Throw Back Thursday - Resume Bullet Point A LONG, LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY …. I sat there under the omniscient, unblinking stare of Obi Wan Kenobi. True, the robes here lacked the warmth that Alec Guinness had brought to the role on the big screen, but it was still film history that I was sitting in the presence of. I could reach out and touch those robes, if I had wanted to. Who would stop me from feeling the fibers that had done battle with the Sand People? Certainly not the Storm Trooper who was standing guard on my right. He was a paper tiger. For that matter I could touch his robotic looking white armor if I wanted to as well. Neither costume display had moved the entire time I had been sitting there in the waiting room of Industrial Light & Magic. But they set the tone and told you where you were. The only one here with any real power was the receptionist, and she was too busy fielding the incoming phone calls to take notice. She was busily explaining that Mr. So-and-so was out for the day. Could she put Mr. Blankety-Blank through to the voice-mail. This freed her up to deal with the patient soul who had been sitting on hold up to this point and had his own puzzle to be sorted out. When he was efficiently transferred on to some other line in the complex that would handle his situation her attentions were finally turned on me. I put Obi-Wan & the Storm Trooper aside in my head and attempted to re-focus my attention. “You were waiting for, Ronnie”, she recalled, coming back to my particular purpose. Her fingers quickly sprung to the dial keys on the phone system. Two seconds passed, “Hi Carl, its Stacy up front. Is Ronnie in her office …She’s not? …Oohh. ….I see. Uh-huh. …O.K. …Well, I have-What was your name again?”, she suddenly asked me. “Mark –Novak”, I heard myself reply. “I have a Mark Novak here who says he’s supposed to work with the animators on a Mambo dance. …What do you want me to do with him? …he says its for the Flubber project. ..I see. O.K. ..Alright, I’ll send him there.” Immediately she was back on the dial pad. “Jason, its Stacy. Can you come in here,” she pleaded. “Thank you”, she replied. In no time Jason arrived. A young man with marginal scruff & longish, just over-grown hair, touching his collar. “This is Mr. Novak”, Stacy introduced me. “He is here to show the animators how to dance for Flubber. Can you escort him to Screen Room B?” “Sure”, said Jason. Taking little note. “Follow me”. “Alright – here you go”, Jason announced as he opened the door, delivering and leaving me at my destination. …Screening room B was a state of the art looking facility. The cinematic screen was not so large as the expectation one would have for a movie house, but certainly bigger than anything you would find in even the most posh of homes. Tiered seating seemed to accommodate nearly 100 sets of eyes. I waited for what I presumed would be a team of animators. …I continued to wait. …I waited some more ..I checked my watch. ….I waited. ..10 minutes had passed. ..15 minutes. ….The door opened. A bespectacled fellow who looked like he was part of the same tribal brotherhood as Jason came into the room. He stopped immediately when he saw me. “Who are you?” He asked. “I’m Mark” “Where is your escort?”, he demanded. “I don’t have one”, I explained “Oh NOO!!” He exclaimed. “You Come With Me!” I followed him back to Stacy’s station. “Stacy”, he started in. “Who is this and where is his escort?” Stacy looked surprised. “He’s here to work with the Flubber team”, she explained. “Aren’t they in the screening room”, she asked me. “Nobody showed up”, I explained. “And-He Didn’t Have An Escort!!”, said the aggravated fellow. –Back to the phone she flew. “OK”, she announced after inquiry. “They are all waiting in the Aerobic room in the gym. I don’t know why they moved the meeting there?” “Follow me”, said the guy whose name I never got. Apparently he was my new escort. I followed him into the gym which was populated with nautilus machines, mirrored walls and an open space for aerobic activity. A group of men and women were there waiting for me. They had a video camera set up on a tri-pod. I was introduced to Carl who explained to me that my original contact, Ronnie could not be there that day, but that this was the creative team responsible for bringing Flubber to life. They were all very excited about this new project. They were on to Big Things now, especially after the recent success they had had working the effects of the highly successful “Mission Impossible” starring Tom Cruise. This latest was an upcoming film starring Robin Williams involving a goo that had a life-force of its own. A re-make of a Disney classic, that Industrial Light & Magic would be handling the special effects for. It was explained to me that what I was needed for was to illustrate and teach all the basic moves to the animators. It would all be video documented so that the team could use the footage as a reference source for developing the movements that Flubber –the goo- had to dance. The Mambo. “Great”, I said. With that, I went to work doing precisely what had been outlined. Follow up sessions were scheduled – one of which actually materialized. It was a fun gig and serves as an interesting bullet point on my resume of choreographic & consultation work. Many years later, when I finally saw the clip of the Mambo sequence on YouTube I thought, “Those Animators Didn’t Do A Damned Thing I Showed Them!!!” No Matter. –George Lucas’ checks cleared all the same. youtube/watch?v=KyPqOt_Pgiw
Posted on: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 14:46:13 +0000
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