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Post-Gazette TV editor Rob Owen can be reached at rowen@post- gazette.com or 412-263-2582.
It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.
Unless you're making a TV show using special effects, and then it's fun, games and 13-hour days of hard work.
No one lost an eye on the set of Fox's "Wonderfalls," but Ambridge native Marita Grabiak did over- see a scene of a foam dart flying toward the face of a gift shop clerk. In December, Grabiak directed an episode of "Wonderfalls," a new series that premieres at 9 p.m. Friday.
Grabiak worked with the show's crew on this special effects shot, the sort of scene that's a regular part of this quirky series about a Niagara Falls gift shop employee who gets orders to help others from talking animal figurines.
The shot sounds simple: A camera dollies up to actor Neil Grayston, simulating the point of view of a dart shot from a toy gun that zooms toward the hapless employee. But it's tricky. The shot is actually filmed in reverse. Grayston must remain still, holding the same vacant expression without blinking as the camera begins within 2 feet of his face and travels back about 10 feet.
"When we get to the part of 'Don't blink,' try hard not to blink," Grabiak told the actor, who plays gift shop employee Alec. "If you have to blink, well, don't blink."
After a couple tries, Grayston nailed it. When Grabiak yelled "cut," he took a long, relief-filled, dramatic blink. The final scene will play as a combination of live-action dart and computer- generated dart. "We didn't actually dislodge his cornea or anything," Grabiak said reassuringly.
This episode, titled "Karma Chameleon," is scheduled to air March 19. It's Grabiak's first time directing an episode of "Wonderfalls," which was created by Bryan Fuller ("Dead Like Me") and Kittanning native Todd Holland.
Holland is a multiple Emmy-winning television director best known for setting the visual tone for Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle."
Grabiak is a comparative newcomer. She's been directing episodes of prime-time TV dramas only since February 2000. But it's something she's wanted to do since her days growing up in Pittsburgh.
TV directors come and go
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