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[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Ollie Knows How To Use It Part III


The last issue is not having photo realistic CGI.

A good portion of the effects for "The Mist" were done for real with make-up and animatronics. That store tentacle was made, a wire pulley puppet, 1 to 1 scale. But it wasn't doing what they wanted. It was used and CGI layered over it. The bug that flew in the store was created as well, same deal.

The 'good' CGI never took me out of the narrative. Man, suspension of disbelief, if you can not do that, you missing the whole point of watching television and movies.



Above, left to right; creature designer, Greg Nicotero with Frank Darabont playing with the unassembled tentacle puppet. This was a low budget movie by Hollywood standards.

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The driving force was director/screenwriter Frank Darabont. He wanted this feature made for the past twenty years. There was a chance, earlier (for $30 million), but the producer wanted him to change the ending to an upbeat one. He said no - wanted it to be dark.

Bob Weinstein (of The Weinstein Company) gave him the go ahead, but with strings. 1) The new budget is $18 million. 2) Darabont would have to do it for free, no director's salary. He said yes. That's how this was made. Passion.

Shot in thirty-seven days, most big budget movies have double that.

"The Mist" was filmed during the hiatus of the FX cable series he was then working on "The Shield"; much of the crew from the series carried over to quickly shoot the feature, multi-cameras running at once to save time. You need to consider how little prep time this had, it was the best he could do under those constraints.

A testament of Darabont's talent to create a memorable picture.

The two disc edition features the movie the way the director wanted - black and white. Darabont wanted it played that way theatrically, but that was a hurl he couldn't overcome, but it's on the DVD. Perhaps the CGI looks better without color for those upset.

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Darabont wrote an alternate opening that wasn't filmed. We can blame or cheer actor Andre Braugher (played Brent Norton). We were going to see what happened at the laboratory; the scientists at their machines as Death rolled in.

Braugher convinced Darabont over dinner that not knowing was better. My feeling is, shoot it, but cut it out and put it on the DVD as an extra. Granted, an expensive bonus footage. I know I'm not the only one would love that.

Unfilmed opening: that storm was to blame. On that, now historic night, scientists opened a portal to a New World. The gateway was contained within a huge tank with instruments inside - examination and study.

Lightning struck the installation, the portal grew. The men and women there tried to stop it from expanding; more of the beasties were filling the containment. The tank ruptured and they flooded the laboratory, then base, then town... and beyond?

The novella has no answers - though we suspect that the nearby government facility was responsible, aptly named "The Arrowhead Project" (something to used to pierce). The town was lead to believe it was an agricultural research site.

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Didn't recognize actress Laurie Holden at the time. The year earlier she had another encounter with a mist, the feature, "Silent Hill". She played Officer Cybil Bennett. Man, she looked far more feminine in "The Mist".

Not always, but Stephen King has had bit parts in his adaptations. The director wanted him to play the Biker (with Dundee knife). But he passed. The role went to actor Brian Libby. I agree, not for him.

No offense, but I don't see King as a grizzled bad ass.

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Speculation, but I think this is what happened...

The portal is growing out of control; facility personnel are getting killed by the things tumbling into our universe unabated. Some go deep inside to find a place to hide and plot to stop it.

The nightmare began for the Draytons during that electrical storm into the next morning; discovering their boat house smashed by their neighbor's big tree. Stephanie comments about the strange fog coming down from the mountains onto the lake.

Needing supplies; David, Billy and Brent leave home and go into town for groceries. This is when the second event occured.

The huge quake. This happened AFTER the mist had over taken the town.

I'm under the impression that there were an attempt by those still alive at the facility to close that ever growing portal; big enough to allow that behemoth to walk through.

The only answer is a nuclear detonation; perhaps not designed for that purpose, but used by the survivors at Arrowhead. It could've been a containment fail-safe, manually activated. It worked, closed the portal which then cut off the supply of that universe's atmosphere - the mist. Without that 'air' those creature were dying out from our native environment.

It took a while to evaporate; kinda like those Halloween misters with color lights. It's contained in the bowl (I image that town was surrounded by hills and mountains which contained the murk), but given enough time after being turned off - it evaporated. Which is what happened in the movie.

The army, flame throwers were not used to evaporate the mist, those gear and tanks were used to kills the creatures not dying yet. Or dying poorly taking everyone around them.

Quake was not that behemoth - recall that when it walked by David's jeep, it shock with each step. The shake was a single quake then nothing, a massive explosion in the distance. And recall there was a siren blaring in town before the quake.

A notice of something big was about to happen - then silence.

The actions at Arrowhead would make a great prequel.

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Before you ask. I don't have cable, have not seen Spike's adaptation series.

I know it has gotten mixed review. Probably buy the show when it hits DVD, I'm curious.

It's been canceled. A factor could be that Spike will cease to exist come January 2018.

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A couple of non-related CDs.

"Haunted World" is a 2002 atmospheric concept album by Billy Mallery a.k.a Hover (a sound designer). Great for Halloween haunted houses.



When I first heard this CD, soundscape, it reminded me of "The Mist".

What I'd expect to hear in the murk; things, bad things - nasty things, definitely creepy.

Bought mine from Amazon, years ago. You can also find it at CD Baby. Checked, it's still for sale there, $14.99. *nods*



The other is another concept album from 1998. Can't recall when I first heard it, let alone where bought it. This is John Broaddus a.k.a. Laocoön - his album "Immersion".

An ambient sonic atmosphere, blending unique synthetic textures, rich analog waves and digital samples. Individual tracks are unified by a concept of water - immersed in a sonorous reverberation of introspection.

- from the booklet

Track three, "Liquid Prism" is what I would expect to be playing while seeing someone wandering outside, before meeting their horrible fate. Complete with distant bellows - something HUGE is out there.

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Recommendations.

I debated whether or not to write up a listing for week four. But there are five more days to Halloween - so is one more.

"The Ruins" (2008)
There are two versions, R rated and Unrated. I would go with the Unrated edition. On vacation in Mexico, two American couples are offered a chance to see something not on any map from a guy taking a break by the hotel's pool. He's part of an archaeological dig deep in the forrest - the ruins of a long lost Mayan temple. The journey is difficult, but once there, they find a silent site. Where are all the researchers? What they get instead is local villagers with bows and guns; keeping them from leaving. Force on top of the broken cathedral, the group soon discovers why. This place has been in quarantine for thousands of years by the descendants of the original Mayan inhabitants. A gory tale with ratcheted paranoia. Based on the novel of the same name by Scott Smith.
DreamWorks Home Entertainment - 2008 - NR/R

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Just Because.



Who?

A ten year old Laurie Holden as Marie Wilder with her on screen mom, Ruth (Gayle Hunnicutt) in the then big budget NBC mini-series, "The Martian Chronicles" loosely based on the Ray Bradbury novel. Aired on January 27th, 28th and 29th, 1980. Man, the fashion is very dated.

By the way, this isn't the first time William Sadler has been engulfed. Here he played handiman, Jim Grondin, but back in 1984 he played David Drayton in the 3D audio production!

Man, it's frackin' weird - actress Frances Sternhagen (Irene). I've grown up watching her on TV and movies (first time I saw her was as Dr. Lazarus in "Outland" [1981]), she's always looked elderly. Just like actor, Abe Vigoda; the 1970s ABC series, "Barney Miller" (when it first aired). He played Det. Phil Fish - looked geriatric then too.

There you go. Sway! All new Past Tenses next month. Come back here on November 9th, 2017 for a show about an entrepreneur who engages in an age old vocation.