Flesh and Bone (1993)

In the opening sequence a dog is seen lying on the porch of the farmhouse. The dog reacts to a sound in the night by barking, then growling. The dog then growls at a stranger, a young boy, who appears at the farmhouse. This scene was shot in cuts and the dog was responding to his trainer’s verbal cues with food rewards. Chickens appear in numerous scenes with Arlis who uses them for one of the games he distributes called Tic Tack Toe. The game is referred to in dialogue but never demonstrated on screen. Three different chickens appear in one scene, each dyed a different color. Non toxic vegetable dye was used to color the chickens’ feathers. As Arlis grooms one of the chickens in his motel room, he holds up a blow dryer to the bird. The chicken used in this scene was dry and his feathers were only fluffed with the blow dryer on a cool temperature setting. The chicken had been properly prepped and was familiar with the dryer. The chicken actually enjoyed the grooming and attention. The chickens are also seen at various times in cages in the back of Arlis’ pick up truck and in cages in his motel room. Kay responds to a horse in a field by petting it and finds he has scars on his neck. The scars were not real but applied by a makeup artist using non-toxic makeup. Kay and Arlis then ride two horses through a field. In another brief scene involving horses, the horses are grazing in a field when a gunshot is heard and the horses run in reaction to the sound. This scene was shot in cuts. The horses were not reacting to the sound of gunfire which was dubbed in, but were responding to verbal cues by the trainer.