The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, October 13, 1994 - 7 Ed Wood: A look at a By SCOTT PLAGENHOEF "The Worst Director of All-time" is not an auspicious or desirable title: unless you're Ed Wood. If Wood were allowed to have basked in his faux recognition he would have with pride rather than shame, reminding anyone do listened how he created the worst rary of films ever-by himself. Edward D. Wood Jr. wrote, di- rected and produced a series of films so bad they are wholly enjoyable. The process of filmaking and creating impressed Wood more than the fin- ished product and as a result he could only solicit a who's-who of misfits and loyal friends as cast and crew. Cheesy television "seer" Criswell, *e-night horror flick host Vampira, Swedish wrestler "Tor" Johnson, and most notably a drug-addled Bela Iugosi populated his sets and his films. Films so bad that they were barely distributed in Wood's lifetime. Films so bad that they inspired the titles to countless early Misfits songs.' Films so bad that in a country that celebrates kitsch as much as quality, where the worst possible of ideas turn out to be the most popular product (pet rocks, KISS, "Home Alone"), they are still watched with alternate feelings of adoration and embarrass- ment for their creator. Oh, and by the way, if Wood wasn't eccentric enough, to relax he enjoyed n angora dressing women's clothing, having a part icular place in his heart and on his body for angora sweaters. This fall as Tim Burton, who has made a career with highly visual trib- utes to characters on the fringe (Pee- Wee Herman, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman) unleashes his fantastic biopic, "Ed Wood," the worst director of all time is poised to be- come a household name. Wood began his film career star- ring in his own scripted, directed and produced film "Glen or Glenda?" The picture was part-documentary, part- melodrama, and almost fully auto- biographical film about a transvestite coming to grips with his peculiarities. The film also began Wood's working relationship with Lugosi, featuring him sitting in a chair spouting off nonsense for no practical reason. Wood would later go on to create the girl-gang exploitation flick "The Violent Years," Lugosi starring as a mad scientist in "Bride of the Mon- covered back ster," and crime film "Jail Bait" be- fore directing the cinema's worst film ever, "Plan 9 from Outer Space." "Plan 9" is the story of a group of aliens who come to earth to dig up graves and create zombies to rule the planet. Unforgettably poor, yet at the same time unforgettable, "Plan 9" is a true cinematic experience in medioc- rity and schlock. A true independent in filmaking, Wood's work had no production value and no budget. More than any other director, Wood was left to finance his own products. The result was terrible cinema but Wood accomplished what very few directors, from Orson Welles to Marty Scorsese, ever do, he had complete and autonomous control over his products. Wood was satis- fied with the cardboard sets and the abysmal acting because it was his product, his vision, and no one else's. Ed Wood will now, thanks to Tim Burton, get the recognition and the attention that he never deserved as a filmaker, but he did and still does as an independent, a creator and a doer of things for the love of them and for his own personal gratification, rather than financial or critical reward. 1 Y EE PAPE YE - E gR OWihUDO'TTYE? I w L Call Kate at 761-5506 Term papers Resumes Applications Letters Etc. . . J i ! ! ( ..... . - .+..+ .. ...... ... ..r. rvvvs."si. r MrYir Mi 1AiWii4M: -- --- - _.. ... .. The challenge of designing s*Bagels *Pasta Salads *Muff ins *Soups *Frozen Yogurt *Vegetable Salads (Gish-Glace) *Fruit Salads *Ao l 'Sunday in the Park DESIGN Continued from page 1 cian Henry Renyolds. To recreate the painting in Act One, the show re- quires three scrims: one of the fin- ished painting and two partially-fin- ished paintings. To save time and ney, production manager Mark wllivan managed to track down and rent the original Broadway drops. However, the entire show requires a huge amount of pointillist painting, the task of which went to Susan Crabtree, the head of the Power Cen- ter scene shop. "We paint everything over at the Power shop and bring it over to the Mendelssohn and install it, so all of a things you see here were painted in our theater shop; they were fabri- cated, painted, given a finished coat and then brought here and assembled," Crabtree explained. "But when you assemble anything there are little d iks, first of all which happen when you move in and then things that just don't line up or aren't quite as people anticipated they would look when they ot on stage, so we have to fix them." She stops painting for a moment, wrinkles her nose at the soldier she is touching up, and resumes painting. "This is one of the things we didn't anticipate would look like this." Crabtree was presented with Renschler's designs in the form of blueprints. "All of this was originally It's sCary! IIGHTMARE Continued from page 5 His first six films all have had unreal- ity as a basis for him to create a form of reality around the lead character's passion. "The Nightmare Before Christmas" is a shining example of Burton's ability to create such a thing. *s seventh film, "Ed Wood", is based on real life stuff. One has to wonder how much of a real life fairy tale Ed is, but the passion remains the same. on architectural blue-lines. The shop built it according to the designer's instructions, and then we got what are called paint elevations, and then we painted them according to the designer's instructions," she ex- plained. The painters followed Renschler's elevations regarding where things go and how they are shaped, but they referred to the actual painting to spe- cifics, i.e. painting Seurat's dots. "We followed the painting to get as close and specific to the original work as we could, but still keep it theatrical and keep it broad. If we made the dots as small as Seurat made his dots, no one would see them, so our dots had to be bigger," Crabtree explained. She holds up a dishwashing brush - one of those sponges with a short handle and numerous french-fry shaped sponges on the end - which was used to make dots. "I went to Meijer's Thrifty Acre's where America goes to shon for vaht " chp laughed. They also used foam rollers that were cut up with dots on them. As far as the color scheme, again they stayed as close as possible to Seurat's color palette, making occa- sional adjustments for theatricality's with George' sake. "Seurat worked with a palette that he believed was a scientifically correct palette. It was a combination of the primary (red, yellow and blue), the secondary (orange, green and purple) and the tertiary palette, which is a combination or mixing of all those colors (yellow green, orange- See DESIGN, Page 8 eDeli Sandwiches 715 N. University i 14 ' The Psychology Peer Advisors Present FOCUS GROUPS 'P Fall 1994 APPLYING TO GRADUATE SCHOOL IN PSYCHOLOGY 1. Writing a Personal Statement Monday, October 17 7:30-9:30 pm 52 Green Rm. *, East Quad II. Graduate Student Life: A Panel of Graduate Students Sharing Their Experiences in Different Areas of Psychology Monday, October 24 7:30-9:30 pm 52 Green Rm. *, East Quad Refreshments will be served at all events. Faculty members and graduate students will be available to answer your questions and discuss these issues. RSVP to the peer advising office. 747-3711 ALL ARE WELCOME! -OSTAFIN ROOM: THOMPSON ST. ENTRANCE. 2ND FLOOR WEST QUAD GREEN ROOM: BASEMENT OF EAST QUAD NEAR CAFETERIA ENTRANCE .5 U Out of town prescriptions welcome here Prescription delivery avaliable Visa, MasterCard, American Express Apothecar 1112 South University 663-5533 Mon.-Sat. 9-9, Sun. 12:30-5 mmmmomi 4 iA California Style Mexican Food Fresh made everything! Casual dining atmosphere. Open for lunch and dinner. Catering Available. Phone Orders accepted. Delicious Food! 216 S. Fourth A venue in Arbor (313)996-0234 10% off dinner with this coupon. 2 to EXP 1029/94 *216 S. Fourth, Avenue, Ann Abor, MI 98-0234 i "w/ 2 15 s. State St. Go PHISHING at In Flight Ann Arbor (upstairs, above JASON'S) The Phinest in Phishwear Fall/Winter Fashions T-Shirts, ALPACA: Sweaters, Hats & Hats, Mittens Stickers, Ecuadorian Wool Sweaters etc. ONLY $35.00! s 995-DEAD Many Long-Sleeved T-Shirts from your favorite bands A-Z M '"lip " i '1 If 'f '1/" THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS is pretty much available everywhere. Used &Rar BOOKS Bought & So 113 W. Liber (112 block W of Main 995-189 It's Wort the Trip Westside Bookshoj since 1975 re Ad rty St.) 1 h 4 1 i ; Join the Team! RIs d -na Go I I I' $5.60/hr. Starting Wage Flexible Hours & Scheduling No Experience Necessary Gain Valuable Work Experience Promotional Opportunities Work in Your Own Hall -- - -