Friday, September 12, 2014
Zombie Stuntwork Gets The Spotlight In New Featurette For THE WALKING DEAD
www.comicbookmovie.com: In this new featurette for the hit AMC series, stunt coordinator Monty Simons gives fans a behind-the-scenes look at the work which goes into choreographing fights and training walkers on the set of the highly anticipated fifth season of The Walking Dead! Hit the jump to check it out.
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8 comments:
I dont watch this show religiously, but I have seen a number of episodes and it is really weird to see the zombies without any makeup. It is also fun to see the Walkers rehearse, because on screen it really does not look like much went into the movement. I think this is because all they doo is drag their bodies around, claw and things, pile up one another, eat, and die. That really does not sound like much but when looking at Simon work with the actors (or extras) on the exact movements it really makes me appreciate the choreography that goes into the Walkers. I cannot imagine how long that takes to put together, these zombies are pretty much in every scene. It would be cool if te video included further explination on the interactions between Walkers and Walkers and the survivors because the stunts that are the more elaborate are generally ones that include more then one person.
I've heard from multiple sources that the Walking Dead spends near to two million dollars on special effects per episode. I never really believed it because of my lack of seeing 'behind the scenes' videos. This video proved to me the intense detail and effort the designers and make up artists put into making the zombies of the Walking Dead realistic. Or, as realistic as fictionally infected, dead human beings can be. As a follow up to this video, I would love to see how the casting directors go through the process of choosing actors to be these zombies -- what sort of type they look for, how much dance experience (if at all) these actors need, how long it takes for an actor having landed the job to getting onto the set and performing with the recurring cast members.
Yay! Zombie extras! Being a believe able zombie is a lot harder than it seems, like it says in the video. I'm really glad that they put out so much for simple effects and training the zombie actors. My sister worked as a zombie extra for a web series last summer, and they were even more low budget than this is! I'm interested to know how many people they train for this. Would they only use a single zombie actor once, or would they use someone over and over again since they had already trained him/her? They could change hair/makeup/costume and use someone multiple times to save money on hiring and training more people.
I love the walking dead and I respect that even after 4 seasons they are still pushing the limits of how real they can make the zombies. I look at their process of training people to be zombies just like I look at the training of soldiers in a large war film production. Each person has to work with each other and work as a team in order for the illusion to fully develop and become real to the viewer. I've watched similar videos of the behind the scenes for the walking dead and love the creative ideas they employ to add an x factor to their zombies to make them stand out from the rest. I believe that by employing "zombie stunt work" and pushing the limits of zombies, they are truly setting themselves apart.
Yes! This is awesome. It is unbelievable how much work goes on behind the scenes in film and television, and far too often is it overlooked. It's incredible that they hire someone to spend hours training actors to get shot and die as a zombie would. How do you even find an expert on fantastical-monster death and dying? It's hilarious to think about, but in reality, without hours of practice, perfecting the zombie-movement, it would be really hard for an audience to buy into the show. If the Zombies' movements were inconsistent, then it would create a gap in the reality that the show is trying to create. The walking dead is about zombies, (potentially the lamest, most unrealistic plot anchor you could think of) but because the creative team has devoted so much effort to perfecting each element of the show's reality, it becomes something we can not only believe, but be enthralled by!
This is so cool! I have a friend whose brother got to be an extra on The Walking Dead, and he said it was really neat. The training to how to walk and act with all the makeup and stuff is really intensive and detailed so that everything looks consistent. I, myself, have only watched a few episodes, but it's a greatly put together television show. The makeup is so well done and the zombies are all well-taught to move in a similar fashion. I'd want to see more examples of training and of movement in large groups of walkers.
It's interesting to see how much work all of the actors playing zombies really must go through just to make a believable appearance on the show. Normally you'd probably think "they probably just picked up those people off the street." "How hard could it be to stumble around and pretend to be a zombie?" But the thoroughness of the stunt coordination is really a big part of what makes the show as realistic and engaging as it is. Its cool to see behind the scenes at how much planning and effort is involved. From choosing actors who could believable be turned into walking corpses to to training them so there is a sense of coordinated behavior across all zombies, there is really much more work put into the show than is easily apparent. This work needs to be successful even though each zombie has minuscule screen time, the overarching appearance, behavior, and believability of them is what truly is the backbone of the show.
So I watched the first season of The Walking Dead and I was very surprised of all the realistic aspects they had in the TV show. I like how this video proves how true the directors stay to the supernatural elements in this show. This makes me believe that zombies do really exist. And I bet a lot of people audition for a zombie role in The Walking Dead because when I saw the show there were so many and now there's a season 5! Wow, they are killing it!
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