Editing Forbidden Zone (section)

==Production==
===Development===
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo were formed in late 1972 by Richard Elfman, as a musical theatre troupe.<ref name="DVD documentary"/> As Richard's interest shifted to filmmaking, he passed leadership of the band to younger brother Danny Elfman. Danny, who had begun to lose interest in musical theatre, had gained interest in other musical styles such as [[ska]], and had become "sick of lugging around so much stuff with the theatre troupe. Towards the end", he remembers, "it was a big production... there was, like a [[Semi-trailer truck|semi]] full of stuff. And that was becoming burdensome. So, for me, the idea of being a band that can fit all their gear into a van and set up in a club, and an hour later be playing, became a goal."<ref name="DVD documentary"/> Production began during a transitional period when the group was moving from its cabaret style towards a more pop/rock format; by the time the film was completed, the band had shortened its name to Oingo Boingo.<ref name="DVD documentary"/>

The film was originally conceived as ''The Hercules Family'', a [[16 mm film|16mm]] musical that consisted of twelve musical numbers and a story loosely constructed around them. But as the project grew to [[35mm movie film|35mm]] and the storyline evolved, Richard Elfman found himself re-shooting many of the original scenes to fit the new film.<ref name="Commentary">{{cite video |people=Elfman, Richard and Bright, Matthew |date=2004 |title=Forbidden Zone |type=Audio commentary DVD |publisher=Fantoma |id=UPC 695026704423}}</ref> Two sequences from the original 16mm footage were featured on the 2004 DVD release: one of Danny Elfman, as Satan, performing "[[Minnie the Moocher]]" (later reshot with visual elements borrowed from the original 16mm sequence and alternate lyrics), and another of Marie-Pascale Elfman, singing "Johnny". The sequence with Elfman as Satan, and members of the Oingo Boingo as his minions, came from live shows, in which the band would perform [[Cab Calloway]] tunes like "[[St. James Infirmary Blues]]" in the same costumes.<ref name="DVD documentary"/>

Marie-Pascale Elfman, at the time of shooting, was married to director Richard Elfman. She designed the film's [[Expressionism|expressionistic]] sets and starred in the film. Actor and former Mystic Knight [[Gene Cunningham]] helped fund the film. When Cunningham and Elfman ran out of money during production, Richard and Marie-Pascale Elfman helped finance by selling houses, before Carl Borack put money into the production in order for Elfman to complete the film.<ref name="DVD documentary"/> According to Elfman, he had originally intended the film to be screened in color, stating that the original plan was to ship the film to China, where each frame would be [[Hand-colouring|hand-tinted]], but that this plan was not practical within the production costs.<ref>{{cite video |people=Elfman, Richard |date=2008 |title=Forbidden Zone |type=Introduction DVD |publisher=[[Legend Films]] |isbn=978-1-60673-069-0 }}</ref> Elfman ultimately went bankrupt during the production of ''Forbidden Zone'' and had to assign the rights away in order to finish the film; in 2015, Elfman regained the full rights to ''Forbidden Zone''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://filmcourage.com/2019/01/23/richard-elfman-on-losing-his-house-forbidden-zone-being-tenacious-and-seizing-opportunities/ |title=Richard Elfman on Losing His House, FORBIDDEN ZONE, Being Tenacious and Seizing Opportunities |publisher=Film Courage |date=January 23, 2019}}</ref>

===Casting===
Actor [[Hervé Villechaize]] was a former roommate of co-writer and co-star [[Matthew Bright]];<ref name="Rense"/><ref name="Commentary"/> Villechaize had previously dated co-star [[Susan Tyrrell]].<ref name="Digiovanna"/> The Elfmans' grandfather, Herman Bernstein, also appeared in the film, and Richard Elfman's accountant appeared under the name "Hyman Diamond" because Elfman had no idea whether or not he wanted to be credited.<ref name="Commentary"/> Others who worked on the film include [[The Kipper Kids]] ([[Brian Routh]] and Martin von Haselberg), [[Joe Spinell]], and former [[Warhol superstar]] [[Viva (Warhol superstar)|Viva]].

===Writing===
''Forbidden Zone'' featured Bright's first work on film, and his only work as an actor (under the name "Toshiro Baloney"). A founding member of the Mystic Knights, Bright later became a screenwriter and director in his own right. Bright's credits include ''[[Freeway (1996 film)|Freeway]]'', ''[[Ted Bundy (film)|Ted Bundy]]'', and ''[[Tiptoes]]''. Bright and director Richard Elfman's only dispute during the screenwriting process was over a scene in which his character, Squeezit, was originally to have been beaten up for eight minutes and having the walls wiped with his blood.<ref name="DVD documentary"/> Another scene cut from the script would have had Squeezit being castrated.<ref name="Commentary"/> According to Bright, "I didn't have any sense of limits or balance then, at the time, I... you know, I was just, didn't know what I was doing. I needed reining in."<ref name="DVD documentary"/> During filming, Bright was sitting on the set in costume when a lighting stand fell onto his head, cracking his skull, and he had to be rushed to the hospital. When Bright returned to work the next day, he had a mild [[concussion]] and [[Whiplash (medicine)|whiplash]], but he continued with filming.<ref name="Commentary"/>

===Directing===
Richard Elfman had never gone to film school when production started, and "I didn't know what I was getting into."<ref name="DVD documentary"/> The production, from its original 16mm roots to its finish, took three years. Cast and crew members would sleep on the film's stage, wearing spare gorilla suits to stay warm.<ref name="DVD documentary"/> Among the film's artistic influences included 1940s [[big band]] and [[jazz]] music and [[Max Fleischer]] cartoons of the 1930s (such as [[Betty Boop]]).<ref name="DVD documentary"/> Some of the film's cast was made up of non-professionals cast off the street. In one scene, Richard Elfman brought in a young man to mouth the words of "Bim Bam Boom", but when he was put in front of the camera, he stood there as the scene was shot. Elfman left the scene in the film by editing in Bright's lips over the actor's face.<ref name="Commentary"/> Another scene featured homeless men.<ref name="Commentary"/>

===Animation===
The film's animation was created by then-unknown animator John Muto. Because of the film's low budget, Muto created all of the film's animation sequences himself.<ref name="DVD documentary"/> Muto made frequent use of airbrush techniques to establish for himself a distinctive style.<ref name="DVD documentary"/> For sequences in which live-action and animation were [[Live-Action-Animation Combination|combined]], the actors were photographed in tight head-on and profile shots, and the photos were cut out and pasted into the animation in a style recalling [[Terry Gilliam]]'s work on ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]''.<ref name="DVD documentary"/> Muto also credits the [[Fleischer Studios|Fleischer Brothers]] as another inspiration.<ref name="DVD documentary"/>

===Music===
{{main|Forbidden Zone (soundtrack)}}
''Forbidden Zone'' was the first film scored by Danny Elfman, who would eventually score, among other films, ''[[Batman (1989 film)|Batman]]'', ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'', and ''[[Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film)|Charlie and the Chocolate Factory]]''. The song ''Witch's Egg'' was written by [[Georg Michalski]] and Tyrrell.<ref name="Commentary"/> In some scenes, characters [[Lip synchronization|lip synch]] to old records, including recordings by Cab Calloway, [[Josephine Baker]], and others.

The alphabet song performed in a classroom scene was inspired by the "[[Swinging the Alphabet]]" song from [[The Three Stooges]] short ''[[Violent Is the Word for Curly]]''.<ref name="Commentary"/>

For the "Yiddishe Charleston" scene, Richard Elfman had shot the sequence with him lip-syncing to an old recording of the song, but was later unable to acquire the rights to the recording, and had to record a new version of the song while attempting to sync the new recording with the footage.<ref name="Commentary"/>

The film's soundtrack has also become popular, and its theme song was eventually reused by Danny Elfman, who rearranged it as ''The Dilbert Zone'' for use as the theme for the television series ''[[Dilbert (TV series)|Dilbert]]''.