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Kill Bill or how to keep the rig clean


Erwin Landau

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I watched Kill Bill at home again Yesterday (Don't you love the Academy screeners!!!)...

 

Anyhow...

 

The Blood, and there are Galones and Galones of it sprayed, spladdered and buckets spilled. Larry How did you manage to keep the rig clean, rain gear all the time? Did you used Golf shoes to make sure not to slip? (Sorry just a joke).

 

A friend of mine and fellow operator had his rig splattered with fake blood a couple of months back, now after seeing it again and the fact that he never cleans his rig, the fake blood started to disolve the platting...

 

Any Ideas how to protect you and your rig effectivelly?

 

So far I only got hit by Birddroppings, burning Blackpouder (I strongly advice against it), Monkey shit (Also A chimp has to go sometimes) and the like...

 

Anyone? No one? Bueller...?

 

 

Erwin"Watching way to much Movies lately" Landau, SOC

www.landaucamera.com

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Personally I'm a huge fan of the rain cover thingies whenever I feel that external influences might affect the rig.

Not just good for rain but for any form of splattering (be it blood, foam, water, fake snow, powder).

 

If that's not available I'll use a couple of layers of good old fashioned garbage bags (I lost my rain covers for a while so had to resort to this) on both the sled and the arm.

Works great, just make sure it's wrapped tight before heading into the danger zone.

 

bb21.jpg

 

 

Peace, Ruben "I can't stand the rain, against my window...bringing back sweet memories" Sluijter

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I did use rain covers a couple of times, but for the most part, the bloodiest shots were also, thankfully, dolly mounted. It became a matter of honor, or pride, or whatever for Bob Richardson to eshue any protection, but I often covered up with lots of clear plastic. There were 4 different variations of blood which Quentin had chosen for different sections of the movie, but all were remarkable in that they could be easily washed off of equipment and body parts and washed out of clothes. K & B was the special effects company and I think this development was truly remarkable! In the past, any splatter became a permanent part of whatever wardrobe was being worn during such a scene, but on Kill Bill you could wear whatever you wanted and know that it could be removed easily (or kept unwashed as a kind of badge of honor).

 

Another unexpected character of the blood was revealed when I wanted to run up a steep ramp erected alongside the bannister rail that Uma runs up during the fight scene in the House Of Blue Leaves (the main set piece for Volume One). It was just too steep to get good traction on the plywood. I discovered accidently that by walking around in the puddles of blood on the glass dance floor that my shoes temporarily gained a miraculous property of adhesion with almost any surface, so every take was preceded with a walk through some freshly sprayed blood and up the ramp I ran with perfect confidence!! Any delay in slating and I would call out "standby" and make another quick trip through the blood before calling "blood is good...camera ready!" At the end of this shot the trail of bloody footprints up that wooden ramp gave testimony to the efforts that I had made - written in blood...

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Plastic bags and Gaffer tape works! Cling Film is better but I must recommend Rock Steadi Gear. Tim at Rocksteadi custom built a cover for an Ultra and it is a piece of art! Fits perfectly with no *flappy* bits to catch anything and enough space to allow for balancing and tweaking of batteries etc. Even tha arm gets its own little tailored coat to keep out the wet and dust. Its also wipe clean if you need to get rid of the Blood!

 

Pete

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Spattered with blood? Check.

 

Shit on by pigeon while shooting Limp Bizkit's "Nookie" video? Check.

 

SPAT upon IN Sing-Sing Prison while shooting opening sequence of "No Way Home" ? Check.

 

Mud? Check.

 

Ocean water? Check ( to me, the most eggregious insult to gear outside of molten lava is salt water, but that's just me ).

 

Love Saran Wrap. I used a custom made cover for my old MS Elite, made out of thick clear vinyl slipcover sheeting. Incredible stuff- self stick velcro sticks to it SO well, that one takes great care to apply the velcro in the proper place first time out.

 

For those with home made or home customized rigs, I heartily suggest this as a good way to go.

 

Peter Abraham, E.M.T.

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