Production Log: 4/27/08
First and foremost, Big, Huge THANK YOU to Ray Jr.’s House of Rock. Ray Jr’s hosted last night’s shoot – the club scene. This is by far the best establishment I have worked with. Anything, and I mean anything we needed – they did. From changing the marquee to supplying a dressing room, to moving tables and most importantly, making us feel comfortable being there. Movie sets are stressful environments to begin with, and then make it an open set – major potential for disaster; but the staff and management of Ray Jr’s made it fun! They really did take care of us and if there is anything we could ever do for them – we would do it in a minute! The crowd was awesome too. They cooperated keeping noise to a minimum when we needed quiet and they partied when that was needed too. We even got 2 patrons to do walk on roles for a quick scene (I do not remember your names, but thank you. I will get your names from Holly and post another thank you later).
Now the bad…..I thought the curse ran its course and we were past that, but I was wrong. We got off to a late start, but got back on track right away. Then it hit….after waiting around for a few actors to show (one being a main person for this scene), it finally came in that they bailed on the production and were not coming. WTF???? Now this is where I start to freak and become a little bitch. Seriously, how does someone commit to a project, confer they will be there 2 days before and then just leave everyone involved high and dry? This shoot has only been promoted for the last month, not like it can be ‘re-scheduled’ or anything. So what happened??? What did we do???
This is where I have been inspired by true professionals. I have surrounded myself with some of the best people in the world (even though I bitch about some of them) and they all stood up and shined last night. They may not even realize they did anything, but they did. So how did the shoot go you ask? What did I do after being smacked in the teeth with a bag of nickels? Well, the first thing I did was what I always do…go to the clutch actor Mike Trivisonno. After that, listen to ideas from Triv, Bill A. and Ritch. Then confirm with Shawn and Holly…..PROBLEM SOLVED!!!! Well, for the most part. At this time I do want to give out the thanks to cast and crew – Ritch and Julie for coming all the way out, giving me some inspiration to change a fubar into something usable, Triv for thinking on the fly, Bill for being Bill (2nd best filmmaker in Ohio), Melissa L. & Brian for although new-definitely showing an awesome commitment. DK & Christina – always a nice surprise!! (sorry I did not get to talk to ya’ll more). Amanda and Adam for showing up. Shawn for his involvement and trying to keep me relaxed (Be on time though), and Finally, Holly! Holly worked her ass off!!!! And most importantly put up with my little crybaby attitude. Thank you Holly, you are very appreciated.
Now for the interesting stuff: Dave Vogrin (the naked drummer himself) made his dialogue acting debut!!!! Dave did great (watch out Melissa). Kristin Smith again freaking surprises me every time we shoot. Not only is she a good actress, but VERY professional. Kristin you ROCK! Melissa Slim got herself some more dialogue in the movie with a nice off the cuff cameo appearance from skeletor style actor Shawn McLaughlin. Sharon Simko got extra face time, with clothes on even. And I saw a girl I went to grade school with-she married the new bass player of the band, I guess I will be seeing more of her in the future. Overall, it was a good night. I got usable footage, and that is the main thing. I do want to apologize for not having a proper meet and greet of cast and crew, but with being behind and all that had to be put on the back burner.
On a personal note: I have had major health problems these last few weeks and my doctor says I have to scale things back, so I am NOT blowing anyone off; I am truly delegating some responsibilities to others on the production staff. So please contact Holly or Shawn on most matters.
Finally, I must thank everyone who made donations to this project – you are helping true independent cinema. And thanks again to Ray & Julie of Ray Jr’s, honestly you guys are awesome, I would love to work with ya’ll again and if you need ANYTHING let us now!
Ray Jr’s is located @ 3750 N. Broadway (RT 534) in Geneva, Ohio. They have some of the areas best bands every weekend, check them out!
Melonheads Log: 11/16/07- Well, ShockStar Studios went to its first convention: Dark Xmas. It sucked! We did make some really good contacts and met some wonderful people (that sounded so cheesy, but it is true). Special thanks to Christina (Abbey from Legend of the Melonheads) for working the table. Big huge props to DK Photo! DK is a promotions machine!!! Thanks DK. Theresa (Sheila from Melonheads) showed up, and brought a whole crew. I think they were the most people there at any one time.
We will be attending Cinema Wasteland-we won't have a table but we will be there to represent. We have a special surprise for those that are going to the wasteland……. Let's just say, look for a bunch of Drunk guys wearing 'Cretinville' T-shirts……Can we say BEER PONG!
Finally, we made some new friends with a Detroit film company (I know, Michigan sucks) called Silver Bullet Pictures. We did a disk trade with them (I traded Aquarius Rising for Detroit Blood City). These guys are cool as hell, I can't wait to see them again. I will be buying a copy of their new flick 'Heavy Mental' when it's released. So if you get a chance, got to www.silverbulletpictures.com.
Tony Todd - Candyman Warrington G. - Jason Vorhees
Melonheads Log 10/8/07: Well…………it was a hard decision, but we will be holding off on production until spring. Actually, I should say we are not going to be filming at break neck speed anymore. We will still be filming interior scenes over the winter, and may knock out one or 2 more scenes before winter, but with the scheduling, casting and injury problems – we don’t want to hurt the final product by rushing forward.
So with that said, this past weekend was both good and bad. Thank you to Dawn for letting us use her apartment. Holly and Kristin did a great job, too bad the lighting sucked. The cheer practice was a disaster. We did manage to get some stuff done. I was a little worried when the principle of the school showed up on a Sunday-so much for guerilla style. She was cool and let us film, I did find out that they are keeping a closer eye on that school because someone was growing pot on the side part of school property. I do have to give a huge apology to Grace and her mother. They drove all the way from PA to do this scene; unfortunately, the actress she was to do her scene with had car trouble and could not make it. We did manage to get Rachel Steel done. Rachel is really cool and laid back. However she does play a bitch a little too well. She liked the whistle too much too, actually I am just joking – Rachel was awesome! She developed her role on her own, played it to a ‘t’ and I truly liked what she did. She did blow the whistle too much (I was wearing my headphones and the mic was close to her-owe!). My new camera crane works awesomely! It will add so much production value to the movie.
Kristin and Tree did their scene at the school too. OK, this blew me away…it was a simple scene, but they nailed it on one take. So I, not knowing what to do, made them do a few more takes. Each one was better than the last. There was only one flubbed line – I think they did it just to make me feel like I was needed.
And finally, thanks to Amanda, Randi and Eileen for keeping me calm and collected – You girls rock!
Melonheads Log- 10/1/07: So we shot 2 days in a row. Most of the cast was hung over the next day. Saturday we did more camping scenes. Again, big thanks to Dave Vogrin who kept the fire going – and going well! It was funny watching the ‘cheerleaders’ try and start a fire, then of course Brian had to take over and get it going, but quickly turned over those duties to Dave when he showed up.
This was the first shoot with Randi Lynn – she is a pleasure to work with. So any for a little bit of trivia: any drunk scenes in the movie…..they are really drunk!
Sunday we were supposed to meet at 10am for the skinny dipping scene. Everyone was late, I was hung over (not from drinking but from smoking 3 packs of cigs the night before). Big thanks to Eric and Matt Hecker for supplying the location. This is a beautiful location that is hidden from the world! The girls complained the water was freezing and there were giant fish biting them (Brian actually went into the water and it was neither cold or did it have fish bigger than ½ inch).
Some of the high lights over the weekend was the truth or dare game (which will most likely end up in the movie), Amanda with the lighter fluid, Brian actually being the voice of reason (Brian should NEVER be the voice of reason), Ashley going for a quad ride and coming back covered in mud, and just hanging out with Matt Hecker and his friend (forgot your name dude, sorry). And of course, I miss the game and the Browns win….
Melonheads Log 9/24/07: Well, another small scene in the can and edited!!! This was just a small scene, but it was Tree’s first scene where she knew what she was doing (Tree’s first scene was the same day we met her and threw her into the movie, she wasn’t even cast. She was just hanging out and next thing you know, she’s got a major role). Tree was cool as hell and very patient as we tried different outfits and angles. (Mark, thanks for the angle suggestion-it made it into the scene). Melissa and Dave showed up. Melissa was part of the first ‘make up’ to be used in the movie. Dave disappeared into the woods for an hour and we thought maybe he was eaten by a melonhead. Again, the scene went very smooth, and Tree fits this role very well. Only 65% more to shoot, until a finished movie! The curse struck again (actually twice, but we beat it the first time.), we were forced to reschedule another scene. However, I am extremely happy about this scene we did on Sunday – if only the Browns would have won……
9/21/07: Melonheads Log
Well, we got the majority of the core cast together for filming last night-for the camp scene. Despite a late start, we got a good chunk of the night shooting in the can! Thank you to Tree for just stepping in to fill a major role. Also, big thanks to DK Photo for being on set to get the behind the scenes and production stills. All the cast looked amazing in the fire light. Sound was good and the acting was great for getting the core cast together for the first time. Melissa and Kristin established an on screen chemistry immediately! It was like they were actually friends since high school. Christina Rios did a superb job (She never got a script until she arrived). Christina, I am totally looking forward to your kill scene.
Amanda and Eileen looked very cheerleaderish. I owe Eileen props for bringing Tree! Amanda is always a go to girl, thank you for all your behind the scenes help. Again, the look of the scene is stellar (Did I just use Stellar?). I am having very good feelings on where this will go.
I do have to shout out a few more thanks: Zach brought a tent for set dressing, which saved me from looking totally stupid, since I could not find my tent. Dave Vogrin –this really kills me to say this- is by far the best fire tender I have EVER met! Yes, I must actually admit, he tends fire better than myself – I turn over my title of Fire Master to Dave. Holly, thank you for keeping me on track, keeping the paperwork in order, watching children, and helping out as script girl – you truly are a big help. Now, for my producer Shawn McLaughlin…. This was the first night Shawn came on set for this production. Shawn was deliriously over the top on getting things done! Shawn showed me what a line producer can do, and honestly with out Shawn there, we would not have gotten what we did. Thank you Shawn.
Next scene will be a quick one, involving Kristin and Tree. I think the public will really like Tree in this role. Until next time…..
Production Log 8/27/07: Well, we shot our first interior scene with Bryan Jalovec, Kristen Smith, Dusty Sidewalls and 3 spur of the moment subs – ‘The’ Mike Trivisonno, Melissa ‘Slim’ and Sharon Simko. Mike, Melissa and Sharon-thank you so much, we could not have done the scene with out you! Kristen Smith gave one hell of a performance, out doing herself in anything I’ve seen her in before. Bryan of course gave us the pleasure of his sense of humor, and with out a doubt showed us he can take a punch! We can now say that there were no punches pulled in the making of this movie. (Bryan, she says she was going easy on you).
The curse struck us again this week – 1 minor and 1 major freaking way. But to make the best of a situation, we decided to actually do a “Curse of the Melonheads” behind the scenes documentary on bad things that have happened during the making of this movie.
Thanks to all the cast, the subs, the crew, Dan and his roommate (we shot the scene at Dan’s place) and special thanks to one of the best drummers and all around great guy, Dave Vogrin who set a lot of this shoot up (you rock Dave!) Go to www.vogrinspalace.com and see some really cool novelty things he has to offer.
Pre-Order your copy of "Welcome to Cretinville: Legend of the Melonheads"!
Send check to Laugh-at-the-Law 12330 RT 86 Leroy, OH 44077 or paypal to order@laugh-at-the-law.com
Just $25.00 and that gets your name in the credits~and the Deluxe Edition DVD!
Deluxe Edition DVD will include behind the scenes footage and 'Hunt for the Melonheads' a feturette documentary on the true legend of the melonheads, with footage from an actual melonhead hunt!!!
7/21/07: DK Photo has been announced as the official "Welcome to Cretinville" Photographer!!!
6-25-07: The cast is assembled. The Script is written. The Equipment has been upgraded. And one hell of an assistant director has been recruited. Finally, Ohio's creepiest legend is now the most anticipated movie! We are starting principal photography. Join the army of the melonheads, become a myspace.com/cretinville friend and stay up to date on all that happens. See the primary cast pictures on the Melonheads Legend page.