Special Effects

Masha is our Russian based post-production supervisor. Her name is actually Maria. But somehow in Russia every name gets reduced to Sasha, Masha or Pasha.


It also seems to be true that while many Russian girls will claim to have virtually no English skills they almost all have more than they're saying. The reason seems to be one of -- I don't know how to say it exactly -- but shyness. It's really rather cute. Even the ones with terrific English are extremely self-conscious about it.

Our visual effects company is in St. Petersburg. We get animatics via ftp. Then there are web conferences in which shots are reviewed.


I think I mentioned before that this particular movie has roughly 245 VFX shots. More than I expected. But it makes sense in an anything-goes comedy romp!

Tonight was the birthday of a friend of Marius' named Arevo. We found ourselves at a little clubby type place called "Seven". I've been here before, on my 2nd night in Moscow. The music is ear-shredding. The quarters are tight. Much dancing. And every time a new song spins up every one goes, "Woooooo...!!!" I don't go woo.

But what was true back in November remains just as true today; The place is a fire hazard. Not only are the walls draped with heavy tapestries, not only are there flammable consumables being imbibed everywhere, but for the love of Prometheus, every half an hour they light these gigantic sparklers and pass them out.


The revelers wave them over their heads and swing them around. Every time this happens I'm plotting my exit route.

Anyway, happy birthday, Arevo.