M3DICINE SHOW CIN3MA

A cold front moved in from Canada leaving a good five or six plus inches of fresh snow on ground that had been nearly snow free due to two solid days of sunny skys. I had been hoping for some snowfall for aesthetic sake but this was overkill…but we worked with it and actully things turned out better visually for it. We hit two blocks in downtown Niagara Falls which was been a urban war zone since the late 70s. One thing you have to say about the terrible economic conditions that have plagued Niagara Falls for the past 30 years plus, there’s plenty of abandoned buildings. We shot Jonthan Harker making his way to the castle of Nosferatu. First he walks through the town which is empty storefronts and broken windows. The sky was gray and snow was falling - tiny flakes that moved slowly through the air. Very little wind meant it was actually warmer than it looked and helped keep the snow off the camera. A large tarp also helped. Following this we headed down the road to Devil’s Hole State Park. Here there is a stone stairway that leads all the way down to the bottom of the gorge but because of icy conditions there was no way we could safely descent that far. We chopped a ton of ice from the first level however creating a realitively safe path for Jonothan to descend. We ended Jonothan’s scenes wherein he stops and reacts to a graveyard. The graveyard is a miniature which we will place before a green screen, flood with fog, and shoot. Here is where Jonothan meets up with Camilla, an exciled bride of Nosferatu. We wrapped the day by shooting Mina in a long flowing black shroud calling out for Jonothan. This to be used in a dream sequence. Our day started at 8am and we wrapped around 2pm. The actors were perfect. The crew was on their marks. The contrast between the dark clothing being worn by the actors, the snow shrouded dead trees, and the gray sky provided a wonderfully stark expressionistic look.