I need a very small alien for a fantasy
comedy I wrote that I plan to shoot
this Spring.  My lack of skills dictates
that I do this Guy-Maddin style and
create a home-made creature the
old-fashioned way with scissors, glue
& paint.  It will either be hilariously
absurd in a cool underground kind of
way or I'll fail spectacularly. I'm used
to the latter -- so either way it's a
venture worth taking.  My intentions
are to ask the audience to invest in
the story before the FX.  Kind of the
opposite of James Cameron. (And
now I'll probably never get hired by
him for writing that.)  But on we forge.
1st rough ideas doodled on a piece of
notepaper. They turned out looking
like snakes or ghostly sperm critters.
I have lots of leftover broadcloth from
another project so decided to use
what I have. Testing watercolors on
broadcloth to see how it bleeds.
More lack of skills sent me to a
craft store to buy a doll without
a face or anatomy of any kind.
Perfect! Painted it with green
and blue watercolors.

The feathery greens you see in
upper left corner was a spur of
the moment purchase when I
thought it might be cool to give
the creature some kind of
organic or earthy look.  My plan
was to hot glue them onto the
creature.
I love the idea of giving it some
kind of jelly-like eye. My friend
Ellen suggested these glass
pieces called cabochons.
Another burst of wild creativity while
at the craft store. This will be used in
the short movie, but am keeping
some of this under wraps until movie
is shot and edited.
My friend Rocket likes to approve of
and laze on all my materials.  And yes
-- that's a MORE magazine you see in
the background. I'm entering that age
bracket so thought I'd better read up
on how to age gracefully so I don't
end up looking like the alien puppet
I'm trying to make -- which is how
way too many Hollywood stars are
looking these days with their tight
little eyes and severely arched
eyebrows.  MORE is refreshing and
fun. They actually use 20-year olds to
sell wrinkle cream instead of 12-year
olds. I even wrote a little article for
their community page. You can read it
here:  
http://www.more.com/4879/10054-10
-nails-and-a-pitch
After a few mechanical realizations
(like how do I get this thing to open
and close its eyes) I came up with a
myriad of ideas from making several
puppets to handle the task of one --
to just putting a sock over my hand
and slapping on some paper eyeballs.
 Not too daunting, but given the fact
that I received a failing grade in
Home Ec for making an atrocious
sweater with three neck holes I
decided to look for someone who has
the skills and enthusiasm to help me
pull this off.  After all, movie-making
is a collaborative effort.

The first victim I hope to rally is
Shawn Collins -- Puppet Master
extraordinaire! Shawn is one of those
rare breeds of artist and engineer.
You can see his work at  
http://www.lefthandsh8k.com/
The script calls for one actress. I'm
happy to report it has already been
cast. We'll put her pic and links here
when we know we can pull this off.

I have a kick-ass musician/composer
who also doubles as my loving spouse.
It's easy to get him to agree to do the
score. I will say only this; Banana Pop,
Strawberry Pop -- and then I
momentarily become the Puppet
Master extraordinaire!

But maybe I shouldn't have posted that.
From Shawn Collins' website:
http://www.lefthandsh8k.com

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