3rd day of filming

We didn't get all the shots we needed from the exterior film shoot with the Garbage Monster on Oct. 10th, so we needed to come back and shoot a few more things. On Oct. 22nd, we went back to my friend Mihal's house to film the ending of the story.

I was a a bit worried that the yard wouldn't look the same. The temperature had gotten much colder, and leaves had fallen off of trees. Things can change fast this time of year.

Luckily, it didn't look too different, in the dark and with the lights set up.

A few things were different about this shoot. It was much colder - about 35 degrees Fahrenheit. On Oct. 10th, I think it was probably about 60 degrees.

The other thing that was different was that Steve Yale-Loehr was not able to be the Garbage Monster again. After asking around a little bit, we couldn't find a suitable replacement. I decided I would try to fill the Garbage Monster's Ginger Ale Shoes myself!

I'm a little shorter than Steve, but I thought it wouldn't be too noticeable. I knew that the original King Kong movie used models that had very different scales from one scene to the next, so that the Gorilla would appear to be 40 feet tall in one scene, and 25 feet tall in another. A couple inches shouldn't make much difference in this case.

It took about 30 minutes to get the costume on. We weren't sure exactly where all the stuff went, but used our best guess. I think when you watch the video, it will be fun to see how the tomato container is on the right arm in one scene, but on the left arm in the scene. But on the other hand, it's supposed to be a pile of garbage. Cans can shift around in a pile of garbage, right?

Erin arrived, all bundled up, and we began shooting. The first thing we did was a chase scene. I chased Erin. Then we switched, and she chased me. I could only see a little out of one eye, so it was a bit challenging. Also, the mask covered my mouth, so I couldn't breathe very well either.

Later, we needed to shoot a scene of the garbage monster emerging from the trash can. Since Erin was small enough to fit in the can, we asked her to put the mask on. She did great!

The final scene was the garbage monster walking down the driveway. Again, Erin was the Garbage Monster. We put the mask on her, and dressed her in an oversize garbage bag, and filmed her walking away from the camera, down the driveway.

We wrapped at 9:15 PM - an early night compared to last time!

We still have a few more shots to catch, but they are interior shots. Then the editing will begin!

2nd day of filming

The Garbage Monster music video has two main parts: "the story," with the recycling kid and the garbage monster filmed outside at night, and "the concert," with me, Tom Knight, playing guitar to an audience who is singing along.

On October 20th, 2008, we filmed the concert part of the video at the Ithaca Sciencenter.


Annie Zygarowicz had created a cool set, which consisted of an arch made entirely of recycled bottles and cans. It was very festive and colorful.



I was wearing my costume made by Amelia Rosenthal - the necktie vest and porkpie hat.



We arrived at the Sciencenter around 9:30 AM so Photosynthesis Productions could get the lights and cameras set up. Then we began shooting a lot of close-ups of me singing the song over and over. I had to make funny faces, wink at the camera, and try to remember the spoken words in the middle of the song. They shot some close-ups of my left hand playing the guitar, my right hand playing the guitar, and my feet tapping. This went on for a couple hours or so. It was actually kind of fun.



After a short lunch break with delivery from Taste of Thai Express, we were ready to bring in the kids. About 25 kids from Ithaca (and surrounding towns) had been invited to be in the video, along with a few parents.

We set everyone up sitting on the floor in front of me, much like a typical concert, and I sang the song about 10 times. Everyone else sang it too. We took a break at one point to dance to the Wiggle Worm song.

The director Meg Doherty did a great job keeping everything fun and engaging for everyone. David and Billy and Garth kept the cameras working, and moved lights when necessary.




Before the film shoot, some kids met with us at the Sciencenter to make "garbage monster puppets," which are monsters made out of garbage and recycled materials. We passed out these puppets and the kids held them up and danced around with them.



We wrapped up around 7 PM. We only needed about 2 minutes of good film, and we had shot about 2.5 hours worth! I knew we had plenty of great shots to choose from. We'll see what happens with the editing!

All photos are by Billy Boyce. Thanks Billy!

Tom's new costume

To go along with the theme of recycling for the Garbage Monster song, Ithaca designer Amelia Rosenthal created the vest and the hat from recycled materials, including neckties, and clothes from the Salvation Army.

The Elephant wants to eat some peanuts

The Garbage Monster Costume

Here are some snapshots of the costume from the dress rehearsal on October 9th.


Here's the face, without the black fabric that we added to cover up his face. Steve Yale-Loehr has a mouth guard in his teeth to hold the lower half of the monster's mouth.


The shoes made of ginger ale bottles!

Steve Yale-Loehr and Lauren Cowdery, the costume designer.

First day of filming

We began filming on Friday October 10th, 2008. I was kind of nervous. A lot of time and energy and money were going into this production. Would everything work out OK?

The director and producer Meg Doherty, and I, got there around 4 PM. The location was my friend's house on Aurora St. in Ithaca. She generously allowed us to use her backyard. We moved some things around to clear some space for the shoot.

Then Lauren Cowdery, our costume designer, and Steve Yale-Loehr, the actor playing the monster, arrived. It took about 40 minutes for Steve to get into costume.

Then the film crew from Photosynthesis arrived - David Kossack (the Director of Photography) and the crew (Garth and Billy Boyce). An Ithaca College Student (Jessie) arrived because she wanted to watch a film in progess. We enlisted her to be script supervisor, which means she took notes on every shot that we made, with descriptions. That will help us later when we start editing.

Then Erin Hilgartner, the Recycling Kid, arrived.

Then we began filming the first shot! Action! Erin walked down the stairs with a flashlight. Cut! She did it again.

I'm learning what filming is like. First, you set up the lights for about 15 minutes. Then you film for 10 minutes to catch a 10 second shot. Then you do it again. It takes a long time, but it's worth it.

The costume was really cool. There were a lot of parts to it. Once Steve was in the costume, he couldn't eat or drink or go to the bathroom without taking it off!

At one point, Steve and Erin started dancing around. I don't know what started it, but it was pretty funny to see them both dancing.

We finally finished around 1:00 AM. We still have a few more shots we need to get, but Erin needed to go home and everyone was really tired.

I'm looking forward to the next day of filming, October 20th!

Photos are by William Boyce, who is on the film crew. Thanks Billy!

- Tom

Erin looks around for the garbage monster.

Tom and Steve as the Garbage Monster

A little costume malfunction.

Come with me and we'll rule the world!

Erin on the screen.

Uh oh!

David gets the right angle.

David, Jessie, Tom and Meg, behind the camera.

OK. Now imagine the monster is in front of you!