SFX Makeup with Roxy

If you were to ask me to do makeup, every single person would look exactly the same. Eyeliner. Some mascara. Something for the lips. Some powder stuff. That’s it right? When you talk to someone who loves and is an actual expert in makeup like our Erzulie makeup department head, Roxanne ‘Roxy’. McDanel… your eyes will literally be opened to the infinite creative possibilities of the world of makeup. That is why we hire Roxy.

She had the task of designing individual looks for an ensemble cast of 6 people plus a plethora of other supporting characters. This is her thought process and how she did it.

 

Transcript

Christine Chen 00:23

You think that after during this, 47, how many times?

 

Adam Rani 00:27

Can you hear.

 

Christine Chen 00:28

Yes, I can hear you.

 

Adam Rani 00:29

Great. Yes, we've done this 46 times.

 

Christine Chen 00:32

47 times. Right? you said episode 47

 

Adam Rani 00:37

Oh, Did I say episode. Oh episode 47 Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right.

 

Christine Chen 00:41

Yeah. Yeah, I still don't get it.

 

Adam Rani 00:45

Um, I mean, there's also audio issues that it sounds like every other episode sounds like you're in a wind tunnel.

 

Christine Chen 00:56

I know, I need to get a professional, I need to I need many things. I need a professional sounds and professional studio. I need money for my movie.

 

Adam Rani 01:06

Say no more, because your boy has got you hooked up with audio equipment that I'm going to bring for this live podcast. Ladies and gentlemen. Christine underestimates me and I don't appreciate that.

 

Christine Chen 01:24

I never underestimate you, what are you talking about.

 

Adam Rani 01:26

The power of me in my podcasting capabilities. It shall not be fault only on to you. It should be fault on to me. For while I didn't have good audio, and then I've heard other people say my audio stinks ad then I took that and ran with it, you know what I am saying?

 

Christine Chen 01:44

I'm gonna go live on Instagram too. While I try to figure out how to share our own podcasts that I seem to not know how to do after 47 times.

 

Adam Rani 01:53

Sorry, you haven't shared it yet. Okay. Well, uh, yeah, I guess I guess we could take another few minutes and then we'll get this officially started ladies and gentlemen. Mm hmm.

 

Christine Chen 02:04

Hey, are you on Instagram Live? Or I mean Instagram.

 

Adam Rani 02:08

I'm on Facebook Live. And I'm on Instagram now. Okay, I'm ready. I'm waiting.

 

Christine Chen 02:14

I am live as well. Let's see your post and I've shared it. It's sharing. It says it is sharing. I'm like a mom.

 

Adam Rani 02:24

Yeah, I mean, impatient mom at best.

 

Christine Chen 02:29

Hey, it's it fits my, the stereotype.

 

Adam Rani 02:33

Impatient mom. Yeah.

 

Christine Chen 02:34

Impatient Asian mom.

 

Adam Rani 02:37

Oh, well, I mean, my mom's impatient too. So, it's not like it's not it's not one way or the other you know, I'm saying it's a universal Ideology.

 

Christine Chen 02:53

This lighting gets better. Cool. All right.

 

Adam Rani 02:56

See, you know, and I invested in my lighting to come on. You you're dealing with Adam bananas here. You know, I'm saying you're acting like as if you're dealing with Adam the PA. I'm still a PA but two years ago, it's different.

 

Christine Chen 03:14

Yes. Hello, guys. Yes, we're here. You know, I finally getting my shit together slowly. But surely. Good.

 

Adam Rani 03:22

I mean, you know, it's.

 

Christine Chen 03:23

It is okay, it's a crazy and a good day. Lots of things are happening all at once, and I'll brief you on it. If you would like to hear.

 

Adam Rani 03:33

I mean, well, we're gonna we're gonna start the pod here in just a second. And Roxy just messaged me saying she's running a little bit behind.

 

Christine Chen 03:41

Oh, that's okay.

 

Adam Rani 03:42

Yeah, I just told her no worries. We are already starting. So just join in. home slice.

 

Christine Chen 03:58

Hello. Alright, let's do the thing.

 

Adam Rani 04:05

Let's do the thing. Okay, ladies and gentlemen. Oops. I got my notes here. I just I'm so

 

Christine Chen 04:11

We have totally done this 47 times.

 

Adam Rani 04:18

I was gonna get started. And then you had to make fun of me about not getting ready for the past four. I've been born ready. Christine.

 

Adam Rani 04:28

We are all born ready.

 

Adam Rani 04:29

In a history of Adam Chase Rani, I was born ready to talk. Born ready to do this show. I was born ready to do podcasting in 1994 before but podcast existed.

 

Christine Chen 04:42

Well get your shit together, introduce us.

 

Adam Rani 04:44

Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to another episode of Get Reelisms podcast episode 47 With your boy, your knight in shining armor, the man with the best audio the best lighting still gets trampled on every single time by my own mentor ladies and gentlemen, my name is Adam Chase Rani.

 

Christine Chen 05:11

And I am still Christine Chen.

 

Adam Rani 05:13

Lo and behold, we're here. Yeah, my gosh.

 

Christine Chen 05:19

Episode 47 I still can't get it together.

 

Adam Rani 05:24

Christine? How are you?

 

Christine Chen 05:28

Dude, it is nuts. Nuts, what it is. I thought about hey, maybe I should like look nice and stuff like that. But here I am. This is what a stressed out. director, producer, writer, whatever all sorts of shit a person looks like. This is it in all its glory.

 

Adam Rani 05:53

Well, you look fantastic.

 

Christine Chen 05:56

Haven't slept much haven't really had a chance to shower TMI, haven't, out of roller coaster up and down.

 

Adam Rani 06:07

That is chill, me too.

 

Christine Chen 06:10

Like a million things happening and I cannot believe I'm literally leaving tomorrow for first I'm going to Houston to shoot a commercial and then from Houston. I'm going directly to our film site in Baton Rouge.

 

Adam Rani 06:25

When Ah, I got a question for you after the podcast. Yeah. I just wrote a note down but um, that's awesome. I mean, well, not awesome that you have another job and then haul ass to Louisiana

 

Christine Chen 06:42

We're doing it. We're doing it. You know what's great is people are excited. They're so excited that our props guy Reese Roark actually wrote us an email saying, See you tomorrow. And luckily, I caught it in my delirium at like 4am in the morning. Well, first I didn't catch it. I say great. See you tomorrow. And then five seconds later. It registers to me. Oh, fuck. Not tomorrow. Not tomorrow. Not tomorrow. No, no, not tomorrow. Um, so our original dates that we were going to start prepping on was going to be tomorrow. And I guess he hadn't changed his Google stuff yet. And so, I was kind of I messaged him on everything. email, text, Facebook Messenger. I was like, Reese, did I show up on set tomorrow. Nobody's gonna be there do not Mayday do not show up on set. Luckily, he was fine. But it was just really funny. Because he was like, really stoked. He wrote us this pretty inspirational, like email about how like, he's excited to work with some powerful female leaders as he should be. And, and yeah, so I was so inspired by his message. I didn't realize he said tomorrow, after a while.

 

Adam Rani 08:01

Shit happens, you know.

 

Christine Chen 08:02

Yeah. But it's funny because I have this image of him wearing his, he has this t shirt. So, on the last set that you were unfortunately not a part of called room two or three. You might have heard lots of stories about how it was nuts.

 

Adam Rani 08:20

And you talked about Reese on the pod?

 

Christine Chen 08:23

Yes. And Reese, there was this giant cast and crew Flip Cup competition at during one of our very late nights into the morning. Because it was a night shoot overnight shoot. There was a group that made themselves the champions of the Flip Cup competition. The it's debatable whether they were but there will be a rematch anyways this supposes group called The Beatles they have named themselves got team T shirts and left out a few people

 

Adam Rani 09:05

 When you have a Flip Cup competition.

 

Christine Chen 09:07

And Reese is one of those people Yeah, and what's great is I just envisioned him wearing his The Beatles Flip Cup competition t shirt.

 

Adam Rani 09:18

Listen I may be proud to Christine.

 

Christine Chen 09:21

I know, arriving on set that nobody's there yet and he is sitting all by himself. Exactly. With his bloody gear in like, making internal organs for art. Like I laughed. I know is like I just laughed at that image so much like with like a suitcase.

 

Adam Rani 09:50

Rolling down. Yeah.

 

Christine Chen 09:52

And so, I'm just I'm excited that my crew is so excited that they're going to show up a week before the actual week.

 

Adam Rani 10:02

Yeah, yeah, just a week, early.

 

Christine Chen 10:06

Early, just to show this whole month, you know, they have I mean that we have been showing up this whole we've been showing up for the last few months on this project, virtually in rehearsals and all sorts of things, pitching, rehearsing, like all of the all of the magic, and right now simultaneously why I'm like, selling my soul and like, you know, hoping to convince the world that like our project is the one that you should invest in, there's also a photoshoot happening, and they should be going live soon as well. At Candice guys photography studio, she is we're partnering up with her because she's a badass bitch. And she makes incredible art. And she's who's going to be designing our poster and our PR materials and everything. So, she has the ladies two ladies that are here in three actually. One already did her photoshoot. Three ladies here in Austin. Our girl Leila Scott who plays our mermaid. Originally, she redid her photoshoot. But today we're doing two other ladies. Diana Rose who plays Ari. And then our newest cast member, Zoe Gram, who plays Fay. Zoe, you may recognize her was in boyhood. She's playing a big role of boyhood she was a love interest, the actor. She also plays Oh, yeah. Julia Robert’s daughter in another film, and I were like so freakin lucky to have all these talented ladies. And then meanwhile, I think tomorrow. The second photoshoot is happening in Los Angeles with our LA team. We have an LA team now. That's how cool we are.

 

Adam Rani 12:12

I know I was just about to say I'm like, wow.

 

Christine Chen 12:15

We have an LA team, Courtney who plays Wendy and Elizabeth true who was former Austin and also in all my short films.

 

Adam Rani 12:25

Texas at heart.

 

Christine Chen 12:26

Texas at heart, she plays violet, they're in LA doing the other part of the photoshoot and so together they're going to make this incredible poster hopefully for us and we will help to sell the movie so things are happening even though even if we don't want it to be like we're on this train is not stopping and it's go full speed ahead and we're like fuck, like the whole time. This morning. Camille the CO writer, producer key hair, make up, costume designer like multiple roles as well stopped by my house to my house, my apartment to raid my closet basically. So, we went through my closet to pull possible wardrobe pieces and accessories and then my roommate. We pulled a bunch of stuff she had for set dressing and whatnot. So, it's like it's a team effort. A major effort and Peyton right the second are in Gainesville hustling. She's trying to get sponsors for us to get you know, props or liquor or things that will keep our crew happy. Apparently, we got an awesome local sponsor. It was a lavender farm, so we have lavender margaritas are going to be on set for you ladies I know it's gonna be a blast. There is lavender so little like that's just one bit and shoot we're getting hopefully sponsorship from Trader Joe's from all sorts of other or other places to make this work. Because like I talked my head off because every little effin bit helps because we are literally counting pennies. We made a movie baby registry today that on Amazon, that anybody can go and buy crap like toys.

 

Adam Rani 14:32

The link is in the description ladies and gentlemen.

 

Christine Chen 14:35

The link is in this description. You can go in and buy toilet paper for the crew and know that our asses are clean because of you.

 

Adam Rani 14:44

And our hands are going to be clean and.

 

Christine Chen 14:49

because of you yeah, we are we are going to be covid free because of you because you guys are providing us helping us with PPE and COVID safety stuff and things that people are doing are not sexy. It's not the camera we understand but it's like a cent all adds up.

 

Adam Rani 15:05

But for the girl out there who just, you know, who are just kind of down and out and there's not really much to be given especially for, you know, the crowdfunding, you know if there's anything you can put in even a few dollars. So just by, like you said, paper toilet sanitizer, it goes a long way on our set, you know, so well, in respect Yeah,

 

Christine Chen 15:30

you can, you can now walk away being like, yeah, they got to wipe their asses because of me.

 

Adam Rani 15:38

I mean, yeah, I don't know if you want that trophy. But yes, absolutely, you can say that you're a part of history

 

Christine Chen 15:47

Part of Erzulie's history.

 

Adam Rani 15:50

Which ladies and gentlemen, movies, if anything, are gonna stand the test of time. And Erzulie's is no exception. It's, it's going to be flawless. And you guys are going to be part of that journey. So, everybody who did the crowdfunding and also, you know, also participated in this Wishlist, shout out to you guys, we appreciate it. Please.

 

Christine Chen 16:17

Thank you, guys, for sharing everything. And I am not going to get emotional. I always get emotional when I talk about it.

 

Adam Rani 16:25

Do you want me to get emotional?

 

Christine Chen 16:27

Please, please make it not just me. Me, I feel like the moment I'm gonna be on set is just going to be crying like every out of happiness, not out of like, oh, I'm sure there will also be crying because I'm like, oh, fuck what i What did I do to myself? Why did I ask for this? But I'm sure most of the time, we'll just it'll just be tears of gratefulness and appreciation. Every time I think about it, just like people donating people joining and people wanting to share and talk about our campaign and everything. Like it makes me cry. Because I'm so appreciative that people would believe in a nobody like me, who's going to be somebody who is somebody is I was gonna say, you're going to be a bigger somebody, you're going to be a bigger somebody. So, there's a sketch idea I've always wanted to do of like, how did I wonder if Steven Spielberg ever went through this, you know, like, his parents like, making food for his film sets, or like, I there wasn't crowdfunding back then. But you know, him asking his relatives for money, you know, type thing, like, everybody starts somewhere. And this is this is that film, you know, that could make or break a lot of people's careers and stuff. And, and it's exciting. It's fun. It's about killer mermaids. And, like, what a cool way to enter into the film world with a killer mermaid film. Like, I'm so stoked. And I have already made a commitment that if I can get through this film alive, I'm getting my first tattoo of there's a design that Camille made. That is prevalent throughout the film. It's a kind of a big theme. And yeah, the girls on the set, or the guys. Adam, you want to join. Yeah. It doesn't have to be big and getting rashy or somewhere like can't see.

 

Adam Rani 17:21

Yeah, it was it would have to be my right cheek.

 

Christine Chen 18:04

Yeah, you're right. I only Yes. Yeah, we're all gonna get this design. To commemorate that we didn't kill each other. We survived and made it through live. It's gonna be great. I'm excited. I cannot believe I'm literally somebody said, I think it was Camille or Megan. It was like, oh, you're leaving tomorrow? And I was like, Oh, no. I'm leaving tomorrow. Yeah. Oh, my God, or God, it's happening. It's happening. It's happening is happening. I've been talking about a feature it you know; I've been talking about the next feature for a long time. wanting it to happen last year, what do you need to happen like COVID hit, then, you know, the years before that wanted to happen and it just wasn't the right time. We didn't have the right script or whatever. And now it's happening and it's surreal. And it's scary. Yeah. And it's you know, everyday Peyton my producer is hustling out right now. She calls me and we just download and we're just like freaking out like okay, do we have this, do we have the equipment do have the food can we make sure everybody's checks don't bounce like, can we take care of people you know, that's our that's our biggest thing and like we one thing we haven't budged on is like we refuse to like cut corners that are easy to cut because It's easy to be like, Alright guys, you guys are all good just gonna eat like shit. We're just going to, it's easy because it's an easy fix, right? You know, we could cut like, $5,000 right there if people ate like shit, you know, and that's not fair not to like this film family that I like really legitimately care about. It's like, it's not the movie, like I care about the movie, I love the movie, and I'm, we're gonna do awesome movie. But it's like, it's the people that make this movie possible. Right? I think that's the most important and I think a lot of producers only care about a lot of producers and directors just care about the movie, or the product. And they forget the real, the superstars, and the real joy of it is the journey is the process, it's the relationships and all the people that trust in you and are excited to be on the project, like, they're the last people that you want to just cut stuff for, you know, I'd rather cut a piece of equipment, then cut the budget to feed my crew properly, you know, right. So, we're just, we're utilizing this creative way to just, you know, get things that we need that is maybe less of a burden for people. That stuff that people don't really think about that really, really adds up in the long in the long run, you know, toilet paper for four people for almost three weeks adds up. Yeah. So, and say with bug spray and sunscreen and masks and basic crap like that, you know.

 

Christine Chen 20:45

It's interesting, you say that it's better to soak in the journey along with not only the fact that you know, you're going to be in this collaborative environment, where you're going to create something that is ultimately yours, but you know, it's, it's like, it's like Transformers. You guys are like Autobots uniting shit like that. And it's, it's a team effort. And, um, I feel like you're right, I think I think even when you're doing something as mundane as writing even just something as little as that goes a really long way in the collaborative sense. And the fact that you have been with you know, Camille, friend of the podcast, like from the very, very beginning, you know, and then all the way to it, you know, natural conclusion. Yeah, I mean, that's a that's a fucking adventure. Yeah. And a lot of people don't realize that. Like they it's just you're right. Like, it feels like some producers or directors who kind of treat it corporately. You’re making it another product and that just doesn't it you lose that passion and flavor inside that film that's imbued in the film behind the scenes.

 

Adam Rani 21:49

Yes. And the thing is, like, you know, much as I am stressed out and complain or voice my dissatisfaction when I complain and how little, little money that we have to work with, and how little resources that we have. I know that once we get to the bigger stuff, we're going to miss these days when it was a team you know?

 

Adam Rani 22:11

Yeah, dude. Absolutely. Yeah.

 

Adam Rani 22:13

It's, oh, God, I'm so I'm sorry to cry.

 

Adam Rani 22:17

It's okay. It's fine. It's because it baffles me too. And I couldn't be more of course, I couldn't be more appreciative to be with you, but I also couldn't be more appreciative of the people around you too. You know what I'm saying like especially friend of the podcast Roxy she's coming in any moment now. Um, yeah, it's just we're all we all want the same thing, and we all are here for the same thing is to make pretend and have fun with it with friends and shit like that. You know, it's truly summer camp.

 

Adam Rani 23:30

And I'm so grateful for to be on this level where so many people can as a family get together and make this a reality and like this is the closest to having a direct impact, that you can get on someone's career, someone's project, someone's dream.

 

Adam Rani 24:42

It's inspiring.

 

Christine Chen 24:44

It's so like, it's unbelievable when people come in and you know, and buys you some, we are checking that everything, like, it's not like a giant as film where it's like 50 layers of hierarchy of different people and stuff, and they don't feel the effects. Like, your donation is literally a direct impact on a very small group of people. And, like, I get every single email, I get every notification, I get. I'm the one packing boxes, you know, I'm my group is, is in their houses grabbing stuff from their house, from their homes from, from homes, to decorate. It's, um, I'm sure some of us will be cooking on set for people, you know, there's companies and awesome local restaurants or getting involved from, you know, grass roots and stuff. There's, I mean, we raided my freakin closet for wardrobe. And, like, this is it? You know, I think people are people are only going to see, most people in this world are only going to see when I'm big and I on that 50 million, whatever project, you know, and they're gonna think that that was it. They're not going to get to see this part. Yeah, this is the hardest part. But it's the most rewarding part.

 

Adam Rani 27:08

Super rewarding. Yeah.

 

Christine Chen 27:11

And I am so emotional all the freakin time because like. Just, I'm so excited that so many people are wanting to make this happen for us. You know,

 

Adam Rani 27:29

I couldn't be more excited. Christine. And I and I think I speak on behalf a lot of people on this set, we're all we're all really excited. Because part of it is I'm working with you again. Which I even told. I talked about this in therapy too, which is, but I said that I wasn't like I'm not tippet like I don't know how to say this without sounding like an asshole. But usually, I wouldn't I just production assistant. I know the ins and outs. Yeah, and the fact that I'm going to go into production assistant again, I'm still going to have a smile on my face. No matter what.

 

Christine Chen 28:17

Fashion assistant.

 

Adam Rani 28:19

Yeah, I know. I know. But you know, it's one of those things where I'm still gonna, it's because it's what you said, I'm being part of this history where I'm going to be with you and other great minds alike. You know, I'm saying and that's, to me, so fucking special. And I thank you for that for letting me tag along with you. This fucking idiot.

 

Christine Chen 28:46

It's this is fun employment. 2.0 Basic.

 

Adam Rani 28:49

This is fun employment. 2.0. And now you have Adam to have commentary on this.

 

Christine Chen 28:55

Yeah. fun employed 2.0. And we all are a bit more experienced now. We have a little bit more resources than what we started off with. We have a much better script. Much better everything

 

Adam Rani 29:11

Hang on I like fun employment.

 

Christine Chen 29:13

But it's like it's the next step and then and I just cannot believe it's happening. Like it's happening. We're going to be shooting on May 3 our crowd funny is ending next week.

 

Adam Rani 29:35

And the next time you see us ladies and gentlemen next, we're gonna we're gonna be in face to face.

 

Christine Chen 29:43

Yes, the next

 

Adam Rani 29:46

 I know. Oh man, don't be so stupid.

 

Christine Chen 29:55

I am making a big fool of myself, we are going to be on the set, on Sunday.

 

Adam Rani 30:08

I'm so I'm so excited.

 

Christine Chen 30:11

So, embarrassing.

 

Adam Rani 30:12

I get to shit tell you in front of your face.

 

Christine Chen 30:15

Oh my god. I can't.

 

Adam Rani 30:19

I know dude, I'm gonna I'm gonna Yeah, this is this is gonna be one for sure.

 

Christine Chen 30:26

We are going to be on set the next podcast.

 

Adam Rani 30:29

Yeah, it’s so crazy.

 

Christine Chen 30:34

I can't believe it

 

Adam Rani 30:42

Unless we're going to be unless we're going to be on the road podcasting if time permits but I think we're going to be faced I'm more than certain we're going to be face to face. So yeah, we're gonna we're gonna be their ladies and gentlemen.

 

Christine Chen 30:55

Oh, my goodness. I don't know. I'm crying my eyes out.

 

Adam Rani 31:02

You see, ladies and gentlemen, Christine bares her soul. So, the least you can do? The least you can do is click that link in that description. And give us some fucking Clorox I'm kidding. No, but please, please, please, please invest in us. Please. Even if it's just a little bit you guys it goes. It goes a long way. And we can't I can't thank Christina enough. And I also can't thank the listeners enough, you know, even though there's only a few. Once this podcast becomes big, I'm gonna remember you motherfuckers just so you know, once we go global with this podcast, we're gonna we're gonna destroy the Joe Rogan experience with this podcast, ladies and gentlemen, that's my goal. Yeah, you know, Christine, I'm just, I'm more than thankful. And I couldn't be more appreciative that I'm going to be tagging along with you. And, you know, just witness this, this journey this this story unfolding before our eyes and shit like that, you know, that we all collaborated on, which is going to be even more strange. You know? Because it doesn't it takes more than one to run a ship you know? Yeah, no, I'm excited. We're going to be there with better audio as christine said.

 

Christine Chen 32:29

Better everything. The whole crew with real equipment.

 

Adam Rani 32:35

Yeah. Absolutely. Real ass equipment and all. Yeah.

 

Christine Chen 32:42

And we're gonna No, I can't. I know that. I knew that this film was coming up. But like, just thinking that the next literally the next podcast we're going to be on site is like,

 

Adam Rani 32:57

Yeah, I'm so excited. I'm very excited for that.

 

Christine Chen 33:01

I'm very excited. I'm also like, freaking out.

 

Adam Rani 33:04

Why?

 

Christine Chen 33:05

Just like, I want

 

Adam Rani 33:09

It is just a podcast with you, me. And maybe with 10 other people.

 

Christine Chen 33:13

I know. It's more I'm just freaking I just want. I want everybody to have a good experience.

 

Adam Rani 33:20

Oh, Christine, don't you fret. I mean, this. This is gonna be one of the I mean, it's just gonna be a great time. Like, I even I remember the first email you even sent. I liked the email list, and I was like, Oh my god. Work on a fuck shit.

 

Christine Chen 33:43

We're I mean. Oh, crap. We're gonna be on set very soon. And I probably gonna cry so much on set to, uh, I just its tears of joy. It's a mixture. It's a tear of joy. Tears of fear.

 

Adam Rani 34:08

Yeah.

 

Christine Chen 34:09

A wise professor WHO donates to our crowdfunding campaign. By the way. Mr. John Doggett who helped

 

Adam Rani 34:15

shout out to John Doggett.

 

Christine Chen 34:17

Yes. Who helped me perfect my pitch along with other people? He really helped me a lot. He at the very, very beginning in films, and that helps cleaner on film school in business school, said if you weren't afraid, it means you weren’t taking it seriously enough. And this is literally the next juncture where I'm deathly afraid. I felt this way. I had this same feeling when I graduated business school. And I was in my one of my best friend's living rooms, and I decided that I was going to not take a real job. And then I was going to make movies instead and start my own company moth to flame. And I was I had this the same feeling I'm feeling right now, where I was so afraid. And I was crying on her couch too. And she said, hey, worse comes to worse. You have a couch to sleep on. And you can get a real job. If you're not going to be homeless, you're not going to if fail miserably. There are people who are there to catch you. And I have that feeling right now. Of this just scared shitless, excited. But I know something great is going to happen. I just know, something incredible is about to happen. It's going to be really hard. Long hours. Hopefully not many people complaining. Hopefully, and we're gonna make, we're gonna make something amazing. Hopefully, it's gonna make lots of our investors a lot of money. I have confidence in that. But really, we're going to make something that I feel like is going to put ourselves on the map. People are going to give a shit about us. And all the people who donated who were part of the crowdfunding campaign for investors in this project, like Tages, like Adam Glick, like, some of my class of 2012 MBA folks are going to be like can be proud to say, hey, I was there.

 

Adam Rani 37:34

Yeah, dude.

 

Christine Chen 37:36

Before anybody cared. So, all you guys who have been sharing who've been donating for and all that stuff. You guys are going to be the people who I'm going to thank and remember when I'm finally at the top

 

Adam Rani 38:03

Yeah. Yeah.

 

Christine Chen 38:08

So freakin grateful to be in this position.

 

Adam Rani 38:17

Absolutely. I'm grateful for you. And I'm grateful even doing this podcast with you. You know, I, I'm just yet no, everything. Everything has been tremendous, Christine. And I can't even imagine your position right now. Because I will probably be the same exact way just hysterical. You know it just because it's a lot. It's a lot because you got people who are investing in your passion too.

 

Christine Chen 38:47

Yeah, I've got money. I've got my own money. I got other people’s money

 

Adam Rani 38:54

I know, but I'm speaking past money. I'm speaking in terms of the investment of time. And also, any resources. You know, you just you just the people out there we there's so much to be thankful for. But there's even more to be thankful for people watching people seeing this journey, you know, like there's some like, somebody told me a wise man once told me

 

Christine Chen 39:28

 It's a wise man and women

 

Adam Rani 39:31

Actually, know she was she was a woman who told me this actually, I don't even know why I just mess genders up like that. How dare I but a wise woman once told me that there's no such thing as those are the days there is such thing as these are the days and it I still, it didn't dawn on me till years later when she told me I was a kid. I was a child. I'm like, what are you talking about? Like that makes no sense. And you know when you're telling that to a kid. Now I understand that, and I think that is more crucial than ever, especially nowadays, where, you know, people are even with the pandemic, you know, a year ago, people were freaking out, Christine, you're freaking out, I was freaking out. you know, I had no idea where my next job was gonna be. And by the way, I didn't get many. I got maybe one job, you know, and it was a dark, scary time. But to see this in the horizon, and to see what the rest of the year is going to be like in the horizon. Say no more. I'll do another year of pandemic, if that means I can get this again. You know, I'm saying like, I I'm not saying that I want too not at all.

 

Christine Chen 40:49

Kelly is on podcast now. Kelly, I've been crying. I am not pmsing That's the thing. I literally am not. I'm just so overwhelmed. Adam.

 

Adam Rani 41:04

I didn't make her cry. By the way. She did this on she

 

Christine Chen 41:08

Adam said the next podcast, we're all gonna be together and we're going to be on set and I just freaking lost it. Like lost it. Like,

 

Adam Rani 41:19

I didn't mean to. Now I look like an asshole.

 

Christine Chen 41:23

Oh, well, no, it's just like, everything has been going by so fast. Like incredibly fast. But I haven't had a chance to process anything like nobody has. We've just been working work. Like I'm a freakin machine right now. I kid you not. I wake up. Maybe I will try to work out but most of the time I'm working on texting people is how am I doing? sit-ups and being like sitting emails, and doing crunches, and then doing a contract, and then calling people for equipment, and then posting things about crowdfunding, and then posting more social media. And then like, and like figure out where to get money and also the other thing, and then like, and then like, again, jumping into another meeting. And this morning, that's what happened I did that. Camille comes were like alright, let's go into my closet. Let's like find some clothes and we go and like look for clothes. And then immediately after that, we jump down to a zoom. And we're like casting people which by the way, we casted our Ms. Laffite today, so then we cast that and then like then I'm on this, so it's been like, nonstop. And like the moment where you said we're all we're all going to be together on Sundays. It was like holy shit.

 

Adam Rani 42:53

Surprise.

 

Christine Chen 42:54

Surprise. Oh, no. Oh, yay. I mean, I'm very sorry I am very excited.

 

Adam Rani 43:01

She is not looking forward to seeing me ladies and gentlemen.

 

Christine Chen 43:04

I'm very excited.

 

Adam Rani 43:05

I am the last person she wants to see.

 

Christine Chen 43:07

It is the mother effin family reunion I know is it's like the OGs from fun employment. Roxy Kelly me the only person we're missing I've been trying to convince to come as Jason case, but he like cannot stand us.

 

Adam Rani 43:23

No, he probably has other things.

 

Christine Chen 43:28

He's working from afar he's been supporting and making beautiful content for us for free

 

Adam Rani 43:34

Absolutely shout out to Jason

 

Christine Chen 43:35

Jason Case, one of our OGs. And then there's people that we've collected along the way they've become family like I don’t, and Camille and you know Lisa, all sorts of people and if you've noticed lots of women names are popping up because like, this is a very rare film where like, I'd say 70% of the keys are female. Actually, aren't we have an all-female sound team?

 

Christine Chen 44:07

Hello?

 

Adam Rani 44:08

Yes.

 

Christine Chen 44:09

Yay. We got

 

Roxy 44:12

Am I oriented the right way?

 

Adam Rani 44:13

No.

 

Roxy 44:16

Standby.

 

Christine Chen 44:17

Yeah, Roxy is on the line too. So, if you want to see who Roxy is for all you know badass YG people she is on our Facebook live right now for get real isms. Unfortunately, there's no feature Instagram to add other people so something you need to change. Yeah, Instagram. Get your shit together make him please make the Instagram live experience be shareable amongst multiple people. So that's why you're not seeing Roxy's beautiful face that you can now see on Facebook, our awesome makeup key head department Head, our makeup department head.

 

Adam Rani 45:02

She has a little bit of technical difficulties so she's gonna pop back in in a second.

 

Christine Chen 45:08

Yeah. Roxy you've missed. I've cried like five times already on this podcast live.

 

Adam Rani 45:17

It's my fault. Who knew I have?

 

Christine Chen 45:19

I cried five times. Probably more than that. Oh my god, Roxy. So yeah, Roxy our key makeup department head is about to try to come on to our podcast to kind of just talk about her inspiration and design process for makeup. So, and hopefully, I won't cry during that process.

 

Adam Rani 45:47

So, further ado, ladies, gentlemen, our best friend of the podcast, Roxanne Roxane again. Oh, yay, there

 

Christine Chen 45:59

she is. Hey, oh, hey, oh, hey, oh, stay there, please.

 

Adam Rani 46:05

How's it? How's it hanging in the Angelus of loss?

 

Roxy 46:09

It's good. It's windy today. Weirdly. Very, very windy. Which I wasn't prepared for this much

 

Adam Rani 46:15

Breaking wind over there.

 

Roxy 46:17

Apparently, so yeah. Ha

 

Christine Chen 46:19

ha.

 

Roxy 46:23

But now it's good. It's been one of those weird things where kind of as felt like the floodgates have opened all at once in LA. And that everyone is like, sweet. Okay. We're good enough. Right? We can go start building everything. Perfect.

 

Adam Rani 46:38

Oh, really? Like, it's all you guys are now? Like, right, like, ready to go? In terms of

 

Roxy 46:44

there are still restrictions, but just like, oh, everyone's working again.

 

Christine Chen 46:49

Roxy in LA saying that things are opening up in LA even more reason for us to finish this film first. And you know, me I like a competition.

 

Roxy 47:01

Oh, it's but you don't want to be interesting. Oh, no. Christine's all about the competition. You speak? All right, so what's gonna win?

 

Christine Chen 47:12

Winning? Yeah. If someone's gonna win. This one is.

 

Adam Rani 47:17

Exactly. So, LA is all open up. Roxy, are you now like picking up then what you had last year? Or did you even were you working a lot? I can't remember.

 

Roxy 47:31

Last year, like started off? Well, in that it's been a while. Yeah. The beginning of 2020 had like had a lot of momentum. I was lucky in that. beginning of January 2020. I had a feature that I was doing. And I was starting to work really regularly then everything shut down as it should have. And then it's just been within like, the past month or so. It's finally it's feeling not only like it was pre pandemic for the number of things that are happening. work wise but even more so. Because everyone's trying to make up for lost time.

 

Adam Rani 48:06

Yes. Which is understandable.

 

Roxy 48:09

It's also been the interesting thing. And I feel like this film is included in it as everyone had a year of sitting at home not doing anything to think you know, what would be a really cool idea. So, everyone's going full out, like, let's do it this thing with this and this and this, which has been really fun and very, very stressful at the same time.

 

Christine Chen 48:33

So, folks, just letting you know that the reason look looks like we're just listening is because there's actually another guest on the line that we're not able to bring on our IG live because Instagram has made that an option to have multiple people on live so yes, if you want to see who our mystery guest is. Oh, what's our topic today? Our topic is we are making a feature and it's happening and it's we're all going to be together on Sunday. We're literally shooting a feature soon. May 3 to the 16th is our is our shoot dates in near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It's a killer feminist mermaid film. I cried like five times thinking about this. We're looking for people to donate and buy shit on our movie registry to be a part of it. Because this film is going to school is going to go places like we're not just saying that so yeah, Erzuliefilm.com and I totally comment but to you guys so that you guys can do the thing but ignore me because I got to keep our Instagram folks.

 

Adam Rani 49:53

Okay. So, uh, Roxy, it's been it's been Super long are, so we were going to get into the topic of. Well, this is what Christine wanted to talk about in terms of hair and makeup. On of Erzulie. So, Christine, take it away.

 

Christine Chen 50:19

Sure. How about do you think we need should I go? IG live with Roxy so that we can hear her response.

 

Adam Rani 50:27

Yeah, you just want to kick me out. That's fine.

 

Christine Chen 50:33

Just on Instagram, dude it is fine.

 

Roxy 50:37

How do I do this? I can't do technology things.

 

Christine Chen 50:40

Yeah. So, what I'm gonna do you need a you may not be able. You need two devices. So, I've got my phone running, and I've got

 

Adam Rani 50:49

Use your phone.

 

Roxy 50:51

I'm using my phone. Okay.

 

Adam Rani 50:53

Yeah. Why don't we just do it Facebook Live then?

 

Christine Chen 50:58

It's fine. Yeah, We'll just It's okay. Everybody on Facebook. It just needs to hop over to Facebook.

 

Adam Rani 51:06

Instagram? Get on that Facebook Live? Yeah, it's owned by Instagram anyways.

 

Christine Chen 51:11

Yeah, because you can't hear most of us. won't hear the two of us, but you won't be able to see our mystery guests. It's on Facebook.

 

Roxy 51:22

Like, I have like a black square with a question mark over my face every day.

 

Christine Chen 51:26

I know. So, this is what I'm going to do. You keep talking and I'll reef just know, I'll probably rephrase what you say here and there. So that folks on our Instagram.

 

Roxy 51:37

No

 

Christine Chen 51:40

Like a summary. I want the IG people to be able to hear what we're talking about.

 

Adam Rani 51:49

We only have a few more minutes, we don't have enough time.

 

Christine Chen 52:05

just start talking. Go talk to Roxy.

 

Roxy 52:14

On this or am I going to Facebook or go to Instagram? You guys.

 

Adam Rani 52:17

Just stay where you are.

 

Christine Chen 52:18

Stay where you are.

 

Adam Rani 52:20

Christine is just gonna recite the entire podcast to Instagram.

 

Christine Chen 52:23

I will not. I will not. I'm just going to here and there. Say hi to people on Instagram and tell them donate.

 

Adam Rani 52:33

So, uh, Roxy, you Okay, so let's, should we talk about the history? Because we haven't had Roxy and Christine in the same podcast together?

 

Roxy 52:47

Oh, we haven’t?

 

Adam Rani 52:48

not since fun employment. So, for those who are just joining us, or people who have been following our podcast, we haven't had all three of us here in one setting. So, guys, can we talk a little bit about history of Christine and Roxy

 

Christine Chen 53:06

This is a good this is. That's crazy. You're right.

 

Roxy 53:10

Yep. Let us go back to many of years before.

 

Adam Rani 53:14

Once upon a time.

 

Roxy 53:15

Once upon a time. Yes, I think would have been six, seven years ago.

 

Christine Chen 53:22

Far, far away.

 

Adam Rani 53:23

2013, circa 2014.

 

Roxy 53:29

Okay, yeah, so, okay, I don't like this. Cuz we're getting old fuck anyway. Oh, sorry. Cursing.

 

Adam Rani 53:36

Oh, no, cursing? I mean, you know, we are good, who cares?

 

Roxy 53:41

So, I, when I met Christina, I had just graduated from UTS film program. But I had done Media Studies and I was working as makeup artists part time, or no, at that time, I had a full-time position with a makeup company. I knew I wanted to get into film, but it was also a thing. It was like, I don't know how you get into film as makeup artists. And one of my friends was talking to a friend and was like doing that whole thing. It's like, oh, so tell me about this person, this person because it was at a bar. And when it got to me, it's like, oh, that's Roxy. She's a makeup bar. She wants to do film. And it was like, oh, well, I have a friend of a friend. That's making a movie. Do you want to give me her phone then I'll pass it along? Like literally it was like a friend of a friend of a friend sort of situation. Oh, wow.

 

Adam Rani 54:35

This felt farfetched for you then probably you probably like had your doubts even, right?

 

Roxy 54:41

I nearly didn't show the first day that

 

Adam Rani 54:44

Oh, that's right.

 

Christine Chen 54:49

Because I paid you like was that why is because I was like your key now.

 

Roxy 54:54

No, that was before that bomb got dropped on me that I really didn't show before cuz I went into Roxy, panic anxiety mode. I was like, Oh God, what if I go? And I'm absolutely terrible. What if I go and it's miserable, and I hate it? And now that dream is dead. That was actually the big thing was I was so afraid of going and hating it, that this dream job of mine was gonna, like, come crashing down and be like, Oh God, I have to figure out a new dream with for my life. Fuck.

 

Christine Chen 55:25

Dude, I had that moment like, you missed it 10 minutes ago, where it's that being deathly afraid, right? Like, I had this exact moment. 10 years ago. When I graduate, I guess it's 10 years 2012 When I graduated Business School, 2012. And I was sitting in my best friend's living room and this like, crippling fear of like, what if I have to rethink my entire plan? In terms of my career? What if this is not going to work out? What if I'm gonna be homeless forever? What if I'm going to be living on a couch? And it was crippling, so I know exactly what you're one. Yeah.

 

Roxy 56:14

And in that moment of that fear, like, it's almost easy to be like, I'm just going to run away from this. If I just don't do it, then the dream gets to live on and it's just I think it's like, you know, I could have made it, I could have been that person. But you know, it just didn't work out. But luckily, I had a coworker at my day job that I was talking to, who's just like, Roxy, just fucking go. You go, it doesn't work. You figure out a new thing, but you know. And so, I went to set not knowing anything. Got there supposed to be assisting somebody and then Christine goes, Hi, Christine. Nice to meet you. Oh, by the way, the other makeup artist isn't gonna make it. So, you're now the key. You got this. You got this. You got this? I got this.

 

Adam Rani 57:04

The first five minutes you stepped foot onto set Roxy.

 

Christine Chen 57:11

You so got it. That's the thing like you don't understand you still got it. I never once questioned that you were new at all. Not good. Not it not a single time. I was like, man, we have a really good makeup artist.

 

Adam Rani 57:27

Like I had Roxy's thinking I'm a pretty good liar.

 

Roxy 57:32

I was not a good liar. And it was very obvious. I didn't know what I was doing. Right?  but you see someone. I've never been in that environment.

 

Christine Chen 57:41

I thought you knew everything.

 

Roxy 57:51

Perfect match made in heaven.

 

Christine Chen 57:54

Oh, man. That is so funny. No, I never once thought like, oh, you didn't know what you're doing or anything. I just thought you were a badass and like, everybody looked great. And I was like, alright, well, let's do this again. Um, I had had no clue and that's so funny.

 

Roxy 58:11

Oh, no. So, I would because like you get good and we're like, okay, yeah, you could sit up in here and do your makeup so I remember like taking my stuff on my case and going oh, fuck. Oh, shocking. Like, holding back tears because I was just like, this is not what I signed up for. I was gonna get to shadow someone and I was gonna learn how to do this and what I'm supposed to do I'm not supposed to

 

Adam Rani 58:33

And now you're in the seventh circle of hell.

 

Roxy 58:36

This was also I don't know, Adam. We've talked about this before. Yeah, I thought I was gonna be there for like three hours because it was two scenes. Oh right. That's how green I was that I did not realize a filming day was 12 hours.

 

Adam Rani 58:48

And then by our eight you're like, are we are we what are we doing? It's like no, Roxy we got another like four more hours. Oh, shit.

 

Roxy 59:02

Let me send a quick text message. I'm gonna be late.

 

Adam Rani 59:05

Because there's people who think I'm dead

 

Roxy 59:11

that is like film set 101 By the way, text people to let them know you're not dead.

 

Adam Rani 59:16

Dude. And that's the problem with so I remembered the first week of shooting I thought the same thing I thought we were going to, So Christine told me that these are long shoot days when I first met Yeah.

 

Christine Chen 59:28

I told you that,

 

Adam Rani 59:30

You did but you didn't tell me how long. You said you said these are gonna be long shoot days but it's gonna you know you're gonna be doing x, y & z Whatever. And then that week I showed up. And then after like six hours, I remembered as I turned to Brad at the time, Brad was there. And I was like, hey, man, what are we How long are we going? And he was like, What? No, how long are we going to do this for, and he was like, oh like 12 hours And I'm like, and I just I was I was my jaw dropped. I'm like, what do you? What do you mean? He's like, Yeah, we're gonna be here for a while and I'm like, oh, that long.

 

Roxy 1:00:14

No one knows until they find out

 

Adam Rani 1:00:17

Because it's like, the middle of the night. And I'm like, it's like one in the morning. I should probably like I and I just didn't think and then my mom thought like, I was like, out partying or something. Like, I was just like, she was like, What the fuck happened? Like, what are you doing? And I'm like, I was shooting like, you're shooting at one in the morning? And I'm like, yeah, and they're like, who shoots anything at one in the morning with a whole bunch of and I'm like,

 

Roxy 1:00:44

The witching hour.

 

Adam Rani 1:00:45

Yeah, truly. And so yeah, that but going back to you, though. Roxy, you. So, this was the first set you worked on with Christine, did you work on anything right after that with her? Or was that fun employment?

 

Roxy 1:01:00

That was fun employment. Right. Okay. So, like my first thing right off the bat with Christine was her first feature, right? And then, because that was, we were filming that on and off over the course of like, yeah, a month. Thanks. No, it was more like it was a thing. Like I think we started like in the spring, and then we were still doing some random shooting in like October. Because I just kind of kept picking up randomly and doing chunks of it as we went. And then after that, I know, we did some like industrial together. We did some music videos, then it just came that thing of like, cool. Here's a random Shoot, we're doing. Jump on.

 

Christine Chen 1:01:38

I'm going to go grab a power charger really quick. Like, keep going.

 

Adam Rani 1:01:43

Okay, okay. So, you worked on music videos. So, you were basically there for the rise of moths to flame films?

 

Roxy 1:01:54

Pretty much. Yeah.

 

Adam Rani 1:01:56

And then all those projects you worked on with her that sort of just kind of built your resume. And then

 

Roxy 1:02:04

It did. And this is something like once again, for people who've listened to the other episodes. I know, you've heard this before. The nice thing about fun employment, and just kind of the way moths to flames was operating at the time was it was a revolving door of crew people. And that if you could jump on for a day, great. If you could jump on for two days, even better. If you could be there for three hours. Okay, we it would work.

 

Adam Rani 1:02:27

Also, do you know how to hold the boom pole?

 

Christine Chen 1:02:31

Everybody hold the boom pole.

 

Roxy 1:02:33

I was holding that pole so damn.

 

Adam Rani 1:02:37

Before? No perfect.

 

Roxy 1:02:40

Roxy stops moving your hands. Why? Because we can hear it. But the mic is there, I'm holding this. I did sound one time and then they took it away from me very, very quickly.

 

Christine Chen 1:02:53

Man, that's legendary. When we're big, like that's what we need to show is like, evidence that we all were sound ops at one point on our movie.

 

Roxy 1:03:06

I remember this it was when she walked out in the backyard to the tents. And like went into the tents. That was the one because there was a mosquito.

 

Adam Rani 1:03:15

Oh, wow. Oh, no. So, you're just getting eaten alive.

 

Roxy 1:03:21

Yeah. And the reason that I was doing sound at that point was there was a dog running around. So, I think Jason was having to like be the dog wrangler. So, he couldn't hold them

 

Christine Chen 1:03:33

He to be the dog Wrangler. Because he was, he's not that we weren't. But he for some reason was better with that particular dog.

 

Roxy 1:03:41

Oh, yeah, cuz that dog was crazy. And I couldn't do it because I'm allergic to pet dander.

 

Adam Rani 1:03:46

Oh, right. Yeah. Oh, man. So that's totally a trip.

 

Roxy 1:03:52

That was a trip of I do always recommend when people first get into film, like, you should try a couple of different positions. You know, make sure the one that you're doing is the right fit for you. That was not the right fit for me. It was not sound

 

Adam Rani 1:04:07

Not at all.

 

Roxy 1:04:10

Never ever get I did the one time that was good.

 

Adam Rani 1:04:15

But that's the thing though. You have to like to go through those kinds of positions to realize oh, yeah, this I can't do this. Like I did. I remember doing genie once. And I'm just like, Yeah, my back is shattered. So, I can't do this anymore. Seeing those gaffers and grip people I mean, yeah, that it was just I mean hats off to them because that that that is really tough. And then I thought every department will be cool. realize I'm too dumb for that. And then and then slowly and surely, I stumbled upon art because I didn't quite realize I was a fan of art before I knew art department was a thing. Like I was just into probs and because I just loved like key things that are like they play in the movie like, I don't like the use of like cell phones and the departed or, you know, just small little things that people probably won't pay attention to. But I did when I was growing up, because that shit was just the most fascinating thing. And then the fact that I could do that in frame, especially on my first set, I got hooked in it. I was like, oh, this is this is in, like, I'm, I'm on board with all this. And then Kelly, I was just annoying Kelly with 1000 questions, and then lo and behold, yeah, I know. And then she just be like, just Can you just stop and just go over there? And I'm like, okay, and then I can you carry this for me? Okay. No, she was great. She was a fantastic teacher, much like Christine Chen. And now, yeah, I just I know, the art department. i And I love it so much. But yeah, I had to learn those other departments to realize like, yeah, I don't. This is I can't do this. No.

 

Roxy 1:06:10

And especially like, early on, when you're doing like smaller budget things. You're going to get weird random offers, like, hey, we have this production. You're like, oh, can I do this? And they're like, we actually don't need that. We've got that covered. But there's this thing. And it's also it's good to know how all these other departments work. Because you understand your role better, and what you need to do to also not piss off the other departments. We got to save the day. Yeah, it's a team sport. So, you want to not have the grips working against you because you pissed them off? By standing in their way. Every single day. It's the little things like that, like, departments will take note when you do things that not always are done to make their life easier.

 

Adam Rani 1:06:56

Oh, yeah. And I listen, I have a roster of shooting people in my head.

 

Roxy 1:07:01

Yep. We all got that list.

 

Adam Rani 1:07:04

I got I got it.

 

Christine Chen 1:07:06

Everybody. We live they didn't. They say they didn't have this roster every single day. In this industry has a roster of people that they're like, Nah, ah, no, no. Yes. Yes, I remember all complainers. I remember all the people who were rude to other people. I remember I remember. Because, like I keep saying on a lot of these podcasts, people always remember the way you made them feel.

 

Roxy 1:07:37

Yeah. And it's also like, sometimes, it's knowing when to let things go as well. Like, I had recently on a production. There was a grip he was getting. He was getting really annoyed with people because he kept moving stuff and people be in their way. And it just so happened. I was standing in his way. And he's like, I need you to move me set it really aggressively. And I just looked at what Oh, fuck my bad dude. Like, jumped out of the way meaning because I was. I was in my own little bubble. Yeah. And like, two hours later, he came up to me, he's like, hey, I just want to apologize. And I just was like, what are you apologizing to me for?  I legitimately like I totally forgot. He's like, up for the big. I don't know what you're apologizing for it, but. Okay, so never mind that I went. Oh, yes. You told me to movies like, well, yeah, I thought you're gonna be pissed about I was like, I will literally in your fucking way of you doing your job. Tell me to move the fuck out of the way if I'm blocking your job and I'm gonna move. You're like, Okay, that's cool. Sweet. God, we're on the same page. And it was just so amusing. Like, I could tell he really felt like, Alright, I just pissed off this person, even though they were in my way. So now I've got to go do the thing. And it's funny. He's like, randomly messaged me so many times about just either work stuff or just randomly be like, hey, saw this thing. And it reminded me of that time you said that story.

 

Adam Rani 1:09:04

Oh, see. And yeah, that when because that's the other thing too. Like you. You just said something like, profound, and that is just letting things go. And that took that takes a lot for me. Because I'm a I'm a sensitive teddy bear. I can't stand it at all. But when it comes to stuff like that, yeah, it's a no brainer. I'm just like, no, I mean, your way. Like, I should be the one apologizing not the other way around. You know? Um, but yeah, when it comes to just like understanding that everyone works in the pace that they work in, that doesn't necessarily mean that they're working on the same pace as you know, yeah, it's, it's, it's always going to be different. But you still want to be you still want to go out of your way to be respectful of everyone's time in their space. And, you know, all that, like you. You always want to be mindful. Sometimes. I'm an idiot, and I forget, you know, and sometimes I just make jokes and people don't laugh and they're like, can you get this kid out of here? Please? Like, why the fuck is he here? You know? And I've been on those sets where I'm, you know, because when I get nervous I don't I don't shut up.

 

Roxy 1:10:12

So yeah, same. It's a problem.

 

Adam Rani 1:10:16

I'm a nightmare to kidnap.

 

Roxy 1:10:21

Like if you ever see me standing there just randomly, like, going off on a tangent for like five minutes and someone I've just met, just know, I'm in panic mode, and you should like, Come and give me an excuse to get out of it. Because my brain is going like, I need to stop talking. I need to stop talking. I don't know how to stop talking. Oh, God, I just stopped talking now. It's awkward. I need an exit strategy. There's no exit strategy. Oh, God.

 

Adam Rani 1:10:44

Yeah. And this is why Roxy, and I became really quick friends. We just wouldn't shut the fuck up for like hours until people are like, hey, guys, we wrapped it's just like, oh, shit. Shut up, and we're just stressed out and we're just like, Isn't this crazy? Yeah, this is crazy. But yeah, and that's the other thing too.  Sorry. I trampled all over what you said.

 

Christine Chen 1:11:18

Funny group. The two of you guys will shut the fuck up. And then it'll be me crying in the corner.

 

Adam Rani 1:11:25

That's yeah, and then we're we won't stop talking because we don't want to be emotional. And I'm getting anxious because I think I'm getting emotional. So, I'm just gonna keep talking and then eventually I'm going to be emotional and then Roxanne are going to cry together.

 

Roxy 1:11:39

Thank God the podcast finally ended.

 

Christine Chen 1:11:48

yeah, we haven't. We haven't like been all together since.

 

Adam Rani 1:11:55

Not since Louisiana. Last time. We were all together. We didn't do a podcast. But we were we were all together in shooting the concept of on Route.

 

Christine Chen 1:12:08

On route.

 

Roxy 1:12:10

Was that before after the start of this podcast? I can't remember.

 

Adam Rani 1:12:13

It was before. It was before.

 

Roxy 1:12:15

Okay. So yeah. So yeah, on route would have been the I think So technically, Adam. That's the only time you and me have actually worked together

 

Adam Rani 1:12:23

And we hit it off. That's right homie.

 

Roxy 1:12:28

Yeah, came and gave you lectures?

 

Adam Rani 1:12:32

Yeah. Oh, my God. And that's the other thing too. Everyone is, like everyone Christine knows is just infinitely smarter than I am. So, I just know to have like, I just know to hang around you guys, because it makes me feel smarter. Even though like when you really get to know me like, Oh, this guy's an idiot. And I think at one point, Christine found that out and feeling like well, oh, well.

 

Roxy 1:13:03

It's just we've been doing like, the longer you do film, the smarter you get by default, because you've just seen it all at that point. You're like, yeah, all right. I've got this story for you.

 

Christine Chen 1:13:14

Yeah, exactly what it is. Isn't that our intelligence levels, It's literally because we've seen shit? We've seen some shit.

 

Adam Rani 1:13:24

I mean, I Yeah. And but I do. I do honestly think you guys are incredibly smart, too. That's why That's why you know, I prefer to work with you guys. Because, well, no, I'm serious. Because I've definitely worked with other, I mean, I mean, listen, I've worked with some people who are just, you know, sandwich short of a picnic. Let's just say, you know, so. A bunch of dummies. Sorry. Excuse my language. But, uh, you guys, I don't know, I just I learned more working with you guys than I do anywhere else. You know, I mean, like, I absorb more. And even the mistakes that I do make you guys don't see them as like, how do I explain like, I've been on sets where when I make a mistake, people are like, Oh, no, you're an idiot. I don't know if this will work out for you here. But you should fuck off. Now, when I'm working with you guys. Especially my first set working with Christine. Um, it wasn't like, you guys. And you guys, not only didn't do that, but you guys taught me along the way. It's like, this is why you made the mistake. It's fine. But this is what happens. You know, you guys showed me instead of just telling me that I fucked up. And that meant the world to me, because people don't usually do that people rather just let you. Yeah, people rather just let you sink. You know, and they they're not going to help you out in that search. But if I ask for help from either one of you guys, I know you guys will help me out. You know not just YouTube, but other people around Christine even around Roxy. Like, I just know that we all work together and we're all gonna fuck up. But we will pull ourselves up again, to just know that listen, it is what it is we make a mistake. Shit happens, you know, and even learning shit to let things go. I learned from fucking you and Kelly, Christine. You know, it's just like, when people just like want to, you know, talk shit. You ain't gonna get shit.

 

Christine Chen 1:15:36

As an AD, you have to let many things go.

 

Adam Rani 1:15:40

And you remember though, you know I'm saying like you just you remember. And then you let it go.

 

Christine Chen 1:15:47

Yeah, you're like, okay, so we're behind schedule, because none of it's my fault, but okay, we can pretend it's my fault is cool.

 

Adam Rani 1:15:56

Exactly. And seeing you guys. Yeah,

 

Christine Chen 1:16:01

what they're doing and argue with the director and totally my fault.

 

Adam Rani 1:16:10

Those are the days right, Christine? Any anyways, yikes. Anyways. No, but uh, I just I don't know. I just I learned I learned so much from working with good people like, you people like you people. People. I mean, we're at yes, we're at an hour and a half. Christine. Do we want to keep going go off? Because Roxy and I will we have another eight hours.

 

Christine Chen 1:16:44

Actual makeup design?

 

Adam Rani 1:16:46

Not really. So, we talked about the history of you both. But uh, we but we can talk about the hair and makeup Erzulie, you want to you want to talk about it or seen before head out.

 

Christine Chen 1:17:03

Yes quickly, take it away?

 

Adam Rani 1:17:09

No, this is you, Christine. You're the one who brought this shit up. Why the fuck is? What are you talking about? You didn't You didn't? You didn't go through anything with me pre podcast. You're like, are we live? Are you live? Are you on Instagram now? Okay,

 

Christine Chen 1:17:20

Well, obviously, lots of awesome characters. There are four leads for the main leads that are not the mermaid. We've got Courtney, who plays Wendy Wollot, Wendy, he or W stands for wisdom. And we really wanted something that kind of felt that way in terms of the elements. She represents water in ours. So, when it came to the wardrobe, blues were a big thing. And how did you design Wendy's character.

 

Roxy 1:18:01

So, with her like really wanting to just keep her pretty clean, and simple and glowy was kind of the direction with it. And with all the makeup looks, I wanted to keep them because each character has their own color palette and their world they're working into. And it's that fun thing with makeup sometimes, especially when it's still reality-based production of like, cool. This is their color palette. Well, I'm not just going to put everyone in an eyeshadow of that color. So, it's figuring out ways to kind of tie it in. So, it's still in that color family. But not just like she gets a swatch of Blue Cross her legs, she gets a swatch of yellow. So, with her, the design aspect is keeping her pretty clean and simple. And doing what's known as a halo eye which is where you have a darker color on the inner and outer corner. And then a brighter one on the center of the lid. And with that I'm going to be doing it actually is will be a blue, but it's going to be like that white, turquoise sea blue. Just kind of smudged in there. So, when the light catches it, you get kind of like a shimmer of blue.

 

Christine Chen 1:19:12

That's awesome.

 

Adam Rani 1:19:16

No, I know. That's dope. I didn't know that you can. I know. I can't control my face Roxy it is what it is. Just because it blows my mind the intricacy of like shadow and color and how everything blends. It's not just a camera department thing, ladies and gentlemen, isn't every department thing. You know, even hair and makeup. Come on.

 

Roxy 1:19:40

Oh yeah, we all think about and like, I think that's what makes a good production is when all the small elements are thought about and kind of like how you joked earlier with art departments. Like, is anyone going to notice this cell phone? No. But it makes that world and that's really what all the departments, all the different story features. It's all about the developing the visual world that you're taking the audience into. And even though it might not be noticed, like, oh, she's her colors blue, she's got that little shimmer of blue on her eye. On some level, your brain registers it, and it just builds another layer to that mental image.

 

Christine Chen 1:20:17

Right And honestly, I've been really impressed by how sophisticated sometimes what the viewers are on, there were things that people would just catch on that I didn't even realize they will be able to. I was able to pitch to somebody, and they immediately caught on like, how the names were specific, like Fay, you know, because she's fearful. Like, wow, like, you notice that we didn't think that you would care, but it's it is it? It's those things where it's like, you'll notice them when they're not there. But that's the, the beauty. But also, the annoying thing about good filmmaking is that you don't want to do this. Some of the stuff, like, if it's glaring, and it's in your face, then it's like, too, on the nose.

 

Adam Rani 1:21:12

Distracting.

 

Christine Chen 1:21:13

Yes, distracting, and it takes you out of the story, right? You want it to be on this edge of it's there. But it's so beautifully Incorporated, that you don't notice that your being influenced, I think that's the hardest part of all the departments filmmaking, I mean, that's what lighting does, too. They're like, oh, it's two sources, though, is it as two sources, it's too obvious is coming from a source? Or? Yeah, you don't want deep shadows for unless you're doing for specific stylistic reasons are like it's too on the nose, you get that a lot when you're writing it, we're hitting people on the head with that we're gonna be influencing without being obvious that we're influencing. I think that's the hard part. Easy to skew. One way or the other, you go like, like you said, swatch a blue, blue is her theme, right. For it's easy to be like, I don't care. It's not even there. So, finding this nice line where it's like we thought about it is a reason for everything. And that's why that's the I think that's you know, like, I had this conversation yesterday with Camille about wardrobe. I didn't understand why she had one of the choices that she made. And then she went into the details of like, she's wearing a specific thing, but because Wendy does a scene and it's voodoo related. And so, she needs to wear a certain kind of outfit fits the voodoo vibe, and all and other stuff. And it was like, oh, meanwhile, stupid me, like, why is she wearing this big giant black thing? You know, like, I didn't get it. So then, between the two of us realize, for the stupid, why not the stupid the uneducated viewer? Maybe we need to throw in a line that subtly teaches people why that's out of the ordinary, and call attention to why that is a character choice, and why it's important. So, a simple line of like, Why do you look like Miss Chloe, you know? Respect the process. Oh, she did this on purpose. She dressed a certain way. Because she is trying to do voodoo stuff. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, it's like these little subtleties. And it's just cooled to think about and be able to chat and like, bounce those kinds of ideas with all different departments. Like, like that. I don't know if ever anybody will ever catch it, but just a little marking, which will be a miss Lafitte. And firstly, the mermaid, just to show that they're related somehow, you know, but will people notice that? Hopefully, you know, but that but I think what's cool is when they do, they'll be very mind blown. I think that's the cool part where you like, watch any film, when you notice the details, and you go, Whoa, they thought about that, you know, like some of the series, the T I catch this and television shows when you're like, eight seasons deep or whatever, and you're like, Oh, my God, that explains why season one, it was like this, you know? Because that's how deep and detailed people have thought through everything. And I think that is the difference between Great Cinema in okay. You know, is the depth and the layers that are being built in every single just camera. gets, like, it’s always camera, right? But it's everything it sucks because I know that like, broccoli I know the makeup department officers overlook is they don't realize why that's important. Because oh, it's just, you know, my wife putting on makeup like, why is that take 30 minutes, right? But they don't realize like, if the actors feel right, they feel good, they're going to become that character. Make them feel like, they don't feel good, they feel fat, they feel like shit or whatever. And they don't believe that they're who they are trying to convey, it's going to come up on camera. So that's why all the departments are important. And why knowing that done, understanding why each of the departments makes a film. So okay, when you want. Now the next character is, let's do Ari. So, she is an A for avoidance, because she avoids things for problems manifest themselves in other ways that she herself may not be aware of. So, like, if you're avoiding, you're probably you might drink a lot, you might act out a lot. You might be, you know, more promiscuous and stuff like that, because like, you got to cope with that stress in some form away. Her color is fire. So, it's reds, yellows, oranges, that kind of feel to Roxy, what would you have in mind for art.

 

Roxy 1:26:46

So, for Ari is keeping it very lived in very much, you know, kind of that person. The idea has, she's the person that like, she put on some eyeshadow a couple days ago. And then she's just doing all these things to kind of keep herself going. And never actually took her makeup off and just like reapplied, so it's all very smudgy and very, like, layerly and love texture. And then to kind of keep it with that kind of color palette, doing a wash of like a cranberry right on her lips. Once again, where it looks very lived in. As Camille kind of put it the other day was like, kind of like she just eaten a bunch of like berries. So, it doesn't look like she was trying to like put lipstick on be like, Oh, I'm pulling myself together. It's the three was lipstick at some point. And then like I did a thing. And it was there. Yeah, I had one too many drinks. And so, this is just what's left after that.

 

Christine Chen 1:27:35

That's great description. Yeah.

 

Adam Rani 1:27:43

Like a natural lived-in look.

 

Roxy 1:27:45

Yeah, exactly.

 

Christine Chen 1:27:48

Okay, our third character that we'll talk about is violet burns, Violet burns. So, there's a pun on that. So violet stands for vengeance. She's the kind of person who, when you are faced with trauma and stuff like that, you instantly react instead of thinking processing you just react. So, you get really angry really fast or you get really sad really fast or you just make split decisions.

 

Adam Rani 1:28:18

Polarizing Yeah.

 

Christine Chen 1:28:20

Her color is green, which is of the earth and be that kind of feel green and yes, take it away.

 

Roxy 1:28:34

So, Christie, did you say go cuz I'm having trouble hearing?

 

Adam Rani 1:28:37

Yeah, yeah, you're very low in your audio.

 

Christine Chen 1:28:39

Violet, what do you have in mind for Violet?

 

Roxy 1:28:44

So, for her kind of the ideas, because of what her character is, and that like, she's a personal trainer, she's our tough girl. She's the one she's like, she's getting shit done. And not gonna like to hold back in the moment. I'm keeping her very minimal. Because once again, like she's a personal trainer, she probably wouldn't wear as much makeup as someone that like works in an office because she's very physically active. But doing some definition around her eyes and kind of focusing on that bottom lash line, kind of smudging in a bit of shadow. Probably like working in once again, to get that color in there. Just doing a black that has little bit of that greenish tone like smudged into it. So once again, you don't really see it. But when the light catches it, it's like Oh, is that? Was it black? Or was that like moss colored? Like keeping that depth to it. And then just keeping her once again, very plain, just letting her features because she also has great features just really kind of stand out

 

Christine Chen 1:29:44

In our final non mermaid characters. Fay characters, F stands for fear, she’s the one that I actually gave this note in the audition. She's the sad puppy. Every time we see the sad puppy when we want to save the sad puppy, she's always somewhere in in her head. You always want to protect her. She's the youngest. And yet she's afraid of everything. That's how she feels.

 

Roxy 1:30:19

So, her design ones like her colors kind of pinks and grays. So very kind of solid colors and keeping her where she almost has like a no makeup look that very minimalist washes of pinks and grays keeping it all very soft. Just given it almost like a sunken in look at the same time where it's like, okay, is she sleeping? Is she okay? Like, when was the last time she ate something, but still keeping it in a world where it's like not distracting? If it's finding kind of like how you're talking before. Like, it's finding that middle ground like, okay, we didn't make her look like she has not gotten sleep in the past like month versus Okay, she's a pretty girl that doesn't wear makeup. It's finding that in between where it's just enough where it's like, okay, she's got some shit going on underneath the surface that's affecting her physically.

 

Christine Chen 1:31:11

That's really interesting because of all the character she's the one that you are leading down in terms of like, Look, like seeing glamour, I guess you could call it right. Yeah, cuz she is. She’s, her character. She's a nurse. She's overworked. She's going through some. She's in toxic relationships. So, she's seen some stuff. And if you notice Zoe Graham, she's, like, incredibly beautiful. Everybody else is incredibly beautiful too. But like we got mute her down. Mute Her beauty is going to be very difficult for Roxy to do. So. Yes. So that's and finally we're gonna just close it on Erzulie, the mermaid.

 

Adam Rani 1:32:01

Bring yourself closer to the mic.

 

Christine Chen 1:32:04

With our mermaid Erzulie, she stands for ] equality. She is a little bit of everything. She is the wisdom that is the umbrella over the world. Goddess powerful all seeing all wisdom.

 

Adam Rani 1:32:24

Like Obi Wan Kenobi.

 

Christine Chen 1:32:26

Yes. What do you have in mind for Erzulie?

 

Roxy 1:32:32

Yes, sir. I'm sorry, off with. Um, so her big. like of all a character, she's been the one naturally, that there has been the most conversations about between you, me and Camille just like figuring out what the direction what the vibe is for her. And also figuring out taking a couple of different influences, and how to do them in a respectful manner. Because one of the big things with us like there is weird drawing some from voodoo elements. Like that's definitely one of the things and immediately when that was kind of brought up as an inspiration was like, I love that that's an aesthetic. I think it's really fascinating. I was like, but this is something that is a religion, it is a cultural thing. If we're going to bring that in, we need to do so with knowledge of what is okay, what is appropriate, what would be when, and not just present a caricature of that religion. Because that's something I feel like love people don't realize is that voodoo and hoodoo is a religion-based thing. And just like you wouldn't want to insult anyone's other religions, Buddhists does need to be treated with respect as well. So, we're very fortunate that Christine with her vast network of people just made an Facebook post. So, it's like, hey, who knows voodoo and can give us insight. And next thing we know we were on a chat with Madame.

 

Christine Chen 1:34:03

Yes.

 

1:34:04

Yeah. Oh, my I'm so sorry. I can't remember like her exact like title right now. But in the meeting, we're like, okay, here's a bunch of photos of things that we saw that are cool. Can you explain to us why someone would have this face marking? And if it's appropriate, or I've noticed this a lot, would that be a thing? Or is that just a pop culture reference? So, we were able to get a lot of knowledge from her and really decide like, these are elements we want to take and incorporate it into her design. So, it's things like there is a mark sometimes you will see going from the bottom lip down the chin. That is actually a symbol for being like the highest level of which and have like gained the most knowledge. So that was something immediately like that's on her. She has to have that element. Because she is they're magical like entrance into this world and like does things for them. And then the other like symbol that we're incorporating, that we noticed a lot of imagery was the dots across the cheekbones and on the face. And that's actually the symbol of like a warrior. And like going into, like, kind of like a battle situation. So that immediately was like, cool, we're gonna do that as well, to kind of symbolize what she's doing for these women. So that was something that was really, really beneficial. Getting to have that knowledge to make informed decisions with this design.

 

Christine Chen 1:35:37

So, A, we've had countless mermaids the most complicated, that we're all scared of, like interested, see how long this is probably the most complicated character have ever created in terms of making. I've been very much like natural and like day to day, normal, you know, like, regular people, I think. I mean, I kind of ventured into the earth below, creating a world and then a little bit of glory, but that was because it was period. This is like us creating some completely non existing, but there's inspirations behind the character itself, but it's been really neat going back and forth on like, what kind of prosthetics do she have? And holy shit, prosthetics are expensive? And why do we need four of them? You know, learning stuff like that, like I am being educated. I then I had a panic moment, and I think you realize that when I did, but like, when I was like, how, how are they gonna? She's gonna be in the water or the prosthetics gonna be okay. Oh, crap. Like, are they gonna stick on Are they say on like, what are you gonna do in.? Roxy is like dude, that's what I've been telling you. Like, that's why I wanted silicone eye prosthetics, because they won't eff up in the water. And that's why

 

Roxy 1:37:00

for them. And I'm like, I honestly, I started laughing so much when I got that text from you, because it was like, like, a week and a half before filming. I'm getting this message now.

 

Christine Chen 1:37:15

finally figured it out.

 

Roxy 1:37:19

But that was it. That's honestly like, with. So, tagging like, please go donate to the Kickstarter and such, um, the makeup budget becomes a very big expense. And one of the biggest things about it is this shit got to be waterproof. Like, I that's one of those things like that is specialty products. Like, you can't just take your regular makeup, put it on jump the pool, and it stays. So, it's a thing where it's like, okay, it's getting products that are waterproof. It's then getting sealers to make them extra waterproof. It's then doing something underneath it to really make it stick to the skin. So, it was like one of those who was like, Okay, well, it would be you know, say $100 For that prosthetic, it's like, that's the base price of it. Now add on the seven products to make that product work, how we needed to. So that $100 prosthetic, you're now looking at a bill of about like $300 to actually make it function how you need it to.

 

Christine Chen 1:38:19

'm learning so many producing craps like this is I knew it would be expensive, but I didn't factor in like, until that day when I sent you the text freaking out be like, Oh my god, everything's gonna fall off, and then the paints gonna fall off. And then we're not gonna have a mermaid. And then like, she's in a pool and there's chlorine. Like we're gonna do there and then she's in a river. What are we going to do? They're like everything happened that day when I when I texted you be like, do we think you thought about this, but like, I'm just thinking about this right

 

Roxy 1:38:54

 I need you to tell me you've thought about this and explain how it's been thought about.

 

Adam Rani 1:38:59

That's the best part too about your Roxy because you're like I'm already seven steps ahead but go ahead educate me. Calling now on their shit.

 

Christine Chen 1:39:12

Yeah, well, people who have worked with me realize that there is some of the point with a Christine panic mode. And then Christina tries to go through all the department with her own mental knowledge, limited knowledge of each department checklist, and then freaking him out about it. And then like trying to find solutions and realizing their team already has solutions and then being like Oh, thank God my team has solutions. Oh my god, it's so expensive. And then like just this is this roller coaster I just been on up and down. So, it's an it's been a fun learning experience.

 

Roxy 1:39:47

Translation for Christine talk. She's been having panic attacks like every couple hour.

 

Adam Rani 1:39:53

Exactly.

 

Christine Chen 1:39:54

The budget just oh my god, like know that those are my nightmares. Now I wake up being like, checks are gonna bounce. And then I wake up and be like, oh my god, the mermaid is not gonna it's not gonna work. And then I wake up and like, what if there's, like, what if there's these things happening and then one of this and then this, like,

 

Roxy 1:40:14

Well, even the fact that we're filming on location there, it brings in a whole nother layer. And this is where like a few times since over conversations, I'm like, okay, but we need to have a decision now. It's because ideally, like if you're filming, like, in Los Angeles, or Atlanta at some place that has like access to all the things that you need, like, okay, shit, we actually do see that part of her arm that that wound would be on. Okay, let's just film something else. For now, let's delay 45 minutes. So, there's someone to run to that store, grab that prosthetic, we can apply it, we'll get that shot off in an hour and a half. We don't have that luxury in Louisiana. If we get there. And we don't have that prosthetic, we have to think of another solution, or we're just screwed. That's where like, there's some things where it's like, cool. Well, you know, when we have the wardrobe fitting the week of its like, you guys, we have to know before the week of I have to know in the next like four days before I get in my car.

 

Adam Rani 1:41:10

Yeah, because everything's gonna be limited.

 

Roxy 1:41:14

Everything is limited, which is the annoying thing, because then once again, like going back to the budget, and please donate.

 

Adam Rani 1:41:22

Link in the description. Get us toilet paper.

 

Roxy 1:41:26

It's that thing where when you have a lot of money, and you're filming on location, it's easier because it's like, okay, well, we know for sure we're gonna see that thing. Five times. Let's grab an extra three of that prosthetics, just in case because either, you know, oh, you know, prosthetic gets messed up on the day, we can just take it off put on a new one. We still have two extras. Oh, shoot, actually they decided they don't like her that shirt. They want to go with the short sleeves. That's fine. We still have another prosthetic. On a small budget, you don't have that luxury. We could only afford for prosthetic cases. So that is the only four prosthetic pieces we get ever using every single one.

 

Christine Chen 1:42:07

Yeah, there's no there's no wiggle room. It's just small, low budget films is just about planning. It's about prep. It's and we've been prepping locally. Since January, really, ever, you know, we've been prepping and having these discussions. And the reason why this film is possible. At the budget it is at the level of quality we're trying to aim for is because like, You guys are the people who like to us we're just chatting, having a fun time creating. Like, we're not thinking, oh my God, I didn't get money for prep week. Like, I can't work at all, you know? No, where it sucks because we're all i not I'm not making you any rocks. He's barely making it. Nobody's really making any money. So, we're doing it because like, creating something. It's exciting. Like, I'm thinking about it all the time. You know that. And so, yeah, we're going to it. I can't like, early, I was telling you that our prop guy was gonna just show up tomorrow. Today. He thought he was like that excited. We're all that excited to get started in. Because it's like, it takes a lot of work. But we've been thinking through this, and we want to create something we've never done before. And test skills we haven't done before. And but it's it is on a small scale. It's what we're doing a lot. And what it is, is it takes us thinking through every single little bit of every single detail and being very strategic with where we spend our money. So yeah, it's a small ass film. And that's why when we say donate just not just me, it's that you can literally see a direct impact of your, your money. It's not going to be like a big set where it's like, oh, maybe went to their giant crab or like some, some luxury. This is not. We are like we made an Amazon baby registry list so that people can buy toilet paper, or PPE equipment or n 95 masks and stuff like that. Like this is stuff that will keep us safe and happy. They're literally not luxuries. They just add up. When there are 40 people on set for three weeks. That's just what happens. And we're having to spend, we want to have a budget to also make that happen. So, yeah. So, if you don't believe in, it's totally fine because I understand it. I didn't realize this is you know, handing people off money, who knows we're gonna they're gonna spend it made a lot of registry, they'll go and see there's a lot of unsexy items that need to be had in order for our film to be made. So, if you don't feel like hey, my $10 and you go anywhere, well, I'll bet you're gonna see the $9 facemask that we're gonna be the $14 thing of hand sanitizer that we need. Every bit every single bit. Why do they have baby showers? This is why this is literally; this is a baby. We're making a movie baby. Yeah. So, we need all our aunts and uncles and relatives and friends and family to care.

 

Roxy 1:45:58

Oh, Christina, do you want to hear about a panic attack that you gave me with the budget?

 

Christine Chen 1:46:03

Okay

 

Roxy 1:46:05

So, it was when we did the fitting of the tail. And we're talking about like, prosthetic pieces and all that and her getting transported. In my head. I was like, Okay, well, it's fine. You know, she's in the water. She comes out at the one time every time I was in the water when she's in this tail and they carry her only plays on this many days. And then Christine mentions like, oh, yeah, no, it's when she's in the cabinet as well. And my heart dropped, thinking I had missed a filming day with this makeup. Because my brain immediately went to Oh, God, that's going to be that's three prosthetics sets. That's this much money. Oh, God, me missing this just cost the production like potentially $400. And I went downward spiral panic mode. And I like immediately like the moment that like, zoom session ended I sent you a text message. I was like, I only had it scheduled for this many days. Why should that make up at this point? I was like frantically going through scripting like, Oh, God. Oh, God. Wait, how did it word it? And I just remember like, being on the verge of tears texting you think. Like I just cost the production. This much additional money? Oh, God. Yeah, I've had a meeting. You're like, oh, no, she's just gonna have the tail on we're not gonna have her like it. She's in the process of changing, transforming. So, it's just going to be the tail. And I was like, Thank you sweet baby Jesus. Just immediately going and pouring myself a drink, because that was the level of anxiety I just gone through.

 

Adam Rani 1:47:48

Because you're about to throw your laptop out the window.

 

Christine Chen 1:47:51

I have those anxiety moments 24/7 these days.

 

Roxy 1:47:58

But oh, yeah, I'm this is not an over exaggeration. This eye has started to form a twitch in the past two weeks. It's from this prep, that this is not twitching. I'm not even joking remotely.

 

Adam Rani 1:48:12

So, friend of the podcast, Peyton Brewer, she, uh, she wrote and directed and produced a short film that I was art director on. And I literally develop that same thing. It was an eye twitch it to the point where it was so noticeable that somebody in the crew was just like, hey, man, are you good? I'm like, yeah, why? And he was like, your eyes twitching. That's not normal. And I'm just like, I'm just like, I'm like, rubbing my eyes and shit. I'm just like, Yeah, I mean, the stress is real. And especially if Yeah, because well, I mean, it's fundamentally different in the hair and makeup department than it is for the art department. But in terms of just like when you thought you just fucked yourself, because I done that almost every other day. Well, on that shoot, and even Christina was running BTS. She was just having a great fucking time. She was having a vacation. Like chilling out. She was looking at me Hey, Adam, why do you suck and I'm just like crying and shit.

 

Christine Chen 1:49:17

I just filmed the shit show that's happening.

 

Adam Rani 1:49:21

She even took a nap in my car may rest in peace.

 

Christine Chen 1:49:24

It was great.

 

Adam Rani 1:49:25

But um, yeah, no, I had I don't know how many times I had those panic attacks. So yeah, I definitely felt what you feel because you show up to set or like you get a phone call or text messages saying like, hey, we're gonna shoot this and it's just like, I'm not there and there's no props there. And I'm going to kill myself. Just like I literally have so many of those days where I'm just like, I think I should turn around go home. I think this is it for me, you know?

 

Roxy 1:49:59

I think was the best was when I was at the makeup store buying some supplies for this. And I literally had like three stacks of prosthetics in my basket. And then I get an email that's like, actually, we don't need prosthetics for that. And I just kept so there was like,

 

Adam Rani 1:50:15

I'm going to throw this at your head.

 

Roxy 1:50:21

And then the eye just started to join. I was like, okay, at least I got the email before it was at the register. Yeah, at least it was before I got home with these.

 

Adam Rani 1:50:28

Yeah, because if you got home and you already purchased them that that eye twitch would turn into a scream.

 

Roxy 1:50:35

Yes, it would have very much.

 

Adam Rani 1:50:39

All right, well, um, yes, good ahead Christine. What are you saying?

 

Christine Chen 1:50:45

I said let is get this to landing.

 

Adam Rani 1:50:49

Let's bring this bad boy in for landing. Roxy. We love you. Thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you. Um, yeah, guys. Thank you, Facebook. Thank you, Instagram go. The link is in the description for the baby registering for baby Erzulie. And, and Erzuliefilm.com to still donate to the Kickstarter. Or sorry, the crowdfunding. And please come on guys be part of history. Let's be honest here. Why don't you want to have your footprint in the history of Erzulie? The film that's gonna stand against time forever.

 

Christine Chen 1:51:34

I think that's what scared this was scary. Both exciting is like, just could literally like launch. Like it could be the next day so yeah, we're all definitely afraid and scared.  where our careers are over at this, and I'll just go back to just Ed.

 

Adam Rani 1:52:05

No, it's gonna be it's gonna be a greatest time you guys and listen the next time. Maybe? Who knows? Maybe Roxy will be in the next podcast. Who knows? We're all gonna be there.

 

Christine Chen 1:52:18

We're all making the film.

 

Adam Rani 1:52:20

We're all making the film, ladies and gentlemen

 

Christine Chen 1:52:22

On Sunday, oh my god. Not this Sunday.

 

Adam Rani 1:52:28

Yeah. That's why I'm saying I'm like listen, if Roxy wants to come in and say Hi, Kelly wants to come in and say hi, we got them.

 

Roxy 1:52:36

Look, me and Kelly. We're just gonna walk in with a bottle of wine sit there at the table.

 

Adam Rani 1:52:40

You're gonna have like sunglasses on. You're just gonna take a nap in the corner

 

Roxy 1:52:49

We'll make it into a drinking game. It'll be fun.

 

Adam Rani 1:52:52

Absolutely. So, if you can't wait to see your writer and director get really wrecked. Tune in next week on get Reelisms podcast.

 

Christine Chen 1:53:05

In between ferns, in between two bottles of wine

 

Adam Rani 1:53:07

In between two bottles of wine. That's how it is. That's how we roll, and you know go timorously ladies and gentlemen. That has been the Get Reelisms podcast, GetReelisms.com Ladies and gentlemen, if you're feeling nasty, but we have Erzuliefilm.com please donate please do so that will make Christine they'll make the entire crew happy. All of us happy and thank you guys so much for tuning in on Facebook on Instagram. We love you guys so much we appreciate you. Um but yeah Tune in next week for another episode of get Reelisms podcast.

 

Christine Chen 1:53:46

Onset

 

Adam Rani 1:53:47

Onset in real life.

 

Christine Chen 1:53:51

I'm gonna cry I'm not I'm not I'm not.

 

Adam Rani 1:53:53

Yeah, Roxy I made Christine cry. So, like I look like the asshole now.

 

Roxy 1:53:57

Don't make her cry.

 

Adam Rani 1:54:00

just said you know, the next time we're gonna be doing this podcast, we're gonna be all together and she just went bonkers. And I felt bad. I feel bad. I still feel bad

 

Christine Chen 1:54:12

And I was like, oh my god, we're gonna be together very emotional.

 

Adam Rani 1:54:19

She might have been also disgusted and cried the fact that I'm going to be there in the same room with her she was like I like my boundaries with Zoom calls.

 

1:54:31

Well, me and Kelly are gonna be roommates or housemates on this. Yeah, you know that. That one's gonna be great. I was very

 

Adam Rani 1:54:39

I might just even record a pod just with the fun bunch with Kelly and Roxy.

 

Roxy 1:54:46

Yeah, I'm down for that.

 

Adam Rani 1:54:48

Just saying because it'll ever be our one shit talk. I think we should have one shit talking episode.

 

Roxy 1:54:58

Oh god.

 

Adam Rani 1:54:59

I'm kidding. I'm kidding.  Alright, well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much Facebook. Thank you, Instagram. We will see you next time. Goodbye Instagram.

Christine Chen