GCFF Part Three: Visiting the set of GRAVE SILENCE & Hanging out with Zombies...

Howdy all. It's not every day that one gets invited to a film set, whether student or professional, nor is it every day that one gets to hang out with Zombies. I GOT TO DO BOTH TODAY, and it was pretty awesome. Bethany Koch and Ryan Simmers, the co-writers, creators, & directors of GRAVE SILENCE, invited me to come and take a peek as they did some pick-up shots of their Zombies walking through the woods at a local park. I arrived when asked, around 9:30, and found to my dismay that they still hadn't begun. The make-up should have been already applied, which would have taken around an hour or so, and I was just supposed to watch the shoot. Unfortunately (especially for Bethany & Ryan) I discovered that one of the realities of student-filmmaking had struck them: the unreliability of kids their age. It was the third day of shooting over the weekend for the dynamic duo, and Ryan told me that the past two days had met with considerable success. This Sunday morning though, all the people that he and Bethany had planned on using had suddenly become unavailable, or impossible to reach. So, in order to save the day they had been scrambling all morning recruiting new zombies (Bethany was even driving around town chauffering several of them personally) for the shoot. Anyway, I didn't have anywhere to be until 11, so I hung out and watched the make-up application process. I was extremely impressed, but not surprised, that Bethany was the master behind the make-up, with able assistance from Ryan, Maddy and Jenny, among others. Zombie recruits like Mary, Rachel, Trees, Ben, Brian, Big Mo, Amanda, Victoria, and Dani were joined by the return of one of our most legendary Drama students: LAZENBY. Yes folks, and Lazenby fans, the DARK ONE himself showed up and allowed human hands to apply Zombie make-up to his delicate skin, and then proceeded to demand to be annointed ZOMBIE KING, since he probably would be the snotty, elitist Zombie amongst undead society. After the make-up application was complete, (including the disgusting process where Ryan had them line up and stand while he threw fake blood over them all) Ryan and Bethany planned out the shots (graciously listening to my suggestions since I admit to geeking out and giving unsolicited tips onsite) and then proceeded to execute some cool shots of the Zombies, walking through the woods in search of human flesh. My time quickly ran out, but I happened to grab some cool shots of the whole process, and look forward to not only visiting GRAVE SILENCE during shooting again (and any other of the 10 films that invite me), but also to the final film which I'm calling as the leading contender based on my reading of the script. Hopefully, Ryan and Bethany can match their superior writing skills with some intriguing filmmaking style. I'd love that.