Practice

Today so far has been all about figuring it all out. What can be done? When can it be done? And how can it be done?

Doing a number of camera tests today. Trying out different filters in post. Also writing out the initial score. Yes this is for Creep, but sadly my brain is set on high, so I'm also contemplating another feature idea. Once again I'm walking that actor/director line. I think Creep will be great, but it does require me to play the lead, which I know I can do. But this new project that I am contemplating keeps me behind the camera, which is where I kind of want to stay just to make sure all goes smoothly.

Especially looking at the camera tests so far and working through this footage. This is going to require some real tender, love, and care. All my projects do (well most of em), but if I'm really trying to create something in the cinematical aces, then I really have to put extra care into the behind the scenes work.

Thankfully the internet provides some help with that. There are a slew of folks who've already done the work for you. Do a search on Vimeo or even Youtube for whatever camera you plan on testing, and chances are you'll find someone has already tested it for you. Light tests and all.

At some point today I will breaking to make a meatloaf. Then I will watch LOST. Then I will return to tests, scoring, and then re-writes. If you've been a previous cast member in anyone of my projects in the last few years, you may very well get a random message from me today or tomorrow.

Someday, it won't snow, so I can shoot outside. Someday .

My Indy Mogul episode is still getting me some great feeback. The episode itself is actually a recut of a video tutorial I did back in 2008. Since then a few folks have felt inspired to work on their own DIY Necronomicons, many of them blow mine out of the water. And that's what it's all about isn't it? To post your tutorial in the hopes that someone out there will be inspired and improve upon your techniques. Because of what I've seen in these vids, I'm going to revisit my prop and improve on mine.

Feel free to visit these videos, rate them high, and subscribe to these folks.

From SkullProduction97




From x0fx3




From ddexpress



Seriously great work guys!

Necronomicon: Book Of The Dead. The DIY Version.

I can comfortably say that I've gotten at least one thing done on my list. I made my very own Necronomicon. Or to be exact, Necronomicon Ex Mortis. The horror geek in me has to specify that if I say Necronomicon then I'm refrencing H.P. Lovecraft's Necronomicon. When I'm actually leaning more towards the Book Of The Dead featured in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Trilogy.

Legend has it that it was written by the Dark Ones. Necronomicon ex
Mortis, roughly translated, "Book of the Dead". The book served as a passageway to the evil worlds beyond. It was written long ago. When the seas ran red with blood. It was this blood that was used to ink the book. In the year 1300 AD, the book disappeared.

For the current Monster Cops Episode I wanted to refrence Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn, seeing as how I love the Evil Dead movies and this particular episode is titled Monster Cops: Dead By Dawn. The plot itself doesn't actually have much to do with the Evil Dead mythos, but I wanted to make a nod to it. The Monster Cops breach a very evil vampire lair and I wanted them to come across some evil objects. So why not have one of those objects be a Necronomicon? Plus I though it would be fun to build one.

The Necronomicon has actually changed appearance throughout each Evil Dead film. Here's what some of them look liked.

The Necronomicon Ex Mortis from the very first low budget film Evil Dead. This lower budget version looks pretty creepy to me, but I was always much fonder of the look they used in the sequel.


Here's a frame from Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn.


A closer look at the version from Evil Dead 2. The budget obviously went up on the prop making. I do love this look quite a bit and is the look I was leaning towards when creating my own.


And this is the version in Army Of Darkness (Evil Dead 3). The prop making budget went all the way up this time around thanks to Universal Studios. Still holding to eerieness but looked alot more subtle with much better quality.


The limited edition DVD's of Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 came in really cool looking Necronomicon covers. But even they somewhat differ from any of the above designs of the book.



And here's the first pic of mine.

Wasn't going for exactness, but I wanted to stay with the same feel as the Evil Dead trilogy. I wanted the eyes on mine to be much angrier. This didn't actually cost me much to make since I had all the materials already. The base of it is a cardboard box duct taped together to form the actual cover and spine. The wrinkles in the skin were made from masking tape and duct tape. The eyes, nose, and mouth were formed with long rolled up pieces of duct tape then sealed down with masking tape. Then I painted it with acrylic, using black for the inside of the eyes and mouth, and the rest painted with brown mixed in with some cadium red.

Right now I'm sealing the whole thing down with Mod Podge sealer to give it some strength and so the paint won't run, just in case it ever gets wet (have you ever been on one of our sets?) I'm going to finish the back, and then fill the middle in with actual pages of monster drawings and images just as soon as Mr. Brandon White finishes them.

I'll post a video tutorial as soon as it's finished. This will actually only make an appearance in the current episode for about 10 seconds, but I think it will lend alot to the feel of this episode.