Moonshine of the Damned, Production Journal #5

Today I did something I've never done before on a project. For Moonshine of the Damned, one of the "bimbos", Jobeth, is supposed to be something of a gun nut, or survivalist even, however the actor playing her, Ancelene, has never had any experience with guns. Last year when we shot I felt the whole experience might've been overwhelming, trying to act, remember lines and feel comfortable holding a gun - for someone who has never acted at all before at least.

So this time around, I wanted to change that. I had a friend of mine, Jeff Gillis, who works with the RCMP dealing with restricted weapons, take Ancelene out to a gun range and give her a very basic crash course in how to handle a gun, some proper shooting stances and allow her to actually feel what shooting a gun is like - to understand the recoil, rather than faking it without any knowledge.

Turns out she's a pretty good shot, her first shot would've dropped a live target, her second shot was pretty much a bulls-eye and she even made a couple long distance shots that surprised Jeff.

I kept trying to get a shot in motion shot, this was as close as I got.

This is what her target look liked after several rounds.

Most of the shots in the lighter blue area were hers.

In the end I think it was well worth the effort. My thinking was that even though we have one of the rednecks, John MacDonald, wielding a shotgun with a rather campy recoil reaction, that's something no one would really complain about, however I just had a nagging feeling that should Ancelene have done the same thing - it would've been the focus on many a negative comment. She's not certified trained now, not by any means, but she has a much better understanding and was actually interested in getting a firearms license after all this.


Next weeks update: severed body parts, progress on the Zombie Gator and a finished Spiked Zombie Head Mace.