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Trixy Treats Blog 2023
🕑 Added 2023-11-04 02:55:46 +0000 UTCHey guys! Thank you for your patience and understanding, as I did all that I could to try and recover from being sick. I am so excited to share everything about this project. Let’s get into it!
This season we reached out to many different locations for this shoot, and landed on one that we actually discovered last minute. This location was one that I knew I wanted to shoot at as soon as I saw photos of the doll room. Moments after discovering this place online, Brendan and I reached out and asked if we could possibly rent the property for a morning/afternoon. The staff was very inviting and kind, and were able to squeeze us in just two days after we called to schedule. The location we landed on was the Randolph County Asylum located in Indiana.
This was a location I had yet to hear about before discovering it just days before our shoot. I will say, the pictures we saw online did not do this place justice. It was truly unique and gorgeous.
With just two days to prepare to leave for this shoot, I frantically gathered everything I needed to transform into Trixy. On the morning of 10/11, we began our journey to Indiana. With a few delays on the way, we arrived just in time to get unpacked and set up for me to begin my transformation at midnight. As some of you know, sleep is almost never on my side for these projects. We typically travel to the location, and upon arriving, I take a quick nap (if I’m lucky) and begin hair and makeup over the following 4-6 hours.
Being that I laid down for my nap just two hours before my shoot, I couldn’t get myself to fall asleep. However, it was nice to be able to lay down in bed instead of a moving vehicle for a bit. Before I knew it, I was receiving my wakeup call from the hotel and my alarm was going off. Time to hop in the shower. Before getting in, I carefully moved my costume that I had bathed in Vivishine just hours before.
Once I was showered, I made myself a cup of hotel coffee and got to work on my makeup! For a quick side bar, I have been wanting to begin vlogging and creating Reels/TikTok’s. These shoots are always chaotic and I had yet to make the time for it, but something struck me this go around and I decided to experiment with it. I took several short videos documenting my day, and will have those compiled for Bad Witch tier members next week. Being that this was a trial run, it’s not the fanciest of work, but I had to know how much time it would add to an already long couple of days of creating on little to no sleep.
To my surprise, it was quite enjoyable. While Brendan was asleep in the other room, I was taking little videos of myself (clearly sleep deprived) and trying to stay quiet in order to not wake anyone. I really enjoyed it and would love to give it a better effort the next time I’m shooting, especially for a character project.
Back to the transformation process. After completing my eye makeup, it was time to put my hair into pigtails and create the large orange and black Trixy hair. While this process is incredibly tedious, the outcome is rewarding and provides me with giant clown hair that holds its shape for the 12 hours I need it to last.
Once my hair was done, I wrapped up my makeup and it was time to wake up Brendan. While he gathered the luggage, I squeezed into my costume and pressed on my nails. During the time of me waiting for him to come get me and walk me through the hotel to the car, I got a bit sleepy, so I began dancing around the hotel room to try and stay awake. It worked for the time I needed it to, and if anything, the cold Indiana morning woke me right up.
On our drive to the location, I sipped on my Monster (as per usual) and enjoyed the view. When we arrived, we were greeted by the lovely Kate. She handed over the keys of the property and gave Brendan a quick tour. Usually, regardless of weather, I get out of the car and introduce myself. However, I was struggling this morning and had to stay inside. The lack of sleep was really catching up to me, and I was trying to keep my shit together.
After we parted ways with Kate, we took ourselves on a pretty lengthy tour of the property, starting with the living area which was quite nice! There was a fully working kitchen, living room, bathroom, and power running throughout the entire property, which is something we almost never have access to. We usually bring a generator to help us out, so such an insanely nice perk and pleasant surprise!
After checking out the lounging area, we headed toward the hallway where we began our shoot. Here is where we captured the photos ‘Apparition’, ‘Samhain’, & ’31’. There were so many different rooms to look at, but the one I wanted to see most was the room with the dolls. When I was little, I was actually quite terrified of dolls, and was gifted one that was about my size when I was 7. I would have reoccurring nightmares that this doll would chase me down the hallway of my childhood home. Being tired of the nightmares, I eventually decided to pull her arms and legs off and throw her in my closet, that way she couldn’t chase me in my nightmares anymore. It made sense to me at the time.
After a few moments into our tour, we came to the doll room, and let me tell you, it is just as creepy in person as it is in pictures. For this shoot, I brought a couple of my own (clown) dolls to use as props. I didn’t feel comfortable touching the ones that were there. I guess I haven’t fully recovered from my childhood fear. After we spotted the key rooms I wanted to utilize that day, we headed to the basement for a look around. I will say, the basement didn’t do it for me. Though I later learned about how incredibly haunted it is, I felt no pull towards this area and we didn’t end up going back down for photos at any point. After the basement tour, we went all the way upstairs to the attic (oh boy).
Now, this place is messed up. There was a point just moments after arriving to the attic where I felt this sudden urge to get the fuck out and leave (the moment I felt that, Aurora yelled out “I want to leave, NOW”). It didn’t take any convincing me and we were gone. As previously stated, this location is said to be haunted. Before visiting a location, I like to hold off on doing too much research. The reason being is that, if I experience something, I don’t want to influenced by a story I heard before entering the location, right? I want whatever I may experience to be something I realize on my own.
After doing our tour, it was time to set up the lighting equipment for the first three shots. This lighting was quite a pain in the ass, let me tell you. While there was lighting running throughout the building and lights going up and down the hallway, trying to distribute even lighting throughout the hallway without having me look completely blown out was a challenge. After many attempts and experiments, we began shooting! I took off my sweats and was ready to get into Trixy mode.
While standing in the hallway, I really wanted to recreate the iconic scene from The Shining of the Grady Twins standing in the hallway of the Overlook Hotel. Something about this location was giving that vibe to me, and while I have referenced the film in my work previously, it had been many years since.
The photo titled ‘Apparition’ is where this look comes into play. How we shot this photo was by using a tripod to stabilize the camera, while I played around with different poses while holding the bucket. As many of you I’m sure know, the twins, unlike Trixy, aren’t the most expressive and sort of have this deadpan look on their faces. I believe this makes them a bit scarier to the audience because they appear to be less predictable.
After spending quite a bit of time on this shot, I got the two photos that we would eventually merge together, and we moved onto the next photo titled ‘Samhain’. We nailed this shot on the first take, and though we took many more “just in case”, the first shot is what we went with. After ‘Samhain’, it was time for ’31’. Have you ever spent a decent amount of time sitting on spikes? Not exactly high on my list of recommendations, but hey, anything to get the shot, right?
Once we completed our shots for the hallway, it was time to move onto the reason we came: the doll room. This room was quite small, so shooting in here was a bit tricky as far as lighting is concerned. For the shot titled ‘Necromancy’, Brendan was standing in the doorway of the room where he had the lighting set up. I really wanted the feeling that someone smaller was looking at me, which is why I had him shoot this from beneath me. I wanted to recreate the fear from my childhood. The fear that dolls were in fact living and I was powerless to them.
For the shot titled ‘Clairvoyant’, I had some assistance from one of my clown buddies that I purchased at an antique shop earlier this year. The lighting was squeezed into the room just a couple of feet across from me, as Brendan tried his best to fit and get the shot as well.
After we got this shot, we had already been at the location for about 4 hours, so it was time to move on. Truly, we could have spent days here, but our time was limited and we needed to keep going. The next room I chose was one that you will see in the near future. This is another photo where two images of me are merged together as one. I will save the story about it for another time, and give you something to look forward to. This is a photo I wanted as a print, but after looking through all of my choices, it didn’t make the cut. I still love it and think you will too!
After completing this shot, which was not fun for me, we moved on to a room that was a few doors down the hall. To be clear, these photos were taken in a separate hallway. This place is sort of like a maze. Everything looks pretty similar, and it’s easy to get turned around and confused on the first floor.
After our last photo, it was time pack up! I could not wait to take out my contacts, as something had been in my eye for the entirety of wearing them that day. Once we got packed up, it was time to film our location tour, which will be available for Bad Witch tier members soon.
Overall, this shoot was more than what I was hoping for. An incredibly kind and open staff, a haunted location that gave me exactly was I was looking for, and a memorable experience. Shoutout to the spirits for not messing with Brendan and I that day. It was a relatively smooth and truly enjoyable time. Removing the costume, hair, and makeup, felt like a dream.
Once I changed, it was time to begin our journey back home while I brushed my Trixy hair out for what felt like an eternity. When we returned home after our travels, we unpacked and ordered sushi for dinner. The following day, I went through the photos for hours and carefully selected what I thought would be the best collection to represent this project.
We have been tirelessly working together to get this project out to you guys and are so excited it’s finally here! We hope you love everything, and as always, thank you so much for your support.
Much love!
Angelica
Comments
Keith Schwerin
So amazed you keep finding such great places. I also totally hear that fear of dolls. Not sure why but the older they are the more creepy they are to me.
