The Adventures of JenMonster: November 2012

I have to admit, that before the movie came out I had never heard of "The Hunger Games" and after enjoying the movie I dutifully borrowed the books from my roommate and gave them a thorough read.

I was not disappointed in either the books or the movie, and became an avid fan.

My roommate, Nichole, and I were always trying to think of new photography ideas, and in mid fall during a forestry class trip to the woods, the idea struck me to have a Hunger Games photo shoot.

This was a perfect project for us, because it combined some of our favorite things; photography and (fake) blood.

We only had a few interested friends who were willing enough to get bloody for the cause. Having little time to prepare and not much material to work with, we dug up our Halloween weapons, made some fake blood, and decided to divide the districts by teams, which were designated by colored bandanas.

Our fake blood was made with corn syrup and red dye. It was very sticky and tasted yucky.

We went to the woods right across the road from us. It was a ten minute walk down a dirt road to the trails. Here we are matching to the "scene of the crime"

We didn't have district numbers, it was just blue team, red team, and..team Derp. More on that in a bit.

Here are the teams:

BLUE TEAM:

Katie

Jen (me)

Team Blue!

TEAM RED:

Nichole

Nate

Team Red!

TEAM DERP:

(So named for their silly ways/deaths)

Annie

Steph

Team Derp.

First thing, and this very, very important, all of the weapons we used were not real except for the bow and arrow. Only Nichole was allowed to hold the bow, as not only was it hers but she was also experienced with it and knew better then to EVER aim it at someone. There are a few shots where it looks like she's aiming at someone with the bow, but either the arrow is not on the string (meaning if she somehow let the string go the arrow would just fall down and not go anywhere) or she's aiming away from the person but the photo is taken at an angle to make it LOOK like she's aiming at someone. She is not. This is very important, and we took safety very, very seriously while doing this!

To start off, we found a small clearing, and piled our weapons in the center. and then step by step planned out our moves. For whatever reason Annie wanted to die right off the bat, so we started by planning her death. Since she was a part of team "derp" I suggested she fall on the weapons and get stabbed by them. I think it was Nichole's idea to have Steph take pity on her team mate and finish her off.

Discussing our first steps while Nichole sets up her camera.

Here I am demonstrating how she should fall. In this picture it almost looks like Annie pushed me.

Now here is the beginning sequence, our mad dash to the weapons and Annie's sudden death.

Steph is reminiscing about the good times they had while contemplating whether or not to finish her off

With that scene over, we focused on survival scenes in the forest. Katie and I attempt and fail to climb a tree, while Nate and Nichole share a snack. Steph eats alone, with her partner already dead.

Now that we had food out of the way it was time to make an encounter. The sun was beginning to set, and we had to kill some people who wouldn't be able to join us the next day.

We drew names for who would be killing who, and quickly planned the deaths. Katie and Nate couldn't join us the next day, so we had to kill them at once.

The next scenes were not as photographically perfect as we would have liked. Nichole was normally the photographer, but she had to be in the next few scenes. So we allowed someone who was less experienced take the photos. There are some bags of supplies in the background in a few shots, and in one a person who should not be there. A newbie mistake, but it happens. This is all added to the list of things for us to fix for the next Hunger Games photo shoot (and we were already planning another one!)

What's that noise? Was that a branch snapping?

Katie's reaction here is great. I need some acting skills however.

With the setting sun, the photos started to get too dark...

or too blurry...

Steph is not supposed to be in this shot...or the tripod she's standing next to.
Katie and I run in different directions!

Nichole is back behind the camera here. Can you tell? = P

Nate's as good an actor as I am, haha.

I believe I got designated camera person at this point...

We also learn that Nate makes a terrible dead body. Maybe we should have really knocked him out...buhuhahaa

Katie is hit, and DEAD Nate moves his head to look....*sigh*

Nichole smirks while Katie inches away. Nate is properly playing dead in this photo.

Due to fading light, any motion got blurry. Still kind of a cool action shot.

Katie's acting is again superb, while Nate yet again fails to be a dead body.

The deed is done.

That was all we did for day one. It was getting too dark to take good photos, and we were getting cold. So, we packed up our gear, discussed strategies for the next day, at that point not sure which of the remaining three of us would be the last one standing.

Day one is over!

With only one day left for taking photos, and knowing that all three of us planned to go down fighting and bloody, we decided to drive down the dirt road to save us the ten minute walk where we would run the risk of scaring passerby.

It was another sunny day, but still cold. Our first spot to take photos was a trail that had flooded, making a nice marshy area for us to work with.

Setting up the scene

Our first obstacle. How to keep our shoes dry.

We decided to start a chase/hunting scene. I had escaped the fray from yesterday after I witnessed Nichole offing my partner. Bitter, I slink off into the woods and Steph, no doubt drawn by the commotion of Nate and Katie's death, ends up finding my trail and following. Nichole, perhaps drawn by the water, also picks up on our trail and a chain is established.

My footprint.

Nichole had her hold these poses, and a side note, that water was cooooolllld!

love the reflection here

Nichole's scene, so I'm back behind the camera!

The next scene takes place up the hill, a spot we would use in our next Hunger Games photo shoot. (we didn't know it at the time, though!)

In this next part Steph is closing in on me, and unbeknownst to her, Nichole is also closing in!

I think I heard something behind me...

Yup. Someone's behind me! Better get out of here!

Our favorite photo. Nichole used her tripod and camera timer to get this shot. We're all closing in on each other!!

Steph's expression is great here. You SHOT me?

Corn syrup blood..we later find better solutions, but this worked for the time being.

Steph decided the wound is too serious to attack Nichole right now, so she runs instead. Perhaps looking for better ambushing ground.

she pushed the arrow out. In reality this is a bad idea because it can cause much more bleeding.

Steph knows how to play dead.

Now it's time for the final death, and Nichole was on a killing spree. We drew names, who would be the last to die? Then we set the scene. Our Hunger Games was about to have a victor.

However, again facing a setting sun, we had to make good time.

Oh, I've been hit. This isn't going well for me.

It was hard for us to not smile in this scene. It seems Nichole and I love fighting to the death.

No Nichole, I'm trying to hit you with my axe. Stop stabbing me!

We reached the point where light was getting difficult to work with. So, the photos all of a sudden got darker. Our roommate Emily had joined us at this point and used my camera to take these photos.

With my death the Hunger Games finally had a victor. We had intended to get a picture of Nichole in a celebratory pose, but gave up due to lack of light. We took a video blog on our walk back, and happily talked about changes we will make for next time!

Click on the link below for the video blog link.

Our Hunger Games Blog