gorgeous voice that can lure men to their doom like a Siren. She has studied alchemy and chemistry and can make potions and poisons.
Additionally she has the magic amulet she was given when she was a little girl – the Dragon pendant – which sustains her life and keeps her cursed. She can’t take it off, only Leona can tear it off of her. She also has the ceremonial dagger, which is the only weapon she can use to kill Leona, no other weapons will work. Her dagger is made of silver and steel and is encased in a green and gold scabbard. Relationships
Normally this is divided into Allies & Enemies but one of her enemies is sort of an ally and one of her allies would rather be an enemy.
Leona is her twin sister and is the younger of the two by a few minutes. Leona is quite literally the Good sister and is some of her lives gets very moralistic with Asarai which irritates the Evil One. Given their cursed existence, they have a natural animosity which is compounded by the sibling rivalry that is to be expected, especially when one sister is a wicked hooligan and the other is seen to be perfect. 
Lily is the current (and last) reincarnation of Leona. She is the first and only version of Leona to reject her fate and try to get out of the curse without fighting. Of course she can’t and Asarai ends up bullying her into the fight by killing her adopted parents. Lily is born with all the knowledge and experience of her past lives once she is trained in how to access the memories, so she is the first Leona in a long time to pose a challenge to Asarai. She’s also younger than most of the Leona’s that Asarai has challenged and defeated. Because of all that, especially the fact that Lily tries to fight her fate, Asarai ends up feeling a strong respect for her and decides that this time their fight will end the curse once and for all.
Julius/JJ is the love of her life. Once he fell in love with and married her sister, Asarai tried to hate him, but she couldn’t. She hated Leona, but was never able to hate Julius. When Julius was reborn he would always be given a name that started with a “J”, such as Joseph, John, and Jeremy. So Asarai just ends up calling him JJ as a nickname. The reason she fell in love with him in the first place is because he was the first man who really saw who she was – he didn’t see her as evil or wicked or wanton, he saw her as a woman who just wanted to love and be loved in return. They both knew deep down that ultimately he would never love her like she wanted to be loved or deserved to be loved and that he would never love her as much as she loved him. He was far more interested in her a friend then a lover – which was strange to her – and being a very intelligent man he was a match for her intellectually as well. 
When they made a deal and she won his soul and his servitude forever, she tried to make him love her but they both knew that it wasn’t something that could be forced. She abuses him physically and verbally a lot because she’s frustrated that all they can ever hope to be is friends –not that it’s okay to abuse anyone, but she is supposed to be the embodiment of Evil remember. He takes it with good grace and unlike any of her other minions, he knows what to say and do to calm her down. When she is angry or upset he’ll tango with her to take her mind off her worries. So they have a very complicated relationship. If he wasn’t the man who broke her heart they would be best friends.
Dottie is her mentor and was trained by the gods themselves in order to train the sisters to fight each other. She’s also the only mother Asarai has ever known. Leona, in all her various incarnations, has had lots of foster mothers, but Asarai has only ever had the one.
In the beginning Dottie trained Asarai and Leona equally, training Leona when she found her current incarnation until she was ready to fight Asarai, then training Asarai once Leona was dead while they waited the hundred years for Leona to be reborn. Eventually Asarai no longer needed Dottie’s training and even surpassed Dottie’s fighting ability in the end. Dottie stopped training her and focused all her attention on the current Leona, and preparing for the next Leona to come. This naturally make Asarai jealous, but Dottie always tried to be involved in both their lives. During the long decades between fights, Dottie and Asarai would often hangout and play cards or games, go to the movies, cruise to Alaska, etc.
Dottie is the person Asarai turns to when she has no where else to go and needs a shoulder to cry on. When Julius and Leona
fall in love, Asarai goes to Dottie for comfort and help. She convinces Dottie to try to talk Leona out of marrying Julius, but it doesn’t work. Dottie tries to warn Asarai that maybe this was always meant to happen – maybe Julius was fated to be a part of their curse and be fought over. Asarai hates to hear that and tries to deny it, but in the end she realizes that Dottie is right. While Asarai spends her three centuries in mourning, refusing to fight Leona because she can’t stand even looking at her, she goes back and forth between wanting to be alone and clinging to Dottie like a lifeline.
At one point Dottie became so over-protective of a certain incarnation of Leona that Asarai’s jealousy nearly destroyed all three of them. Dottie challenged Asarai to a game, betting her own soul in exchange for Leona’s incarnation being allowed to live a full life and only fight when she was ready to die. Asarai won the game, slaughtered Leona, and turned Dottie into a vampire. However, since Dottie has a link to the gods above she was allowed to challenge Asarai again and win her soul and sovernty back. This ended up becoming something they did several times, betting Dottie’s soul for minions’ freedom or a longer life for one of Leona’s incarnations. 
Dottie is not just Asarai’s mentor and mother, she’s Asarai’s best friend and in many ways her source of comfort. Dottie will be revived as soon as Lily dies or will be allowed to rest forever if the curse is broken. So when Asarai tries to quit in the middle of the final fight, Dottie forces her back into it. Asarai lashes out in anger and stabs her, killing Dottie. As soon as she strikes, she wants to take it back – there is a look of surprise on both their faces and Asarai’s expression quickly turns from surprise to remorse and she apologizes. Dottie tells her to just “finish it”, and Asarai does. 
Eek & Squeak are two of Asarai’s oldest minions, having been vampires for two or three thousand years. They were nicknamed Eek and Squeak for how they sound when startled. They’re her faithful servants, but get a little silly and eventually senile after a while.
Minions are just fun. And are sometimes boy scouts. She likes to have servants and an audience so minions are a necessity for her. However, they are not stupid and when the fighting starts between Asarai and Lily they disappear from the scene quickly.
Sine Fine Films 