puppets elora

- all right, cleve,you're up. - on this episodeof monster man... - the mega spiderstarts off as kind ofan oversized black widow, and it evolves into the sizeof a pickup truck. - the kind of makeupthat we're talking about, just mouth wide open,nostrils flaring. - [screams]- whoa. i'm glad that mikeis so excited

about using practical effectsfor his spider movie, but it also meanswe have to really pull this one out of the bag,or he's gonna go with the cg. - i would loveto take that away and in-your-facedigital people. - i-- stop hitting mewith this [bleep]. - or what? - the end.- all right, let's shoot this.

[thunder claps] - and...action. - in the worldof practical effects, this is alwaysthe moment of truth. - cut. think we haveto do it digitally. - it's a sad dayfor practical effects. - [growls] - i'm cleve hall.[groans] i make monsters...- [growls]

for the biggest namesin hollywood. - action.[screaming] - and i work with the mosttalented team in the business. let's go make a monster.come on! my daughter,constance, my ex-wife, sonia, and my youngest,elora, [yelling]my crew: hill and johnnie,

and my bosses,roy and cindy. yeah.- whoo! - when a scene begsfor the unimaginable, - [screams] - hollywoodcalls on me to make someold-school movie magic... [squawks]- with my own two hands. that's whyi'm the monster man. - it's roy we're meeting?- yeah, roy it is.

- hey, man.- i'm mike. - this morningwe're meeting with cult horror film director,mike mendez. mike's already had two filmsnationally released through lionsgate-- [roaring] convent and the tribeca film festivalfeature the gravedancers. now mike wants us to dothe effects for his new project, mega spider.

- uh, we had the design teamkind of come up witha few looks here. - oh, nice.- yes. most of the stuff is digital, but i'm a huge fanof makeup effects. this is what i wanted to dowhen i was a kid, so i always believed practicalis the best way to go. and if you can't do it,then go digital. this is me throwingthe gauntlet at you guys.

- i'm glad that mikeis so excited about using practical effectsfor his new, big spider movie, but it also means we haveto really pull this one out of the bag, or he's gonnajust go with the cg. - basically, what we need--we'll go in order here-- the mega spidergoes through phases. it starts off basicallylike an oversized black widow that's abouttwo feet long. a practical puppet.that's at stage one.

- this is stage one.- that's at stage one. then it kind of evolvesinto this menace, which is aboutthe size of a pickup truck. most of the stuff is digital,but basically what we need is, like, the front halfof the spider. - i'm so looking forwardto this challenge. it's gonna be a big spider head,small puppet, and they both haveto look amazing, and they both have to beeasy to operate.

- uh, the other thingi was gonna ask is-- the mega spider vomitslike jeff goldblum in the fly, and then when it does that itsort of melts the person's face like the nazi at the endof raiders of the lost ark. - raiders. - and then the melting head. - bingo.- is that pretty much--yeah. - originally i was justgonna do it digitally, but we want to haveone solid moment where we see that effecthappening from start to finish.

- so do you also want the spiderto spin webbing? - i mean, i was planningon doing it digitally, but if you guys havea practical solution on how to web people,that'd be awesome. - lot more thanyou'd expect. - i love the actual,you know-- - we got a spider head,we've got a spider puppet, we've got a spin webbing,and we've got a melt-a-man. that's really a lot to doin a week.

- we just need to getthe reference from you guys, the scale--- okay. - yeah, i mean, is thisthe, uh, locked-in design? - no, no, no.we'll get you the cg model, uh, as soon as possible.- okay. - we need to start on thismega spider build immediately if we're gonna keepon schedule, so we're gonna hedge our betsand hope that these finished plans look likethe initial ones mike gave us.

- thank you, guys.- thank you so much. - thank you so muchfor seeing us. - perfect. - hey, what's cleve'sfavorite kind of movie? - giant monsters.- giant monsters. - oh.- giant octopus, giant spiders, giant lizards.if 13 years of marriage taught me anything, it's thatthe man loves giant monsters. - so we just got a movie incalled mega spider.

- they want to do practical, butmost of the giant spider stuff is gonna be cg,so we're gonna be matching our stuffto the cg spider, but it has notbeen approved yet. - so we've got three thingswe need to build for this show. the spider starts outabout 30 inches, so we're gonna builda full-bodied spider puppet, - cool.- then there is a second stage-- it's about as bigas a pickup truck.

- ah, sweet.- so we're building the head of that. 'cause what it does is,it attacks people and stabs them and vomitson them and dissolves them. and we needa melting head. - are you kidding me?a giant spider that vomits on people? this is like christmas morningfor us. - the other thing is, the spidershoots people and webs them up.

- ooh. - is there anythingwe can do practically? they're planningon doing it all digital, but i would love to, like,take that away and in-your-face digital peopleusing practical. - silly string.- net gun. - silly s--- let's get a net gun. - net gun?- [laughs] - any time we have a chanceto kill cgi,

we will takethat opportunity. all right, man.[claps] - sounds easy.- let's go for it. - sounds like fun. - i got to getthe spider head started. it is never gonna get doneon time. we have not gota final design, but i'm just gonnastart building it based on the designwe have here.

if that changes,i'll deal with it. this is the sizethat they sent. pixelated,low-res image is what i've got nowto work off of. - it's pretty coolworking with my dad, but it's also pretty coolknowing that we can take this little imageand blow it up ten times the size to makethis giant alien spider head. - we really needbetter images.

- while we waitfor the final plans, i thought we could get a jumpstart with some design ideas. yo, hill.- yup. - you're kind of weird,you wouldn't happen to have any, like, black widows back there inyour freaky ice locker of death otherwise known as the freezer,would you? - yup.- sweet! how did i know that hillhad spiders in the freezer? 'cause i dated the guyfor two years,

and hill is...unique. ah! you have a lot. that guy's big.- oh, my god! that's so creepy. - what about that one? - hourglassis right there. it's not as predominantanymore. - hill, do you not thinkthere's anything weird about owning a black widowcollection in your freezer?

- he doesn't have to, the restof us think it hard enough. - hill's spider collectiongave me an idea for the small spider. all spiders pretty muchhave that big bubble butt in the back, so even withoutthe final cgi dimensions, i can at least make a prototype,using foam for the abdomen and steel wiresfor the legs. - as if we didn't have enoughgoing on right now at the shopwith mega spider,

i've also set up a creativemeeting with josh separzedeh. he's an amazing, young,conceptual photographer who works withall the major studios. his incredible visual style hasbeen used to market true blood and the halloween franchise. - so what i have isa project from a client that is readyto start shooting. - called what?- pretties for you. - pretties for you? - right now we have

an interesting position wherewe can create the makeup that would potentiallybe in the movie. and so what i have hereis some sketch boards. so this is the kind of makeupthat we're talking about. just mouth wide open,dark nostrils flaring, and we want to shoot itfor the poster for the moviethat's coming out. - well, uh,my daughter constance is usually the avocation personfor, uh, plans.

this is totally--- this is right up her alley. it could be really--she wouldkick this thing's butt. - oh, yeah. constance isan amazing makeup artist. it's her passion. and i feel this isa great opportunity to give her a lead on a projectand let her show her stuff. constance,this is josh. - hi.i know the team has a lot

on their plate right now,but i am totally stoked that my dad's giving me a chanceto run this project. - they have an actress already,and i told josh that, you know, get her in here asap. - when would this be? - [chuckles]like, within the week. - this is awesome, but the success of the shootall falls on my shoulders. i'll startby drawing a sketch,

so i can visualizehow to create the look. but first it has to passthe daddy test. - i like that kind of--you got kind of a brooding thing going on here, i see.- i thought it was cool, yeah. - build it out. keep it, like,really thin up there, but just...shape. minimalize the nose,but you can't see the nostrils, and then see where it goesfrom there. for this photo shoot,we're gonna turn a pretty girl

into a lifeless ghoul, we're gonna adda foam latex appliance to exaggerateher cheekbones, and then her entire bodywill be covered with a ghoulish,gaunt makeup that createsan ultra twisted scream queen. [thunder claps][scream] even though i'm still waitingfor the final design on the cg mega spider,i'm just gonna have to

jump aheadand start carving a foam head. - i just wanted to check up onyou and see what you're doing. - i'm not happythat i don't really have a good character sheet on this,showing a front view, top view, side view, so i'm just decidingto make it up, and it'll look like that. as soon as i'm donecarving this spider head, constance is gonna match itto what she's doing.

not supposed to breathethis stuff, it'll kill you. now...- wear a mask. - i'm just telling younot to breathe it. - here. just put it on. don't be dumb.- no, the camera-- - yes.look, we might be divorced, but somebody still needsto look after cleve. - [laughs] that smile offyour face right now. - you'll live a lot longer.

- for once sonia'snot trying to kill me. i think i liked it betterthe other way. okay, i want to showall you guys these designs. - well, the cgi company finallysent us the approved images, and...- whoa! that looks very differentthan the picture they sent me. - yeah,it is very different. - look at this [bleep]. - typical cg guys,can't keep consistent.

cgi should stand for"computer generated irritation." - okay, this is, like--- yeah, it's--it's not a regular black widow. - are you surethis is the final? - here's the underjaw. - these are all the eyesright here? - yeah,those are the eyes. - the size of those things isnot gonna be easy to mechanize. - based onthe new measurements we received

with the spider design, there's just no way i canfit my hand inside this body. - this won't moveagainst itself. - right.- it's just gonna be hard to work with.- it boggles the mind. - that doesn't look natural. - i have a stomachache. [thunder claps]- co monster man, - i really hate for directorsto come over

to see somethingthat's not finished. - whoa, look at this. - plaster applicationcan be really claustrophobic for some models,and any erratic movement will ruin the cast. there we go. - whoa. - well, dog jeezies. - we tried to get a jumpon the mega spider build

without the final designs,and what happens? of course, the final cgi designis completely different than what we were givenin the first place. - good thing i didn't gettoo much further with it. - the first images they sent uslooked like black widow spiders, but then the later imagesthey sent us looked like alien spiders,i guess. - but it just lookscompletely different than the-- - that's complex.this is the meaty spider.

- yeah, and it's a littlebeefier than the ones we made. we had to start buildingthe mega spider. there was no way we couldget done without it. the new designs arrived, and they were drasticallydifferent from what we expected. a lot of what we had builthad to be changed. to build mega spider,we first have to break him down into his smaller parts. for the small spider,we'll create a rod puppet

with opposable wire legsthat bend and maneuver in truly menacingmega spider fashion, and then fabricate the largespider head out of foam. it has to be large enoughto fit an operator inside but light enough to thrashits mega mandibles about. and, of course,don't forget the head melt. we're gonna covera plastic skull with several layersof colored gelatin and wax. that way,when the head melts,

you're gonna seethe gooey layers drip away. uh, we're gonna start workingon this thing. now i'm doinga pencil line sketch off of the new, improvedspider head designs, so i can now work outthe proportions of this. yeah, this is only, like,150% different than what i originallyexpected to build, but... hey, you know, if it wasn'tfor these little challenges, it wouldn't be worth doing,would it now?

[sighs]makes life worthwhile. - even though we just got throwna huge curveball with this new spider design, chelsea, the model for the pretties for you poster shoot, is herefor her life cast. so constance,this is chelsea. - hey.- hi. - she's gonna be doingyour life cast. - okay, cool.

- johnnie and i are makinga cast of her head, so we can createa foam latex appliance that i'm gonna use later onin the makeup stage. - what we're gonna be doingis putting some plaster bandage setsto hold the mold together. we always walk the model throughthe life-casting process, because it can bea confining thing, but it seems like chelseais ready to go for it. - let's do this thing.

- no. are you okay so far?- mm-hmm. - good.- the plaster application can be really claustrophobicfor some models, and any erratic movementwill ruin the cast. you look beautiful, darling.- mm-hmm. - right now it's drying,so you're nearly there. we're taking offthe back half first. - okay, the back halfis removed.

- right. there we go.- oh, yeah. - hello, world.- great. no cracks, no bumps, so now we've got everythingwe need to start sculpting. - now it's up to meto not let chelsea or the photographer down. - crazy.- what--what little makeup you had on...- yeah.

has been removed too.- [laughs] - okay, you gotthe pattern pieces? blow them up, trace them,you know how to do that. now that we have the finaldesign for mega spider, we have no time to wastegetting these patterns made. we need to do this at a blowupof 1 inch to 1 foot. this is the scaleright here. eh, bingo. i need to take the patternsi traced from the cg images

and blow those up to mega sizeon the overhead projector. right now we're justgetting the head assembled. - and where'sthe good sharpie? - and now we're blowing him upto ten times the original size. now we're gonna builda giant spider head out of foam. you trace your pattern piecesover the foam, cut those pieces out,and assemble one bigass spider. it's like assemblinga giant jigsaw puzzle. one more.

okay.this one off to the side and these two will behere and here. and then we're gonna putthose last two pieces on. [sighs] rocks! - mike mendez is stopping byto check out the progress on the mega spiderhead build. i really hopehe likes what he sees. i don't want to give himany excuse

to try to go digitalon this. - back again, here we are.- yeah. - oh, look at this.- i don't see her. sometimes they justcan't envision what it's gonna look likewhen it's done. - i'm a little surprisedthat it wasn't actually clay and sculpted and--and, uh,you didn't mold it, but, uh-- - to sculpt, mold, and casta giant spider head in this time frame?impossible.

that'sa several-step process. my technique, paint it,take it to set, and you're readyto start killing immediately. - [laughs] - huh? eh? eh? eh?okay. - it's kind of cool. - wait, wait, wait, wait. - i'm firingthe cgi company tonight, uh-- - whoa.[laughter]

- thank you! of course he loves it.i love it. it's awesome,what's not to love? - think you should attackroy here with that, uh-- - [growls]- [laughs] [grunting and growling] - i'm really fired upthat mike loved the spider head, but the real test is gonna bewhen we paint it and put the finishing toucheson it.

- all right, guys,we'll see you soon. - all right, take care, guys.- thanks so much. - thanks, mike.- thank you. - well,that was terrifying. - now that i havethe actress' head cast, i can use it to makea clay sculpture of the appliancethat i'm gonna be putting on her in the makeup stage. to really getthat gaunt appearance,

i start by enhancingthe brow bone, so that i can get her eyesto look deeper and more vacant. then i'll raise her cheekbonesto give her that really emaciated, emotionlesslook that we're going for. after i'm donesculpting this, me and johnniewill make a mold of it, clean it out,run the foam in it, and then it will be readyto be applied. - want me to hold it for you?- no, i'm okay.

what i'm probably gonna haveto do is spray the whole thing and then takea couple parts apart and replace themwith spandex. while i finish gluingthe spider head together, i've decided to ask constanceand hill to get a head start on the web-spinning ideas, and i see this is a very goodopportunity to steal a scene from the cg guys. [air blowing]

- so i'm pretty confidentin my design for a web shooter. i'm using a combinationof a glue gun and an air compressor. how's you string concept therecoming along? - it's got some kinksthat need to be worked out, but other than that,it's just dandy. - you mean the fact thatit still looks like string? - hill always wants to turneverything into a competition, but i still betmy silly string idea

is better thanwhatever he comes up with. it stilllooks cool enough. - looks like string. - you know what? you can putsomebody's eye out with that. - there's a reason hill and iare not dating anymore. the guy seriously needsto lighten up. - maybe we should justcover everybody in twine. it should look betterthan string, right? - well, at leastthey'd get covered.

- let's just go to the toy storeand buy cans of stupidity. we're in the business of makingkickass special effects, not toys. so if constancewants to play a game, she's gonna pay for it. you know, [bleep] stophitting me with this [bleep]. ooh ooh ooh! seriously? water?grow up. - you know what?quit that [bleep].

now you're reallypissing me off. - coming upon monster man... - [laughing]i hate to tell you this, i think we have to do itdigitally. - constance did an amazing jobwith this makeup, but what really mattersis what josh thinks when he sees her.- [screams] i don't have time to play gameswith constance. in the end, we'll seewho has the better web design.

the end. - he can throw awaymy silly string as much as he wants, but iwill be laughing my ass off when his web shooter fails. - the competitiongot a little heated between hill and constance aboutwhose web design was better, so i decidedto get everybody out of here and take them to a park. let's shoot these things offoutside.

let's seewho has the best design. - what's up? hey, man.- fellas, how are ya? i'm anxious to seewhat you have for me today. - we invited mike to come outto prove to him that practical effectsare a much better way than cgi. - all right, mike,i've got one of those, uh, secrets of the orient. - ancient chinese secret, eh? - i'm using an ancientmartial art technique

involvingshredded tissue paper, so i've got to toss thisexactly right, or else the paper is justgonna dribble to the ground. - shall we?- let's do it. - bring it.- okay, first i do the warm-up. okay, and--- okay. - there you go. - all right.- see? there's your webs. - that's pretty cool,actually.

impressive, i like it. - and that is howyou set the bar in a web competition. - there's more. there is more.- good, all right. - [laughs] i'm going witha silly string concept because it's got thatgreat sticky texture, and it holds togetherlike a real spider web. - all right,it was a noble effort. all right, i'll give youpoints for trying.

- well, mike isn't 100% thrilledwith anything he's seen so far, but we still gota couple things left. - so what do we have now? - a net gun.- a net gun? - a net gun. well, since mega spiderpreys on humans, figured he had to have a webthat could catch humans. here goes.- ready. [laughter]well, i think we're going cg.

[laughter] - not so fast.say hello to my little glue gun. hot glueis a type of starch. by the time it reaches you,it'll be completely cooled off. - ow. [laughs] - still hot?- yeah, you know the partwhere it cools off? - the glue may burn, eh,just a little bit, but when it cools, it getsa really nice webbing effect.

pretty cool-looking. - all right, guys,i like this one. this is, uh,this is a good one. maybe we use thatfor set dressing. actually very clever,i like it. - in your face,constance. not only did i winthe web shooting contest, but now mike's gonna use itas actual set dressing. - practical effects, two.cgi, zero.

- constance.- what? - uh, come here for a second. gonna have johnnie go aheadand do the puttying in. - oh, okay.- yeah, finish that up. i realize mike had his heart seton having a hand puppet, but with the dimensionsthey gave me, there was no wayi could fit my hand in there. i think we shouldstick a pipe in, maybe pour a littlesoft polyfoam inside that thing

to anchor itinto that. from my years of experiencepuppeteering, i know the rod puppetwill work way better than a hand puppetever could. now, i was personally thinkingthat there's some way of adapting thisinto that thing. uh, from what i can tell is,if i took the spring off of this thing,then i would have manual control over it.

unfortunately,the finishing touches on this are just gonna have to waitbecause the pretties for you photo shootis just hours away. - shoo! - tonight is the photo shootfor the pretties for you poster. i'm excited to seehow the foam appliance works out on chelsea,but first thing, i start by airbrushingher entire body. - hey, constance.- you came just in time.

i got everything all set upback there. - let's do this.- sweet. i'm gonna start from the feetand work my way up. any last questionsbefore we start? - let's get this done.- all right, let's do it. josh really wantsthat lifeless look, so i'm gonna dial backher natural flesh tone by covering her bodyin grayish white paint. we got the first coat on,but now comes the hard part...

the facial appliance. to really sellthe emaciated effect, it's imperative that i makechelsea and the appliance blend togetherseamlessly, otherwise the edgeswill stick out. and if gettingthis whole project done on time wasn't enough pressure,now i have to do it with my dadlooking over my shoulder. - well, i was thinking, pullingthe hair down around the front

and take careof these edges, and-- - there's reallynot much of an edge, just a little bit of patchingand some edges. you see 'em,grab 'em. - the edges have to beblended perfectly, or else it's gonna just looklike a person wearing a mask. if you wouldn't mindslipping these in for a second. very cool. with the mega spider build

and this photo shootgoing on simultaneously, there's no optionbut for everyone to work together as a teamand support each other. - how's it going?- going pretty good. - oh, cool. that looks great.cool. good job, constance. constance did an amazing jobwith this makeup, when he sees her. [scream] in the worldof practical effects,

this is alwaysthe moment of truth, the first time everyone seesthe monster moving on set. - how longbefore it can be ready? - two or three minutes.- guys, three minutes away. - if it moves well,they love you. if it doesn't, cg.- and...action. - we've finished the makeupon chelsea for the pretties photo shoot. now i'm just hopingthat we've blended

the appliance well enoughto pass josh's inspection. - wow.that's amazing. the teeth are dripping,it's perfect. all right,let's shoot this. - this light,it's falling on you like-- like waterfalls on a plate. really react to it. when yousee your shadow underneath you-- - i'm feeling pretty confidentright now. the shoot ended upcoming on my shoulders,

and, um,i pulled it off. - now walk to me.i'm your victim. - less right there. it's edible?- it's--well, it's frosting. - it's frosting. - very animalistic. scream.- [screams] - there we go. - uh, wow.

- i think that's it. think we got it.- all right. - we got it.- okay. - i can't waitto show the filmmakers, they're gonna love it.i mean, it just--it was perfect. do you want to seesome of the images? - yeah.- oh, jeez. - oh, my god,that is a great shot. - i am really happy with the wayeverything turned out,

and josh gotsome amazing shots. - cleve, constance,thank you so guys much. - i'm proud of constance,i'm proud of my whole team. constance, she's nowjust getting into her own. i remember my first yearsdoing this stuff, there was timesthat i just wanted to run and hide somewhere,but that's just not an option. you know, you've gotan entire crew, you've got money riding on it,you've got to finish.

i was there for her,she'll be there for me one day. - even though i did geta little help from my dad in the end,it still feels pretty good to have done this projectalmost entirely on my own. and i got to say,i did a pretty kickass job. - this is perfect.- that was cool. - thank you, very good.- this is incredible. - we can't really be late.they're gonna flip out. - i just need to gluethose seams shut,

and then we'll paintthe whole thing. - roy likes to get on my caseall the time about being late. he worries too much. he knowsi'm gonna be there on time, he knowsit's gonna be fantastic, he knows everybody'sgonna love us. - the little puppet spideris just--it's not done yet. and we're supposed toleave for set in... [sighs]20 minutes. - everything elsehas to get rigged on the set

because i need to see whatthe spider's supposed to do. - i know i haven't beenworking here that long, but it feels like we'recutting this awfully close. are we gonna be late?- no. unless there's traffic. - like i said,awfully close. - with the cg planscoming so late, it took methe entire night to finish the mechanicsfor the spider's mandibles. now all i've got leftto do, though,

is touch up the glue pointsand head to set. mega spider'sready for his closeup. [angry spider growls] - we got to set on time,for once, but now it's allup to cleve to do his bestspider impersonation. - all right, fellas,hello. there is somethingi'm dying to see 'cause that isvery important to today,

where isthe little spider? i'd love to seethe mechanics of it. mechanics--your fingers. uh, i'd love to see,uh, you know, the-- - you think my handfits in that thing? with the dimensions we received,there is no way of making the spidera hand puppet. - uh, we got--we have rods.it's rod puppeting, and we have, like, the pinchersoff a controller and stuff.

- mechanical stuff. - but--but, it is a hand puppet,right? it does the--put the--- if you stuffed your hand inside of it,it would be one, yes. mike is in for a very rudeawakening if he thinks he can stick his handinside of a puppet this small. - i'm just concernedthat i designed all my shots to be finger extensions. - the problem is, like,the way--the size of the body,

there's nowhereto hide your hand in it. to make it like that,you would clearly seethe puppeteer's hand. - ah, all right,so how does this work? - all right, watch.so it does this. you get movement out of these.- okay. - we have rodsthat we attach to these, that all these move. i think we haveto do it digitally.

i mean, i really needed, like,things that fit on fingers and did that, you know?- i think we can do that. - well, obviously,we'll give it a go, and obviously, everyone'sgonna grab a clean plate, and we will havethat option. - all i have to dois attach the rods to the puppet's legs,and they'll move everywhere i want 'em to, but mike won'tgive me the time to attach them. - all right, cleve,you're up!

- uh, cleve,thank you very much, sir. - so i don't knowif this is gonna work with the practical spider,this might work better as a digital one. this is cleve.- i'm cleve, how are you doing? - this is mega spider.- hi. - so this has essentiallyface-hugged you. - tell me when we're readyto try it. you guys understand the shot,you know what we're going for?

- you're not seeingthe head of the spider or anythingat this point, right? - no, just the legs. - and this is the one whereyou want it to do the rear up, or is that another shot?- no, it's more so that it's already on him,and we're sliding back to the flat line, so technicallyhe's already dead, it's justthe spider's eating his face. the first time everyone seesthe monster moving on the set.

- sorry, cleve, i got to ask,how long before it can be ready? - two or three minutes.- huh? - i'll figure something outin two or three minutes. - guys, three minutes away!three minutes away! if it doesn't... [scoffs]cg. - all right, cleve, we're readyfor a shot actually. i'm sorry.- all right, not a problem. - all right,here we go, guys!

- we're going to need to bringblack gloves, i can see. - guys, i got to go.picture's up. - mark it.- tell me when you're set. and...- action. let that spider go,it's going crazy on your face! oh, the humanity!oh, my goodness, and he flatlines.ohh--kay. and cut. all right...- cut! - let's do a digital pass,please.

- as soon as mikeyelled, "cut," i knew that was it. he hated it,and he was gonna go digital. - all right, guys,i think it's a sad day for practical effects,but we have to move on. - that was so funny, i wasthinking the exact same thing. - [growls]- coming up on monster man... - smashy-smashy time. - this is the momenteverything is riding on. one chanceof getting this right.

- even though our rod puppetperformed well, mike hated it.nothing i could do. he's decided to go digital. - back to one! same thing without the spider,please. take the spider out. - we're not gonna slow downour momentum. we're gonna keep workingon the other three effects for this film--the web spinning, the melting head,and the giant spider head--

but now, i feelthere's even a risk that he's gonna wantto do that as digital. [laughing]yeah. so needless to say,i'm a little nervous about any further spider effectsthat are practical in the movie. but again, i like them,and you know, just 'cause you messed up oncedoesn't mean that, you know, i'm gonnawrite you off completely, so we're gonna give themanother shot.

and, uh, let's see if practicalcan win after all. - everybody's reallybummed out about howthe small spider shoot went, so i think it's timethat everybody just relax, take a deep breath,and reevaluate everything. - feel that. - yeah, yeah.- [sighs] or as i call it,smashy-smashy time. - considering we've had a fewproblems with the cgi company,

i think i have just the itemroy's looking for. - yeah! - so whenever roygets really pissed, we give himsome smashy-smashy time. - [laughing] yeah!- which means we let him smash up some junkaround the shop. - it's smashy-smashy--- [growls] - yeah!- i really think it's important for peopleto enjoy their work.

i think sometimes they needto blow off a little steam. - hey, you want to knowthe only thing that's better? you know what's betterthan smashy-smashy time? give me a match. burny-burny time. - no, do not--! - smash it.- [laughs] yeah! - [yells]

[lion's roar] - and that pretty much sums upwhat we think of cgi. - well, after that displayof tribal savagery, i think it's timeto get back to work and getthe other pieces done. i'm having constancecoat the spider's head with a glossy finish. so even ifit's a dark place, the light will reflectfrom the contours,

and you're gonna seean evil spider coming at you. - i love my big spider.- oh. - with only two days leftbefore the shoot, hill really needs to getthe melting head together before his head melts. - so does this have stuffover the wax, or did you just paint it? - there's gelatin. it's gonna be embeddedin gelatin.

- for this head-melt effecti kind of want it to look like and ice cream sundaemelting on a hot summer day, with a lot of layers spilling outon top of each other. first, take one scoopof human skull, paint it cherry red,and pack it with eyeballs. next, we're gonna flip our skullinto the cast of our actor and then cover itin warm gelatin. - oh, so it's gelatin and wax.- mm-hmm.

what's happening is,the skull is slipping... - oh.- because of the hot gelatin. - it's almost likewaiting for paint to dry. - or waiting onsome gelatin dessert. - for thishead-melt effect, much like jell-o,you have to wait until it hardensbefore we get to play with it. and finally, we'll paint ona layer of flesh-colored gelatin that'll look like skin.

and then we'll addsome hair and makeup and put the torchesto it and watch the gooey layersjust slip away. - are we ready? let's go! - it's gonna take 20 minutesto light it, so-- [indistinct chatter] - oh, wait,you know what? let's think aboutthis light thing.

- i do believe that todayis the day of the spider vomit. yes, viscous vomitfrom our spider, and i believe thatit's very acidic and dissolvessomeone's head. - okay, there you go.there you go. - and we want it to benice and shiny. mike will be herein a couple of minutes, and he's going to inspectthe finished spider head. if he decideshe likes this,

we will dothe vomit scene first. - a lot of peoplealways looking forward to making a mess. i'm not looking too forwardto having to clean up the mess, but, uh,it's all part of the job. i don't care if i'm coveredhead to toe in spider barf, it's all up to cleve and ito redeem practical effects. - cleve hall,how are you, sir? - oh, mike.hey, how's it going?

- good.look at this. - if mike reactsto the big spider head the way he didto our little spider, we might as well justpack it in now and go home. - let me...check this out. one, two, three, four--well, it's-- it's, uh, it has the correctamount of eyes, right? it's got eight eyes there.- absolutely. - all right.i like the little barbs.

it looks like the alien queen.very nice. - yeah, well, it looks likethe design head, so-- - i know, right? and more importantly,when it has to vomit on people, like we're gonna vomitshortly. all right, hill,excellent work. let's go shoot this.let's do it. - the moment of truthhas arrived once again. it is now time for us to delivera purge-worthy take.

- all right, camerain first position, please. - there will be vomit tonight,oh, yes. if it's not from the spiderand that doesn't work, it's gonna be from me. - get a little smoke up.a little bit of smoke. - any time we needa good blast of goo, we go tothe fire extinguishers. we load those babies upwith a vile concoction of vomit, attach some surgical tubing,and then step back

for a heaveworthy of mega spider. - it's at yours, sir,we're ready to shoot. - all right,let's do it. uh, the moment to make itall right, and, uh, to save the last fewpractical effects in the movie, and hope thatthey make it in there, so we'll seehow it goes. let's roll cameras.- it's at three speed. - [mouths words]- all right, uh, hill,

are you ready?- ready. - action. - that was pathetic. - i don't--uh,well, let's cut it for a moment. - so cut!- okay, here's that word, "cut,"again. i knowwhat he's thinking, "how am i gonna do thisdigitally?" - just wasn't quitewhat i was looking for.

- your tubes are pointingwhere they're pointing. - uh, they're pointinga little down, so it looks like it's gonnahit the bottom jaw, and--- well, i'm gonna need a lot of timeto do that. - if we don't get a perfect shotin the next take, i'd say practical effectsare off the bill in this film. - tubes are pointingwhere they're pointing. look in the mouth.

so it looks like it's gonnahit the bottom jaw. - yeah, well, i'm gonna needa lot of time to do that. - time is the one thingthat we just don't have. we've got to fixthis thing a.s.a.p., or practical effectsare done for this movie. - i want to just stick somethingunderneath it and raise it a smidge. if i don't figure outin the next five seconds how to raisethese tubes so that the vomit

sprays over the spider's jaw,i'm finished. - um, so what are you using to,uh, redirect the trajectory? - as long as i don't panic,i usually find the answer right under my nose. red vines. - the old craft service standby.- mm-hmm. that's what's coolabout working is that you find your solutionin the most impractical ways. - you good?- all good.

this absolutelyhas to work. this the last chance we havefor our giant spider head to spew what little vomitwe have left in the tank, and it all rides ona little piece of red licorice. - good to go, good to go.- all right, ready? - yeah, roll it.- roll camera. - speed.- camera speed is at 60 flips. - all right, hill,are you ready? - yep.- all right, and action!

- we need more pressurefrom the tanks. crank it, hill! nice, nice, nice!- yeah! - that's the money shot.[chuckles] yes! yes. now, that is a purgeworthy of a mega spider. - beautiful.- that was glorious. - now that we havethe spider vomit figured out, we'll bring in the actor,adam.

we'll shoot the scene whenhe first encounters mega spider. - god, i'm ugly. - for this scene to work,i need the makeup on the actor to be identical to the makeupon the prosthetic head, otherwise, the audiencewill never buy it. - okay, you're gonna slowlyturn around, and then you're gonna seethe spider drop, and that's gonnashock you, and i thinkwhat would make you scream

is the green goop that's gonna,like, squirt all over your face. so it's grab, turn, [gasps], and then--and then i'll yell, "squirt." so that's the plan.god be with us 'cause we just haveone take at this. we have half a tankof vomit left, and we have one chanceof getting this right. - last looks,let's get this going, please. - let's roll camera.- let's do this for real.

is everyone ready?hill, are you set? - uh, tank's ready. - all right,adam's ready? okay, and, you're holdingthe quarter, adam. and...action. and you see the spider. and...action! - keep moving your headback and forth. - [continues screaming]

i can't keep doing it to him.that was beautiful. - you're the man.- oh, thank you. adam gierasch,ladies and gentlemen. [applause]thank you, and hill. - that wasabsolutely awesome. timing wasthe most important factor, and everythingcame together. now it's time for hillto prepare the melting head for the final partof this scene.

- bring inthe melting head. all right.melty man! melty man! - we're gonna usethree blowtorches to make the burnnice and even, and then we cover the clothesin flame-retardant gel. so the face will melt, butthe clothes won't catch fire. we only have one head to meltand one shot to get it right. it's all or nothing. - everybody ready?

- all right, sir, your call.- roll cameras. - speed.- all right, and hill? action. - [prolonged scream] - oh, that's cool.- look at the ear. it's beautiful. nasty.it's looking great though. - whoo. - let's turn offthe torches.

beautiful. - beautiful, beautiful,beautiful work. - yeah!- all righty. - whoo![applause] - hill's headworked perfectly. mike is loving it. - good job, hill.- look good? oh. - that is one nice,sweet [bleep]. - the shoot was great.this was a good day. it was fun.

oh, i'm probably gonna goeven faster than that. i want a b-b-bleagh! you know.- really? - they pulled it off.they managed to come through and actually give us somethingthat will appear in the film. today is a fine vindicationfor practical effects. - that's awesome.that's awesome. came out good. - excellent.- good stuff, everybody. right on.- that's cool. i believe--i believethat is a wrap.

- it's one thing to type upa design on your laptop, but it doesn't compareto the visceral experience of creating itwith your own hands. - thank you very much.- not too bad. - thank you very much,sir. - i'm not gonna deny,cg definitely has its place in modern filmmaking, but it doesn't haveto replace the physical effect. when we bring a creatureto the set,

people are smiling,and they congratulate you, there's no better feelingin the world. - whoo!- yay! yay, practical effects. vindicated, at last.