We come to Special 1: The Shoot. Below are pictures and misc. info about the productive, fun and very crazy filming of Light of Life. But, if you haven't already, first take a look at the opening entry in the log to get an overview of the entire shoot.

Here are the pictures - scroll, read, and enjoy!

Jessica helps Matt try on his costume - a simple cloth sack made by Esther. Matt, since he was going to have to wear his costume the most, was given a costume made of the comfortable tan cloth. Most people had to wear a green cloth rumored to be very itchy. The director wouldn't know.

Esther and Peter made the scroll. The scrolls (real and stunt) started as 2 sheets of poster-board from Office Depot. Some seriously think coffee was brewed and each piece of poster board carefully soaked. It was quickly discovered that if the coffee was too hot, the poster board would fall apart - hence the pieces of ice. After the poster board was dried, two pieces were sandwiched around a piece of thin cardboard, more coffee and dirt was added, and the edges were shredded to give it its final look.

Peter (the director) working on untieing the ladders on top of the van. Since the ladders and platform had to stay on while driving on the highway, they were bound on rather well with rope and a hoard of zip-ties.

Micah and Andy in the desert. Andy was smart enough to wear full headgear from the outset of the shoot. Peter only adopted it after he was thoroughly fried.

Matt on a ladder waiting for the shoot to begin. Usually he was not able to wear a cowboy hat, so he also got fried.

Matt and Micah holding the bluescreen used for large composite shots. In retrospect, it probably would have been better to leave out the bluescreen and just work with the straight footage. It was too difficult to control (in the wind and with everyone tiptoeing on the sharp ground because they couldn't wear shoes) and it didn't turn out well on video because of the lighting being so directional. We joked about it being our flag because it tended to flap so nicely in the wind.

Matt displaying some of his injuries. He got hurt every few minutes during the entire three days of shooting. His feet took the worst abuse, as you'll see later.

Matt doing his cliff climbing shot! Nothing like hanging the main actor off a cliff to build suspense. Imagine if he had fallen - it would have been so hard to finish the film!

Matt opening the scroll and being blinded by the light emanating from within... I mean the light that will be emanating from within as soon as this shot goes though post-production.

Matt being harassed by the camera. Actually, this is the evil-creatures shot and Matt is pretending like he has small demon-like things biting him.

The happiest part of the day - changing back into sandals after conclusion of the day's filming.

Well, almost all of the day's filming. We wanted to shoot some night-shots for lighting reference. That night we went out to a vacant, dirt parking-lot and plugged in our 800,000 candle-power floodlight. It was pretty bright, but it sure wasn't 800,000 candles... maybe 12.

The miscellanies debris in the back of the van. Things kept getting more messy back there until we could only find the Coca-Cola.

Esther, Jessica, Peter and Matt carrying supplies out to the shooting location. Note that Peter is carrying a 6-pack of water bottles. Those packs were very predictable - after exactly 300 feet, the handle would snap.

Peter and Matt trying to keep their sunburns in check. Notice that Peter has adopted Andy's head wear.

Director and Actor.

Micah and Esther with their blindfold pulled down and up, respectively, while they wait between shoots.

Jessica!

...And more Jessica!

Of course, no film would be truly pro without a publicity photo of the director and actor in deep contemplation of a shot.

Peter putting on Matts makeup, err, mud. A mud-hole had to be ready at all time to resupply Matt, otherwise it would dry and flake off in a matter of minutes. We also keep around five-gallon jug to keep people sweaty-looking during the crowd scene. It dried really fast, though. Also, the jug of water got boiling hot from sitting in the sunlight, which made dumping it on people rather rude.

Esther about to drink the fake-blood. We had concocted a mix of red food-coloring and corn syrup to make Matt look bloody, and we also had tomato paste on hand to apply to his clothes. But he did a fine job of providing the blood, so we didn't have to use the fake stuff.

The second day we covered the actually climbing part of the cliff scene. Matt had to pretend to almost drop his scroll and bag over and over without actually dropping them.

The end of the first part of shooting on the second day. Matt opened the chocolate-chip cookies but didn't eat them. It was rather strange, but nobody ate the cookies until the ride back to Tel Aviv.

Jess and Micah. It was discovered the Matts hat, plus Jess's scarf made for a Mary Poppins look.

Filming on the edge of the hill.

The key temptress shot was one of Matt almost getting kissed and then the temptress disintegrating into smoke. It was a tough shot to get right.

Tempt-i and temptress.

Peter prepared to head across the desert with Andy and Matt to shoot misc. walking shots. They carried only the necessities - headgear, camera, scroll, and Matt's sandals.

The next day was rain day. Three five-gallon jugs were filled in the shower.

... And loaded into the car - with a lot of drinking water and sunscreen.

Matt, in complete costume + dirt, attempting to hitchhike.

Matts failed jump to the cliff. In the shot following the temptress shot, the ground is supposed to cave-away as Matt leaps and clings to a ledge. Well, Matt only had to make it from a ladder, but due to the shiftiness of the ladder-holders, he didn't make it, slammed into the slope, and slid into a thorn bush.

After trying again, and successfully making the leap, Matt is turned over to Andy to be patched-up. His shins and toes suffered the most. His cloth-sandal had a splotch of blood for the rest of the day.

Matt grimacing, and Micah comforting him, as Andy uses rubbing alcohol to clean the cut. Andy had less-painful cut-cleaners, but, seeing as the patient was his brother, he chose rubbing alcohol.

The second of the rain-shots. The first was a longer shot incorporating the platform. The water had to be conserved as best as possible to make it last. We managed to get about 7 takes all-together.