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Rocksey is making a video. Or in Rockseys eyes he is following Rob Zombie down the rocky road of movie making. Well I have my suspicions that Mr Zombie actually had a film crew to make his movies for him, Rockseys film crew is me and him and so far he has managed to edit 22 seconds of film for his video.
Winding back a few weeks, after our day out with Max Millionaire Rocksey announced the following day that he was going to take a break from song writing and concentrate on movie making. Inspired by Max Millionaire and his short film debut, Rocksey decided that he was going to make a video of one of the bands songs – for his own pleasure and experience of course, but it may even air on You Tube ( or dare I say it – as a trailer to Maxes film!!).
Rocksey set up the Perpetual Students drawing board in the office and squirrelled himself away with some felt tip pens to write a story board. Much scribbling was done along with much wandering around the garden with a note pad and a distant look in his eye, followed by the chickens in a weird Pied Piper sort of way. Then there was silence, writers block he said as he sat with his guitar playing chords, the drawing board abandoned for the time being.
When I arrived home one afternoon, Rocksey was spinning round the kitchen in a state of excitement. Warily I wondered whether Mr Lucky and SP had been round earlier in the day but there were no tell tale bottle of JD on the kitchen counter and Rocksey appeared to be sober. Guess who I spoke to today, he yelled picking me up and whirling me around in his arms. ‘George and Patty’. I extracted myself from his arms, I didn’t recognise the names of the people he was talking about. I gave him a quizzical look - you know from ‘Frankenhooker’ he spun around again – they want to use my video for their promotion work at a Horror Convention they are hosting at Halloween. Halloween when…I say…this year? Do they know you haven’t even started this video?
Transpired they didn’t and yes Halloween this year. Hence Rocksey and I then spend the next few days scouting out scary places to start filming and then armed with my camera we set out to make a 2.45 minute film based on both Rockseys song and the actual 1990’s film of the same name –Frankenhooker.
Now for those of you who may not know the story of this cult classic, the story is loosely based on Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’. After his attractive fiancée is cut into pieces in a freak accident involving a lawnmower, aspiring mad scientist Jeffrey Franken is determined to put her back together again. He sets about reassembling his girlfriend using parts from a variety of New York prostitutes. However, his bizarre plan goes awry when his reanimated girlfriend no longer wants just him, but for money will take on anybody, and afterwards try to kill them.
Max Millionaire had designed the front cover of the same titled album for the band and George and Patty had found this somewhere in new York and had contacted Rocksey several months ago. They had sold a few copies of the album and posters at other horror conventions they had been involved in and then in an idle chit chat on Messenger Rocksey ‘let slip ' that he was making a video of the song. He didn’t let on to George that the video was still in his head but Rocksey is good at convincing people that his ideas are actually reality –or near enough!
So we have around 5 weeks to make this video which includes everything on Rockseys storey board and whatever else is in his head. Finding spooky places in our town did not prove difficult, of particular interest to Rocksey was a ruined barn close to where we live and earmarked for demolition by housing developers, ever increasingly surrounding the village with new housing estates. The ruined barn can now only be reached by squeezing through a fence laced with barb wire and then negotiating the field beyond made more precarious by the deep ruts made by diggers and other heavy machinery used by the builders. Last weekend we decided that we had to make our move for scenes in the barn before it was torn down. As there is no where close to park the car Rocksey had to walk down the main street of the village donned in stage wear which , if it had been the middle of the afternoon when the village fete was in full swing may have got us some odd glances. However, at 10pm on a rainy Thursday night there was no one around which made us less conspicuous but heightened the heebie jeebies I got when crossing the filed with the barn looming in front of use, a full moon peeking out from behind scurrying clouds in a break between rain showers.
Rocksey pushed the door open and shone his torch around, rousing pigeons nesting in the rafters that gave us both a shock as they whirled around above us. Thank god its not bats, I stage whispered to Rocksey even though we were in the middle of nowhere and unlikely to be disturbed. Rocksey set up the lights and lazer curtain which he wanted ( the lazer curtain reminds me of those things they use for trapping ghosts on dodgey channel 5 programmes) leaving me in another part of the barn with my camera and a torch - its pitch black , I'm scared stiff wanting to get this part of the video done and out as quickly as possible. I'm imaging I can hear all sorts of things although common sense tells me there is nothing inside or outside of the barn apart form a few pigeons and nothing that is going to cause us any harm.
We film several scenarios, Rocksey coming in and out of the shadows, disappearing behind doors and wandering around in the gloom and rain miming the words to the song whilst I scurry around after him one eye on him and one eye actually expecting frankenhooker to appear lurching from behind the barn door! Luckily nothing sinister happens and we are soon on our way back home.
A few days later we are filming in a subway and on a motorway bridge and the next day in our local museum ( which crazily has an indoor street scene from the Victorian times complete with pub and cells). We watch, and re-watch the original film on You Tube and find ourselves enjoying the cheesiness of it. Rocksey emails updates to George and Patty every night and then hides himself away to edit bits and pieces.
Suky and SP pop round for a visit, wondering why we have not been seen out and about for some time now. The filming is pretty much in the bag, Rocksey says to them both and - he proudly announces - he has created 22 seconds of his 2.45 minute film.
I roll my eyes, this has taken 8 days , if we go on like this we won't be ready for Christmas let alone Halloween I say to him. Don't expect to see you guys anytime soon then -SP shakes his head when they leave, Rocksey hopping up and down on one foot desperate to get back to the editing suite.
This morning I drive past the site of the ruined barn, a pile of bricks lay in the middle of the field where it used to stand. I hope Rockseys video doesn't reach the same fate.
However I am sure Mr Zombie will be pleased that Rocksey won't be in the market for making full screen horror films any time soon!
The video will be available sometime soon on You Tube - I will post a link when Rocksey finally comes out of the office!
