Each of the Mermaids of New York has her own very unique personal style, some of them, I would even say are fashion icons. This is certainly true for Dame Darcy who always manages to look like a living doll (no coincidence that she actually makes dolls, as well). When we met up wit her last month, I was completely enchanted by this extraordinary chapeau :
Darcy is really an inspired and passionate work of art, herself. It was great getting to know her better – can’t wait to show you what we filmed! In the meantime, for anyone who has never seen Dame Darcy’s infamous appearance on the corny 90′s dating show, Blind Date, it is some kind of wonderful.
As you can imagine, mermaids are hard to pin down but all of the subjects of our film Mermaids of New York have been extremely awesome at making time for us in their busy schedules. We recently caught up with, Bambi The Mermaid and had a beautiful evening on the west side piers in Manhattan. Jason Falchook took these great photos.
I have to say that we are incredibly blessed to have so many generous and talented friends who are helping to make Mermaids of New York a truely collaborative endeavor.
Today’s incredible contribution comes from the lovely and talented illustrator A.V. Phibes, who created a kick-ass logo for our project. We think she really captures the spirit of our film and she is definitely a proud New Yorker!
One question remains… what to name her?! Suggestions?
August has been an amazing month for us. We’ve kicked into high gear on the film, shooting every weekend to get as much as possible in the can before summer ends!
We traveled far and wide across our dear water city to make sure we have all the words and pictures needed to tell the Mermaids of New York story. We’ve visited Mara Haseltine‘s Oyster installation on Governor’s Island and planted shells with her on the Waterpod. We met Will “Tugster” Van Dorp an intrepid waterblogger and phantom voice of Henry Hudson. Our friends ventured to watery destinations around the city to capture the sights and sounds. Jason Falchook captured coney island lights in vibrant HD video while Michelle Repiso explored Roosevelt Island, Staten Island and more with her vintage 16MM camera. Finally, this weekend, we met with THE Dick Zigun, creator of The Coney Island Mermaid Parade. Check out this great historical video of him kicking off the very first Coney Island Mermaid Parade in 1983!
Now we’ve got our work cut out for us editing the the many hours of footage into something we hope will delight and amaze, enlighten and inform. Thankfully, we have the expert help of Dawne Langford an experienced editor and producer from PBS affiliate, WHUT in Washington, DC.
Wondering when and where, will you be able to see this wonderful monstrosity of a film? Well, you are in luck! We’ve put together an amazing preview screening and performance event at Galapagos on Thursday, September 24th in Brooklyn, New York and we need you there!
And of course we promise to post plenty of preview videos here throughout the editing process.
Yesterday was the Coney Island Mermaid Parade and, despite some stormy weather, the mermaids were out in full force. Our team of intrepid sailors and pirates braved the weather to capture mermaids of new york in their element. Our tactic was divide and conquer, this way we were able to spend some time with each of our film subjects and, as well, capture the whole insane scene, that is The Mermaid Parade.
The Brooklyn Babydoll was found marching with her Rocky Horror Fisher Show crew, and they were quite a show.
Bambi The Mermaid was busy with official parade duties, yet not to busy pose for our cameras.
Darcy and Mara were a vision in blue and green, dancing with their parasols.
After the parade, we gathered at Freak Bar where there was a new Coney Island Mermaid beer to be sampled, followed by clam strips to be devoured at Ruby’s on the boardwalk, and then of course, tequila, dancing and general mirth making at Cha-Cha’s. And, as if that wasn’t enough, we ended the night on wheels at Lola’s Dreamland Skating Rink, where we skated our asses off. In all, an amazing, albeit soggy, welcome to summer! Can’t wait to dig into all the footage!
This weekend we had a great shoot with Dame Darcy.
True to mermaid form, Dame Darcy is beautiful, witty, talented and most importantly, game for our kind of antics!
We filmed Darcy and her friend (sailor) Pete singing sea shanties.
Thankfully, the gentlemen of Lavalier were on hand to capture a great live audio recording of the performance.
I like this screen shot because it looks like they went fishing and caught a microphone
Darcy generously offered us use of her music for the film. Her band, Dame Darcy’s Death By Doll’s album, Cabin Fever , is all sea shanties and I am now totally addicted to it!
I am very pleased to announce that the mermaid project has found it’s soundtrack!
Music is an essential part of any film. That is a pretty obvious statement, I know, but honestly, it’s easy to forget how important music and sound are because, when it’s done well, it becomes a seamless part of the whole film experience. Film music has always inspired me, I love soundtracks because they can put you right back into the mood (and essentially the story) of the film.
We feel that is crucial for Mermaids of New York to have it’s own sound, something that will help create a mood and shape the pacing of the film.
Last week, I asked my friends on Twitter and Facebook friends to tell me which movies had the most memorable scores for them and I couldn’t believe the response, within a few minutes I had ammased quite an extensive and varied list of movies with great music. To name a few (now test yourself here, it is amazing to see how many of them bring a particular piece of music to mind) : Close Encounters, Cinema Paradiso, Sleeper, Manhattan, Shaft, The Draughtsman’s Contract, Susperia, Koyaanisqatsi, Amelie, Planet of the Apes, There Will Be Blood, Taxi Driver, Atonement, The Mission,The Piano, Night on Earth, Blade Runner, Charoits of Fire.. the list goes on. @filmmakermag even sent me an article on the subject:
http://bit.ly/LM1eN
The first thing that came to mind for me was Errol Morris’ Thin Blue Line. It simply would not be the same without the obsessive compulsive and haunting Philip Glass score.
So, it is a thrill to know that Mermaids of New York will indeed have it’s own unique and memorable sound. We will be collaborating with the amazing NYC based band LAVALIER. As soon as we heard their music we knew we needed to get them involved with the film. I think you will agree that they have just the right ammounts haunting and whimsical to make the perfect mermaid music.
Lavalier is:
Steve Milton – Vocals, Percussion, Accordian
Dave Horowtiz – Guitar
Terence Caulkins – Sound Spatialization and Percussion