AP Language: November 2008

As you can tell by my name, I love Sweeney Todd, the 2007 film directed by Tim Burton. It stars Johnny Depp as the demon barber of Fleet Street who seeks revenge for his wrongful imprisonment and the death of his wife Lucy. Opposite Depp is Helena Bonham Carter, who plays the cunning yet sensitive pie-maker Mrs. Lovett. Sweeney Todd is a musical based on the 1979 musical thriller by Stephen Sondheim.

Last summer, my sisters and I decided to recreate every song from the movie; using the CD as a guide and lip synching. And with nothing but a miniDV camera and Windows Movie Maker, we have been able to complete eleven of the twenty songs. For almost three months we've battled bad weather, schedule conflicts, technical difficulties, and uncooperative actors (and there are only three of us in the film), yet Sweeney Todd is still in production.

The first song we ever did was "Johanna", which focuses on Sweeney singing while he kills the customers by slitting their throats. One of the greatest challenges in filming this was when blood had to shoot from the victims' necks, which was something we had never tried to do before. In the end, the "victim" had to hold a Ziplock bag filled with colored water and squeeze it at the exact same time Sweeney slashed with the razor. It worked out perfectly! The only problem was cleaning the water off of the ceiling and window.

Four days after that song was finished we went on vacation to the beach (which happened to be the title of one of the songs we had to sing). This was when we officially decided to make a spoof of every song so we tried to make it as true to the movie as possible. This was where we encountered several sisterly quarrels as well as some continuity problems. Some of the scenes had to be filmed back at home so we needed to make a detailed list of every different scene and the costumes/props that were needed. All that effort payed off and it is one of my favorites.

"Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" and "The Contest" were two more songs on our list. What was so difficult about them was that a specific set was needed. We ended up filming on the playground of an elementary school in the blazing sun. Somehow two ladders, six costumes, two chairs, two giant signs, several wigs, and a table were stuffed into the car and transported to the school. Not only were we on a tight schedule but each of us had to be two characters. I learned that it is important to plan everything out and stay on schedule.

At eleven o'clock at night on the roof of our house, my sisters and I filmed "No Place Like London" for the third time. The last two tries had horrible lighting and it was almost impossible to see Sweeney and his acquaintance Anthony. Luckily, this was during Halloween time and we bought a fog machine. That with the addition of a lamp created a creepy effect that made it look like the two were really on a ship. The great thing about making spoofs of movies is that you are able to try different methods to match the lighting, camera angles, etc.

Just last night I went out with my sisters to film another scene from "Johanna". Unlike "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" and "The Contest", it was freezing cold outside and the CD player was not working properly. By this time, however, we had seen the movie so many times that we didn't even need the music. It's amazing to see how far we've come just in the last three months. Even though there is always a problem (whether it be the weather or someone's costume), all this practice has prepared us to deal with whatever could happen.

It may not be a Stephen Spielberg production, but I'd say we're pretty close. Film making is demanding and takes a lot of planning and creativity, but if you manage to get the right people together it is one of the most gratifying things in the world.

Here are some photos of the characters in our movie and Tim Burton's: