(The shark bites into the cable and electrocutes as
a cameraman in a wetsuit is lowered on
a crane into the water to get a closer shot - 1977 - photo by Von Babasin)
Here, Von assists special effects foremen
Mike Woods and Roy Arbogast run a pyrotechnic test on an old shark head
on the lot at Universal before the shooting company went on location to
Navarre Beach, Florida in preparation for the eventual final shot that appears
in the picture above. Lines were routed into the "skin" of the
shark and then filled with different types of pyrotechnic powder. The ditches
were then covered with a type of clay and painted so as to not be seen.
He bites on the cable, the powder is ignited and we've killed another killer
shark.
"One of the most interesting movies I
worked on was John Carpenter's "The
Thing" - working for makeup effects
genius Rob Bottin and mechnical effects
foremen Roy Arbogast and David Kelsey.
In this picture, Charles Hallahan, who
plays Norris in the movie, lies under
a prothetic body, fashioned after his
own, waiting for the creature to
emerge from within. To create the
final effect for the movie, there were
five separate stages of Norris' ex-
plosion. This is obviously, before."
"And this is obviously, after -
but still before
his head rips itself off and tries to run away,
which I don't have a picture of. This time,
though, Mr. Hallahan is lying on top of
the table with a prosthetic blown-up chest
attached directly to his body. You can see
the makeup on the table in the foreground
and a spray can of adhesive, next to his
head, used to attach the appliance to his
skin. All of these pictures were taken
by myself at the times of shooting."
After leaving Universal to pursue a musical career,
Von soon found that he could apply what he learned
over the past decade to production and direction of
music videos, first for Uranus, and continuing, after they broke up, to
work with other bands in
Jam Power. He helped represent the company at
the 1984 and '85 Billboard/MTV Music Video
Conferences, even having a video up for consi-
deration in the independent category. At left is a
still taken by Von on the set somewhere in L.A.
In the pic is lead vocalist Lyndie White in the
post-apocalyptic music video,"Blast".
Here, we see Von preparing the next
shot
as a cloud of smoke is about to envelope
him. After producing four videos for four
different groups, Jam Power decided to
dissolve it's music video division since
music videos were, and still are, strictly
promotional. This redirected Von's life
in a more musical direction, and led to the
creation of The RH Factor. Although he
has such an extensive background in video,
Von has always wanted to apply his talents
to his own groups, opting not to direct any
more videos for "just the paycheck".
[Von Babasin page - Music page - Harry Babasin page]
Copyright 1997 by ONOFFON Productions
