I’ve bought the domain name www.MarshallStunts.com to build up as my personal Resume and Portfolio site, and I am quite pleased that the domain was available. In addition to this, through the magic of Google applications, I now have a much more professional email that is very obviously mine: Thomas@MarshallStunts.com is my new ‘professional’ email I will use for my resume and this site.
The Associated Press recently featured the International Stunt School in an article and short video, I was interviewed for it (I may have said something to the effect earlier) and they used part of my interview in the video.
Associated Press Article on the International Stunt School Link defunct
I can be seen at timestamp 2:35
After we ate a lunch and cleaned up all of the gear for high falls and air ram and such goodness, we all gathered in the main room to get talked at by the instructors. Each instructor stepped forward in turn and complimented or bitched at the group as a whole as we deserved it (mostly compliments). After a run through of all the instructors, Dave Boushey spoke to us and then presented us individually with our certificates stating we had completed the workshop Stunts I.
While I was being presented with my certificate, Mr. Boushey told the story of my moment of fear and my asking for “someone just say action”. He was highly amused, and I do believe my face went redder than it has since high school.
We all scattered, and I went home to shower, shave, and get all gussied up to go to the party that closes out stunt school. I didn’t end up drinking, as I was the DD for another local. All you can eat pasta and pizza, a few whiskey sours and a good hefeweisen, and some karaoke later I headed home and pondered what I should do next.
Day eighteen was pretty much just more high falls and more air ram. We were given the opportunity to start off our high falls one level higher than we ended with the previous day. I elected to start at the same level, and so I did a level 3 backfall to get back into the mindset.
After one highfall off the lift and a dozen off of the scaffolding, I was confident in moving up to level 4. I kicked off my shoes, and got on the lift. To my surprise and admitted apprehension, David Boushey (The founder, head instructor, and owner of the International Stunt School, a man whom I idolize as a stuntman) got on the lift to observe our falls. The lift hit level 4, and I got up to do my fall. I froze a little bit, and realized I needed something to kick me in the ass and make me go. I asked if someone would say action or something, because I knew thatt would make me go.
Danny said, very calmly, “rolling… action” and on action i waited maybe 1/2 second then threw myself backwards into a perfect backfall. I just need to get over my nerves and be sure to just tell myself “Fuck it, just go” every time I start feeling the nerves. I went up and did another fall, and ended up whiplashing my neck a little bit. I decided to take a break and stretch it out.
I moved on to air-ram, and did one dry-run with the ram off, then did two launches. On my second launch, I llanded on my side and ended up cranking my neck pretty hard to the side, which hurt. I spent the rest of the time resting and stretching, and acting as safety.
Day sixteen actually ended with me assisting in the putting away and organization of all of the wire-work gear. My help was much appreciated, and it filled the time till I got picked up and given a ride home.
Day seventeen however, was epic. We did high falls off of a lift, and into a huge air-bag that had won an oscar. The bag was big, blue, and rated to a maximum height of 80 feet. We were told we would not be told the actual heights from which we were jumping, just given a level from which we were jumping. We all started off at level 1, which was barely above the top of the bag. The highest anyone got today was level 4, I stuck to level 3, and got a lot of jumps in on the scaffolding and porta-pit that they had set up again. I focused solely on the Back-fall, as it is the fall I am most comfortable with. Also the fall that is used the most in films (it hides your face as you fall, making it easier to double someone).
After lunch, we moved on to Air Ram. An air ram is a pneumatically driven catapult that you step on mid-run to throw yourself through the air as if by an explosion. You have to get your timing exactly right, and have your leg properly positioned, or you can really fuck yourself up. People have had their ankles blown apart and their kneecaps torn off by stepping too far back on an air-ram. They are to be treated as a loaded gun, and keep well fucking clear if you’re not going off. It was fun, and very entertaining to watch the small people get flung really high and far. The day was a lot of standing around, a lot of acting as safety, and quite a few people got sunburned pretty well.
Day sixteen started off with me showing up before pretty much anyone else, and helping the instructors get the harnesses and wire-rigs laid out proper for the other group. That busy work filled the time nicely until the swarm of cars showed up, and my group piled in and drove to the precision driving area. We were informed that today, we would be learning how to take our cars forwards and backwards through an alley of cones, then weave around a line of cones then come to a stop. All using minimal braking, and if we did brake it was to be left foot braking. That took up a good bit of time, and again my backwards driving skills gained in my two weeks as a valet served me well.
After lunch, we proceeded directly into the fun stuff. And I learned the truth behind Mitch Hedberg’s labeling of the parking brake as a “Make the car smell funny” lever. We learned how to do 90 degree stops to a mark. Or in about half of our cases, through the mark that on a set would represent a multi-million dollar camera. I started getting the stops right after my first one, which was terrible. My second, third, and fourth stops actually did what I wanted, and the 2nd and 3rd stops even didn’t hit any cones! My fourth stop I managed to bump a cone over at the end. Not terrible, but still not that great. We proceeded very quickly into making 180’s into the box of cones, and I learned that I shouldn’t listen to my classmates when figuring out what to do. I figured out how to not suck after the third run-through, and I got to about 165 degrees around, not quite the 180 but I was quite pleased. My fourth was about the same, not quite there but not terrible either.
That was the end of our time with Steve Buckley, one of the most entertaining instructors i’ve ever had and also probably the best driver I have ever met. Keep an eye out on Top Gear, and maybe pester them with letters, he wants to challenge the stig to a race.
Day Fifteen was a day of many bruises. We stayed split into the two groups of the last few days, my group stayed at the warehouse to start off our high fall instruction. We split into two further groups, my group started off with high falls while the other group went and started getting into harness for wire-work. The high fall instructor, Danny, gave us a long lecture on the courtesy and safety procedures. He taught us the call and response, how to be a safety, and what to do if we don’t want to end up splattered or hurt. He then told us that the skills we learned doing Mini-trampoline will transition over quite well. Three of the Four high falls we learned were identical to the mini-tramp moves we learned before.
We learned four different high falls; The Sit-fall, The Header, The Face-off, and The Backfall. The only really new material for us in terms of mid-air manipulation and takeoff was the Backfall, which involves standing with your back to the ledge, then throwing yourself off backwards and landing on your back flat as possible. We had two stations set up for backfalls, both off of the same scaffolding. The main station was into a low height air-bag, a venerable and reliable air bag that has been with the stunt school for almost the entire life of the school. The second station was into a porta-pit, big foam landing pad that was bought second hand from a high school. I tried all three of the front facing high falls, then did the backfall three times. That is my fall, I’m pretty darn good at it. After quite a few rotations through, the height of the scaffolding got raised by a level, and we started on that. But after only two people, a rip appeared in the top of the airbag. We had to retire the bag until a proper repair could be made, which would take the rest of the week. Luckily, it was about time for lunch just then. I took one more fall into the porta-pit, and underestimated how far i would go doing a backfall, ended up having my head and shoulders getting caught by the safety while my neck whiplashed backwards. That sucked.
After lunch we started on wire-work, I was told to harness up first so that I could spend most of my time pulling. I will say right now that I never plan on seeking out any wire-flying in my career. If an opportunity for some minor flying is presented, I’ll go for it. But I am NOT a flier (Rigging yes, but that’s another story altogether). The harness gave me some nasty bruises on my hips, and felt like I was losing circulation every second my weight rested on it (which was the whole time). I also am a little too long to move well in harness, and I kind of looked stupid up there. After running me through the basics I started not looking like ass when I did flips, but I still couldn’t pull off looking graceful up there. After coming down and getting un-tangled from that evil testicle destroying harness, I switched to pulling. I had a headache building from the damn whiplash/highfall incident, so I will admit a got a little testy.
After getting my shit together with the help of some generic branded acetaminophen, I started as lead puller on one of the rigs. I was to call out the commands, and be the first line of defense against the performer bashing their head open on the concrete. Turns out I’m really damn good at pulling and leading a crew. Not only that, but I really really enjoy it. After two performers, I abdicated the lead spot to another student and took second spot on the pulling rig (side note: we used rock climbing ascenders as our grip points on the pulling rope, I might have to invest in some if I am going to get into rigging). According to Ryan, the instructor supervising our pulling, we earned at least four cookies. Cookies being a reward for preventing the performer from bashing in their head in a close call brought on by the poor bastard being – like me – too big for the harness and catching his legs on the wire, keeping his head at a dangerously downward angle.
I helped the instructors put everything away as the rest of stunt school headed back to the hotel, and then I caught a bus back to home.
Day fourteen started with a ride to the big open area we originally planned on doing our driving in on sunday. Our driving instructor Steve Buckley gave us a talk about driving, etiquette, and safety in regards to standing around waiting then he and Daniel Ford Beavis drove around and figured out how the surface was going to respond to the maneuvers we were going to learn. It was a little slick, but they said it would do well enough.
Groups of four piled into either Danny’s or Steve’s car, and they gave us a demo of what we would be doing for the day while giving us a talk about the specific skills we would be working. We started with driving one behind another, at about 10 feet distant, with the provisor that if Buckley felt confident in us, we could close in to about 6 feet or so. It was a lot of fun, and I was pretty good at following the car pretty close. We built up to 6 cars in a line, and it looked pretty damn awesome.
After lunch we moved on to driving side by side around the course. It took me a few passes to get the hang of it, but by the end of the day we were driving a 2×3 car formation around the track very cleanly.
Day thirteen was one hell of a day. It started out a little chilly and overcast the entire time but that was a good thing for this day. This is the day we were set on fire (the first group anyway).
Most of the day was spent waiting around, so I will just describe my experience being burned. First thing I did was strip down to my boxers (thank god I wore closed front boxers) and two female instructors helped me into the first layer of protection: nomex long underwear that had been soaked in fire gel (with ice packed around the buckets) all night long. Very cold, and startling to have put onto bare skin. They slipped them on me quickly, pushed out the air bubbles under the fabric, and laid a gel soaked towel over my back and neck. The towel was held in place with my t-shirt, then the jeans were pulled up but not buttoned. My plaid long sleeved shirt was put on and buttoned up, then tucked into my pants and my denim jacket was put on over all of this. I slipped into some shoes, and frankenstein walked my way out to the burn pad.
This is what happened:
Pretty awesome huh? If you look carefully the few movements before I drop the back of my head was on fire. Took off about 1/8th an inch of hair, but I didn’t actually feel that part at all. I felt heat building up at the base of my neck, just below the hairline and that was my cue to drop. If we felt any heat at all, we were to drop. I then showered off using a hose, and got into my clean clothing.
Through the whole process, I was followed by an Associated Press reporter/cameraman, and he took photos and video of the whole process, then interviewed me once I’d gotten cleaned up. His main question was whether the current state of the economy had any part of me wanting to go to stunt school or try this as a career path. Honestly, it kind of does. If I want to have a chance at making it in Archaeology or Anthropology, I have to get a masters or doctorate, and work for a private firm rather than go through state or federal government, as the budgets are getting a little thin these days. Also I’ve wanted to do this for years.
After I got done with fire, I got brought inside to be a puller for Snare work. Snare is where you have someone with a jerk vest on, and run a cable with two straps down their leg so that when you yank them up, it looks like they’ve stepped in a snare trap that has caught their ankle. Lots of fun being the lead puller, but I wasn’t too pleased with my performance when I was pulled up. It took a lot of people to get me up there, and I didn’t animate very well while I was in the air.
Day twelve was our first day at the Sand Point/Magnusson Park location, where the stunt school makes use of an old hanger (it’s an old naval base that has been turned into a huge city park) and some of the big open asphalt lots.
We split into six groups, the first two stayed behind at the hanger to work on rappelling and ratchet, the last four (of which I was a member) piled into the cars to go work on precision driving. To our great annoyance a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course was happening in the open lot we were to drive in, so after some talking and bitching we moved to a parking lot on the far side of the park so we could drive around cones.
We drove forward, winding around cones and teaching ourselves not to let our hands come above the dashboard. Then we did the same but learning how to use our left foot for braking, which is a necessary skill (left foot braking allows the car more maneuverability and allows you more control over the speed in corners). We then wove backwards through the cone lines, then we did the same thing but through gates made of cones. It was a good time, and the air conditioning in the cars was a welcome respite.
About an hour before lunch, my group got pulled out of the driving to learn rappelling. We got a lecture on what we can and cannot do, the rules of behavior and the call and response we need to keep communication clear. We rigged up in some rappelling harnesses and climbed the stairs to the rafters of the hanger, about 25ft up. We did three different rappels; a standard slow rappel, an inverted rappel, and then a speed rappel. I enjoyed the speed rappel the most, due to the fact that I was pretty good at it.
We were pulled back to work on more driving, and after lunch we were grabbed to do ratchet. Ratchet is a stunt where you wear a full jerk vest setup (vest strapped very tight, with leg harnesses to keep it secured) and they clip a rope to a pick point right between your shoulder blades; the rope is run up through a pulley then down through another pulley, and attached to a pneumatic press that works VERY fast. You lean forward against the rope, pose and stand on your mark, they call “safeties ready?” safeties reply, “Stunts ready?” and if you’re ready, call out yes and they’ll do a three two one countown, hit the switch, and you’re ratcheted back through the air flailing and screaming, you then pendulum down and the safeties catch you and slow you down to a landing. Amazingly fun stuff.
