Werewolves

[Josiah]

Okay so I want to do a werewolf in my next movie. Not a cheap wolfman type werewolf, but one with like a human's body and a wolf's head. But I'm having a difficult time trying to find a werewolf head/mask that is decent. And as far as making one... well let's just say prosthetics and make up isn't my strong point. Anyone have any advice on what to do?

Thanks.

 

[rayw]

Fear of the unknown is much greater than fear of some slobbering, roaring fuzzy monster.

You're shooting for a much more high-brow audience.

Clock punchers kinda relate to the drooling fuzzy monster spying on them from the surveillance cameras over the cash registers and across the cube farms.

FWIW, I both applaud your sensible "resources approach" and the story premise.
Both are very nice.
GL & best wishes on pulling it off.

 

[Scoopicman]

I keep seeing the same darned movie monsters these days: vampires, werewolves, zombies. It's starting to get a little boring.

I don't know - THE WALKING DEAD is my favorite thing to watch, right now.

I've been wanting to do a werewolf feature for years, but am strongly thinking of making it a different creature, with different attributes. My interest is usually about how the character deals with that part of himself that he can't control. Kind of like an addict who knows that what he is doing is bad, yet is so drawn to it.

 

[escher]

This has already been done in "Being Human". Scoopicman, I know you have to have some better ides rattling around in that brain of yours!

Also, when's yer next feature? Out of all of the indie super-low-budget filmmakers, your films have the most... uh... heart? I don't know how to define it, but even in your worst efforts (*coughawakeningcough*) there's this love of movie-making that comes out in your films that just isn't found in most others.

 

[Scoopicman]

This has already been done in "Being Human". Scoopicman, I know you have to have some better ides rattling around in that brain of yours!

I don't watch BEING HUMAN. It looks like a soap drama. Here's the thing, I grew up on the Marvel's comic, Werewolf By Night. I like that kind of style and have always wanted to make a movie in that vein. Lucky for you, I'm hung up on more obscure themes. Yes, I do have other ideas that will probably come first.

Also, when's yer next feature? Out of all of the indie super-low-budget filmmakers, your films have the most... uh... heart? I don't know how to define it, but even in your worst efforts (*coughawakeningcough*) there's this love of movie-making that comes out in your films that just isn't found in most others.

It might be a year or two. I got behind while financing EXILE and taking a large paycut at my job. I need to get stable first. I guarantee the next movie will be worth the wait!

 

[Jack Lynt]

I've made a couple of Super 8mm werewolf shorts in the past. I took the WOLFMAN look approach. I was the wolfy!

Looks pretty cool to me.

Also, darn, I thought I just watched a pretty cool trailer of a film about werewolves and maybe vampires in which they didn't use much in the way of prosthetics, but still came off looking way cool. I thought it was posted here on IT in the Screening Room. But I don't seem to have bookmarked it.

Well, it's always cool when creators come up with new things. But, what the heck, people continue to love the old monsters, including me. Er. Anyway, if they like cake, let them eat cake.

 

[wheatgrinder]

@ escher,
Sorry to lead you off on a tangent, my point was not that there was no other types of threats, but that the types of threats you listed are popular for the reasons I gave. The whole power of external symbolism is that it gives the story teller short cuts to the psyche, that doesn't mean that their aren't other paths!

A fun challenge might be to try to symbolize and externalize a strictly INTERNAL fear. You can just say "good acting" but how could we do more? For internal paranoia, Id use mirrors. Say for example the main character goes through great lengths not to see his own reflection... uncovering WHY he does this is the fun part!

In regards to your cool idea, not even suggesting its derivative, but there was a mini series I enjoyed called "The Lost Room" that dealt wit a room as a inter dimensional gateway, with some interesting internal logic's you might find inspiring.

 

[finderskeepers]

I have to agree with escher here regarding lack of imagination. It seems to be an epidemic in indie horror films.
One of my favorite monsters is "The Tall Man" from Phantasm http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079714/
It's really odd to have a creature with such a common name yet so mysterious.

If you can't afford to do a good werewolf (maybe you can, but it's unlikely) Maybe the "wolf" like creature looks more like a human. You could actually come up with something a little different and interesting.

Best of Luck

This angle has also been done to death now ("Twilight, "Aaah! Zombies!", "My Best Friend is a Vampire", various episodes of Buffy/Angel, etc...)




I don't agree with this conclusion. While there are indeed a huge number of stories about fighting the self, that doesn't make every one of these potential stories about that. You're ignoring an entire category -- external threats are easily separated from internal threats (although many good stories include both).

However, I find stories that treat an external threat as just a metaphor for the internal struggle to be pretentious and, often, kinda boring. How many times do we have to watch "man is the real monster of them all!"? We don't know that! It's a presumptuous claim to make, lacking in imagination.




I also don't see this as a valid conclusion. That's like that patent office guy from back in the 1800's who said "Everything that could possibly be invented, has been invented."

I think what often happens is this: any set of subjects/topics/ideas can be split in various different categories, depending on the criteria of the categorizor. But then, if this set of categories becomes popular, people start to treat that set of categories as non-arbitrary and then as absolute. The very notion that there's a different way to slice it is forgotten.

I see this all the time in the realm of symbolism. Storytellers going waaay back interpret a set of symbols a certain way ("a circle is unity!", "cloven hooves == bad!", etc...) and then everyone latches on to those as if they were a fundamental part of the universe/psychology/fairyland/whatever and no one ever bothers to see their own symbols, or to interpret the world in a different way.

We keep going back to the same sources, forgetting that once upon a time those sources did not exist and were invented by people just like you and me.

 

[escher]

It might be a year or two. I got behind while financing EXILE and taking a large paycut at my job. I need to get stable first. I guarantee the next movie will be worth the wait!

Pay cut? Suck!

Hey, keep me in mind when it comes to doing the musical score.

 

[_Rok_]

Last year, I was part of a werewolf project that my friend shot. He built a pair of wolf gloves, and a very nice head and shoulders. The head was puppeteer-ed, and not worn. The effect was accomplished through shadows, smoke, closeups and blood. The result was quite impressive (Sorry no link, they are still in editorial).

They also needed some sucker to play the human form of the wolf. Someone willing to lose a bunch of weight, and really let themselves go to get this mountain-man look. My avatar shows the result- the teeth are of course fake, but the rest is unfortunately me