I have a movie out on DVD!!! Dead Souls!!

I feel so legit! I actually have a movie I worked on out on DVD and Bluray! What?!!! So cool! I'm totally buying a bunch of copies and giving them out to family at Christmas! I wonder how their Catholic values will go with the crucifixion scene... Meh whatever, that's what the fast-forward function was designed for. Right?

Want to check it out? http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Souls-Blu-ray-Bill-Moseley/dp/B00BNAE48U/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1371169757&sr=8-3&keywords=dead+souls

And for even more Dead Souls action check out our film-friendly favorites here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2188717/

and

http://www.chillertv.com/movies/deadsouls

Star Wars film slating

In honor of our premiere for "The Word" tomorrow night here is one of my favorite nerdy film making moments.

The day our AC decided to slate all 26 takes with Star Wars references :-)

It was a heavy scene, a long day, and totally inappropriate for the mood... but one of my favorite filming memories so far. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RstLq7XoDEU#!

"The Word" Premiering this Friday!!

Last year I worked on a feature called "The Word." It was such a good experience. An amazing crew with a tiny art team that never slept. This crew barreled through some impressive days. Our record was a solid 15 pages of dialogue filmed in a single day. Props to the talent on that one. And now our little indie is peeking it's head out into the world. And for the first time in a while I'm actually going to see the premiere! Yep, way too excited about getting dolled up for a long train ride to the city so I can see how everything came together and reminisce over the battle wounds.

And, I'm proud to say, our little Indie will be the OPENING NIGHT FEATURE at the Manhattan Film Festival.

http://www.manhattanfilmfestival.org/Index.htm .  

If you happen to want to join it's premiering this Friday! 
June 21, 2013 at 9:15 PM at Quad Cinema. 

http://www.quadcinema.com/

Should be fun :-) I can't wait to see it all come together!

For Ticketing:

http://www.screenbooker.com/film_pages/view/66

http://www.screenbooker.com/view-events/403

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Indie-film-The-Word-shot-in-Bridgeport-area-3448903.php#photo-2741654

This picture was taken during the windiest day ever. Which also happened to be our exterior funeral day. Chris (the art director) and I had to mounting tape and tie down every single plant so they wouldn't go flying off into the wilderness of Bridgeport.

And, if your looking for a little more literature, check out the article that CT post did while we were filming: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Indie-film-The-Word-shot-in-Bridgeport-area-3448903.php

Torches, my how-to research for your viewing pleasure

I've actually done torches before (see "The Word" trailer), it was exhilerating! Well, afterwards, during it was seriously terrifying lighting a whole scene on a windy hill top with 2 small fire extinguishers and some buckets of sand and water to prevent any spread of flamey death. So this time around, I'm doing my safety research and figuring out the best ways to build torches that won't drip jets of flame down their sides.

Also, minimum, 5 full size extinguishers on set at all times. Just in case... Enough worrying. Let's talk fire!

This was the best how-to I found while hunting around the interwebs:
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-torch-for-less-than-a-dollar-%3A-/

I've taken some of my research finds and mashed 'em together into this tutorial:

Step 1: Gather your materials.

1. tiki fluid, or if you want to go full medieval, pig or beef fat
2. 100% cotton cloth- because things made of of plastic not only drip and stay in a burning blob on whatever it drips on, but also release all of those delectable chemicals into your eagerly waiting lungs.
3. hammer
4. staple gun
5. staples
6. chicken wire or baling wire
7. a sturdy stick or stick substitute
8. something to soak the torch end in, half a can, a metal pail, etc.

http://www.instructables.com

Step 2: take that stick and staple fabric onto it.
Step 3: wrap the fabric around tightly and staple it again on the ending edge to secure it.

http://www.instructables.com

Step 4: To keep chunks of burning from falling off the torch, wrap baling wire or chicken wire around the cloth.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Torches

Step 5: Soak the fabric in tiki fluid
Step 6: let the extra accelerant drip off.
Step 7: Light it up!

"The Word" feature film 2013

Other thoughts for safe(er) torches are:

• Buy the fire breather type torches and texture them to look like a stick.
• Or, buy the fire-breather wicks and then take a small section of a metal rod and hide it in the top of whatever prop styled solution I want. 2x4, stick, goat leg, etc. Then I can light and replace the wicks a lot easier.

http://www.firemecca.com

As for the safety aspect- can I just have a firefighter hang out on set? That'd be awesome.

And another one bites the dust

Another project is now wrapping up, principal shooting is done and tomorrow is all about returns and reimbursements. This last project, which I can actually talk about, was a short directed and produced by a local filmmaker named Gary Fierro. It was so much fun to be a part of this project. The whole Fierro family banded together to help make this story come to life on screen. And it wasn't an easy project either. Epic running shots down moonlit streets, three company moves in a day that covered a funeral, a school, and a kitchen, and some seriously challenging weather. The worst was how hot it was during our day of exteriors. Despite drinking as much water as humanly possible we all left the day pretty dehydrated and cranky. I certainly enjoyed my day off sleeping in, and enjoying my cool apartment air and some well earned laziness. Granted I did spend a few hours today beginning the break-down for my next feature.... Does it count as work if you don't leave your bed?