Nick and Tesla's Special Effects Spectacular

by Bob Pflugfelder

  “Where have you been, anyway?” Aunt Zoe asked him. “I need to talk to you.”

  “You need to talk to me, the studio needs to talk to me, my ex-wives need to talk to me, my ulcers need to talk to me. Everybody needs to talk to me! But will anybody listen to me?”

  “Bob—”

  “You want to know where I was? On the phone. Because the insurance company needed to talk to me, too, thanks to our friend Mr. Internet. ‘Don’t believe a word of it, Colin,’ I’m saying. ‘Everything’s going great, Colin!’ And then some P.A. is running up to tell me that now my leading man is having a heart attack!”

  “He didn’t have a heart attack. It was just another”—Aunt Zoe’s gaze flicked, for just a second, to the kids—“incident.”

  “Another incident? Another incident? I’ve never seen so many ‘incidents’ on a set in my life—and I’ve produced two movies starring a chimpanzee! Is this how you and Ashkinos always operate? Because, let me tell you something, toots—you’re in the big leagues now, and it only takes one swing-and-a-miss to strike out!”

  “Now, Bob … it’s not Cash’s fault,” Aunt Zoe said. She walked over to the man and began speaking to him reassuringly.

  “Who’s that old guy?” DeMarco asked Matt. He was displeased to see someone talking so harshly to his aunt. “Is that Damon Wilder’s dad?”

  “No,” Matt answered, chuckling a bit. “That’s Bob Ortmann. The executive producer.”

  “I thought Aunt Zoe was the producer,” Nick said.

  “She’s a producer. This movie has seven. Or maybe it’s eight now. I keep losing track. Anyway, Zoe’s the line producer—she manages what’s happening on set day to day.” Matt nodded at Bob. “He’s the executive producer. The money man. If he’s not happy, the studio’s not happy. And if the studio’s not happy, we’re all out of a job.”

  “Itching powder?” Bob said, nearly exploding at Aunt Zoe. His eyes were wide and his hands waved over his head. “Itching powder? What is this, a Bugs Bunny cartoon?”

  “He doesn’t look happy,” Silas said.

  Matt gathered up the ruined Metalman suit. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to see what I can salvage of this,” he said. Then he added, under his breath, “And I need to get my resume ready.”

  “Don’t get any of that powder on you,” Tesla said.

  Matt glanced at her skeptically but walked off, his pinched fingers carefully holding the tattered costume away from his body.

  Meanwhile, Bob was still ranting at Aunt Zoe. She answered in a soft, soothing tone, and he calmed down just a little (this was evident because his face changed from being as red as a fire engine to pink, like a flamingo). “Fine!” he said at last. “Let’s call the studio right now, and you can make that promise to ’em yourself!”

  Aunt Zoe seemed to mull that idea for a moment, and then she nodded slowly.

  “DeMarco, you and your friends wait for me, okay?” she called. “I won’t be long.”

  “Okay,” DeMarco said.

  Aunt Zoe and Bob walked away together, weaving their way around crew members and equipment.

  “You know,” Tesla mused, “she didn’t tell us where to wait.”

  “I think here is what’s implied,” Nick pointed out.

  He knew what was coming, though. And he wasn’t the only one.

  “I think we should wait wherever he’s going,” DeMarco said, nodding at Matt, who was about thirty yards away. The prop guy was weaving cautiously between the long trailers lining the street, keeping a tight grip on the costume parts but also trying to avoid touching them more than was necessary. At any moment, he might step between two trailers and disappear from sight.

  “Come on,” Nick said.

  “Really?” DeMarco asked.

  “Really?” Tesla repeated.

  “You were about to say it, anyway,” Nick said to his sister. “Right?”

  “Right,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  “Did I tell you guys I shook hands with Cash Ashkinos?” Silas said.

  The kids were walking single file through the maze of trailers and tents that surrounded Video Village. Nick was in the lead, keeping an eye on Matt, letting the others know when it was safe to move forward. Silas was in the rear.

  “We all shook hands with Cash Ashkinos,” DeMarco said.

  “Yeah, but I shook it longer than anyone. And I told him about my movie and how great it is. He seemed really impressed!” Silas took another half a dozen steps in silence, replaying his golden moment with Cash Ashkinos in his head. Suddenly he blurted out: “Hey! Where are we going?”

  “To find out who’s messing with my aunt’s movie,” DeMarco said.

  “By following that guy?”

  “Itching powder works almost immediately, so it couldn’t have been in Damon Wilder’s costume when he first showed up,” Tesla explained. “It must have been slipped in right before they tried to get that shot.”

  “But Mr. Wilder was there in front of us the whole time,” Silas said.

  “Which is how we know that three people touched him right before the camera rolled,” Nick said. He started counting on his fingers. “One: the lady who was putting on his makeup. Two: Cash Ashkinos, who patted Wilder on the back. And three—”

  “Matt!” Silas burst out, proud to have finally figured out what his friends had known several minutes before.

  Up ahead, Matt stopped and looked back.

  “Yeah?” he called to the kids.

  “Oh, great,” Nick muttered.

  “Way to go,” said DeMarco.

  Tesla just voiced a weary sigh and said, “Silas.”

  But Silas didn’t hear them. He’d started walking toward Matt, wearing a big grin on his face.

  “We were just wondering—are you the prop master or the costume supervisor?” he said.

  “Neither,” Matt said. “I’m the special effects supervisor.”

  Silas’s grin widened.

  “Really? I love special effects supervisors!”

  “Oh, yeah?” Matt said skeptically. “You sure you’re not confusing us with visual effects supervisors?”

  The kids had caught up with him now, and Silas looked like he wanted to drop to the ground and bow at the man’s feet.

  “No way!” Silas said. “I know the difference. The visual effects guys do all the postproduction stuff. The fake stuff. You do the effects on-set. The cool stuff. Animatronics, stunts, prosthetics, explosions. I know most people are more into visual effects these days, but I’m like, ‘Forget all that CGI. That’s just, like, pushing buttons on a computer. The special effects dudes keep it real!’ ”

  Silas had spoken the magic words. Matt’s doubtful frown soon morphed into a smile of delight.

  “Wow, kid, you really know your cinema.” He held out his hand. “Matt Gore, pleased to meet you. Would you all like to see my shop?”

  “Would we?” Silas answered. “I can’t think of anything we’d like to do more! Right, guys?”

  Silas looked at his friends, who all smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

  “Oh, boy!” Nick said.

  Tesla elbowed him as a reminder not to lay it on too thick.

  “Come on,” said Matt. “It’s over here.”

  As he turned and headed between two trailers, Tesla reached out and put a hand on Silas’s shoulder.

  “I take it all back,” she said.

  “Take all what back?” Silas asked.

  “What I was thinking about you a minute ago.”

  The kids followed Matt around one corner, then another, and finally up a ramp leading into the back of yet another long white trailer.

  “Oh, boy,” Nick said again.

  Tesla didn’t elbow him this time, because she knew he wasn’t acting.

  Instead she said, “Ditto.”

  Matt Gore’s trailer was like their uncle’s basement laboratory, only with fewer test tubes and beakers and a lot more giant robot heads. (Only one giant robot head, actually.
But Uncle Newt didn’t have any at all, so …) There were prop laser rifles and jet packs, animatronic body parts, and work tables covered with paint cans and putty and all sorts of cool-looking tools.

  “Hey,” Silas said, pointing at the giant head, “is that Lord Computron from the Metalman comics?”

  Matt dropped the battered Metalman costume onto the nearest table and put a finger to his lips.

  “Shhh. Spoiler alert. We’re blowing that up on Thursday.”

  Silas and DeMarco showed their approval by high-fiving each other.

  “Cool, huh?” Nick said to Tesla.

  But his eyebrows were saying something very different.

  They were waggling up and to the left, signaling, Look. Over there.

  “Totally!” Tesla enthused, as she tried to steal a peek at whatever her brother was waggling at.

  He seemed to be indicating a shelf up so high on the trailer wall that even hulking Silas—who was nearly as tall as Matt—would need to jump just to touch it. The shelf was loaded with plastic bottles and canisters identified with labels like SMOKE-BLACK, SMOKE-WHITE, SMOKE-GRAY and KA-BLAM!

  Interesting, but hardly worth a waggle.

  But just then, Tesla saw it. At the far end of the shelf stood a small, unlabeled clear-plastic container half filled with orange-brown powder.

  Tesla cocked an eyebrow at her brother. Bingo!

  Then she furrowed her brow slightly, as if trying to signal, But how do we get it down so we can see if it’s itching powder?

  Nick frowned and shrugged. Got me.

  “I would love to have something like that for Bald Eagle: The Legend Takes Flight,” Silas was saying to Matt, still admiring the robotic head. “That’s a movie I’m making. I even brought some of the props to show Cash.”

  Nick and Tesla looked at each other again, and this time their expressions were saying the same thing.

  Of course! The arm!

  NICK AND TESLA’S

  AMAZINGLY ASTONISHING

  ANIMATRONIC REACHY-GRABBY

  ROBO-ARM

  THE STUFF

  • About a dozen regular-size pop sticks (you can get these at a craft store, or just eat a lot of ice pops)

  • 5 cable ties

  • Epoxy putty (e.g., J-B Weld brand)

  • A paint-stirring stick (free at big-box stores)

  • Dental floss

  • 12 small zip ties

  • 6 medium zip ties

  • Scissors, wire cutters, or needle-nose pliers

  • Hot-glue gun

  • Electric drill with a 1/16-inch bit

  • A responsible adult (to help with drilling and mixing the epoxy)

  THE SETUP

  1. Cut the ends off the cable ties so that you’re left with 5 pieces that are 4 inches (10 cm) long. Set these aside.

  2. Cut 5 of the pop sticks in two, and then trim each piece to 1½ inches (4 cm) long, preserving one rounded end. (You can cut the sticks with scissors, but it’s easier to use wire cutters or the cutting part of needle-nose pliers.) You can recycle the trimmings.

  3. Trim 5 more pop sticks to 2½ inches (6 cm); recycle the trimmings.

  4. Ask an adult to drill a hole into the rounded end of each of the 1½-inch sticks.

  5. Use the hot glue to secure 2 short and 1 long pop-stick pieces to a cable tie, as shown. Be sure to leave a ¼-inch (0.75 cm) gap between the sticks.

  6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to create 5 “fingers.”

  7. Have an adult mix the epoxy putty, following the instructions carefully. Form the putty into a blob. (Note: Some epoxies require you to wear gloves.)

  8. Stick the fingers you’ve just made into the epoxy blob “hand” push the ends that are not drilled approximately ¾ inch (2 cm) into the putty. Note that the thumb should stick out of the palm, as shown in Final Steps, so that it wil lbend toward the other fingers. Insert the paint-stirring stick into the other end of the hand; this will be the arm.

  9. The putty can take 10 minutes or more to begin hardening. Before it is fully set, arrange the fingers and thumb exactly where you want them. Be sure to place the thumb opposite the other fingers so that the hand can grip.

  10. Cut a 20-inch (50 cm) piece of dental floss and tie it through the hole at the top of one finger. Dental floss is slippery, so make 4 or 5 knots to ensure that it stays in place.

  11. Repeat step 10 for each finger and the thumb.

  12. Place the small zip ties around the gaps between the sticks that make up the fingers. Make sure they wrap around the floss and the larger cable ties. Secure the zip ties, but DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN! Each zip tie should be just tight enough to stay in place but loose enough that the floss moves freely as the fingers bend.

  13. Repeat step 12 for each finger and the thumb.

  14. Use scissors or wire cutters to trim the ends of the zip ties.

  THE FINAL STEPS

  1. Place a zip tie around the base of the thumb and a cable tie around the base of the wrist. Before you tighten the ties, make sure that they are wrapped around all the floss, as shown.

  2. Pull all the floss together and wrap the loose ends around a few pop sticks; then tie a knot to secure them in place. This will be the handle that will control the grip of the animatronic arm.

  3. Your robo-arm is now ready! Pull down the handle—away from the hand—and the fingers will close and grip. Release, and the hand will open.

  4. Start reaching and grabbing! Experiment with light objects first to learn how much weight the hand can handle. Try building others with arms and fingers of different lengths.

  “Would you like to see some of our props, Mr. Gore?” Tesla said.

  “Well, I’m sure they’re cool and everything,” Matt said. “I used to make my own props and movies when I was your age. But I am at work here, so …”

  Tesla put on a pout.

  Nick helped out with sad puppy eyes.

  “Oh, okay, why not.” Matt said. “Cash is using a CG Metalman in the next shot anyway, so I’m not as busy as I should be—I mean, could be.”

  “Great! I’ll be right back!” Tesla said. “Come on, DeMarco. I need you to get the keys to your aunt’s car.”

  “Sure.”

  DeMarco followed Tesla down the ramp leading out of the trailer. When they had left Matt far enough behind, he turned to Tesla and said, “Why do you really need me? Aunt Zoe didn’t lock her car.”

  “Here’s the plan,” Tesla said. She didn’t have a plan yet. But by the time she was done talking, she did.

  Knowing that it would take a few minutes for Tesla and DeMarco to return with the robo-arm, Nick decided to put the time to good use.

  He may not have been as enthusiastic about solving mysteries as his sister was; the puzzle he really wanted to figure out was of the one involving their parents. But he thought that as long as he was stuck waiting, he might as well attempt to accomplish something.

  So he decided to try to get the suspect to implicate himself.

  “So,” he said, turning to Matt, “you must have a lot of experience mixing chemicals and dangerous compounds, huh?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  Nick nodded at the canisters on the high shelf.

  “Ka-blam?”

  “Oh, that,” Matt said, chuckling. If he were panicked about having left his itching powder in plain sight, he sure didn’t show it. “That’s not hard to make. You could do it yourself with some—”

  “What’s the stuff in the little container on the end?” Silas said, interrupting. “The one without a label?”

  Nick was torn between the urge to put his face in his hands and the desire to wrap his hands around Silas’s neck. Somehow, he managed to resist both and keep his gaze trained on Matt.

  The guy sure didn’t look panicked, not exactly, but his face did flush a deep shade of pink.

  “That’s just … umm … titanium shavings,” Matt said. “We throw some in when we want an explosion to be especially sparkly. Like in fireworks
. Of course, we don’t use them as much as we used to. Why blow something up for real when you can do it with a computer?”

  It was an obvious attempt to change the subject. And with Silas around, it worked.

  “Because a real explosion is cooler!” Silas proclaimed.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Matt said.

  “Computer animation always looks so computery! And animated!”

  “You’re preaching to the choir,” Matt said. And then he and Silas shared a high-five.

  “But real stuff blowing up … what’s not to love?”

  “Amen, brother.”

  And on it went.

  All the while, Nick was thinking: He’s lying. Titanium shavings aren’t orange-brown. They’re silver.

  “So what’s the deal with all the CGI on this movie?” Silas said when he and Matt were through singing the praises of blowing up real stuff. “Cash usually doesn’t use it in his movies at all.”

  “Cash has never had a budget like this before,” said Matt. He shook his head and sighed before adding, in a mumble, “Or a star like this.”

  “What’s wrong with the star?” Silas asked.

  “Yeah,” Nick said, suddenly interested again in the conversation. “Why would anyone want to slip itching powder into Mr. Wilder’s costume?”

  “I’m not convinced anyone did,” Matt said. “It’s not like Damon needed a reason to flip out. Since day one of shooting, he’s been … well, let’s just say this has been an interesting show to work on.”

  Silas furrowed his brow.

  “Show? I thought this was a movie.”

  “It is,” Matt said. “When you’re in the business, everything you shoot is called a show, whether it’s a feature film or reality TV.”

  “Ohhhh,” Silas said, looking like he was jotting this information in a mental notebook so that he’d remember to throw the phrase around later.

  “So, Damon Wilder’s been hard to work with?” Nick asked. He was determined to keep the topic from straying yet again.

  Matt eyed him a moment.

  “You’re friends of Zoe Helms’s nephew, right?” he said.

  “That’s right,” said Nick.