Zappa and Jean Luc

Jean Luc Ponty is a musical genius and has played with both Return to Forever and Frank Zappa. So when Return to Forever and Zappa Plays Zappa were at the Beacon Theater it was natural that Jean Luc came on stage to play a tune before playing the entire set with Stanley Clarke and Chick Corea. You can buy a t-shirt of Jean Luc on my commercial site by clicking here.

Dweezil Zappa and Jean Luc Ponty at the Beacon Theater in 2011

Blow Dry

After the Zombies were created, zombie master Tom Savini would give the makeup a blow dry so it would set properly. Between scenes the make up crew would roam the group of zombies and check their makeup and retouch it if necessary, You can buy a print of this image at my commercial gallery by clicking here.

Toma Savini give a Zombie blow dry

Zombie Gaffers

You can’t make a movie without gaffers. They set the lights, set up the equipment, load film and do just about anything. This is especially true on a small budget movie like the original Dawn of the Dead (1978). Here is the crew setting up the equipment at the beginning of the shoot at Monroeville Mall. You can buy a print of this image at my commercial site by clicking here.

Gaffers setting up the Camera

2 A.M Zombie Time

By 2 A.M the nervous energy that the zombie extras had at the beginning of the shoot had vanished and was replaced by some exhaustion. Most of these people had day jobs and had been up for at least 18 hours at that point. You can buy a print of this image on my commercial site by clicking here.

2 A.M in the Mall

Time to Make the Zombies

In 1978, Zombies were created almost exclusively through makeup. Today on shows like, “The Walking Dead” they use masks and other methods to create the effects. On Dawn of the Dead (1978), there were no harder working people than the makeup crew. Here is one of the makeup artists creating a zombie before shooting began. You can buy this images and others at my commercial gallery by clicking here.

Time to Make the Zombies

The Zombie Master

You don’t often get the opportunity to watch an artist work. Tom Savini was the creator of the Zombies for Dawn of the Dead in 1978. He worked with a small staff and created all the makeup effects. The man could make ligaments from a bucket of goo. Here he is backstage creating another Zombie for the Zombie Classic. You can buy a print of this image on my commercial site by clicking here.

Even Zombies Need Coffee Breaks!

There is a lot of waiting around while filming a movie. On the original Dawn of The Dead, the extras would arrive early for makeup and then hang around until they were needed in a specific shot. Sometimes they would wait so long, they had to have their make up retouched. During coffee breaks they had to make sure they didn’t mess up their make up. You can buy a print of this image at my commercial gallery by clicking here.

Zombie Coffee Break