We'd love to take credit for assembling the flash mob - okay, honestly, we did take credit for it. But it wasn't ours; someone else set this up, arranged with the city, and somehow ensured eventual removal of a deep bed of feathers from Pershing Square. Major props to whoever made this event happen; we just knew we'd have to ride the coat tails of a very cool event to create our own Ninja spin on it.
This was by far, the most destructive video yet, on our camera, which got smashed from every direction, repeatedly. Pillows don't seem like much, but they quickly took their toll. The viewfinder no longer clicks back into place, and the microphone was loose, dangling, and non-functioning by the end of the shoot. Thank goodness for the Sennheiser warranty, as we got the mic fixed for free (I just used a lint brush to remain all the remaining downy feathers that stuck to the mic's wind sock). Since then, Nick bought a couple of Kodak Flip-type cameras, for POV use, but unfortunately, too late to avoid the abuse we took on the pillow fight.
The other thing that got smashed around was the brand new wide-angle lens. In fact, it got hit so hard at one point that the lens, (despite being screwed on) came right off, and disappeared beneath the carpet of feathers. Thanks to the anonymous stranger, who rescued it for us!
As it turned out, it was also a pretty rough day on my eyeballs (and lungs - little feathers get in everywhere)! We were finding feathers for weeks thereafter.
Here's a pretty nice alternate coverage of the event, by Joel Kuwahara, with some good slo-mo:
"Monster Mash", like many of IMP's recent videos, was inspired by a dare from Bragster.com, the prankster social networking site. This was one of the first dares, however, that were addressed directly to Stickman, so I knew we had to make this one big.
The costumes were the trickiest part logistically; the dare demanded that the costumes not be half-way, but I've been too poor to invest a lot in any one video. But pre-Halloween sales, a borrowed Freddy Krueger mask, and the orangutan torso that I've owned for awhile, (oranger than the wolfman head and claws), helped keep the cost down, while letting us go full out with costumes. Besides, I can always use more costumes, so don't be surprised if these show up again!
It was also very hot for an October day. I had already made the decision to give Freddy Krueger a (thrift shop) t-shirt instead of a sweater. Nick decided to be the wolfman, but I warned him that he might not want the torso piece, because the head and gloves were warm enough. Still, he was determined to be as full-on as possible, and his costume looks great on video, orangutan body or not.
The dare also demanded that there be more than one of us in costume; what's a monster mash with just one monster? Since Nick and I usually do our dare days without assistance, it was critical that we get a separate camera operator. Greg is a guy who lost his job and home to the economic downturn, and has been staying in my spare room for a few months. Thankfully, he volunteered to shoot for us, shortly before this outing, so I took him up on it. Thankfully, people often didn't associate Greg with the monsters, because we were in high-density tourist areas, where cameras were common, and it was hardly surprising that someone would shoot our hijinks.
We were actually able to get (the back of) Greg into another video that day, a quick homage to French prankster great Remi Gaillard:
The edit doesn't show the actual progression of our day. We took the subway there and back, hanging out at different platforms and changing cars whenever the train stopped, so we could interact with new people. The drunken guy who wrestles with us, and the musical group (which I call "the Partridge Family") were all on the ride home.
The drunk guy was an opportunity for me, a chance to step up. On our last outing, Nick had to face the crazy Nazi homeless Ninja-groping Rockstar . Nick (as the Ninja) kept getting fondled, but kept going back in to face the Rockstar a little more. Thankfully, the drunk guy from the train didn't grope me at all, but he did pick me up a couple times, and crash me into sitting passengers. By the third time, I recognized his m.o., and quietly, peacefully overwhelmed him, so he couldn't lift me. Thankfully, those offended passengers got mad at the drunk guy, not at the monster he wielded!
We had the most amazing luck that day; total serendipity. We emerged from our subway train, literally minutes before another train, coming from the opposite direction, deposited its load of grisly zombies. It was a once-a-year flash mob Zombie Walk; what a coup for a "Monster Mash" video! Emerging from the subway station with 50 bloodied zombies was a great way to arrive at the party!
Hollywood and Highland is the tourist nexus of L.A. There's the walk of stars, the Chinese Theater, and of course, a great deal of costumed street performers. I chose the location for the tourists, but didn't realize how many movie monsters we would run into. How perfect; this, then was the party that they sing about in the "Monster Mash"!
Ironically, the costumed monsters were among the least playful participants we've ever had in our videos (except Gumby and the pirate who shot me!). They are all independent people, who make their entire living from tips, given by tourists who want to be photographed with a movie creature. So they assumed that we (as costumed monsters) were trying to horn in on their livelihood. In particular, the Freddy Krueger who was already there, and his friend the Joker were the most insistent that I was doing something wrong, by being Freddy. Ha! The only people who hassled us for wearing costumes, were the people who were already in costumes, themselves!
Of course, the Disney Store employee (who chased Nick out) wasn't too happy about us, either. LOL at his bad-ass statement: "if I catch you in there again, I'm gonna kick you out!" Kinda impotent threat, especially since Nick had already kicked himself out. The Disney Store was not welcome to monsters, but thankfully, Hooters was!
In the edit process, I always have to cut out a huge amount of our interactions, in order to keep the videos tight. But this one was extreme! So much wacky wonderfulness decorated the edit room floor! So here are a couple of extra moments from the day.
Here we engaged a group of dance street performers in a spontaneous monster dance battle (music added later):
And Freddy Krueger, giving some automotive advice to a bus driver with engine problems:
I had not treated this car ("Rev") very well, and it was clear that it needed to be replaced soon. It drove relatively well, but the body was in lousy condition, and it rattled like mad when it drove. So, a year ago, I began to crash the car into things.
At first it was harmless things, like the refrigerator box or the stack of inflatables. Andre and Craig helped me shoot a stunt in which they held an (empty) TV box as I drove toward them, and then they abandoned it at the last moment. Only trouble was that the TV box was exceptionally well built, and that my friends tossed the box into the air, so it cracked the windshield, which eventually would get me in trouble. That TV box survived so well, that we had to shoot an entirely different video to destroy it.
I hit a few more obstacles, mostly in and around the West L.A. alleyway in which so many of Inspired Mayhem's early videos were shot.
Then I got laid off. Suddenly, I couldn't afford to get a new car. I did have enough $ to buy Z, my motorcycle (gas was at $5/gallon at the time), so at least I could keep Rev off the street (it was a cop magnet with that windshield). But I couldn't do away with Rev altogether, for travel or hauling things, or for the annual L.A. rainy season.
What changed, unfortunately, was not my employment status; I'm still eking out my existence. What changed was that I got a ticket for that windshield, and then another for my registration, which I didn't renew, since the car was mostly just sitting in my garage. Rev also developed some axle issues, and that convinced me that it wasn't even safe to drive anymore.
I needed a new car, and I wanted, specifically, a van, to be the perfect vehicular counterbalance to Z. Something that travels well, hauls well, and is very sociable. With the credit crisis on, I asked my parents if they could loan me the $ to get a used van. But, as it turns out, my folks were about to buy a new Prius for themselves, and offered me their old van. Perfect!
(Of course, my parents don't know yet that I destroyed Rev, so shh! don't tell them!)
So once again, I began crashing Rev. My friend John (with whom I collaborated on "Yuri G"), helped by operating camera and by driving for those stunts in which I wanted to be on, or in front of, the car.
We spent two days filming. Day one was the last chance to do foolish things with the car before we destroyed it. We drove around at random, and found junked items in alleyways, and odd features to drive over.
Old dirty mattress became a sled, with my car as the slope:
Found a junked basketball backboard, and turned it into a surfboard:
Found this magliner trailer at City Fibers, and sought out the pivot point. The fit was so tight, you can hear my hub caps scraping:
Then, on day two, we finished the deed, and destroyed the car! Continued on the next blog entry!
In the previous blog entry, I explained how the "Bad Driving" idea came to be, and how the time had clearly arrived, to finally destroy that car!
The ideal spot for Rev's destruction was an entrance into the L.A. River, where they shot the car chase in Repo Man. On Santa Fe Ave., just below the 6th St. Bridge (where we shot Rub My Back), there is a tunnel to a ramp that leads into the concrete culvert that is euphemistically called a river.
When I first showed up on Saturday, I was startled to see that there was already a cop car in the river. I backed my car quickly out of the tunnel, and went in on foot, to see what they were up to. My mistake, because they told me that I shouldn't be there (there are no posted signs). That would come back to haunt me.
Thankfully, the cops left right after that, and my friend John arrived to be my camera operator.
Our first stunt was almost our last. In the concrete canyon that leads down to the tunnel, I was hoping that there would be some way of getting two wheels up onto one of the walls, but all I ended up doing was popping a front tire.
I don't know why the headlight went out!
For a couple moments there, it seemed as if our day was over. I still had my spare tire with me, but I had (just that morning) removed anything else of value from the car, including my jacks and lug wrenches, and John had come on his motorcycle. I tried riding on the rim, but the car could barely move, nor steer. Fortunately, there was a still photo shoot on the surface (they were very amused by the bad driving), and they helped scrounge up the necessary tools to change my tire (thanks guys!).
Even with the tire fixed, it was clear that I was not going to be able to drive my car anywhere else to destroy it, so we focused on getting the rest of the damage done, as soon as possible, before the cops came back.
The shooting itself went great, although the steering became more and more laughable. Basically, I had control only over the brakes, gas, and which gear I was in. Sometimes I would try to crash into something, but the car would just steer its way around the obstacle.
I had a dream of rolling the car down one of the banks as the grand finale, but it would have taken a lot more control than I had, assuming it was possible at all. Instead, I just rode it as hard as I could, as long as I could, until the gears no longer engaged (the last shot in the below video).
Almost immediately after the car stopped riding, the cops showed up. And boy did they show up! We had at least 8 cops, 8 firefighters, and (no lie) a helicopter circling overhead. Someone had reported that we had suffered a horrific accident, somehow crashing through into the L.A. River basin and rolling down the embankment.
We were very cooperative with the cops, who were nice enough not to even frisk us, and ultimately, I got away with nothing but a ticket for riding in the river. This, despite the fact that two of the cops were the ones who had earlier told me that I shouldn't be in the river at all. I must say: I lucked out!
One of the cops did say that I had to fill out an SR-1 (accident report), which would mean a point on my record, and higher insurance rates. However, I researched CA Traffic Codes, and came up with the following very useful exception.
The accident report only needs to be filed if on a street or highway (exempting us, since we were in the river), or if the wreck was a "reportable off-highway accident." Thankfully, CA Vehicle Code 16000.1(3)(b) states that "A 'reportable off-highway accident' does not include any accident which occurs off-highway in which damage occurs only to the property of the driver or owner of the motor vehicle, and no bodily injury or death of a person occurs". Ergo, no report!
The final version of "Bad Driving" is out, but here is my first quick cut of the highlights of Rev's last day:
