The Deaths, The Chase, & The Onlookers

Joe's death scene was the first to film on this soon to be long day. A specially made batch of colored corn syrup was used as our blood, something I read about in the film magazine 'Cine-Magic'. The alien costume was put on (for the last time - Thanked Perry), & we headed out to the corner for the drunks meeting of the Alien.

Filming went pretty quick from here on out. I also tried to edit 'in camera' as we went along. This is where each shot is worked out in advance. Then I would tell the actors to start or stop at a specific time - Then jump to the next camera shot & tell them to continue. It's pretty tricky because you have to have the actors moving just before you start filming the shot. Something I was quite good at. This way of filming helped out tremendously because the actual editing process would not need so much work once the film was processed.

Again Joe was a trooper at his death scene. He 'did all his own stunts'. He actually ran & flung himself over the car to give the impression that the alien threw him (see above). The filming went pretty quick as I jumped around to get some cool angles. The top of the car, laying on the street, inside the car (to get that blood shining through the sunlight).

It wasn't long that some of the neighborhood kids started to pop up & join us as we filmed. By the end of Joe's death scene there was about 8 kids watching. I didn't mind - hey, an audience makes the actors work better. Once I told them they just needed to stay back far enough so they didn't get on film they weren't a problem.

Time to move on to 'the alien kills man working on the car' scene.

In the story the visitor comes across a man working on his car. This man was played by Perry's dad. So in the film we get to see Perry killing his dad. How's that for an interesting tidbit. Hey folks I'm trying to think of interesting things to write here.

Anyway...

We shot in from of Perry's house (& Bill's too in the background of that top third photo) & Nino (Perry's dad) was actually working on his old Volkswagen. Nino is a trip if you know him. Always in a happy & wacky mood. He'd always be cracking jokes and even helping us out where we needed him.

As the music came to a slight lull and then slowly built up to a crescendo I too built up some tension in the scene. Nino gets up from fixing his car & heads to his house. The creature sees him & follows. Then we cut to inside the house with Nino yelling to his wife that he'll take the garbage out later because he was fixing the car. Of coarse this is not heard in the film but you do see him yelling to someone in the background. As he comes out the front door the alien who is on the porch grabs Nino & slams him into the door.

Then came the shot where everyone who seen the film asks 'How did you do that?'. In the film, the creature lifts the man up over his head & throws him over the porch. Now, any kid could use a dummy but not me - We actually threw Nino off the porch - Just kidding.

It was done with a series of quick cuts. Nino on the ground slowly standing on an angle as the alien lifts him. A cut to Nino's frightened face. A POV cut of the surrounding while lifting the camera.

Then we set up a small ladder & Nino got up on top & laid over it. Perry then made the movements that he was lifting this man in the air, just as Nino moves about on the top of the ladder. A quick cut of Nino's feet flailing in the air.

Then a medium shot of the alien with it's arms up (not holding anything) as I move in close to him as he pretends to throw the man. A few more quick POV shots moving to the gangway.

A few close-ups of Nino's face in fright as he flies through the air. More cuts as the ground gets closer. The the quick shot of Nino banging his head on the iced up gutter. This of coarse done with Nino on his knees and him just moving his head quickly to the gutter.

The I covered his forehead with blood & had him take some blood in his mouth. When the camera rolled, he did too - over on his back and spurting blood.

It's quite exciting on film - Really.

It was now time to call in the cop. Big Tony Ploshey, my Lon Chaney look-a-like- neighbor. We met at his house around noon & he was ready with his 'Where you guys been, I was waiting all morning'. Tony, forgetting we were going to shoot his stuff in the afternoon, was just ready as ever to make his acting debut., We told him to meet us on the corner of 57th & Trumbull, went through some direction, & we started shooting again.

The Alien, still suffering from the raging noise in his head, continues to stagger through the neighborhood. An off duty policeman nearly runs him down before realizing that it in not of this world.

As the cop makes a U-Turn and pursues, the alien pulls out his Laser gun & shoots at the car.

Now Here come the 'Special Effects' - Right...

As was planned with Roberto (who claimed he was able to do anything) the alien shoots his laser, emitting a 'Star Wars' like shot to the cops car which was to slowly pulsate with a yellow glow then fade away as the car is disintegrated. This effect was used in countless B science fiction films so I know it was an easy effect. The only problem was that my S/FX wizard Roberto didn't know how to calibrate the aperture of his camera so when the film was processed it was very dark & the color was way off. To add additional complaint it seems as if his finger was over the lower left of the screen the whole time he was doing these effects.

The effects themselves were great! but once the shots were all edited in with the rest of the film there was (is) a very noticeable change. And I thought blue screen matting was bad.

But at the time of filming, the thought of bad looking good S/FX never entered my mind.

The cop now pissed that his vehicle was destroyed takes off after the alien. More Laser shots are fired and bullets fired back as the Alien flees back to the prairie/park.

Here's where things got weird. A crowd of people who lived in the area started to form along the block and watch as we filmed. It was just like a professional shoot with the fans behind the barricades. Only we didn't have any barricades. This is where Nino came to our assistance. He helped us out by keeping all the onlookers back so I could finish my epic. Goofy guy that he was wouldn't even let the onlookers know what was going on. He told me at the end that someone asked him why we were filming here, Nino's reply was, 'How come your so ugly'. Good thing he was talking to a kid at the time. Another thing he informed me was that someone called the neighborhood newspaper to let them know that a cop was chasing someone in a weird getup through the park. This very reporter showed up & wrote an article on the project (which I said was for school). His write-up is at the end of this tale. My 15 square inches of fame!

Anyway - Back to filming.

During the chase I told our cop Tony to run after the alien & shoot at him. He told me that a real cop does not 'run & shoot' . They position themselves to take perfect aim, then shoot. I thought, 'where's the action in that?', but obliged and worked it into the film.

So as the alien turns & shoots, our cop dives to the ground dodging the blast. Rolling over to a good position he takes careful aim & blasts the creature more. More laser type effects are shot before our visitor moves on to the playground.

A stylistic shot of the cop shooting the aliens wrist makes the laser gun drop. Now totally helpless (and a green bloodied mess), the alien visitor tries to make it back to it's ship.

In a last desperate effort to try to communicate the visitor turns, but is shot once again by our trusty law official.

Defeated, the alien returns to his ship. It takes off, but wounded & unable to control it correctly gets it tangled in the high tension wires above the park & explodes.

The End.

Of coarse this will be shown after our S/FX wizard Roberto finishes the effects.

Yeah...Right.

On to...

Unfinished Effects & Newspaper Fame

Copyright ©2000 Roger B. Domian