The concept of a modern day witchhunt intrigued me. What would it look like and what could trigger the chase? How 'bout a rocker girl stealing a $6,666.66 signature issue Les Paul Custom Zakk Wylde Camo electric guitar from a hillbilly music store owner and running wild through an old cemetery. Sounds plausible. It must happen all the time. The idea was to put a modern spin on the old Frankenstein/angry villager man hunt theme. Here's what happened:

For the setting, I needed to find an old cemetery that didn't have any modern looking gravestones or Taco Bells in the background. After scouting countless cemeteries, I was tipped off to an amazing graveyard deep in the back roads of central/western Massachusetts. It was just what I'd been hoping for! Every stone was over 100 years old, weathered and covered with lichen, with most tilting and leaning every which way. Hollywood would have their hands full trying to duplicate this place.

After finding the best angle and height, I shot the scene without the models using a blue gelled 640 Ws monolight with a beauty dish just after sunset to catch that magic window of electric blue in the sky. I moved the strobe around and combined the various lighting angles in post. The funniest part of the night was when the fire department showed up. They saw flashes coming from the graveyard and thought someone was out there illegally shooting deer! Ah, the country life.

Initially, the angry mob was going to appear in silloutte through a wall of fog in the background but I thought it would have more impact if you could actually see the maddened rednecks. I had some buddies of mine arrive at my house as "hillbillied up" as possible wearing overalls, flannels, and brandishing pitchforks and torches. The irony is that these are some of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.

One by one, they would take turns performing a screaming, crazed, redneck charge across my back yard with torches ablaze and pitchforks in the air. The best shot from each one was then composited in later. Matching the best poses with their proper placement in the scene was the hardest part in making this image.

To keep the Crypt Studios theme going, I employed Lauren, an attractive long legged woman to be the hero. I wanted the model to appear gazelle-like, leaping over the gravestones and Lauren had that lean look to her. She was shot in-studio against a blue screen with a little leg alteration in post. I would never risk harming a gravestone or injuring a model to get this shot so it had to be a composit.

The main light source for the scene is intended to be moonlight which was imitated by a beauty dish at a distance. Too close and the lighting would be too soft and if too far, the lighting would appear too stark. I think I found a happy medium that's not overly harsh.

So there it is. The next Crypt Studios promo. Heavy metal... check. Rocker girl... check. Running for your life through a field of death with a stolen guitar... check. Now onto the next one.

Here's a link to some side shots and behind-the-scenes images from the various Crypt shoots: Crypt Studios Promo Shots

Crypt Studios: www.cryptstudios.com

Please visit my website: www.gperryimages.com

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All Images Copyright © The Photography of Glenn Perry