Production Diary – The Medea School of Melodrama

Once a month I’m going to talk about a specific production, what it was like to film it, and what was involved in making it happen.  This month I’m going to talk about The Medea School of Melodrama.

The Medea School of Melodrama is a short film that was originally made for an SPC-TV production called Tape & a Stick. 

The basic idea was that each week there would be two objects that you had to include in your short film and there were three films per episode.  I think it was a cool idea, since there were multiple people who submitted shorts so you could see how others would use the objects.  However, it only lasted for three episodes – Tape & a Stick, Balloon & a Sock, and Soup & a Cow. I The fourth one was Shampoo & a Bible, but it was never finished. As one of the producers on the show (Morgan Thomas and LT were the others), I tended to do as many shorts as we needed to fill up the episode.  Sometimes it was just one, sometimes it was two, for the first episode I helped with all three. 

 We had already gotten what we needed for Tape & a Stick and were working on Balloon & a Sock during the summer of 2002.  Morgan and LT had come to my house for a week over the summer just to hang out, and we decided rather randomly to film a movie while they were there.  We decided one day that we would film it the next day at the MacLeod Farm.  We didn’t really have an idea, but one had been simmering in my brain for a while – a school where people are taught to be melodramatic characters and taking classes geared to subjects like Taking Over the World.  So I sat down and wrote the script that night and we were ready to film the next day.

The casting was pretty easy since we were just going with who was available and divided up the parts by who wanted to play what.  There were actually six parts, but we were short one actor and since that character (the sidekick) only had one real line we left it to film later.  Morgan played the Villain, LT played the Hero, Annamarie MacLeod played the Damsel in Distress, Jen Weber played the Sassy Vamp, and I played the Professor.  The characters weren’t given names in the script, those came later and actually changed between the first edit for Tape & a Stick and the re-edit which I did this past year (I like the newer names better).

The movie was written in the style of an infomercial about getting a degree at a specialization school.  There were few scripted lines, mostly just speeches about each character’s chosen field of study (Hero, Villain, etc).  A lot of the filming was just shooting B-roll and cutaways for the narration of the list of classes.  

The first thing we did the day of filming was pick costumes.  Each character had to take classes in subjects other than their field to fulfill Gen Ed requirements, so they needed a lot of different costumes.  Luckily my mother is a costumer and the whole third floor of our house was basically a costume vault.  I filmed them picking things out to cover some of the classes on fashion.  It was a lot of fun just watching the actors pick out what they wanted for both their main character and their character’s outfits for other classes.  I remember Annamarie saying as she looked through the costumes that she was going for “maximum puffiness” and hopefully pink for her main outfit (which she successfully found).

Morgan, who played the Villain, found a white, fluffy dress with lots of ruffles for her outfit as a Damsel in Distress, which was hilarious to see how annoyed the character was while wearing it.  But they had the most fun picking out their Sidekick costumes, because they could be as random as they wanted with hats and props.

I had a little trouble working in the balloon and the sock, but both uses turned out to be pretty hilarious.  The sock was turned into a puppet, played by Jen Weber, who was the narrator for the whole thing – which is totally bizarre and fun by itself, and Jen is always hilarious at stuff like that.  The balloon we decided to use as a prop for one of the classes.  A “little girl” is holding a balloon for a class on Villainy and Morgan runs in and takes the balloon from her, making her cry – but she took it a step farther and started hitting the kid with the balloon. 

Once we got to the farm, we started off by filming the characters’ lines.  The funniest part was when we decided to film Jen’s lines as the Sassy Vamp on her red car.  She poses with a bottle of “hooch” and a cigarette while sitting on the hood of the car, which is amusing enough, but for one of her lines we decided to have her crawling sexily on top of the car.  That’s not an easy thing to do and resulted in some very funny bloopers.  We also learned there is way to get into a hammock and make it look sexy.  Hammocks are also not easy to get in.

After that we spent the rest of the day filming all the b-roll.  Because there was really no script for that part, it allowed all of us to be creative and just have fun.  And we did.  It was great to see how actors in their roles pretended to be other things in other classes.  That didn’t make sense.

For example, Annamarie played the cute and sweet (and kind of ditzy) Damsel-in-Distress, so it was quite amusing watching her in the “Villain” classes.   Morgan, as the Villain, refused to faint in the Damsel-in-Distress class Fainting 101, and just walks off the screen disgusted.  And seeing LT playing the Hero trying to be sexy in the Introduction to Seduction was priceless. 

We added a class on the set that someone suggested – the ever popular pirating course “Laughing and Jumping off of Something”.  I can’t remember who came up with it now, I think it was Jen but I’m not sure, but I think it’s pretty funny.  

There were talks with some of the actors about doing a mocumentary following some of the students through their four years at Medea.  Some of the students would switch majors by the end (the Damsel-in-Distress would turn into a Sassy Vamp, etc) and meeting the teachers, but it’s no scripts have been written and it probably won’t happen.  I think the only reason I would want to do it would be to see Andrew Thomas play the villainous looking Home Ec. teacher, who somehow makes baking cookies sound sinister.

I’ve had people (including the actors) ask why it’s called the Medea School of Melodrama.  Originally Medea was supposed to be MEDEA, an acronym that stood for something like the Melodramatic Education Department of something something, but I could never figure out a good one.  Honesty, I just liked how it sounded.  Of course it conjures up the dramatic character of Medea from Greek tragedies.  However, I have since decided that Medea was the daughter of the man who founded the school.  She died young, but always loved melodrama and wanted to learn how to be something more than a Damsel-in-Distress, so her incredibly wealthy father founded the school in her memory.  None of that is ever explained of course, but it would be if I ever did a longer version.

I had a great time filming it (and editing it), and I hope the actors did too. Unfortunately I can’t post the movie in its entirety for various reasons, but here are a few clips from the final edit:

Survivor's Club: Polar Plunge!

There are a lot of days when we film in bad weather - days so hot your eyeballs feel like they're frying, days so cold your hands might fall off, and rain pouring so hard you could almost drown on set. Each month we'll remember one of those horrible weather days and celebrate the survivors who braved the elements in order to film.  Why would we want to remember those days?  Because going through hell on set has a way of bringing everyone closer together when they can say they survived mother nature AND filming on a Yibble set.

Polar Plunge!

For some reason I like nightmare sequences to include lakes and drowning (I blame Doctor Who’s episode Paradise Towers), so since I had a lake available in Carbondale, I decided to have a shot of Zoey falling into a lake at the end of her nightmare in the final episode. 

The problem was that most of the filming took place in November.  I asked Brittany if she would be okay with that, and she readily agreed, despite the fact that it was probably going to be a wee bit chilly (she’s up for trying almost anything film wise – which is awesome!).

I also really wanted to have a demon come out of the lake and chase her during the nightmare sequence and was able to talk Michael Bunnell into playing the part.  I’m pretty sure he regrets agreeing to that now.

We chose a sunny day in late November for the shoot. It wasn’t really a warm day, but it wasn’t too cold either.  We began by filming most of the dry stuff around the area of Campus Lake. Then we filmed the lake shots.

Mike was the first to go in.  The look on his face as he slowly inched away from the shore made it clear the lake was very cold.  It hadn’t frozen yet, but it was probably close.  Since the shot involved him coming up out of the water, he had to duck beneath the surface first. 

It took him a few minutes to brace himself for the inevitable, then he ducked under.  He came up immediately, walking forward menacingly then stopped, unable to deal with the sudden cold - which unfortunately meant doing it again. 

The second time he went under and came up was perfect.  He stumbled towards the sure where Brittany waiting and as he got closer, she took off running.  As soon as we cut, he got out of the lake and headed home.  I was stupid and as inconsiderate as always and forgot to bring a towel or blanket to warm the actors up after their dip in a freezing cold lake. So Mike had to head home completely soaked – and I think he had to walk back to his dorm, which I really hope was somewhat close.

This experience lead to Mike’s piece of advice to future actors:

Never ever EVER allow Yibble to talk you into going into a lake at the end of November!  You'll spend the next hour in the shower trying to warm up.

Yeah, I’m not a nice director.  Although to be fair I gave him plenty of chances to back out, even up to the point where he was standing at the edge of the lake getting ready for the shot.  Still, the least I could have done was bring some towels.

After Mike had gone home to dry off, warm up, and nurse the cold or flu he would inevitably have soon, Brittany and I headed to the other side of the lake.  We filmed more shots of her dry being chased around the boat dock, than poured fake blood all over her so she could chase herself in a twisted nightmare situation.  She ended up at the edge of the dock, covered in blood and being pushed off the dock by an evil version of her self. That was pretty tricky to film, but we managed to get the right shots leading up to it. 

The last shot was her being pushed into the lake.  Since the person pushing her was herself, she had to look like she was being pushed but in reality she was actually throwing herself – backwards – off a dock and into a freezing cold lake. Again, it took a few minutes for her to get up the courage to make the leap and brace her self for the cold.  It was an awkward shot for an actor to do, but she did it really well and actually made it seem like she was being pushed off, landing in the water with a huge splash. 

She came back up to the surface and slogged her way to the shore, climbing back onto the dock and collapsing into a puddle – literally.  After a moment of catching her breath, she jumped back into the water to wash off all of the blood that was still running down her face and arms.

When she was free of fake blood, she got back out, then took off her shoes (which she had worn into the lake) and dumped out the water before squishing them back on.  Then two of us headed back to her car.  She dropped me off at my dorm, then returned to hers to warm up and dry off (and nurse the cold or flu he would inevitably have soon).

To those who survived the Polar Plunge, I thank you and salute you:

Michael Bunnell

Brittany Ann Whalen

I’m so glad neither of you got hypothermia, pneumonia, or died. I promise I’ll bring hot chocolate and soft, fuzzy blankets the next time I convince you to leaping into a freezing cold lake in the winter (cause you know I will – it’s as inevitable as getting a cold or the flu after filming on my set).

Lost Productions - The Devil In Disguise

I rarely start a project without finishing.  However there have been a few movies over the years that were planned, even started, but they were never completed for various reasons.  I'll occationally post about these movies and TV Shows just to share the productions that might have been.

The Devil in Disguise - 1999

The Devil in Disguise was written in the early Spring of 1999 and set to be filmed during to summer.  It's by far the closest to being filmed of any other "lost production".  Most of the productions never got past the partial script and casting phase, but TDID is one of only a few that really were almost made. 

It was a Faustian sort of movie that featured a talented dreamer - John Richards - who has terrible luck in0 love and a bad case of writer's block.  Unknown to him, his soul is actually quite precious because he's destined for greatness and his books will change people's lives in the future.  The angels want him to lead people to goodness and God and the Devil wants him to lead people to darkness and Hell.  

When he seems at his most vulnerable, The Devil sends in a woman - Selena Winters - to romance him, seduce him, then drop him so hard he will never be able to recover and will use his talents to spew hate instead of love.  But the angels aren't going to give up on John's soul without a fight.  Arch-angel Gabrielle (the lesser known twin sister of Arch-angel Gabriel) sends a young angel - Tammy Wilks - who's bored of heaven and wants to be reincarnated to help John see through Selena and get him to stay good. 

Of course Selena ends up falling in love with John and can't bring herself to break his heart.  She and Tammy conspire together to get her out of her contract with Satan, keep John from going bad, and getting Tammy a better afterlife.   At the beginning it seems a lot like Damn Yankees, then gets sort of Heaven Can Wait-y, and ends like the Devil & Daniel Webster, so you know...it's a good hash mesh of the cast Heaven and Hell plots.

The movie was written for Ryan Segovich, to give him a chance to be the lead - for it to be his movie.  I loved working with him in previous productions (and would love to work with him again hint hint hint), but it wasn't until Vigil that he truly had a lead role instead of a supporting character or glorified extra.  He was so wonderful that I want to make a movie for him to star in.  Unfortunately the movie was never made, and he never got his starring role (but if you ever want to star in a movie, Ryan, just let me know!  I'll so write another script for you!)

The cast was the usual mix of Sine Fine Film actors at that time, but I was trying to cast people in bigger or different parts than they had played before.  I wanted to see Margaret in a lead role as well, since she, like Ryan, had never played a true lead before so I cast her as the sexy-yet-strangely-sweet Selena. Since Chris Hutchens had never played a villain before so I cast him as Lucifer, and I regret not filming it if only to see how he would have played that part.  I wanted to bring in a fresh new face for Arch-angel Gabrielle so I cast the lovely and talented Jennifer Heaton (who was never actually able to be in another production sadly).  For the country-western-singing-bored-with-heaven-wants-to-party angel I fell back on an old favorite for such goofy and slightly crazy seeming characters - Rachel Anderson.  

Some of the smaller roles were given to familiar names in the SFF gang like Annamarie MacLeod as John's disappointed agent Ruth, Jill Hutchison as his ex-girlfriend Julie, Danny Skirvin as Arch-angel Gabriel, Jen Weber (or new comer Kali Smith) as Miria - one of the record keepers in Purgatory, and Tanino Minneci as the Devil Judge in the courtroom scenes.

The script was all written, the major characters were cast and set, I'd done scene breakdowns, and I had even finished pulling costumes and started working on shooting schedules.  The movie was a go.  So why was it never filmed? 

Because it was supposed to be filmed in the summer of 1999 and that summer I also planned to film a four episode TV show style production called Pandora's Box.  Pandora would all be filmed in June and Devil in Disguise would be filmed in July and August.  

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that was the problem.  Pandora's Box morphed into a huge production, growing from four episodes being filmed in one month to eventually becoming 24 episodes that would take almost two years to complete.  Devil in Disguise kept being pushed back and pushed back until I realized that it was never going to happen.  

At least all the actors, except Jennifer Heaton, appeared in Pandora's Box.  Margaret had a starring role and Chris played a villain who turned out to be a much more complex character than Lucifer would have been.  


Unfortunately Ryan Segovich did not get a starring role, but he did play the very important part of Philemon Orion in Episodes 16-18 and reappeared in the last episode as General Gamon.  He also played the evil henchman in Episodes 8-10 and was fantastic in all of his roles. 

I'd say it's sad, but the script isn't the best - fun, but not uber fantastic or anything.  I've thought about going back to it and maybe trying to film it someday, but I've decided I'm not going to film any movie that long again (it's about 100 pages), and I'd have to completely recast it, rework it, and probably rewrite it.  Also, some of the locations I wanted to film in - such as on an Amtrak train and in Chicago's Union Station - I have since realized I would not be able to get without a lot of money and a permit.  Oh well.