My 2011 Demo Reel (First Cut)

I plan to have much more to add to this in the next few months.

REDD Test Cut

First cut of some of the footage we've shot for REDD. Trying out some cuts, some color grading, and experimenting with the score. April Crum is our title character, our bad ass Red Riding Hood. Also features Richard Gaither, Amanda Elizabeth, and Ron Rice throws the knife. Nice shot Ron.



Canon T2i
Canon EFS 18-55mm Lens
Nikon 180mm Lens
Fotodiox Adapter
DIY Slider
Sony Vegas Pro 9
Pro Scores and Sony Acid

Much more footage to shoot. Finishing up April's stuff Monday. And as soon as we get the Werewolf finished we may have one more day with her. Still have the other leads and supporting cast to shoot, a Werewolf transformation, some Vampires, Zombies, and then some explosions to work out. This short should be done by December and will be about 8 minutes long. May do a 15 minute version for festivals, and I've worked out a script for a feature length version, if we somehow get the money for it.

The Redd Ghost

First official day of shooting on Redd with the star April Crum. Got behind schedule due to some issues with the sun going down entirely too fast, and me not being prepared for extra lighting while using new and more powerful lenses. But lessons learned, and we'll be back at it on Monday. I swear I'm so anxious to get these action shots of April in full costume. The photos below should show how bad ass she looks in full regalia.



If you're not aware, Redd is my short/mock trailer, about a post apocalyptic world and a village under attack by evil creatures and wild wolf beasts coming from the nearby dark forest. Our heroin appears to save the day and fight off the evil. My little spin on Little Red Riding Hood. A little more gothic, horror oriented, and definitely more action and adventure.

I'm hoping that this little 6 to 8 minute short/mock trailer will really display some cinematic power utilizing the Canon T2i and alot of our DIY Moviemaking resources.

Some of the props need touch up work, and I definitely need to repaint her giant gun at the end there. Oh yeah, and I should get the Werewolf costumes together shouldn't I.

I swear if I can get this done before December, that would be awesome.

Adapt, Improvise

Made a few moves to try to get back on track. Sort of made my own canvas, if you will.  Point is, my comp is still out for a few weeks, but I've found a way to edit on my wife's laptop. So, not a screeching halt, more of a slow burn, but at least I can move forward.

Good thing too, because I was anxious to test out the test shots from Tuesday.  Here's a few of those shots in a very short, quick edit. Using Sony Vegas, here's my run at the "Sin City" Effect.  The entire short won't be like this, but parts of it will. Amanda Elizabeth is standing in for April Crum. April will be down next Wednesday for her shots.

Leftovers

I've used the Canon T2i for a couple of commercials. The leftover footage has been a great opportunity to really try out HD quality in editing. Here are 3 videos featuring most of the footage that I did and did not use for the last few ads I shot. All shot on the Rebel in 720 / 60p, Post, Slow-Mo, and color grading in Sony Vegas Pro 9.

Basement Namaste

Features Sterling Bollinger. Music by Bond.

A Workout In The Park

Features Amanda Elizabeth. Music by Thomas Newman from Scent Of A Woman.

Slow Motion Light and Fog

Features Richard Gaither. Music by Brian Tyler and Klaus Badelt from Constantine.

Amazing 1 and 2

Fila spots I shot on the Canon Rebel T2i. Normal Kit Lens. Natural light. Post and minor grading in Sony Vegas Pro 9.  First one features Amanda Elizabeth and the second one features Sterling Bollinger.

Waiting For The Cool

Here's a freeze frame from the footage we shot at Midway Wicked Woods for their ad. Yes I had a blast playing with light and fog. Been wanting to do those shots for a while now. Richard Gaither is in the mask, my wife is holding the door, you can see her hand to the left of Richard.

As always in this roller coaster of life, there are some unexpected twists and turns. I'm working extensively on this documentary. Can't really give out the details just yet, but it's fairly in-depth and very compelling. What's more, it's not my baby, I'm simply lending my storytelling and documentary experience to the project and taking on much of the camera work and editing, but it is a project that I'm excited to be working.

I've been doing some ad work here and there. I recently finished the ad for Midway Wicked Woods, and I'm about to jump on a few other ads for Poptent. All this along with my computer being out for two weeks really pushed back my original plans. But I somewhat expected it.

I have no idea when the Monster Cops DVD will be ready. In all honesty it may not be until next year. So many scenes I was hoping to knock out, I just can't get around to because of all the other work I need to do. Now that I have my computer back, I'm inching my way through editing the scenes we have shot.

I won't lie. It's not all because of work. Alot of my time is being taken up by the new camera. Special thanks to Chris Plouffe and Richard Gaither, who helped in acquiring this camera. It's been a Godsend, and the footage it has produced has been amazing. You can see examples of it in the last two videos I posted, especially in the Midway Wicked Woods ad.

But I've been learning. Reading, researching, testing, shooting everything with that camera, not only learning the ins and out of the camera and shooting video on it (especially proper exposure, ISO, shutter settings, etc.), but also experimenting with different editing techniques in combination with different shots. Trying out slow-mo on 720/60. Understanding the proper renderings to maintain the highest quality when shooting in 1080 24p.

I was ready to bite the bullet and shoot a feature film with my 3CCD Panasonic, but now that I have the Canon T2i, the possibilities of shooting a feature the way I actually see it in my head is closer to becoming a reality. The Midway Wicked Woods Ad was a good example of that. A friend of mine saw the video and messaged me to tell me that I really needed to shoot a horror film.

So that's what I've been planning. Yes I'm still working on Monster Cops, yes I'm working on a Documentary, and yes I have client work to do, but my mind has been set on doing a feature for several years now, and now I'm more excited about it then ever.

If you've been following this blog for a while now, you know how badly I'm ready to display my feature film chops. You also know about all the scripts starting with Bobby's Closet, the feature I still plan on doing, when ever I can get together the $150,000 to do it. Then I went lower with Creep, my detective horror flick that was set around $20,000. Then when the investors fell through, and the resources changed, I went back to the idea of shooting something for no money at all and only using my 3CCD Panasonic. Which is when I came up with the Docu/Horror/Feature, Real Vampires. Which was set at total ZERO budget.

But now that I have the Canon T2i, things have changed. Real Vampires could be done on it, but I'm wanting to stray away from the "Found Footage/ Shaky Cam" style of shooting. I REALLY want to make something truly cinematic. So it's somewhat back to the drawing board. I do indeed have a plot, but I need to match it to my resources, and then try to get the budget as low as possible. The lower the budget, the easier it'll be to raise the money. Then I've just got to find the money. You know, that old chestnut.

The only other thing I'm plotting is my beloved short film REDD. We'll start shooting in October, but really I'm waiting for it to cool down tremendously. Finished up the props for the short, just gotta work on the Werewolf costume, and get everything scheduled. Everything else is just waiting on the weather.

I've already gotten messages from people who seem to be really impressed with the Midway Ad. I'm hoping REDD will do an even better job of showing what we can do, and what this camera can do.

Midway Wicked Woods 2010

2010 Ad for the Midway Wicked Woods Haunted Trail in Statesville, NC.

Shot on Canon T2i in 720 at 60. Post and grading in Sony Vegas Pro 9.

Spirit Halloween Store (Canon T2i)

First outing with the Canon T2i (550d). Spirit Halloween Store Winston Salem, NC.

Used the kit lens, 18-55mm. Shot in 1080 24p. Auto ISO.

Post and grading in Sony Vegas Pro 9.

The evil baby at the end cracks me up.

Rebel

Sample vids made with the Canon Rebel T2i (550D)














Short Film: The Encounter

by Marlon Torres

WIlford Brimley is staring at me

My wife randomly cut out a picture of him from a diabetes ad and stuck to my bulletin board next to my desk. I didn't realize it was there for a while. When I finally noticed it it kinda scared me. I jumped a little bit. Nothing like Wilford Brimley staring you down to start your day.

Happy Father's Day to all you Father's out there. And to those that have lost your Dad's too soon, I'm so very sorry and hope today passes with a bit of ease. I know how Mother's Day is for my wife since she lost her mom, and it makes me feel for anyone who has to go through such pain. I'm very thankful my parents are still alive, although I haven't seen them in years. One of these days I'll be able to make the trek to go see them and the rest of my family.

It's been an adventurous few days. There was the PeeWee Herman incident. If you haven't seen the last few posts, I will break it down. I tweeted I was going to make a ball of foil (this is for an ad for Poptent.net). Molly Bendall (twitter friend and fellow blogger) re-tweeted it to PeeWee. PeeWee re-tweeted it and posted it on his Facebook. Then my inbox, Twitter, and Facebook exploded with messages about the coolness of making a giant foil ball. Then I made the foil ball with pictures and Blogged and Vlogged about it, after which PeeWee retweeted and reposted on Facebook. My site immediately got over 700 hits (which is way more than the normal 30) and it's still going today.

So thank you Molly and PeeWee for the attention. Please see the previous Blog post, and take a gander at that Vlog Here.

And by all means, check out Molly's Blog as well.

And of course the site of the great supercool PeeWee Herman.

Rest assured I will be adding to the foil ball to make it super gigantic. And YES I will use recycled foil as well as recycle it once I have no use for it.

Speaking of Vlogs (was I?)

Here's the latest one for Monster Cops. Yes it is indeed more of me begging for money for our kick ass Horror Comedy Web Series.




Currently I am editing a new Minisode, prepping for the next Episode, and trying to get more pledges into our FUNDRAISER, so we can cover some costs including the fees and what not to get our submission into the New York TV Fest. I am submitting the episode Monsters Vs. Cops as a pilot to display that our series would indeed be great on TV. You can watch that episode HERE.

Thank you so much to our recent backers it is a huge help, but of course we still need more. So please if you can CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR INDIEGOGO FUNDRAISING PAGE. You make a pledge, you get great rewards, including the Monster Cops DVD coming this Fall.

Other than that, I am working on doing some guest blogging for the International Trailer Festival. I blog about moviemaking all the time, but of course now that I need to, I'm running dry. It's cool, I've got a few things I hope they'll like. I mean, if I'm going to be a geek about moviemaking might as well share it with everyone right.

Other than that, I've been doing camera research. For the longest time I've been pulling for the Canon HV40, but now I'm thinking about DSLR's. The HV40 price has gone up, so I might as well go DSLR and get a Rebel. The Rebel has really been impressing me. If I want more affordable then I could get the Olympus Pen E-PL1, but the video I'm seeing is only impressive in diorama mode. The jelloing effect is bad even in slow pans. Still pictures look great, but I'm looking for HD Video. So right now, I'm all about the Canon Rebel T2i.

Of course, this is me day dreaming. I have a decent camera to work on my web series. First things first, get Monster Cops going and as much content produced as possible, get that DVD out, then we can worry about cinematic cameras and my next feature film.

Again, it comes back to pledges. We need the funding to supplement production costs, setup screenings, screen at fests, and market the heck out of this series. So please check out MONSTER COPS, and if you like what you see, help us out, pledge and or spread the word.

Ok, I swear, Wilford Brimley just winked at me.