Behind the Scenes on Falcyyr: Working in the Rain!

As the winter weather approaches it is becoming more difficult to finish the scenes for the film. Ahura Diliiza, the director, needed a scene with my character Artemis and his character Thor. Both of our characters are training the Valkyrie in the film. It was a short scene that we did last Saturday but hard to do because of the weather. It was very cold and rainy. My costume is not exactly meant for cold weather either!!! After an entire day of preparation (makeup/hair starting at 10:30 in the morning) we only fit in about a half hour of filming before it was too dark and rainy outside. Such is the nature of filming!! Here are a few photos taken by Sinari Diliiza.

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Keeping warm while they set up the camera for our scene. You can't see the rain but that is why they needed the umbrella. Photo credit: Unicovia Pictures

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Thor yelling at the sky!!! Go away Rain!! It was pretty miserable outside. Photo credit: Unicovia Pictures

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Progress through the scene, there is one part where I scold Thor and then make my Artemis crazy eyes. :) Photo credit: Unicovia Pictures

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Behind the Scenes of Falcyyr: The Ride of the Valkyries!

The costumes turned out beautifully and Ahura and his film crew handmade the amazing armor pieces for the head, arms and legs:

left to right: Myself, Kaylee Clark, Lydia Spencer, and Elisha Harvey wearing our costumes for the first time. Photo taken by Unicovia Pictures.

I love this photo of Rovandio getting tacked up for filming. His tack was made by Lisa Oberman of El Sueno Espanol. Photo taken by Unicovia Pictures.

Filming a scene like this takes hours of preparation. The film crew arrived at my house around 10:30 AM and we were ready to head over to the barn around 1:00 PM. I had bathed Rovandio in the morning while Lydia Rose Spencer and Kaylee Clarke schooled their horses. Elisha Harvey trailered her horse, Thor, over to Isaac Royal Farm around 10:00 AM.

We were each playing stunt doubles for the other actresses so most of the shots would avoid close-ups of our faces. Lydia had wigs from the Isaac Royal Equestrian Theater for her and Kaylee's characters that have black hair.

I was playing Sinari Diliiza's character as Brunhilda, head of the Valkyrie. She is the main character in the movie. I chose to ride Rovandio because he is more reliable and manageable than Douwe in open fields, galloping with other horses.

Lydia Rose on Zeppelin, leading the way up the pine trail. Photo taken by Unicovia Pictures.

It was damp and chilly when we took the horses out to the woods and Elisha's horse Thor was quite hyper! He is normally a very lazy horse, but today he was ready to go and not fond of the repetitive walking scenes. We started by walking down the trail past the cameras many, many times so they could film the horses from multiple angles. It was great for the other horses to start out slowly and work our way up to the galloping scene. We did some trotting shots and also cantering our favorite trail we call "the Pines". This field is on my property and is picturesque with planted pine trees all around the slightly uphill trail. The leaves were covering the ground so it was still beautiful even though the trees were a little sparse from all the rain and wind we had last week.

The director, Ahura, had us stay side by side, starting from a halt, then a few steps walk, trot and away we went! The horses were well-behaved, though Lydia's Friesian mount, Zeppelin, through in a buck.

It is hard to see us but this shot shows us galloping by Ahura as he films the close-ups. Photo credit: Unicovia Pictures.

After the horses were done with the galloping scene he needed to get close-ups of the real actresses on the horses for their lines. It was interesting to watch the horses' reactions...when Ahura would say, "Action" they would stand perfectly still and almost hold their breath! It only took a few tries to get the scene the way he wanted it.

Awesome photo of Sinari Diliiza on Rovandio. She was the actress that I played stunt rider for in the galloping scene. Photo credit: Unicovia Pictures.

The horses were very patient and seemed content to much on grass in between takes. It was a lot of fun and I think everyone enjoyed it!

Filming the close-ups. Left to right: Ahura Diliiza filming, Kaylee Clark on Gambit, Lydia Spencer on Zeppelin, Sinari Diliiza on Rovandio, Taus on Thor and Elisha Harvey hiding while holding the horse! Photo credit: Unicovia Pictures

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Filming Update for Falcyyr

I have been traveling to Standish, ME for filming just about every week so far this summer. Each session we work on a new scene and recently that has included some night scenes. The director, Ahura Diliiza, created a scene where my character (Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt) leads an initiation and celebration for the four main characters. We all had to learn a Gaia chant in a made up language along with dance choreography. Ahura composed the music/chant and it has a great beat to dance to. It took about 3 weeks of practice to perfect it as a group. We had some issues with the weather and a thunderstorm forced us to work inside with a green screen on one occassion. Here are some beautiful photographs during practice and filming courtesy of Unicovia Pictures. We just finished our last night scene for now and will be moving onto the next portion involving the other characters Thor and Athena.

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In between takes...we have a little too much fun! There will be plenty of footage for the blooper reel! Photo courtesy of Unicovia Pictures.

Kazi fixes my makeup between takes. Every once in awhile I rub my chin and the design smudges....ahhh! Photo courtesy of Unicovia Pictures.

Kazi taught us the choreography for the Gaia chant, here she is leading the group. And yes she is wearing one of my tee shirt! :) Photo courtesy of Unicovia Pictures.

Action shot during the Gaia chant dance. Not a flattering pose but at least you can see that we were really moving! :) Photo courtesy of Unicovia Pictures.

First Day on Film Set for FALCYYR

Today was my first day on set for the indie film FALCYYR. It took about 5 hours to complete hair, makeup, and put together the finishing touches to my costume. Ahura's wife Sinari did an excellent job with my hair and spent two hours curling it and braiding the top half. Kazi experimented with my makeup for a little while to come up with just the right look for my character. My costume looked amazing after the countless hours that Ahura put into redesigning my bow, quiver, bracers, half chaps, and corset. He also created my leather skirt and headdress from scratch! We will be doing more filming next week and the process should go a lot quicker next time. They were able to take some amazing photos during and after the filming so you can see what my costume looks like. It is pretty awesome! We worked on the scene where my character Artemis is introduced to the Valkyrie. We had a lot of fun and definitely got some awesome clips for a blooper reel! :)

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Ahura, the director, putting the final touches on my headdress. Photo Credit: Sinari Diliiza of Unicovia Pictures

Costume for my part as Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. Photo Credit: Sinari Diliiza of Unicovia Pictures

Costume for my part as Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. Photo Credit: Sinari Diliiza of Unicovia Pictures

Sandra & Douwe Cast in a new Film, FALCYYR!

I am excited to announce that Douwe and I have been cast in another Maine film called FALCYYR. My character is Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt. Filming will begin this May in Standish, ME. I met the director, Ahura Diliiza on the set of Frost Bite, a film directed by Alan Dillingham. I was cast as a news reporter in a scene with Ahura, in which he played one of the main characters. Douwe will also be in some of the scenes that will be filmed during the summer months. I am looking forward to practicing my acting skills, learning some sword fighting, wearing some great costumes and of course...riding my beautiful horse in another film!

Plot Outline (taken from the Falcyyr Facebook page):
Five women are chosen by the Fates at the request of Odin (the Great All-Father of the Nordic gods) to be trained, empowered and transformed into legendary beings known as Valkyrie. These four women are chosen from different time periods and backgrounds as the gods are not limited by time and space. Each of them are plucked moments before the time of their demise and given a choice to serve Asgard and therefore the world of Earth, or be placed back within the grasp of oblivion. Once transformed they will save the earth from an aggressive alien race that views humanity as a source of food.

Please take a moment to like the Falcyyr movie page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Falcyyr/245021428904719

You can also visit their website with photos and blog posts from last year's filming. http://falcyyrmovie.com/

The director Ahura, shown in the photo, will be playing Thor the God of Thunder in this film. They have done some filing over the past few years and hope to finish by fall of this year, 2014.