Roxsy & Me Film

ROXSY & ME IS HERE!!

Loved filming this short fan-made film with Carmela and Christian!
Great story and great acting. I'm in a few scenes. And I helped as both executive producer and as sound engineer. Sounds so fancy! hehe. I am still laughing so hard at some of these scenes. Loved being around my Potent family again. Please watch, like, make nice comments! Hope you enjoy this as much as I do!! I'm so excited to be a part of this amazingly fun film!

PS - here's the link to my post about being on set for this movie and Sugar Skull Girls.
http://geekgirlscastle.blogspot.com/2014/10/theres-no-place-like-home.html

Incredibly Talented Friends!

These are the things my dear friends who are both local and some who come from far away, gave me as gifts during New York Comic Con meetups, dinners, and get togethers. I am so very lucky to have you all in my life and be surrounded by such talented and generous people. <3 

Left to right: A felt and wire-made flower from Dom Campisi, A 3-d printed Lego/Han Solo in carbonite mashup from Jon Lazar, a first-run/first-made painted Pugnacious riding a lizard from Bill MacKay, and a sleepy time blue bunny from Peter Kato.

The Pugnacious/lizard were his first hand-painted toys Bill tried his hand in. And the details really shine through. He really painted every part of the lizard, including inside the mouth and teeth. He hand-sculpted the harness for the Pug and then painted it all by hand. And you can get this figure from the link provided above, for your own collection!

The flower by Dom was done with wire underneath and felt over the wire. So it's fully poseable and stands up on its own very well. I love the colors!  pink! So pretty!

And the sleepy bunny just adds to Peter's other bunnies I've gotten from him over the last year. They are adorable and if I could've bought them all I would have! (I was having a bad Sat night after NYCC day so Peter gave this to me to cheer me up...) ^_^

Thank you all for your wonderful gifts! I'm finding room on my shelves for them all!

The Awesome People & Products at NYCC

These are the awesome people and a few products I saw at NYCC! I didn't really go around and take pics of products this year. But I did make sure I went to artist alley to meet some comic creators and artists. Everyone is so awesome. And I did only two celeb autographs this year: Kevin Conroy,  best known for his voice acting of Batman: The Animated Series. He will always be my Batman! And Cary Elwes to get his new book signed about his times working on The Princess Bride movie. No pics were allowed over there. Enjoy!

These photos are in no particular order...

Hallmark's Itty Bitty's are really adorable! I can't collect anymore plushies but they are so very cute!

My favorite holiday card. Opens up and beeps and whistles at you.
This is the card you are looking for...
(see what I did there?)

The incredible, wonderful, friendly, equality-loving, funny human Gail Simone!
I got a Wonder Woman script signed by her. Can't wait to read it!

Dressed as Chewbacca with my TaunTaun hoodie,
I needed to take my pic with R2, my favorite robot droid!

Toxie, me and Lloyd Kaufman!!

The legendary Lloyd Kaufman signing my Apocalypse Kiss DVD,
which he signed it "To Marvelous Missy"!

One of the Weta creators drawing and signing a fan's LOTR map

Me, Saruman's staff and Smaug! The staff is a heavy weight and is a prop replica in exact!

Loved seeing the awesome Teen Titans as giant balloons outside!

Me and the only Batman to me, Kevin Conroy. Nicest, friendliest man!

Me and Mark, a Weta specialist & creator who happens to be in the movies as well!
He has amazing stories to tell about his time making these fabulous props, makeup, and being in the films.
I could have stood there all day listening to his stories!

From Hallmark, cutsey stickers of Star Wars characters.
I have a thing for stickers.

Peter Kato's sleeing bunnies. Only 35 were available for purchase at the event.
And they sold out quickly! Made of resin, he had several Fall colors in blind boxes.
So adorable!

I know I said no more plushies, but it's a Toxie plushie!
It's so cute! I couldn't resist!

My haul. Mega Blocks gave away Spongebob, Call of Duty, and Halo sets.
I got the reaper plushie from Chris Eliopoulos himself! adorbs!
Uamou, the green spacey vinyl guy is from one of the booths at the Block
that was selling a few of her figures.
Peter Kato's sleeping bunny.
And a Rocketeer keychain.

Wampa Hallmark ornament.
It now sits with the Rnakor Hallmark ornament.

Weta pins from the LOTR, the Hobbit, and Weta company

Artist Sean Van Gorman is awesome.
At the end of the show, his oldest son decided
to put things on the table for money, like stickers and
postcards. And then he would sign it for you.
Aw! Just like his dad! So I got this postcard
and he signed it near the Stormtroopers foot.

Closeup of David's signature. Too cute!

NY Comic Con, Chaotic Calm Before the Real Storm

This year I got to go to NYCC under an exhibitor badge. Friends of friends let me buy that under their booth (Imagination Asylum, thank you!) So with that in mind, I picked up my badge on Wed night after work instead of trying to deal with crowds on Thursday. (Course that backfired as I had issues with the badge Thursday that were sort of quickly resolved). In picking up the badge on Wed, I got to see the loadin from various groups. Most notably I got to see R2D2 and Chopper roll in! Love! R2 was merely being pushed in but Chopper was being remotely controlled which was just awesome! I giggled like I was 5 seeing Santa for the first time! Ha!

Sorry I didn't crop the pics but no time for that... hehe

I loved seeing the convention hall getting set up though. All the fork lifts, the carpets being rolled out still, booths setting up for the big four days of hell, I mean fun... All the big statues and such that I could take pics of without any crowds around me! Was fun! I am a behind-the-scenes type of person and will always love seeing how things are put together and made. So this was fun to just walk around the hall with everything still being set up. Not that I ever want to work a convention like this from behind the scenes but it's fun to watch it unfold!

R2D2 being rolled into the convention center

Chopper coming in!

Carpets still need to be unrolled for booths!

Smaug!!!! he's still sleeping...

The Block area. the calm before the storm.

Gollum at the Weta booth

Gandalf's hat for purchase from Weta

Giant troll!!! AAAAH RUN!!

The incredible Weta booth!

Me and my buddy!

The night before the con started, I got to go see my friend Ben Leach present at Union Hall in Brooklyn for "Sci-Fi Explosion". It was a neat show. Ben presented foreign movie posters compared to US released posters, focusing on Thailand and two other countries I cannot recall now. (Sorry!) It was a really interesting and odd phenomenom that happens with movie posters from its original intent to what other countries decide to use as images on their own posters for their countries. Just google some of them. You'll get a good laugh. Along with Ben's fun lecture, were videos of old 80's commercials and what Robocop is up to in places like Korea, hawking ramen noodles and kitchen appliances! Also shown, was a fun commercial of Leonard Nimoy selling something called a LaserDisc player. ooooOOOOOoh! those didn't take off at all! Haha (I like to think those were the next Betamax's of our generation to the VCR hehe) And then Skeletor sang to us! That was an experience one cannot replicate elsewhere. He also helped hand out trivia awards. To which most of us in the audience won multiple times (small audience...)

Ben Leach giving his presentation at Union Hall

Skeletor serenades us.

Sideways, but I won a couple things at the event. Avengers velvet coloring page,
V the novelization of the tv series, an ET figure, and an old Battlestar Gallactica
baseball card checklist.

New York Comic Con Cosplay!

I got to see some awesome cosplay this weekend at New York Comic Con. There's always tons of cosplayers these days. Some are more store-bought costumes and nothing more. Some are a mix of handmade and store-bought and then there are the cosplayers who take months and months to build or make their costumes from mostly scratch or pieces of raw materials. I opt usually for the inbetween kind, where most of my costume is store-bought or in pieces from stores and then revamp them to suit my style, my take on the character or to make the costume fit better for my body type.

First up, we'll start with mine. I was Silk Spectre from Watchmen (the daughter) for Saturday. I had a store-bought costume and revamped it. It is meant for a 5' 10" Amazonian woman honestly. So being petite I knew I had to shorten the costume a bit on my own.

I ended up ripping out the waist seam, cutting off about an inch or two from that, then resewing it back on. I learned a lot about costuming or clothing in general-- like how costumes use stretchy thread instead of regular sewing thread (or quilting thread) so there's more give when you have to put on or take off clothing multiple times, they of course use a serger to strengthen the seams which I do not own, and matching up patterned seams/colored pieces of your costume is harder then it looks. None of this is shocking to me mind you, as I have been quilting since I was in middle school. But it definitely made me look at costuming and clothes-making under a microscope more.

I also looked at the crotch area to see if I could then revamp that into snaps so that I could use the restroom more easily. In this particular costume, the outfit is much like a scuba suit, where it's one piece of clothing and you only have the zipper in front to let yourself in or out of it. So using the restroom could get very R-rated if you weren't careful of those gaps in bathroom stall doors. I should have of course, done these snaps before I chopped the waist apart, because now the outfit was probably a half inch too short. But I did it anyway and again, learned the value of snaps and realized too late that maybe I should have gone for the sew-on snaps instead of the metal ones. Reason? Because the metal ones, needed to be hammered on and if not done right, the prongs don't all make it into the snap to hold it in place properly. And case in point, the morning I put it on to go to the con, two of those snaps managed to come off- resulting in an emergency fix before I left the house. I'm only glad they fell off while still at home or I'd be an R-rated Silk Spectre at the con. Yeesh.

I managed to get some real thigh high pieces that were meant to be held with stirrups, at Hot Topic. The ones that came in the costume pack were the cheap shiny pleather that looks cheap.  I then just used whatever most comfortable flat black leather boots I had on hand. I'm not a stickler for exactness, clearly. I do take practical measures of comfort whenever possible. Especially when it comes to footwear at a convention hall.

But in the end the costume worked really well.

Then Sunday, I went with a more kid-friendly costume as a slightly updated Indiana Jones. Sunday is kid's day at the con so I thought this might be a little more appropriate. 

I had bought an official Indiana Jones hat at Disney World at one of my many visits this year, finally finding a small size that fit me properly. I had bought a white button down for my headshots anyway, so figured I would use for this purpose too. Had khakis on hand, who doesn't? I went with practical sneakers that day as walking in those boots above, despite much padding in them, hurt like hell by days end. So I let my feet go easy this day. And I went with a steel grey biker jacket as a modern take. Found a cheap cosplay whip at Hot Topic for about five bucks that worked easily too.  I chose to not get a gun even if it's fake and bright orange tip because it's NYC and I don't need that kind of trouble. The whip and hat make the outfit plenty.

 

 

 Now onto the other awesome cosplay I took note of during the four days I was there. There were plenty more that were just as awesome but sometimes I just didn't want to break the flow of traffic for a picture or just couldn't mentally handle the crowds to stop people every five minutes to take photos. So this is just a small sampling of what I saw this weekend, in no particular order.

Cutest kids as ewoks and Darth Vader.
And appropriately, Darth is ripping the storm trooper doll away from the Ewok.

 

Kristin Heise with Doctor Strange and Crystal

 

The Bowler! (From Mystery Men)

Olaf puppet. She attached it to her legs and feet to make it walk with her!

The Deadpool conga line for meetup photo

Elsa and the Mad Hatter (Tim Burton style)

Awesome female Rocketeer and Captain America!

Loved this take on Wonder Woman

Rocket with the most amazing Groot!

Doc Oc

Oompa Loompa with Captain Crunch

Duct Tape Serenity!

I'm not sure who this is (left) with Captain Marvel (right.)

Mr. Freeze with a Jedi

There's No Place Like Home...

...there's no place like home. No, Dorothy, there isn't. For me, that means being on a movie set again, it's definitely like being home. And I've missed it so much.

Recently, I got to help out on a couple of films with a friend of mine who happens to be the Producer of the independent movie company he works for. Potent Media and it's fearless leader, Christian Jude Grillo, is made up of a group of dedicated and amazing men and women just wanting to make great films from start to finish. Potent Media is known for their independent films Apocalypse Kiss, Deer Crossing, and Booley.

And now, their family-friendly film The Sugar Skull Girls. This is the first movie I got to help on. The best way I describe this movie is like Disney's Hocus Pocus. It's fantasy mixed with campy humor and fun times. It has witches and supernatural elements, meant for all-ages. It's going to be so much fun to watch when it is finally done! I've seen some pieces done with all the special effects and music added in and it's just awesome to see what comes out of Christian's creative mind!

I got to help out the last two weekends of shooting, one in June and one in July. The summer heat was exhausting and disgusting, especially for the July shoot. I was told I'd be anything from catering to personal assistant for the celebs, to assistant sound person, etc. Basically a PA. Which I was totally fine with because inside I was screaming "I'M ON A REAL LIVE SET AGAIN!!!" Opportunity of a lifetime for me.

Let me stop for moment for a background check. I majored in TV/Video Production way back when, in college. My career life path didn't take me that way for a full time job. I had a part-time gig at the local TV station but it didn't have a lot to offer after awhile. Like so many of my creative brethren, you do what you can to survive and make a decent wage. So I took on a full-time job as an admin in a big company instead. But I dabbled in the TV field in any way I could in the years that followed, videotaping friend's productions, videotaping friends goofing off, watching a lot of behind-the-scenes documentaries, etc. Anything to keep me in the game. Eventually all those things even dwindled, other than watching those making-of documentaries.

I missed that world so very very much but just couldn't get a handle on getting back into it. So, when opportunity knocked, I opened the door wiiiiide open! Thanks to an "in" from my friend, I talked to his boss, the directer/owner/CEO/everything-man at Potent Media to see how I could help, if at all.

I did have to travel from NYC to Philly area, but it's totally worth it. In every sense of the word. As soon as I got on set at the Mill (an old antique mill not in use served as their set locations... more on that later), I was home. I was with my people. And I was at home with everything going on. The technology of course has changed since I've been in the business -- no more over-the-shoulder big SVHS or even 3-ship cameras which were the THING at the time... Nope, using small digital SLR cameras they get the total film look, that not even those 3-chip Sony's did in the day. Amazing quality and feel to them. Ok ok, back on track... So the tech might have changed, but the theories and how-to's don't change.

When I got there, I was greeted warmly and with open arms by everyone on set, both cast and crew. Slowly I got to know all of them and how I came to be there from NYC of all places. Having to keep explaining my ties with my Producer friend was tiring but I was proud nonetheless.

After we all gathered at the Mill and got acquainted, most of us went over to a local high school to film some key opening shot scenes and sequences. Being on location was even more fun. But of course holds its own challenges. Finding enough outlets to plug in equipment, hiding much of the equipment needed in other areas so it's out of shots and then needing it at the most inopportune moments, running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to remember where you put something, etc. It's mayhem, but the best kind! Hehe I didn't mind running around getting anything anyone needed--food, coffee, gaffers tape, mics, dollys, tripods, etc. I was there to help in any way Christian and crew needed me. I couldn't have felt more alive that day!

For the weekend, I was thrown into sound as an assistant with Chuck. Christian's normal sound guy wasn't able to be there so Chuck and I would helm sound responsibilities. Chuck was awesome as he taught me all the necessary ropes needed. After some mishaps in prepping the mics tho, and laughing a lot about it, we got it all working right.

Chuck is like six feet tall so he held the boom mic 99% of the time and I kept watch on the levels on the Tascam unit and hitting the record button and saying "speed" or "sound rolling". Yay!

One point we needed to be in a small doorway with the boom so I volunteered to be squished in there instead of the six foot man. hehe

Photo courtesy of James Murray

While running sound, I kept my eye on everyone else to see what they were doing and how things worked and how everyone communicated to one another and watched how well Christian's machine worked so cohesively. He really does have it all down pat. Yes, he needs help of course every so often and reminders, but he's got the team into a very well-oiled machine. I was impressed and in awe by it all. Not that I had doubts about his professionalism, but it's just been so long since I've been on a set to see how it all comes together.

Goofing off between takes. Bill Cannon, me, Chuck Maher, Carmela Hayslett Grillo, Dave Stewart.
Photo courtesy of James Murray

Chuck Maher, me after pushing him down the hall on our dolly.
Photo courtesy of James Murray

By midday we finished shooting the high school scenes and headed back to the Mill for lunch break then more shooting at the Mill itself, on their interior built sets.

Food was provided by a neighbor of the Mill that day. She had made homemade chili and cornbread, salad, and chips and things were provided. It was excellent homemade grub for first day of shooting for me.

Oh and forgot to mention, the movie was sponsored by the Tootsie Roll company and local soda brewery Hank's sodas. Brilliant. And wonderful addition to our on-set snacks and drink supplies. Yum! Most the cast and crew were on sugar highs a lot between the sodas and candy - which included Blowpops, Tootsie Rolls and Double Bubble products. (What happened to Tootsie Pops??? anyway...)

Image via Sugar Skull Girls Facebook page

Lunchtime I got to mingle with more of the crew and get to know all of them a little better. I liked that. It really was like a big family. Everyone knew about each others families and kids and many get together outside filming to hang out on weekends and things. So it was genuinely a beautiful, fun experience there.

After lunch wrapped, we went back to work. Filming scenes within the Mill on sets built by the same crew. A teens bedroom, a interior trailer set, and a few green screen sets. It was really neat to explore the sets in detail and see what was put into them in terms of set decorations and how they were constructed. Potent Media uses every dollar wisely. Cheaply built sets don't have to look cheap. And I'm still learning how to be thrifty on the sets from Christian. In my own life, I can be very thrifty but applying that knowledge to a set design, takes some creative know-how. It's amazing what he did with such a low budget, and you'll never know that when you see it on screen. (well, now I've told you hehe)

Besides sound tho, I was also a puppeteer! I got to handle some puppets being used in the film, created by my Producer friend. These will be revealed at a later date so no pics of those yet! :) But trust me, they are evil and ugly little buggers! They were rubbery and slimy and one got painted that morning so it was still technically wet from that, along with having um "slime" on it. I will not disclose what we used to make it slimy... So my hands looked like I killed a smurf by the time I was done with it. But it was so much fun to be a puppeteer for an hour!

Once the day was done, we wrapped filming, put equipment away and said goodbye to everyone til tomorrow. We were all exhausted but happy at the days work. Amazing people.

I got to go to Christian's home that night for some dinner and to look at the footage shot that day. See what Christian sees. How he wants to edit it together, what special effects might be added, sound cues and sound effects... Amazing how his creative brain works. I could envision it all as he unfurled each scene. He discussed shots themselves, any problems he might see- ie soft focus problems, sound issues, things like that. And then making a mental note if anything had to be reshot. Which you never want to do unless really absolutely necessary. But it was good learning experience to see how he puts it altogether.  And it was really lovely of him to have basically a stranger come into his home on the first day of shooting.

Second day of shooting was at the Mill only. So using those sets, we shot whatever was needed. It was a long day but wonderful to be there and doing what I love to do with others who love it just as much as me.

We wrapped that day with a birthday celebration for my Producer friend. I made him an Atari cake because it's one of his most favorite things in the world. :) It was just the crew for that. It was fun surprising my friend and the look on his face when he saw what was happening was awesome! hehe

July couldn't come fast enough to get down there and film again. This time I'd be there for the whole 5-day shoot and not just the weekend. I was psyched! I did sound again most the time. And both weekends when I was not a PA or doing sound, I was running around getting anything done that I could help with--food,  moving equipment around, closing windows, etc. Life of a PA doesn't sound glamorous but it's still important as a team player. I'm more than happy and grateful to do it.

I was also a script supervisor and continuity person for a couple days while his usual guy was away. That was intense and kept me on my toes. Having to remember which scenes we were shooting the whole day, each moment and how the shots were supposed to be set up. Very cool but definitely intense. Then making sure each shot done was in continuity with the last one or the one it will lead into or follow that we've possibly shot already.

We shot for five days straight. A couple days indoors on set and then the rest were outdoor shoots. And man, that weekend was the most humid and hottest days of 2014 summer time--close to 100 degrees all the days plus 90% humidity. It was so disgusting. It was pretty brutal on everyone shooting those days. Crew member Wil Sachs made sure to keep us cool by fanning us with the light reflectors and a couple of us had portable mini fans to use on the actors who were in very heavy costumes. But we made it through. Got some amazing footage and everything was in the can and wrapped by day 5.


It was just so much fun filming all the scenes despite the horrid weather. For me, learning what everyone does, getting to know the crew and cast of teen girls and their families on set, is something you can't replicate. I loved meeting all of them. Many are now real life friends outside of the filming. And I try to see the crew at least, as often as I can get to the area...Amazing, talented people worked so hard on this. I'm so proud to be a part of it.

One of the pumpkin soldier's rides

Scott Kaufman, Dave Stewart, and Christian Grillo setting up a shot.

Setting up the shots

Carmela Hayslett Grillo, Chuck Maher between takes.

Cece Hagen getting her makeup applied.

Leslie Easterbrook, Carmela Hayslett Grillo

Addy Miller getting her makeup applied

copter shots

Julie Ryan, Addy Miller, Cece Hagen, me, Anika Buchanan, Isabella Sobejano

Leslie Easterbrook, me, John Amplas

Anika Buchanan

Isabella Sobejano

Addy Miller

Carmela, Pumpkin Soldier

That's a wrap!

The second film, a short film really, is from Christian's wife Carmela Hayslett Grillo. She was a horror host in a web series for three years, Roxsy Tyler'sCarnival of Horros. But as an actress she of course, wanted to continue growing and pursue different venues of acting. So the web series went on hiatus. Well, now Carmela was ready to put a true ending to the series by making a short film.

Image courtesy of Roxsy Tyler Facebook page

It's a small cast and therefore, a much smaller crew then feature film sets. I was needed only one weekend where I'd do double duty and be an extra for one of the scenes as well as do sound for them.

The scene called for fans of Roxy and her cohost, Count Chuckula to be outside of her Carnival set and chase after them and such. It was great fun. Since I knew everyone would be fans of Roxy, the main character, I decided to be different and be a fan of Chuck's instead. (Yes, the same Chuck who taught me sound on the Sugar Skull Girls set). So I made a sign that said "Bite me" cuz he's a vampire, duh.

And when Carmela saw that, she gave me some acting/stage direction on how to play this up more. So we worked on that on the fly and it was sooo much fun chasing after Chuck! We tried to have me jump him but running in grass, heels and with twenty other people clamoring over you, does not lend itself well to jumping on someone's back. So we modified it. I hope it still translated well on screen and am eager to see how they used the footage, if at all. ETA: I'm in the trailer a few times actually, so I guess that worked out well. Also, I have another acting credit to my name now, as a featured extra. Sweet! It was fun to actually "act" in something professional for once. And fun to collaborate something specific for the scene.



Other times that day, I was as usual, sound person. This time with their special effects guru, David Gechman. He's about as tall as I am (we're both around the 5' range) so both of us trying to do the boom mic was kinda hilarious. Where's 6' Chuck? oh right, he's IN the sccene. hahaha But the short people prevailed!

After the fan scenes were shot, Chris and Carmela had a big ol' bbq in their backyard. It was so lovely and fun and amazing yummy food. I, as usual, made dessert. I made nutella palmeiris. So delicious and easy to make! And they definitely went fast and furious! I loved meeting all of their friends who participated in the fan scenes. So much fun connecting with them over good food.

Sunday was much the same, though quieter. It was just me for audio and Martini for video with Chris. Chuck would help whenever he wasn't needed *in*a scene, of course. Martini helped hold the boom on the last scene of the day because it really needed to be higher than my short stature could hold and Chuck was in the scene. So I was able to hit record on his cameras once he set up the stable shot while he did audio instead. Team effort! We really all work so well together.

All too soon, it was over. Carmela had one more weekend to film, well really one more day the following weekend. It was only going to be a four hour shoot though, so it wasn't worth it for me to come down again. But no matter, I still had an amazing learning experience and time with my Potent Media family filming and hanging out after shooting. Professionals to the core but so much fun when the lights dim.Thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing me these fabulous opportunities! Until the next shoot when I'm back in Oz again...