As we wait on Daniel’s rereads as Eli to complete Dreidel of the Dead in time for Hanukkah 2026 we embarked on a new production Vüdü – The Awakening a 12 minute short for the Prospect Heights Art Club FFF5 Failed Film Festival in New York.
Cast
After having so much fun with the cast of Dreidel of the Dead the rule is to stick to what you know and so I cast the wonderful Tina Mari Serra as Clem, Mandy Grant-Grierson as Bea and L Renée Penn as Percy, 3 of the four lead roles with Austin Ryder taking the lead as the sentient voodoo doll Vüdü.
The Plot
A voodoo doll wakes up not knowing who he is, where he is, or why he is there. He is not alone though, as on the table, at the voodoo shrine there are three talking bird skulls, crotchety former eagle Bea (Beatrice), bouncy sneezer Clem (Clementine) and hoity toity Percy (Persephone), a Greek chorus akin to the Grey Sisters of mythology, ready to aid Vüdü in his journey. Kinda. Sorta. Not really.
The Set
A single set was made for this one, again on my tabletop. Red crushed velvet, a crate was painted, and black candles were repurposed.
The Grays
Casting the Grays was easy, making them… was also surprisingly easy. Find the STL files of bird skulls and choose three that do not look alike. I then found dolls eyes of different kinds that fitted the eye sockets, before creating plasticine necks and attaching hairstyles made from chicken feather and dyed red feathers to create three distinct looks to go with the three distinct characters.
Vüdü
Vüdü was the exceptions, despite the talented and reliable male members of the cast of Dreidel of the Dead, I wanted something different for Vüdü, something more generic accent by powerful performance as Vüdü goes through the wringer, not least as I decided to give him an eccentric look, and a painfully inserted armature.
Prospect Heights Art Club
The Failed Film Festival Year 5 (FFF5) by the Prospect Heights Art Club is a 30-day community filmmaking challenge that kicked off with a launch event on September 26, 2026, well, technically September 27 due to the nor’easter battering New York.
The production of Vüdü – The Awakening started on September 27 with the writing of the script, originally just the doll waking up, screaming, looking down at pins embedded his body, screaming some more, then pulling them out to more screams, before heading out to find who did this and teach them a lesson. Given the joy of working with Mandy, Lydia and Tina it was an easy choice to write characters for them, and so the Greek chorus was born and by day 2 I had 3D printed skulls that needed augmenting. The rest, is history, or will be, as it is only October 5 and I still need to film the Vüdü shots.
Production Shots
The Making of a Monster
The movie became Vüdü’s odyssey after he jumps off the table. He meets The Monster voices by Sean Roden, and The Other Guy played by me. The Monster was fun to make, I bought the largest squishy toy from the local toy store, covered it in latex and fake blood and glued the remaining eyes over it.
Whilst I made the moving painting of the Other Guy using a printout of my face for the still, and then for the moving animation I made a fake wall with a hole in it and the back of the frame. I put my face through it to film it.
