On Set in the Embalming Room
I had an interesting evening. We filmed the second set of scenes for Joe’s movie (gallery of shots taken during the first set last year) at an area funeral home. After dinner at Arby’s (skip the “southwest” wrap) we took a tour of the ’set.’ Our host led us through several of the rooms and such - no tabletop was without a box of Kleenex (I’m not joking) - and then to the embalming room. Well, not so fast. Our host walked in and turned on the lights. The four of us who were new at this all stood a safe 10 feet from the doorway for an awkward several seconds before breaking down. I set down my shake outside and went in.
If you don’t want to see a photograph of what it looked like, the post ends here. Otherwise…
The embalming room has a distinctive smell. Four-mal-dee-hyde. As you can see the room has two ‘tables,’ one of the old school variety, presumably metal with a white finish (shown with a sheet on it), the other more modern, cold shiny steel. They’re slightly inclined, with tubes running the output into toilets. Cost effective, I presume. At the foot of each one, on the countertop, was an embalming machine, nice pink hose wrapped up around the tank. Electrical plugs hang from the ceilings - I didn’t inquire as to their use. As creepy and smelly as it was, it was impeccably clean. That would make our future task much easier.
Then it was through the rear doors of the room, which turned out to be the coffin showroom. We wandered through a maze of display walls with all sorts of coffins propped half open. I felt like I was in an expose on 20/20. Thus concluded the tour; it was time to get to work. After shooting a scene outside, we returned to the formaldehyde chamber.
I think I was half expecting to see a few lockers like you see in the morgue on TV. If they had places for long term storage of bodies, it wasn’t on the tour. Just as well. I think I was happier assuming there were no corpses on the premises.
The scene called for Joe’s character to be undergoing drastic plastic surgery, and this was our location scout’s answer to an operating room. I suppose it’s ominous enough; Glenn’s character is presumably fairly freewheeling. Maybe he likes to perform reconstructive surgery in embalming rooms.
Joe laid down on the embalming table, covered with a sheet. There are certain times when you don’t envy a person, and this was one of those times. “You’re all gonna lie down on this table!” he assured us, although I think by the time we were done with the shots he was so happy to get off of it that his promise was forgotten. Just as well. We turned off the fluorescent lights and brought up the dimmer-controlled incandescents (dimmers are a very big thing in this facility). At the time I thought it really strange that they would have incandescent cans - with a dimmer - in the embalming room (mood lighting?), but now it makes more sense. If you’re putting makeup on someone, you want the light to match the light of the viewing room.
We did three shots (some of which involved turning out the lights) and everybody made it out unscathed. We then moved into the more conventional areas of the funeral home, finally leaving at about 2:30am. As weird as much of it was, it was good for me. I’m fortunate to not be able to remember the last time I was in a funeral home for the purposes of mourning, and so pushing Drew around in a 20-year-old wheelchair to simulate dolly shots through the halls dissolved a lot of the feelings of uncertainty I had about the place.
Yes, it was good to get more comfortable with death. Playing set designer and rearranging the furniture in his sad Kleenex-be-spotted rooms to resemble a character’s office was quite enough, though; no need to nap on the embalming table, thank you very much.
February 27th, 2005 at 9:03 pm
““You’re all gonna lie down on this table!” he assured us”
Well, not that particular table and hopefully not so soon, but Joe is correct.
Bet you didn’t think about it that way.
Its difficult, but getting comfortable with death is not at all a bad thing. If you were still taking classes, I’d recommend “Dealing with Death and Dying” if its offered. You’d be surprised how thought provoking and interesting it is.
And hey, I know what the plugs in the ceiling are for if you’re really interested. :)
February 28th, 2005 at 1:34 pm
Oooh! I wanna know!
February 28th, 2005 at 3:05 pm
Sometimes people request that an autopsy be done by a private pathologist in a funeral home instead of being done by the county coroner, so a lot more than just the normal embalming can happen at a funeral home. I’m not sure that all funeral homes are designed this way, though, and Adam’s might have not been equipped for this if all he saw was the embalming pump.
During a complete autopsy, all organs and removed, examined, and weighed. If Adam saw a large pan-scale in the room, then it is likely the place was setup for full autopsies and the tools were simply stored away or in cleaning. Anyways, in order to get at the organs, various instruments are used, some of them requiring power. Most notably, removing the top of the skull requires a saw that has a vacuum built in to prevent blood and bone fragments from getting everywhere and since the work is more like that of workshop than a doctor’s office, the plugs simply hang from the ceiling for ease of movement around the table. Opening of the chest cavity might also be done using what looks like a large set of bolt cutters, but it can also be done with a set of powered cutters if the pathologist is lazy.
The treatment of a body is much less gentle than one would hope, but I’m certain the dead person probably doesn’t care much, anymore.
Highly suggested reading: “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” by Mary Roach
February 28th, 2005 at 3:36 pm
They also use that saw to cut open the breastbone…. I saw it on TV on a real autopsy show and have been scarred deeply ever since! THANK YOU HBO!
February 28th, 2005 at 6:43 pm
Wow…thanks!
March 19th, 2005 at 10:08 pm
I work in a funeral home as a funeral assistant climbing the ranks to become and embalmer, you only know what REALLY happens behind those closed doors when you are the one behind them.
October 31st, 2005 at 6:28 am
Some of my finest hrs were spent in a Prep room,knee-deep in blood.One of the best cases I ever had was a suicide-shotgun blast to the head.I had to totally re-build the head from the upper lip to the top of the skull.It was so good, that under the scene lights,you could not tell the difference…I only had 2 snapshots to work from……
Happy Halloween.
December 16th, 2005 at 5:47 pm
fuckin weirdos…….
May 9th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
wow thats actually really cool
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:26 pm
I have worked in funeral biz for a very long time, I have also seen many differant imbalming rooms. Thay can be kinda spooky, But what you have to remember is that imbalming rooms are important. And yes, Your friend was right, You all will one day lay on some funeral homes imbalming table to be imbalmed. Death is a key part of life, But as we all know, Everything that lives, Will someday die, Death is something people dont like talking or thinking about but it is a force to be recond with because it IS going to happen to ALL of us.`
April 7th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Jason, are you lying to us….you said that you’ve worked in the funeral business for many years, but don’t know how to spell embalming?
Are you sure you aren’t fibbing?
April 19th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
I find embalming rooms funeral homes and hearses very interesting
June 1st, 2007 at 3:44 am
I need to replace my embalming machine, sooner.
Plaese advise.
KKouame
University of Western Cape-South Africa
Faculty of sciences
Anatomy
August 6th, 2007 at 5:18 am
After seeing the pics i just wonder what goes into those toilets under the tables,,,, Alot is on the net about embalming but i don,t think they are telling every detail on what they really do to a corpse.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
i have been a lic embalming since 1975. this has been a great means for a imcome. preparing a dead human for burial is just waht it is. nothing crazy or ugly. the general public is so sick, they it to seem as if is a unsightly or real bad. its just what it is a job and nothing else. and a very mature job. look at jim ditton says, “embalming rooms hearses and funeral homes are very interesting, thats part of the sick public with which we deal with a caregivers
July 1st, 2008 at 2:06 am
The mortuary proffession is a career I wanted to be in since I was 6 years old and I’m 17 now.Even when I had a fear of the dead I still wanted to be a mortician, I want to be a mortician to this very day and if everything goes according to plan I will be attending Jacksonville Institute of Mortuary science in May.(Jacksonville,FL) I will be recieving my degree in mortuary science, and my funeral director and embalming liscense.