April 14, 2005
The world of burlesque receives the reality show treatment in "Forty Deuce," Bravo's latest adult-themed mini-series. Like burlesque itself, a dance where the emphasis is on tease rather than strip, the show manages to titillate without revealing too much. Named "Forty Deuce" after the club it features, the four episode show follows club promoter Ivan Kane and his wife and business partner, Champagne Suzy (once a burlesque dancer herself), as they oversee their Los Angeles venue and try to launch a spin-off club in Las Vegas.
Since its inception in 2002, Forty Deuce (the club, not the show) has become a hotspot for hip Angelenos as well as a celebrity magnet. The vibe is upscale and retro, recalling a bygone era of guys-and-dolls glamour where twice a night, each dancer performs an 8-minute set to the accompaniment of a live three-piece jazz combo. Barring wardrobe malfunctions, there is no nudity but each dancer eventually strips down to tiny panties and a flesh-colored bra. And there to capture every gyration is director Zalman King, known for the scorcher "Wild Orchid" as well as his softcore Showtime series, "Red Shoe Diaries."
The show originated when Kane approached King, who describes himself as "very interested in dance," with the basic idea and King pitched it to Bravo. The drama revolves around Kane's attempt to open a Vegas franchise of Forty Deuce but for King, the appeal ran deeper. "What really interested me beyond that were the girls who danced there," says King. "The central theme of the piece is what it's like to be young, beautiful, talented and working at a nightclub in Los Angeles."
Shot over a nine-month period that recently ended, the production on "Forty Deuce" was sporadic though well orchestrated. Sometimes King would shoot for an hour or two, sometimes for several days in a row. King, who not only direct but lit the show and mostly operated the camera himself, describes the production schedule like this. "When something came up, we would shoot. When a girl was having a crisis or something was happening, we would get a call and Ivan would say, 'You should really come today when the drama's going on.'" Kane is credited as one of the show's executive producers.
Most of the production was shot with an exceptionally small crew: King, his producer (Patrick Davenport), and occasionally another person. "We were very mobile and had very little equipment so we were able to go quickly whenever something was happening," says King.
For the bulk of production, King used one of two cameras, the Panasonic DVX100A for the verité footage and the Panasonic Varicam for the more stylized dancing footage so he could shoot in slow-motion. He often cranked the Varicam to 60 frames-per-second to capture the dance moves in slow-motion.
"We were able to create fantastic rhythm that way," says King. "I love that camera."
King worked with cinematographer Ethan Phillips for the high-end dancing segments but even then, the crew remained very small and King never used more than one or two lights — a Leico, a couple of PARs or a spotlight that King would blend with the stage lights already present at the club. There were never any dollies and only one day of Steadicam, which was used to stylize a specific dance sequence.
The shoot was relatively easy by King's standards because as he says, "We were so contained." The harder part was the editing. He worked with two editors, brothers David and Nick Golding, who cut on the Avid Xpress DV. They worked to structure each of the four one-hour episodes with its own beginning, middle and end while making sure it worked in the context of the entire series.
The first episode introduces the club, the main characters and the fact that Las Vegas might be a reality. In the second episode, Kane hires more dancers for his LA club and the focus shifts to the new dancers vs. the seasoned dancers. In the third episode, Kane travels to Las Vegas, Miami and New York looking for more dancers while the new club is being built. The fourth and final episode focuses on the opening of the new club in November 2004.
For the big dance sequence in the final episode, King changed his shooting style a bit. While the other dance sequences had been shot on the Varicam, he shot 90% of the finale on the DVX100A. "I just wanted a different look from the other dance sequences," says King. "I have such a passion for it. I love to shoot dance."
Describing the overall experience, King says, "I was blessed. Ivan and Suzy turned out to be wonderful performers and they were very comfortable in front of the camera since they had both been actors."
King also appreciated the freedom of a small, intimate reality show. "It was a pleasure for me to do it, especially after doing films and having the pressure of a big crew and making days. I can't say this was without anxiety but it was a different world and it allowed me to experiment, which I love to do."
These days, King is doing his first experiments with the Sony HDR-FX1 camcorder, making a low-budget film about country singer Dale Watson that mixes documentary and fiction. Though he started shooting on the DVX100A and only recently purchases the Sony HD Camcorder, he says he has had no trouble blending footage from the two cameras. "Even in the same scene I can use them with a bit of color correction," says King.
"Forty Deuce" (the show, not the club) debuted on Bravo April 7.
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