dead dog

[TheMacB]

shooting a film that has a dog being hit by a big rig. the dog is a golden retriever who is graying in the face. not worried about killing the dog (we'll cut away before the impact) but about carrying around the bloody dead dog. i'm not confident our golden retriever can be perfectly still.

any ideas for a fake dead golden retriever? or anybody know where we can get some fur that looks like a golden retriever's coat so we can make our own fake one?

[TeamJoeDawn]

One word.. "Vicodin"

No, just joking.. no hate mail (or getting your dog stoned.)

[maverickstunts]

I know how to shoot the sequence so it looks like you hit the dog. but a suggestion about the "dead dog" is to not carry it around. Shoot coverage of it in different places or some such. In the car on the way to the vet. At the vets, anyplace it could be "dead" without carryng it. We shot a truck hit on Baywatch Nights years ago. We had to hit Hasselhoff with a trash truck. Obviously we couldn't hit either him or a stuntman. but it all worked out great.

[BryantStanton]

In his explaination he explained they're going to cut out before the dog gets hit, it's just they need a way to have a "dead" and/or "injured" dog that they can carry around with them after the scene takes place. Unless I'm reading it wrong...

[maverickstunts]

Yeah, I know. What you have to do is write the script to do what you can do. i would concentrate on the hit and not the carrying, but that is me....

[novelt]

unless you had a very well trained dog.

[Beat Takeshi]

You can always shave the dog and glue the hair to a well trained poodle.

[TheMacB]

we cut away just before the impact so we'll never see the dog getting hit. we don't need to. but the guy has to carry this dead dog both from the scene of the accident to the car and then from the car into the vet's. and the dog has to be dead in the backseat of the car.

i'm pretty sure the carrying from the scene of the accident to the car will be done in still shots behind the opening titles. so i think we can just carry the dog and you won't be able to tell he's moving because they're still shots (i hope). but we need a dead dog in the back seat of the car.

carrying from the car to the vet's is going to be a very big high wide shot. so as long as we can make something that just looks remotely like a golden retriever i think the camera will be far enough away for us to get away with it.

so i think the most important part is something for the back seat. i think i really just need a piece of a fake golden retriever. like just the head. or just the hind legs. then i can frame it in such a way that we only see a piece of it. anybody know where you can get a fake golden retriever's head? or how can i make some fake legs?

by the way, the dog gets hit by a Mac truck. a big rig. its gonna be awesome.

[maverickstunts]

I used my dog (now deceased) as a dead dog in a short we shot. I put down a throw rug to cover the carpet in the living room (backseat) got him to lie down. Put some movie blood on the carpet by his head with some bits of foam rubber in it to simulate brain matter, and petted him til he went to sleep and shot the crap out of it. DEAD DOG!

[Daniel Skubal]

I used my dog (now deceased) as a dead dog in a short we shot. I put down a throw rug to cover the carpet in the living room (backseat) got him to lie down. Put some movie blood on the carpet by his head with some bits of foam rubber in it to simulate brain matter, and petted him til he went to sleep and shot the crap out of it. DEAD DOG!

lol that's just really funny to me. It's a shame dogs aren't aware of what us crazy filmmakers want to do with them.

[Beat Takeshi]

Well if he got hit by a Mack Truck then all you need is pieces of dog. Maybe you can get some fox legs at a taxedermy place and fake it with those with the shaved hair from the real one. You could wrap them up in a bloody sheet and have them stick out a little. Im sure that would sell the shot.

[TheMacB]

that's a good idea. i'm gonna go see a guy about a fox.

[CineMark]

i think that's a brilliant idea. remember, people don't need to see everything, just enough to make them believe it. A lump under a sheet with some limbs sticking out is better than a tore-up dog in my opinion, because that's probablly what you would do if you had to carry that thing around for real.

[maverickstunts]

the only thing is this....even if he got hit by a mack truck, he wouldn't be in pieces. But, the audience doesn't need to see everything, that 's why it is a movie......figure out how to trick them.

[TwistedLincoln]

I think this is certainly a place for some creative license. I don't know too many audience members who really want to see a realistic portrayal of a mangled dog carcass after being hit by a semi.

Does the character know the dog is dead while taking it to the vet? Or does he think the vet can save the dog? (Though he would have to be a pretty stupid character, I suppose, if the dog just got hit by a Mack truck...). If the character knows the dog is dead, just shoot the dead dog in the street, and have the character wrap a blanket around it when he picks it up. That way the shots of it in the back of the car it will be mostly covered up, and easier to fake. Plus, that way you won't have to worry about being realistic -- the audience could just imagine the mangled dog carcass instad of actually having to see it...

[TheMacB]

the dog is not in pieces. and our man still thinks he can be saved. i think the sheet thing is good. then maybe we can just use the real dog and have his legs sticking out. i wonder if he'll be able to stay still. if not, will fox legs be big enough? and i'm a little sketched about approaching a taxidsermist. my only taxidermic experience is Psycho.

[Beat Takeshi]

haha, then maybe he could lend you a knife too :)
I think people wont even realise the size of the legs, they probably wouldnt even notice the change in color since all they will be thinking about is what it must look or feel like. Slight of hand. I recently pulled a dead dog out of my friends place and the only thing i could think about was the smell. Well I made it about 2 feet before I got sick. It was a 90 lbs dog and it was no picnic trying to drag it let along lift it.

[TheMacB]

now that's a movie!

[Beat Takeshi]

We had cameras with us that day too, I should have filmed it.

[Peter Murphy]

I'll make you a fake dead dog for 5 grand.

[maverickstunts]

I think that you need to think smaller for the accident with the dog. When I was a child, A dog of mine was hit by a semi.... the dog was basically squashed. They don't get hit, the dog isn't tall enough. I would be hard pressed to think that there was a necessary trip to the vet. A car hit would be more believable. For cryin' out loud cars don't survive.

[Beat Takeshi]

Yeah... i saw an old chinese lady get hit by a semi and they had to hose down the street after they scraped up what was left with peices of card board.

[GenJerDan]

Yeah... i saw an old chinese lady get hit by a semi and they had to hose down the street after they scraped up what was left with peices of card board.

Well, now, see...if you fall under the quad wheels in the back, the front pair tries to send you up and the rear pair tries to send you down... You kinda look like you're in a side-loading dryer, going 'round and 'round.

Until you start looking like ground beef, anyway.

Yes. Saw that once.

[TheMacB]

we never see the dog get hit. and we don't know how fast the truck is going. and its in a suburban setting. in front of a house. the truck driver hits his breaks at the last moment. so maybe the dog is just bounced off to the side a little. not actually hit. or maybe he's just run over by one wheel. i'm not worried about the reality of a dog getting hit by a big rig. i'm just worried about making the dead dog look dead. by the way, the movie is a comedy. :)

[tradur]

for sure, use the real dog. and selective post cuts from many many shots . cut out the best of the best sections of the shots that show the real dog wtih props applied. glimpses here and there can be more impactful that a sustained shot imo. also make them close ups (of part of the dog, not the whole thing), and more distant as well.
why fake it? just use more film and more edit time imo.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

i'm pretty sure the carrying from the scene of the accident to the car will be done in still shots behind the opening titles. so i think we can just carry the dog and you won't be able to tell he's moving because they're still shots (i hope)
If so then photoshop the hell out of that bad boy. You could even look for images of dead dogs or dead dogs being carried BEFORE you do the shoot and then pose the still images in ways that would be condusive to photoshopping.

To get it in camera ... exhaust the dog - not to the point of cruelty but just give him a good looooong walk that would ususally be followed by a nap and then hold him till he gets bored and then take the still shot.

Is this comedy or drama ? Knowing you guys probably comedy. Got an idea for the shot but it's mostly for drama ... but if you went over the top with (did a parody of the idea) it it could work for comedy ... but again knowing you guys it will probably be subtle ... anyway ...

also this idea only works if the dog is uncncious but not dead (I think you said he dies in the car)
You could do the carrying the dog with really slow shutter speed and lots of shakey cam (like some off the running shots in Similo) and do tight shots of just the person's upper torso with just a hint of the dog in the shot and tight shots of the dog and medium and long shots of the person and dog.

With the shake and motion blur of the shutter you can either intercut between those easily with a feeling of continuity or lack there of (jump cuts) with intense breathing sounds or something.

As for hitting the dog -- there's a cool vid someone posted a while back of a dude getting hit by a car and it was simple compositing.
http://snodart.com/films/carhit_high.mov
but pretty effective -- especiialy with a mac truck and a dog.

just get the dog to walk away from you the edge of the frame.

[vincent_price]

:/ ouch

[maestro1d]

Hey there!

Still tinkering with my grey matter on the dead dog problem- getting ready to shoot, er, film my own labrador this weekend with two new cam A/B DVX100B's.

Will let you know if either me, or my black lab come up with anything.

My advice, keep it simple- try a walmart or look for some fabric store closeouts on brownish furry fabrics.

Bundle fabric up, shoot your setup with some shadows and interesting lights/gamma etc and just give the viewer hints of the shot...

I would just recommend the old fashioned, horror film school/Hitchcock method of less is more... Instead of showing the full dog, think DOG soldiers (or the first hour of JAWS) and give em hints, then let their imagination fill in the gaps.

i.e., you walking from behind with bits of fur, tale hanging out from both sides... close ups on blood puddles dripping behind you etc. Slow pass dollies on human reaction shots (kids staring in horror as you walk by or whatever).

This method is often a lot more effective on a taboo shot with dead animals or (forgive the imagery) kids in movies.

Think of "The Hitcher" here- limited, low budget violence to drive a big budget shot.

OK, now that that's said- I did have to mention that I thought your lobotomy/bottle sig is a riot. Probably the funniest, NO BS, down to earth sig file I've seen on the net in 10 years, bar none.

Any way- good luck with the critter. Hope his polyester stunt double doesn't feel too much pain from the truck. Otherwise you'll have PETS (People for the Ethical Treatment of Synthetics) on your ass.

Douglas Pritchard
Cadenza Entertainment

[maverickstunts]

I'm sorry, I just have a hard time suspending the belief that the dog was not squashed beyond all recognition by the truck. (Think of a car hit by a trash truck or semi). You might even think of a small shark bite ala Jaws, small isn't gonna happen. Good luck though......

[epsilonbass]

I used my dog (now deceased) as a dead dog in a short we shot. I put down a throw rug to cover the carpet in the living room (backseat) got him to lie down. Put some movie blood on the carpet by his head with some bits of foam rubber in it to simulate brain matter, and petted him til he went to sleep and shot the crap out of it. DEAD DOG!

Haha, i know this is a little bit late in the game, but did anyone read this as he used his dead dog in a movie, after second glance i figured it out, but on the first read i was like, 'that sick f*'. haha, good times.