How do I rent a live monkey for a video shoot?

[Steve Brame]

You sir, have won the Internet for the day.

Asus P6X58D Premium * Core i7 950 * 24GB RAM * nVidia GeForce GTX 770 * Windows 7 Premium 64bit * System Drive – WD Caviar Black 500GB * 2nd Drive(Pagefile, Previews) – WD Velociraptor 10K drive 600GB * Media Drive – 2TB RAID0 (4 – WD Caviar Black 500GB drive) * Matrox MX02 Mini * Adobe CC * QuickTime 7.7.5
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“98% of all computer issues can be solved by simply pressing ‘F1’.”
Steve Brame
creative illusions Productions

[Mark Suszko]

What species?

And have you checked for sources here?

https://www.filmwisconsin.net/

[Stephen Pickering]

[Steve Brame] “You sir, have won the Internet for the day.”

lol, as long as it comes with a prize. Or at least a printable certificate to hang on my wall.

I mentioned this project to a friend of mine, saying “I’ve got a project that’s going to be crazy. I’m going to have to rent a bunch of monkeys…” they had a good laugh- then they realized I was serious. They thought I was referring to the production crew as monkeys.

[Nick Griffin]

WOW, are you entering a world of complication and hassle, or what?? We have a client who wanted one monkey for their trade show booth and the hoops we were given to jump through were unreal. INCLUDING… having a specified “relief area” for the monkey. Oh, and we had to fly in the monkey and his trainer from Florida and pay for meals and lodging for both.

I’ve asked my partner who was handling this to chime in here and let you know just how much of a hole you are digging for yourself.

Best advice: go to where a trained monkey is, rent a green screen studio that will enable you to take one monkey and clone him in different positions and places and be prepared for this to be one of the most expensive shoots you’ve EVER contemplated. Or… get a new idea.

[Stephen Pickering]

Thanks Mark. No, I had completely forgotten about the WI film organization. I’ll give them a call.

As far as species, a Macaque or a Chimpanzee (I know, not a “monkey”) are two that I like. But I totally get that I’m looking for the impossible being where I’m located. I know I can’t be picky but just thought it would be worth seeing if there were other venues I should check out.

The one in Chicago DOES work, so that’s probably what we’ll go with. But I’ll still give a call to filmwisconsin.

Thanks Mark!
-Stephen

[Steve Brame]

This is shaping up to be one of the greatest threads on the COW ever!

Asus P6X58D Premium * Core i7 950 * 24GB RAM * nVidia GeForce GTX 770 * Windows 7 Premium 64bit * System Drive – WD Caviar Black 500GB * 2nd Drive(Pagefile, Previews) – WD Velociraptor 10K drive 600GB * Media Drive – 2TB RAID0 (4 – WD Caviar Black 500GB drive) * Matrox MX02 Mini * Adobe CC * QuickTime 7.7.5
——————————————-
“98% of all computer issues can be solved by simply pressing ‘F1’.”
Steve Brame
creative illusions Productions

[Stephen Pickering]

[Nick Griffin] “WOW, are you entering a world of complication and hassle, or what?? We have a client who wanted one monkey for their trade show booth and the hoops we were given to jump through were unreal. INCLUDING… having a specified “relief area” for the monkey. Oh, and we had to fly in the monkey and his trainer from Florida and pay for meals and lodging for both.

I’ve asked my partner who was handling this to chime in here and let you know just how much of a hole you are digging for yourself.

Best advice: go to where a trained monkey is, rent a green screen studio that will enable you to take one monkey and clone him in different positions and places and be prepared for this to be one of the most expensive shoots you’ve EVER contemplated. Or… get a new idea.”

No… This is not what I want to hear. I would prefer if you say things like, “this will be the most fun you’ve ever had!” or “It’ll be a piece of cake!” You know, lie to me!

But seriously, thank you for NOT lying! I’m slowly realizing this project is pretty complicated… There is a monkey within a few hours of us, so that’s one plus. We probably WILL be doing your exact suggestion of using only a single money with a greenscreen. We have NOT discussed details yet (like the “relief area!”) so… we’ll see just how far this rabbit hole goes. We are not contractually committed yet and are just figuring out what realistic costs will be at this point, though we are trying hard to make it a reality.

I would LOVE to hear thoughts from your partner though, and if I can legitimately be talked out of this project, my heart will be broken but if it saves me my sanity… well, it might be worth it 🙂 On the other hand if it’s a matter of just being sure I’m doubling my cost estimates, I’m ok going to the client with that as well.

Thank you all, I really appreciate your real world advice!

-Stephen

[Mark Suszko]

Assuming a CGI version or a guy in a suit is out of the question?

[Nick Griffin]

Stephen-
One thing you may be missing here is the fact that you don’t need ANY monkey, you need a TRAINED monkey with a trainer. You may think that all you want the monkey to do is pick up a phone or punch away at a keyboard (if I’m following your concept), but without a controlled situation you could wait DAYS for those simple things to happen. You also want an animal that’s trained to stay put.

Think of it like the difference between using friends and other amateurs versus professional actors. Sure actors cost more but, in the long run, they end up costing much less because they know how to do things and take direction.

[Mark Suszko]

There are prop animal heads, feet, paws, hands, etc. available to rent, often used for cut-aways to tight action like working controls, so you might just need the live animal to be able to sit still, then cut away to the prop limb doing… whatever. I remember seeing a special rig that was a golden retriever’s nose, with camera rail connectors, meant to stick on in front of your lens to get a “dog’s eye view”, for spots like “Bacon-flavored Beggin’ Strips”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QyzYsd1R9E

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