It was in the early morning of June 18th, we’ve just murdered one clown the previous day and were now out the door to kill another.
On camera nicely lit and framed.
In front of crew, random pedestrians and the Film Gods.
Location:
Eden Mall, NC
Ah yes, the mall, that great human magnet of yesteryear. As a kid I always wanted to go. When I became an adult, it was the last place I’d ever visit unless it was part of an awesome clown killing film shoot!
I remember using the tripod once on day one, but I can’t really remember if I ever used it again. Most of the film was shot using a fig rig (see picture below). Basically a steering wheel that the camera is locked into the middle of. The operator can sort of drive the shot as it were. Needless to say all the shots at the mall were done in this fashion much to the chagrin of my shoulders.
With my steering wheel, I followed the poor hapless clown as he decided towards his demise. Poor guy was just looking for work while being stalked and made to pay for his sin of being one of the floppy footed.
I made good use of the sodium and mercury vapor lights again. A death means something is wrong with the world and the sick feeling colors I experimented with first in camera tests and then on the first day of production continued their job on day 2 especially when we got closer to the demise of the neighborhood friendly harlequin that no one wants.
After the clown was taken out, it was time for the detectives. Notice the subtle differences in colors from the 2 stills below. You can see the yellow/green sickness at the murder scene which is absent from the exterior shot of them further deliberating the murder in front of the mall’s entrance.
We ended the day with the killer leaving the scene of the crime unnoticed. For this I did use my second favorite tool for this cinematography job, the jib arm, which I will talk further about in future posts.
It’s the hopes and dreams of many filmmakers young and old to shoot at an abandoned (nearly) mall just like the filmic heroes of the past like George Romero did for “Dawn of the Dead.”
