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
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
One of the nights I was on location, the crew spent a lot of time filming a scene at the fountain. There must have been some sort of reflection problem and it required reblocking the scene and changing the camera positions. This is George Romero working on resolving the issue. You can buy a print of this image at my commercial gallery by clicking here.
George Romero Solving a Problem
I was amazed at how long it took to make up a single Zombie. Not only did they need to have their faces made up but all so their arms, neck and any other exposed skin. They also had to be dressed so they looked undead.I don’t think the process has changed much. When I watch “The Walking Dead” I study the zombies in the background for the makeup effects and appreciate how long it takes to makeup an extra. This is a young lady sitting patiently while being made up for the 1978 “Dawn of the Dead. You can buy a print of this image on my Commercial Gallery by clicking here.
Zombie Getting Makeup
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.
Currently they are dismantling the old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. It is kind of sad for me, I saw so many great concerts there and also, of course, The Pittsburgh Penguins. I only saw Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull play once and it was at the civic arena. I remember after the warm up band, all these roadies cam out dressed in British Trench Coats and set up the equipment for Tull. It was great concert from the Thick as a Brick Tour. You can buy a copy of this print in my commercial gallery by clicking here.
Jethro Tull at Pittsburgh Civic Arena
Last year I saw Jean Luc Ponty play with Return to Forever at the Beacon Theather. The warm up band was Zappa Plays Zappa and Jean Luc came out and played “Fifty Fifty” with the band. I had only seen him play once before and that was with Dweezil’s Dad at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. You can buy a T-Shirt of this image at Red Bubble.
Jean Luc Ponty
When you think about Zombie films you got to think about the make up. Dawn of the dead in 1978 had a lot of Zombies and they all had different looks. They would arrive on the set hours before the shoot and patiently wait until one of the three make up artists could make them up. Make up would some time include bloody appendages and body parts that were usually made by the Zombie Master Tom Savini. The extras would hang out, play cards, drink coffee and other things until they could be properly gored up.
Waiting for Make Up
I had the pleasure of meeting George Romero in his Pittsburgh Office in 1978 to get press credentials for being on the set of “Dawn of the Dead”. Even though he could have had an assistant handle this, he wanted to meet me first. He basically just asked questions about me and my background and then turned me over to Mike Gornick (Director of Photography) to explain the “ground rules”. This is a picture of him stifling a laugh on the set at Monroeville Mall which was printed in a Pittsburgh Magazine article.
George Romero on the Set of Dawn of the Dead