Review by E.C. McMullen Jr.
SHOULD YOU? TIP JAR DOUBLE EXPOSURES: Changing Faces - 2004 USA Release: April 19, 2007 5 Star Productions Rated: N/A

In the early 1990s, when Robert Rodriguez made EL MARIACHI, he shot it on 16mm film on a borrowed camera without sound. He recorded the sound separately and/or later (ADR) with a cheap portable cassette tape recorder. When he showed his movie off to Hollywood, they were wowed by a VHS tape that Robert had meticulously edited so that the sound synced with the picture. Everyone in Hollywood who actually had money to put movies into theaters were stunned by just how incredibly cool EL MARIACHI was. When they found out what Robert had to go through to make it, the size of his budget, and HOW he made it, they were knocked off their feet.

The back story to Robert's EL MARIACHI makes for a great and educational tale (in fact, he wrote that story and called the book, REBEL WITHOUT A CREW). But if Robert had been beaten by his limited time and budget; if the problems he had making his movie overwhelmed him and all he had to show for his struggle was a mediocre flick that was an effort to sit through, then he wouldn't have had a great story. His struggle, sacrifice, work, and sweat, would have become an excuse. And nobody wants to hear your excuses as they endure your lackluster movie.

I found myself thinking along these lines while watching the documentary, DOUBLE EXPOSURES. The DVD is less of a documentary movie so much as an industrial movie, made (I'm guessing) for potential clients of the companies showcased in this DVD, but even there it fails.

Not that this DVD is without its value. DOUBLE EXPOSURES is made up of four separate smaller documentaries, all of which could be DVD extras for someone else's movie - to a point. There are also a few bonus documentaries, which I'll get to in a moment.

First off, there is Interview With Make-Up Artist Rick Stratton (BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, THE ALCHEMIST, V: THE FINAL BATTLE [TV - 1984], THE MIDNIGHT HOUR, THE STUFF, FRIGHT NIGHT, SPELLBINDER, ALIEN NATION [TV and TV movies - all], CLASS OF 1999, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, SLEEPWALKERS, BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, ED WOOD, TRILOGY OF TERROR II, BATMAN AND ROBIN, GALAXY QUEST, STAR TREK: NEMESIS, THE MATRIX RELOADED, CHARMED [TV], PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST). At least, that's what it says on the DVD cover. Good luck finding that on the DVD. Not knowing where to go, I went to the DVD menu default selection which is called Alien Nation Interview. I clicked on that and, as I waited for that portion to load, I got a piece called, Changing Faces. As it turns out, Changing Faces IS an interview with make-up artist Rick Stratton, and he mostly talks about his work on Alien Nation. But you can be forgiven for thinking you hit the wrong button on your remote and clicking back to the menu and trying again, because there is no consistency from the DVD cover to the DVD menu to the short documentaries on the DVD.

In fact, inconsistency is the hallmark of this DVD.

Fortunately, Rick has a compelling and fascinating story to tell regarding his work on the television show, ALIEN NATION. People like Rick are the very reason that DVD extras even exist.

Unfortunately, we are largely treated only to Rick talking at us with very little in the way of cutaways for looking at what he is telling us. Unlike most documentaries I've seen, Changing Faces doesn't show us what the narrator is talking about, it mainly stays fixed on the narrator himself, Rick.

Rick sits there, appearing uncomfortable, and - for all of his years of experience and anecdotes - he's a better make-up artist than he is an entertaining subject to actually watch (like say, Stan Winston, Rob Bottin, or Rick Baker) . There is a reason that documentaries rarely if ever actually show the narrator. But even if there was a reason, having a documentary where the majority of the movie is a static camera on a tripod, staring right at a talking person staring right back, is deathly dull.

We finally get to moving as Rick takes us around the workspace of his studio, but we are never treated to actual cut scenes from the movies he's worked on.

Now there may be a good reason for that: like the producers couldn't secure the rights in time to make this documentary. But that said, there was plenty of time to get separate shots of the various heads and casts, and even stills from the films that Rick is talking about. There was also plenty of time to give us, the audience, cut shots of the manufacture of the masks and appliances that Rick is describing, instead of having the camera move - in home movie fashion - from Rick's talking head, to the piece he is pointing to, then pausing to focus on the piece he is pointing to because its a blur, then moving back to Rick's talking head, then focusing on Rick's head because now IT is a big blur.

Putting a microphone on Rick would have also been a huge improvement on sound. Everything combined, the production value of this documentary looks more like someone's pre-pubescent kid shot it with a home movie camera - after having handled a home movie camera for the very first time. You might also see it on a news report that is only 30 to 40 seconds long tops, and the news crew had only a few hours before they had to have their report go live.

The soundtrack to a porn movie seems to play in the background. At 43 plus minutes long, it is a labor to sit through.

The bonus to this, on the DVD cover, is called Tour Of Rick's Museum. You will find this on the DVD as Rick's Museum, so it's less confusing than the first one. This movie is even worse, lacking the set piece of the first with Rick made up, properly lit, and in a chair surrounded by his works.

We are in Rick's office it seems (which is no bad thing in itself), and Rick is never marked. This means that, instead of the director positioning Rick for the best light on both him and the subject he is talking about, we often get a bright glare of light haloing Rick's face and head to the point of obscuring it. He has many photos on his wall and it would have been great to get a clear look at them. Unfortunately this entire piece is also quite grainy.

Instead of showing us clear separate shots of the various photographs, the camera simply moves away from Rick, zooms in on a photo, slowly focuses on the blur until we see the photo, and invariably we get only a half image because the photos are covered in glass and the overhead light is reflecting off of it. Once again, Rick has some interesting things to say, but the production quality is grating and irritatingly amateurish. This one is 23 and some minutes long. These two pieces were directed by Scott Essman.

Next up is Behind The Scenes With ALLFX, which is called ALL FX on the DVD menu and Behind The Scenes With ALL EFFECTS COMPANY when the movie actually begins. In this one we meet Eric Allard (STRANGE BREW, BRAINSTORM, THE BLOB [1988], CLASS OF 1999, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES III, SLIVER, DEMOLITION MAN, STRANGE DAYS, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, ALIEN: RESURRECTION, VIRUS, THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE, BATS, SPIDER-MAN [2002], THE MATRIX RELOADED, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: III, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST, SNAKES ON A PLANE), President and Owner of the company, All Effects, for which Rick Stratton works. Eric is a little less self effacing than Rick, which comes off well when we have to watch him. This one was also directed by Scott Essman and is far superior to Scott's work with Rick alone. I don't know why there is such a difference, but except for the same problems with sound (and especially background sound like a ringing phone drowning out Eric's voice), the lighting is better and the proper use of editing technique to keep a flow of interest moving is also improved. This is a better made movie, yet there is only ten minutes plus seconds of it.

Tour of Don Post Studios on the DVD cover is Don Post on the DVD menu and Inside The Original Don Post Studios for the short movie itself. Directed by Scott Essman again, this is the best made of the four movies by Scott. The editing is the best of the four (three plus one bonus), but still has the same sound problems. Much of what Don Post Jr. is saying could have easily been shot in a quieter part of the building or pretty much anywhere. Instead, the entire piece is shot on the production floor with the noisy work going on full bore from beginning to end. This one is better still, yet less than nine minutes long.

Makeup Awards Jack Pierce Award on the DVD cover is Jack Pierce Award on the DVD menu and, aw forget it! This one is stylistically different in that it actually moves like an informative documentary should. The editing is sharp, the director knows when to linger, the sound is clear, and the camera work enhances the work of the special effects crew as they work on their actors. Jack Pierce Award was directed by Bruce Merwin (also shares Producer credit) with Scott Essman narrating. Yet it's only 9 minutes.

There is also a Teaser bonus.

The inconsistencies really begin to wear you down with this DVD. If there is a selection that allows me to run the different short docu's one after the other, I didn't see it. Scott Essman clearly loves the art and artistry of those who create our onscreen fantasies and nightmares with materials instead of pixels and I applaud him for that. But this DVD from the shooting to the editing to the DVD menu and even package design was poorly thought out and poorly executed. Why would any film maker want to chuck this inferior work at an audience eager with the expectation of seeing something really cool? DOUBLE EXPOSURES wasn't crafted with the love or attention to detail that its subjects bring to their own work.

There is a great source of informative entertainment here, but Scott is not the one to present it.

Two Shriek Girls.

This review copyright 2006 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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