Fi lm Maker Reveals:

Why Fi lming

"M & M BOYZ

INTERNATIONAL"

was l ike deja vu. . .'

" I WAS A TEENAGE MONSTER MOVIE MAKER! "

Above inset: 2008, Larrabee painting an effects mask for “M & M Boyz International”

INDIEêFILM INSIDERC O N F I D E N T I A L ! on LINKEDIN

1964, Film Maker Dana B. Larrabeewith “Dr. Gorey” miniature castle set

“I’d read about Willis O’Brien, Ray Harryhausen and George Pal in Famous Monsters and was inspired to attempt stop-motion and special effects movies during my high school and RISD college days.Sequences were designed for “M&M Boyz International” where clips from my old 8mm movies would fit in with staged “mockumentary” scenes filmed many years later for my story of teenage monster-movie makers during the Vietnam War era.”

“I’d read about Willis O’Brien, Ray Harryhausen and George Pal in Famous Monsters and was inspired to attempt stop-motion and special effects movies during my high school and RISD college days.Sequences were designed for “M&M Boyz International” where clips from my old 8mm movies would fit in with staged “mockumentary” scenes filmed many years later for my story of teenage monster-movie makers during the Vietnam War era.”

Copyright 2015 by Dana B. Larrabee

Part Two

tCaveman Tar-Makk tackles a T.Rex to rescue Lei-lei in this scene from M&M Boyz productions’ “One Zillion B.C.”

p Migel Bravo (Gabe Cortés) studies their story board script as a masked Mark Farraday readies the camera on Larrabee’s 1964 “mad lab” set before animating a scene for “An Evening with Dr. Gorey” in this Photoshopped production still from their second film.

Since the story for “M&M Boyz International” originated from sequences built around my old teenage stop-motion films, Mark and Migel, the principal characters, are teenage monster-movie makers. They do one with dinosaurs, a Frankenstein send-up and the elaborate Puppetoon-inspired “Pinkertwins/Bug City” fantasy I made as a degree project attending the Rhode Island School of Design. Over forty years later,

Migel Bravo played by Gabriel Cortés (left) and Jeffery Williams who often portrayed the masked Mark Farraday, preparing to animate the T. Rex for their stop-motion monster flick, “One Zillion B.C.” q

I recreated sets and models for scenes of Mark and Migel manufacturing the characters, sets and shooting the animation with my original cameras. For some “mockumentary” montage

sequences I placed images of my actors into archive still photos from my teenage productions. Seven “M&M Boyz” productions figure in the story, some of which are comedy shorts and one, a sci-fi space alien invasion spoof created especially for “M&M Boyz International.”

tMigel operates the camera while Mark animates a scene for M&M Boyz’ “Pinkertwins’ Bug City Adventures."

tA scene from the"Pinkertwins" 8mm stop-motion movie Larrabee made in 1968

“Jeremy” and “Lyle” styrofoam figures as

recreated by Larrabee for the “Pinkertwins” production scenes in

”M&M Boyz International” u

PHYS ED TEACHER “GETS PHYSICAL”IN ALLEGED STUDENT ASSAULT Zongales— Zongales High School teacher and boxing coach Chico Michaelson has been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a 16-year-old stu-dent and breaking the youth’s nose after fi nding him in what Zongales Police offi cers called “a compromising posi-tion” with a 14-year-old fam-ily member. According to police, Mi-chaelson noticed both stu-dents were absent from the day’s practice. Because he knew the two were dating, he drove to the boy’s home, en-tered and broke down the door to the boy’s room. Finding the

Salinas—A section of a south Salinas industrial park was evacuated Wednesday af-ter an ammonia pipe at a vege-table cooling facility ruptured. Seven people who had in-haled the noxious fumes were transported to Salinas Flatline Memorial Hospital with res-piratory distress, but all were released in satisfactory condi-tion subsequent to examina-tion and treatment. Emergency crews re-sponding at 3:25 p.m. to the Icily Nicely Cooling Plant on Abbort Street closed down the busy thoroughfare from Johan Drive to Chasensanborn Road. The street remained closed off to traffi c until 5:30 p.m. according to SVFD division

chief Fran Danko. By the time the leak was successfully shut off at 3:46 p.m., an estimated 30,000 cu-bic feet of ammonia, the equiv-alent of 35 gallons, had es-caped, creating a toxic vapor cloud over the plant. Danko estimated the city area evacu-ated as a quarter of a mile ra-dius from the cooling facility. As yet, no cause has been determined for the rupture in the 3-inch pipe which feeds the ammonia to the plant from a 1,200 gallon storage tank. Felicia Nicely, CEO since her father’s death stated the plant had been in a “seasonal shut-down” for three weeks. EPA and County Haz Mat teams are investigating.

Friday, October 22, 1972 Salinas Valley Register-CalifornianAMMONIA PIPE RUPTURES,ICILY NICELY PLANT EVACUATED

Gilroy— A moderate earthquake rattled Gilroy late last night. The U.S. Geologi-cal Survey group reported the magnitude 3.9 quake was re-ported at 11:48 p.m. Monday

and centered a mere two miles south of Gilroy in Santa Clara County. The police dispatcher there stated no reports of dam-age or injuries were received. According to the USGS,

3.9 EARTHQUAKE ROCKS GILROY, DAMAGE MINIMALthe quake occurred at a depth of 3.8 miles. The epicenter of the earthquake was seven miles northeast of Hollister and 112 miles south of Sacramento.

two youths in “a compromis-ing position,” the 38-year-old Micahaelson punched the boy repeatedly and at one point kicked him in the face while holding the boy to the ground. The boy’s nose was broken during the altercation, and he was treated at Meetoo Memo-rial Hospital, offi cers said. The incident was reported to the District Attorney’s Of-fi ce the following day. Upon reviewing the police investiga-tion report, the DA ordered an arrest warrant for Michaelson who was subsequently arrest-ed and booked into the Monte-rey County Jail.

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PARKING LOT BLOW-OUT!

FIREFIGHTERS CONTAIN BLAZE SPARKED BY MOVIE ROCKET

l a u n c h for their m o v i e , “Rock It Science,” when the cardboard and balsa w o o d craft made by their friend John Landaker, caught fi re, shot up out of control and landed on the roof. Notifi ed of the blaze at work, Farraday’s stunned mother vowed that this was “The End” of her son’s movie.

Salinas- The Salinas Valley Fire Department responded to a neighbor’s call-in of a rooftop fi re at a single-story residence at 6-36 Sullivan Street. The fi re was reported at 2:36 p.m. by Neil Raymond who observed smoke billowing from the house across the street. Firefi ghters arrived to fi nd the roof of the residence engulfed in fl ames with two teenage youths, Mark Farraday and Migel Bravo, attempting to quench the blaze with a garden hose. The SVFD crew quickly contained the fi re in less than two hours.

Jacob Jones of the Salinas Valley Fire Department Engine Company 3 helps mops up and replace engine equipment after successfully containing a fi re sparked by teenagers’ rocket ship that misfi red and landed on the roof during the making of an amateur movie. Damage to the dwelling was minimal, except for the pride of the two fi lm makers who were racing to complete their movie in time for Varieteen Movie’zine’s annual fi lm competition.

SVFD Battalion Chief, Rhett Blooms stated that the blaze was caused by “a rocket ship propelled by fi reworks” that accidentally fell on the roof during the fi lming of the teenagers’ amateur science-fi ction fi lm. No injuries were reported, and the fi re and water damage which was confi ned to a small section of the roof-top, is estimated at $8,000. Neighbor Neil Raymond, who was pruning trees in his front yard at the time and re-ported the blaze, stated he “knew the kids were doing

scenes with a rocket for some movie. When I smelled the smoke and saw fl ames I knew something was wrong.” Au-thorities credit Raymond’s timely call-in with saving the home. “This easily could have escalated into a major confl a-gration that would have de-stroyed the house and most likely spread to the dwellings next door,” commented Chief Blooms. Sixteen-year old fi lm maker Mark Faraday said they were fi lming a space ship

NEIL RAYMOND- CALLED 911

InternationalPICTURES

BOYZ

& p Film strip of scenes from “M&M Boyz International” starring Kyle Morton and Gabriel Cortés. Also: Radio telescope filmed at Stanford U.niversity, “Rock It Scientists” Rich Gierman, Brian Mucke and Chris Stine pondering images of the menacing alien craft and Mark and Migel (those M&M Boyz!) filming the disastrous rocket launch for their “Rock It Science!” movie.

SCIENTISTS PONDER ALIEN MOTHERSHIP

POISED ON THE RIM OF OUR GALAXY!

C o m i n g f r o m D e e p S p a c e a n d M & M B O Y Z I n t e r n a t i o n a l P i c t u r e s

“ROCK IT SCIENCE!”WRITTEN, PRODUCED AND D IRECTED BYMARK FARRADAY & MIGEL BRAVO

STARRING

RICHARD “GEARHEAD”G I E R M A N

CHRIS “EIN”S T I N E

BRIAN “BRAIN”M U C K E

LESLIE ANN PHLEGM

FEATURING THE MUS IC OF

ION DRIVE AND THE COSMOS

ROCKET MODELS CREATED BY

JOHN LANDAKER

NUCLEAR MISSILES LAUNCHED AGAINST SPACE INVADERS!

“KL AA3” CREATURE EFFECTS BYDANA LARRABEE

HOW WILL IT ALL END?

InternationalPICTURES

BOYZ

&

An M & M BOYZ International Picture

R O C K I T S C I E N C E !U N K N O W N

V E S S E L C R A S H E S T O E A R T H !

S P A C E C R E A T U R E SC O M A N D E E RH U M A N B O D I E S !

R O C K E T S . . . R O B O T S . . . R O C K ' N ' R O L L !

N O W I N P R O D U C T I O N !

WITH

SHLOCKMARTIN

AS MAJOR“CARP”CARPENTER

MAMMOTH ROBOT MONSTERS SCOUR CITIES FOR HUMAN SLAVES!

p"Rock It Science!” poster as it appears in Dana B. Larrabee’s "M&M Boyz International" movie about teenage monster movie makers.

tJohn Landaker aka “Rocket Man,” built the model rockets used in the film and helped implement the pyrotechnic effects.

pM&MBI production art for the “Rock It Science!” rooftop fire sequence features Larrabee’s IT co-worker Jacob Jones as a firefighter.

The"ROCK IT SCIENCE!" SEQUENCE in "M&MBI" EXPLAINED!

Mark and Migel’s “Rock It Science!” spoofs ‘60’s Japanese sci-fi movies like “The Mysterians” and “Battle in Outer Space,” and is the last of Mark and Migel’s teen-age monster movies. The IT band “Moffett Street Revival” where I worked was the

inspiration for the film’s ra-dio telescope technicians, who as ”Ion Drive and the Cosmos” beam their live rock ‘n’ roll up to the aliens’ ominous mother ship via their giant dish antenna. In the end it’s not “rocket sci-ence” that saves Earth, it’s “Rock It Science!” Jeremy Lyle’s music suggested the “rock video” look for the sequence, combining preview titles, film clips, production and news footage in rapid-fire suc-cession to tell the story of this doomed film project in less than six minutes.

“M&M BOYZINTERNATIONAL”

DANA B. LARRABEE’S

INDIEêFILM INSIDERC O N F I D E N T I A L !

Behind-the-Scenes REVELATIONS:

How I Fi lmed Vietnam War Scenes in the Sal inas Val ley!

“ M&M BOYZ

INTERNATIONAL”EXCLUSIVE!

“In 2007 when filming ‘M&M Boyz

International’ began, I was a graphic artist for Monterey

County’s Printing and Mail Services

division, located then

on “the hill” by Public Works

and Fleet Management at the Salinas East Laurel Extension.

Within a short walking

distance, my day job offered an

amazing array of location

settings and I soon concocted appropriate

sequences to take advantage

of them...” JUNGLES, SWAMPS, and A POW CAMP--- My Day Job Had It ALL!

Ð

LINKEDIN HAS IT FIRST!

Exclusive!

Entire contents copyright 2015 by Dana B. Larrabee All rights reserved.

After all, they were giving up their lunch time for my movie. Gabe and the VC would get into costume while I’d position my camera. When they arrived on the set, we’d spray each other down with insect repellent and then start filming. In the short time available, I could usually accomplish three

By this time I’d been with the County sixteen years and had many friends and contacts who were supportive and helped me to film what I needed-- I must stress, always on breaks, lunch hours, after hours and on my own vacation time. Thusly did my workplace become the “back lot” where much of M&M Boyz International would be filmed-- so it was logical to recruit my actors from there as well. I began with the Vietnam scenes where Migel Bravo (Gabriel “Gabe” Cortés) is captured and shot es-caping the Viet Cong POW camp. They were the most complex, plus our shop was being integrated into the County’s IT division and in a few months would be relocated across town. The distance and drive time would make it tough on lunch hour filming. The swampy, wooded and very buggy “jungle” sets were just a quick fifteen minute hike from my workplace. I found other co-workers from the mail room and the nearby Telecom division of IT willing to play Viet Cong fight-ers and prison guards. My filming MO was to arrive on the set early in the morning, one hour before work, mark camera positions and place anything needed on the set, then take one vacation hour before lunch to “gopher” sandwiches or pizza and cold drinks for my cast.

O n L o c a t i o n ! L o c a t i o n ! L o c a t i o n !

“VIETNAM” FILMSTRIP

IMAGES (Right):

1. Migel Bravo brought into

the N. Vietnamese POW camp.

The gates were actually in the

County Public Works yard.

2. Tony Villa in a location test

photo of the “river stays” set.

3. POW guards track the es-

caping Migel Bravo from the

bunker set-- actually part of a

Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

4. Pistol firing test still with

river stays in background.

�

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I Fi lmed Vietnam War Scenes in the Sal inas Val ley!

tLarrabee on day job “backlot” filming POW Migel Bravo’s ill-fated escape attempt through jungle photo-blind.

“M&M BOYZINTERNATIONAL”

DANA B. LARRABEE’S

to five set-ups by 12:45. Then one hour of vacation time for me after filming to tear down, stow gear and eat. Then back to work. Madness! My “back lot” jungle set had no palm trees, but ten minutes away in a residential area there were plen-ty. If you got low, cropped out the houses, power lines, street lights and telephone poles, you were in the jungle! Gabe was uneasy bran-dishing a very realistic (paintball) M-16 rifle in soldier fatigues on the street. But he did it. I reasoned most people were at lunch. Few, if any noticed us. The prison interiors were filmed in a dim and grungy mechanics’ oil-change service bay. For the dramatic escape, chase and shoot-ing sequences we took advantage of the barbed wire and chain link fences bordering Fleet and the Public Works yard. In another adjacent area, the County’s Water Resources division had parked about twenty “river stays” used to snag debris during floods. Made of rough-hewn weather-beaten wood nailed together in a triple-X formation and trussed up with rusty barbed wire, they re-minded me of the enemy obstacles you see in war movies like “The Longest Day.” I posed co-worker Antonio “Tony” C. Villa, Jr. (my as-sistant director on some scenes) amongst them for still photos and after some study, decided to film Migel’s shooting there. Probably inaccurate, but a great “war movie look” I couldn’t pass up. Too much out in the open though-- not “jun-gly” enough. Luckily there was a nearby hill where I could set up a “blind” fronted with fake foliage and barbed wire. The silhouetted out-of-focus fronds and barbed wire sof-tened the transition to the bleaker “river stay” set where “Migel” was shot by a Viet Cong fighter played by Crystal Corpuz, a graduate of Army boot camp at Fort Leaven-worth as it happened, who worked as an accounting clerk (!!!) for the

County’s General Services. She was dynamite in her VC getup and wasn’t intimidated by the required rough and tumble action or afraid to get her hands dirty. She even drove the camera truck for a track-ing shot of Gabe running past the river stays.

t(Left to right) After filming Migel’s capture scenes; Crystal Corpuz, Gabriel Cortés, “Feli” Jamarillo, and assistant director Tony Villa, on their way back to the workplace...

(Right) Gabe Cortés soldiers on as Migel Bravo on our day job backlot jungle set. u

(Below) Captured and led to his cell at the POW camp, filmed one lunch hour in an oil change service bay. q

A bunker built from real sand-bags was also close by; part of the County’s Vietnam Veterans Memo-rial just crying out to be exploited! Again, with the camera low and the right angle, the buildings behind disappeared. And with Crystal and County mail sorter Felicidad “Feli” Jamarillo in VC garb tracking POW Migel through a pair of vintage mili-

tary binoculars (courtesy of Jeffery Williams) the scenes were quite effective. Adding to the fun was the fact that all these locations were close to an access road where County Sheriff, Probation and Gang Task Force vehicles came and went. Es-pecially by the Veterans Memorial sandbags. Even on lunch hours!

. . .a great "war movie look"

I couldn't pass up. . .

were the distant hills. Nice! Daniel pulled on the VC soldier shirt as his sleeve showed in the shot, and we both wore head gear to muffle the sounds of firing. We did various angles including close ups of the weapon firing at normal speed and slow motion. I was disappointed when little or no flame discharged. But later when I saw the devel-oped film-- Wow! You could see the spent cartridges eject! Even better! There was also an old unused jail building nearby on Natividad Road I used for some of the “Hanoi Hilton” exteriors. A contact at the County’s Facilities Division got me permission to film there. To en-hance its’ appearance I had giant 48 x 72-inch black and white prints made of a gnarly door and barred windows taped onto the building. One “window” had POW Gabe and Jeffery Williams glumly peering out. (Jeff did most of the “Masked Mark” scenes; this is the only time his face appears in M&MBI!)

And we were filming there with a handgun, Migel’s captured M-16 and an AKC assault rifle! Sure, the pistol was a toy, the as-sault weapons doctored up paint-ball rifles. But from a distance they could be mistaken for real. With my luck, we’d get nailed-- unless I did something. So I wore a screaming day-glow orange roadwork vest to draw people’s attention away from the actors; to myself with my imposing 16mm camera topped with a full 400 foot magazine. Then maybe the law enforcement bunch would realize, “Oh, they’re just making a movie.” I guess it worked. Nobody even bothered to ask what we were doing. Later when all the ‘Nam scenes were assembled into a rough cut, I threw a pizza party one lunch hour and screened it for my cast and co-workers. One co-worker soundly chastised me for failing to include a shot of Crystal’s pistol actually fir-ing. I agreed that would have made the sequence more dramatic. But with all those law enforcement types buzzing about? Out of the question! I put it on my “wish list,” though. And later I did film a toy pistol jerking in hand to simulate recoil towards adding gunfire ef-fects later in post production. Then Daniel Okaneku, who played one of my VC prison guards, shared that he owned a handgun and knew a deserted place in the hills of San Ardo where he could safely fire it off and I could film to my

heart’s content. No river stays there for matching action, and the real ones too heavy and awkward to bring. Light-weight portable substitutes were needed, which I manufactured by gluing b&w prints of gnarly wood textures onto narrow cardboard boxes af-fixed to wooden stakes. Then one hot Saturday we drove the 50 miles to the San Ardo hills off highway 101. We planted my creations

in the ground and decorated them with rusty barbed wire. At the right angle, they matched the originals beautifully. Adding to the “war movie look”

pLarrabee obtained permission to film outside the old County jail on Natividad Road for some of the POW scenes. The door has had a giant B&W print of an aged door from another building taped to it. The “barred” windows to its’ left and right are also photo “add-ons.” Color inset above shows the building before “dressing.”

t“Add on” large format print of POWs Gabe Cortés and Jeffery Williams taped over the existing window...

Larrabee’s neighbor, Greg Ish doubles for Gabe Cortés in this long shot view of soldier Migel deep in the jungles of Vietnam. For the high angle Larrabee filmed the Salinas River bank from atop the West Blanco Road bridge. q

The Salinas Riverbank becomes the Vietnamese jungle for a long shot view of soldier Migel portrayed by his double Greg Ish. q

When in new places unrelated to filming, I learned to keep my eyes open and ask myself, “what else could this be?” For example, while visiting a hospital in Watsonville for a procedure I noticed a structure several hundred yards away on a rise off to the right covered by thick vegetation-- perfect for establishing long shots of the prison from the jungle. Another lunch hour I returned to film it with fake foliage mounted on stands placed on either side of the camera. My little lunch hour screening also suggested to me that the sequence would benefit from some extreme wide angle views of the jungle, prefer-ably from a high angle. Forced to crop out all those unwanted signs of civilization and shoot tight in so many scenes, the jungle and escape sequences

went right down to the water so my actor could easily get to the swampy riverbank. For fifty dollars the owner gave me permission to film with access to rest rooms for my actor and crew. Took my usual location test photos and convinced a neighbor’s son, Greg Ish (a big action movie fan) to “double” for POW Gabe. After consulting with his mother, Amy, I scheduled our session

Wide exterior view of the “Hanoi Hilton POW camp, in actuality an office complex by the Watsonville Hospital. Larrabee added jungle foliage to the foreground for added depth.

struck me as somewhat claus-trophobic. They wanted “open-ing up.” If you drive West on Blanco Road from Salinas to Marina you pass over a bridge spanning the Salinas River. Thick trees, weeds and overgrown shrubs cover both riverbanks. The view from the bridge was perfect for what I had in mind. And just before the bridge was a nursery-landscaping firm whose land

the next Saturday, the last week of August, 2009 for the desired wide angle scenes. Weather-wise it had been cool in our Salinas Valley. I anticipated no problems, but just our luck-- on the day of filming, temps soared into the 90’s and we wound up sweltering and sweating through the scenes like we really were in the jungle!

The view from the bridge was perfect for what I had in mind...

pUnexpected ninety degree temps made filming at the riverbank jungle set more challenging for Gabe’s double Greg Ish and his mother, Amy. Greg was so relieved when he could take his money and run home to cool off!