Mark Wahlberg Talks To A Necronomicon

I couldn't help it. The title of this post sounded so absurd I had to use it. Anyways.
There's no better way to celebrate Halloween then perusing or participating in Instructables. Don't know about Instructables? Then check it out for yourself. http://www.instructables.com

It's simply a place to see and post How to and DIY projects of all kinds. From "How To Bake a Cake" to "How To Blow Up a Cake" people have submitted projects of all kinds. So Halloween is a great time to see what people are doing, or to post your very own instructable.

I decided to submit my Prop Necronomicon How To Vid as my very first Instructable, and I'm proud to say it's being FEATURED on the Instructables home page. How nifty is that?



I've been a longtime lurker on Instructables and it's pretty cool to have my first submission be featured. Glad so many are enjoying the project and I appreciate all the feedback, comments, and messages I've gotten. Feel free to take a look at the step by step instructions as well as the posted video there.

INSTRUCTABLES: Necronomicon: Book Of The Dead

This will certainly be a neat addition to the Halloween Video this year. So exciting.

In other news. I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY DID WHAT THEY DID ON SNL.

My wife and I joked about what they should do next to follow up Mark Wahlberg Talks To Animals skit, and as I was watching SNL this passed weekend they actually did exactly what we were joking about.



I'm still laughing my ass off. So this makes Mark Wahlberg pretty cool in my book and almost redeems him for doing the movie Fear.

DIY NECRONOMICON The Video

I can't believe this took me two weeks to put together. Anyways, here it is in all it's Evil Dead glory. How to make your very own Evil Dead Necronomicon Ex Mortis Book Of The Frickin Dead.

What else is a blog for ...

but to post randomly at 3:30 in the AM.

Once again, using the blog as a break from editing video. Currently working on the Necronomicon Tutorial which I hope those of you who have been searching for a DIY Propmaking solution for your very own Necronomicon will find handy. I'm trying to get down every single step possible, and cut it together in as short of form as possible.

Also have to cut together videos for Monstercops.com. Reorganize all the project folders for Monster Cops episodes, Archangel, and The Long Halloween. The Long Halloween is now the official title for this years Halloween Tribute Video. And I'm starting on the next prop on the list which is a giant mini-gun sorta kinda. It's a huge gun prop I've been working on in my head for months now, and then low and behold, here come the folks over at Indy Mogul putting up their very own video tutorial on making a mini (or gatling) gun. Here it is:





And here's the test film, as usual:




They came up with a few things I did not, so I shall be borrowing some of those techniques. We'll see how it turns out. Again, Indy Mogul kicks ass.

Back to editing the Necronomicon Tutorial. Plus I think it may be time for an actual Video Blog from me.

Life Notes 101308

- I'm completely in love with Poptent.

- I'm completely in love with iGoogle.

- I have a strange fascination with these little chicken drumettes from Lowe's Foods.

- I'm having to reteach myself time management all over again.

- I regret not having more time to practice After Effects.

- I'm extremely proud of my latest prop creation, too bad I can't tell anyone about it, EVER.

- I'd very much like to finish and post the video tutorial on the creation of my DIY NECRONOMICON.

- I could've sworn it was spelt NECRINOMICON.

- I'm having the hardest time writing and really need to re-discipline myself in my own production techniques.

- I need to buy vampire fangs.

- I need another zombie day. Possibly even two.

- I think I'll feel better once I get these visual fx and mkx shots done.

- I REALLY love the 80's.

- I miss driving my Tahoe everyday, but don't miss having to constantly refill the gas tank.

- I'm loving LED flashlights.

- I'm using MOD-PODGE on everything, even on things that don't really need it.

- I'm going to build a Mini-Gun style prop weapon. No really, I AM GOING TO.

- I'm completely obsessed with flax oil peanut butter and natural strawberry jam sandwiches using double fiber bread. It completes my soul.

- I need to do more personal vlogs.

- Fundable.

- I'm praying for Broccoli and Cheese Soup.

- I think I'm just as excited about Quantum Of Solace as I was about The Dark Knight. No really.

- I'm really crushin on Alicia Keys right now.

- I miss the piano.

- Ya know, I'm going to buy me a new harmonica.

- If I can get 3 episodes of Monster Cops up before Christmas, I'll be happy.

- I'm so very anxious to put something else out on DVD.

PopTent

The people over at XLNTADS.com have put together a brand new site. It's called POPTENT and it's pretty much like facebook for video creators. That description is totally not doing it justice. As if I wasn't already a huge fan of Xlntads, and not just because I've won two of their contests. Poptent rocks my socks.

Xlntads was basically a site that would connect video creatives to brands that needed advertising. A brand would need a specific type of video created, Xlntads would put up all the info as an assignment asking video creators to submit videos, the submissions that were chosen (the ones the brand liked) would earn a set amount of money.

Xlntads takes it a step further with the new site Poptent.net. Here it's the same process but video creators can now have their own profile, upload media, basically have their own online portfolio. This makes it easier to not only get assignments and earn some money, but also to connect with other creatives, or anyone needing your specific talents or skills. I'm just a really big fan of how easy the entire site is to use. Easy to edit your profile, easy to upload anything really, music, videos, images, etc.

And their video player kicks ass. Here's the Monter Cops 1.3 intro.




Check out my profile on poptent.

Pool Illusion

Yup, so gonna have one of these in my backyard.

False Pool

Research Videos - Mini Gun

Taking note specifically of the look of tracer fire at night from long distances as well as an understanding of the basic function of a mini gun.

Mark Wahlberg Talks To Animals

I saw it live and laughed my ass off. Thank God they had the sense to upload it. I've been quoting it since Saturday.

Stopping Power

Welcome to the power of stop.

Things get hectic, the world spins, you're going at full speed, trying to do a thousand things. This is when the power of stop comes in handy. In the midst of all the hubbub, it's often a good idea just to say stop. To hit the brakes, take a good long look at the situation, often times this keeps you from running into problems or creating bigger ones. Or as some say, check yourself before you wreck yourself.

I'm kind of at that point right now. Alot going on. And I forsee a collision of sorts if I don't stop and really look at where things are headed. So this week I'm saying stop. Things are spinning on the Monster Cops project. And I need to take a good long look at exactly what needs to be done, and how that is going to happen. Can't get all I wanted to get done before Halloween, but if I work it right I won't really have to. So we are at Stop for this week.

If you have anything to do at all with production, then know that there will be no shooting this week. Not Wednesday and not Saturday. Need to rethink some things. But I will be contacting everyone individually.

The Up Minute

Life's made of minutes. One minute you're up, the next minute you're down. The good thing about a down minute is that the next minute you'll be up again. I forget where I heard that from.

I do have much weighing on my mind. Mostly about Monster Cops and what needs to be done next. I've sort of been fighting for time to work on it. My timeline is shrinking, and as usual I pressure myself to get more done than I can. I have to come to terms that there just isn't enough time, not when you have to juggle everyone else's schedule as well as you're own, especially when you're not paying anyone. Welcome to nobudget DIY moviemaking.

The past few days have been a very fast succession of up and down minutes. Just in the past few hours it's been a very long down minute. I normally do a good job of staying positive, but just too much to juggle, and the normal frustrations of moviemaking. We all do it. We create something and then we begin to doubt ourselves. Doubt that our creations are even worth anything or that your ideas and dreams are even going anywhere. That's the down minute I was stuck in as I was cleaning the kitchen I was entirely too tired to clean, and I still had the Monster Cops agenda on my mind.

For the past few days we'd actually been checking the local Fox TV station to see if they were playing the Midway Wicked Woods commercial I had worked on. Occasionally flipping over to the station to see if it would pop up. I saw nothing but commercials for every other haunted house. Tonight as I was scrubbing our George Foreman Grill (yes we have one and we use it often) I looked up at the TV in the kitchen when I heard my voice over.

I'd done work on commercials, made videos and segments, seen my work on TV before, but tonight it was a welcome sight to see this particular commercial. I really love the voice over work I did on the ad, very proud of it. And although I'd done this kind of thing before, it was still nice to see something I produced be broadcast to a wider audience. It always feels good to finally get your creation to where it deserves to be, in front of people.

It put me back on an up minute. Suddenly cleaning the kitchen and scrubbing the grill wasn't so bad. Hey at least I have a kitchen and a roof over my head. There are people in this world who have much less. At least I can say I've put ads on TV, I've made short films that have played in fests, and I've got a movie on DVD. I'm actually very lucky. I mean I do have a George Foreman Grill after all.

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.

What kind of day has it been?

A small set back. My music creation software is officially no more.

When I work on a project, a short, even a feature, I often write alot of the music as I write the script, and continue working on the music as I shoot and edit. For me the music plays an integral role. So I'm very lucky to have all the tools I need in order to write the script, edit the video, and make the music.

Without going in to too too much detail, that music creation software tool is now non existant. Can't really explain why, just know that I can no longer make music on my computer. For right now that is. And it happens right when I hit a musical epiphany of course.

But I'm not fretting. There are no obstacles, only opportunities to be creative. So we'll see how it works out, but I'm sure it will.

And yet there are many many things I still need to tend to as far as this current episode of Monster Cops. Here's what I still need to get done.

- Re-write dialogue.
- Send pages to Texas crew.
- Contact actors and rewrite pages in regards to the Kate Rand scene.
- Cast Raven.
- Cast the little girl.
- Cast the Nosferatu.
- Build the Nosferatu Costume.
- Shoot all dialogue scenes.
- Shoot the Nosferatu Scene.
- Shoot the final Zombie scene.
- Build the "Frank" Costume.
- Cast the Familiar/Cultist Role.
- Finish up the Vampire Brides scene.
- Shoot the MKX300 Scene.
- Shoot the Tri-Gun Scene.
- Shoot Lycan scenes, both of em.
- Settle the Lycan Costume.
- Shoot the explosives scene, and post house breach scene.
- Build a Mini-gun Prop.
- Make a Necrinomicon Prop. (working on this now)
- Make the Blood Bottle Prop.
- Get the Hellraiser Box. (this should already be done)
- Get the computer room location.
- Get the interrogation location.
- Find the empty room/warehouse.
- Cast the "Top 4 Zombies".
- Make the "shirt" prop.
- Settle the music issue.
- Settle Beethoven's 9th issue. or come up with a new ending.

And I still need the restaraunt/bar location for Archangel.
Still have like 6 more shots to get for Archangel and the dialogue scenes.

And I want to get all this done sometime in October, hopefully before Halloween.

R.I.P. Paul Newman

I have no words.

He wasn't just an actor, and so much more than an icon. He is one of the best examples of what I'm striving to be. This man definitely exudes much of my One Spartan philosophy. Thank you, dear sir, for everything.

Paul Newman dies.

Directing The Dead

It's a non stop ride. What with the day job, trying to get shooting straight, figuring out locations, getting the shots in order, dealing with lighting issues, and being halfway through production while the majority of your props are not finished and you still have 3 parts to cast.

But as I've said before, it's all about having problems you like. And dealing with movie stuff is always a welcome dilemna that I am very grateful for. And the day job doesn't actually feel like work, so I can't complain.

Here are a few pics from the last shoot. More work over at The Midway Wicked Woods in Statesville, NC. Thanks again to Richard Gaither for not only playing a featured extra as a Monster Cop, but for also getting us all the resources of the Midway Wicked Woods Haunted Trail. Special thanks also to Jocelyn and Randy Jenkins for allowing us to shoot there.

Check out their site for more info: http://www.midwaywickedwoods.com/

 

The 4 Walking Corpses of the evening.  These guys did a great job.  They made directing the dead quite fun.  Our first zombie scene for this episode featured pale white zombies, newer corpses.  But I also wanted to include older, creepier, rotting corpses.  These guys pulled it off quite nicely. 

Zombies and camera phones, they just go so well together.

Gearing up in the graveyard.

Waiting to pose.

Posing.

Posing some more.

Half a corpse.  It's Tucker.

Group picture.

Seriously had a lot of fun.  Hope everyone else did too.  If you happen to be in the Triad area or near Statesville, NC, then by all means check out MIDWAY WICKED WOODS.

Ok, I now go to do some web work, make some props, and build some costumes.  Good Times!!!! :D

Take 2

Here's the Midway Wicked Woods commercial, once more. This time with a small change in the graphics at the end, and a voice over added to it. I'm rather proud of my voice work for this one. Course I did have help from Sony Vegas with that. But still, I think the voice is rather neato. I may just try to do other things utilizing this voice.

Tromadance

Monster Cops: Shadow Company will be screening at Summer Tromadance. This is all part of Tromadance, Indy Film Coop, and the B-Movie Celebration.

Check it out at Juke Box Live in Franklin, Indiana. Saturday, September 27th, at 7:35pm.

Midway Wicked Woods

Thanks to Richard Gaither for being a huge help in getting us all the resources of the Midway Wicked Woods Haunted Trail. It's helping me make the Dead By Dawn episode exactly the way I see it in my head. I was more than happy to help with their commercial. Here's what I was able to put together from the footage Richard shot.

Midway Wicked Woods 30 second spot.

Donate

Capital Area Foodbank of Texas is in dire need of donations. They're doing their best to take care of the influx of Hurricane Ike victims and they need help.

From Austinfoodbank.com:

Donations depleted. Urgent call for more donations. As of 2:00 p.m. the Food Bank is unable to fulfill emergency boxes onsite. Food Bank utilizing $25,000 donated from public to purchase more food and supplies.

You can make a cash donation.
Capital Area Foodbank of Texas
http://www.austinfoodbank.org/hurricane-ike-disaster-relief/i-want-to-help.html
Other ways you can help with donations. Make a donation to the American Red Cross.

American Red Cross
http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ggl_main&s_src=F7FWE001

Even in what some would say is a financial and economic crisis, we still need to find a way to help and support those in need.

Let's do some good.

Setec Astronomy

COSMO
The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or energy or money. It's run by ones and zeroes, little bits of data. It's all just electrons.

The world is spinning. It's something I say to myself all the time. Obvious, of course, but still another way to state that not only is the planet on it's axis, but also that the world, in general, is functioning, and often wildly.

In the past month, along with the usual chaos, hurricanes, devestation, gas prices, and today another indication of the faltering economy. Another corporate bailout, Wall Street is reeling, and we're less than 60 days away from a historic presidential election. Alot's going on. The world is spinning.

Not quite sure why, but I am reminded of a scene from a highly underated movie from the 80's. Sneakers.


Great direction by Phil Alden Robinson, it's got one of my favorite scores from James Horner, and it had some great lines in it.

COSMO
There's a war out there, old friend, a world war. And it's not about who's got the most bullets. It's about who controls the information. What we see and hear, how we work, what we think. It's all about the information.

And one of my fav lines.

WHISTLER
I want peace on earth and good will toward men.

ABBOT
We are the United States Government, we don't do that sort of thing!

It was caper movie, about spies and break ins, covert ops, and cons and setups. Ocean's 11 before Ocean's 11. Panned by critics, but there was a brilliance to it I absolutely loved. It was clever.

After watching the news today I thought of one scene in particular where Marty, played by Robert Redford, is having a conversation with his long lost best friend who is a computer hacker turned organized crime figure played by Ben Kingsly.

COSMO
What's wrong with this country, Marty? Money. You taught me that. Evil defense contractors had it, noble causes did not. Politicians are bought and sold like so much chattel. Our problems multiply. Pollution, crime, drugs, poverty, disease, hunger, despair. We throw gobs of money at them. The problems always get worse. Why is that? Money's most powerful ability is to allow bad people to do bad things...at the expense of those who don't have it.

MARTY
I agree. Who did you say you were working for?

COSMO
That's just my day job. While in prison, I learned everything in this world, including money...operates not on reality...

MARTY
But the perception of reality.

COSMO
Posit: People think a bank might be financially shaky.

MARTY
Consequence: People start to withdraw their money.

COSMO
Result: Soon, it is financially shaky.

MARTY
Conclusion: You can make banks fail.

COSMO
I've already done that. Maybe you've read about a few? Think bigger.

MARTY
Stock market?

COSMO
Yes.

MARTY
Currency market? Commodities market?

COSMO
Yes.

MARTY
Small countries?

COSMO
I might even be able to crash the whole damn system. Destroy all records of ownership. Think of it, Marty. No more rich people, no more poor people, everybody's the same. Isn't that what we said we always wanted?

Everything in this world operates not on reality, but the perception of reality.

That line always made alot of sense to me.

Anyhoo.

Here's a 45 second intro I cut together for Monster Cops. It's a work in progress.


Monster Cops intro1 from one spartan on Vimeo.

Dead By Dawn: Zombies Take 1

Back at Northwood Stables for more zombie work. This time around we had a great turn out. Had a ton of zombies and all of them were great to work with. Allow me to share some photos.

These were taken by the amazing and very talented Julie Keels.

Sundown at the Northwood Stables.

Let the make up begin!

Brian Tally, jack of all trades.  Today he is filling in on make up duty.

Assisting Brian, Deanna Kelly.

You go Deanna!

The essence of a movie set.  Pure waiting.

More waiting.

and standing

and joking

Digging through the gear box. Pick your guns people!

Rehearsing formation

Nicole looks like she wants to shoot Brandon in the back.

Patrick, yelling at people

Patrick left.

Trying to figure out the beats, waiting for zombies to finish with make up,

and waiting for the sun to go down.

pretty

Brandon attempts to shoot Nicole in the back.

Richard Gaither on the left, Nicole Nastazzio on the right.

Directing zombies, fun.

It's night time

The best part is making them fall.

The cops, waiting to kill.

Directing Nicole.  No Nicole you can't really kill them.

Firing order.

BANG!

LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!

(she spins) BANG!

Ok everyone up!

It's always a good idea to shake hands with your zombies before killing them.

Nicole turns into a zombie.  No wait she's just hugging everyone.

More waiting.

Deanna finishing up on Cat.

How very vogue.

Work it Deana!  Work It!

Some fun shots.  Brandon in constant character, as usual.

Action Brandon

this one cracks me up.  i think it's because of the wagon.

Brandon decides to shoot Camera Chick Julie.

Action Chris!

SPIDER!!!!

Quick kill it!

It WON'T DIE!!!!

Lethal Weapon pose.

Alright, All zombies altogether now!

The zombies wait for Patrick to get his crap together.

Richard on the left, Jacob Hauser on the right.

Everyone back in position!!!

READY!

Now stand.

Zombies prepare for death.

Honestly, great numbers that night.  Thanks to everyone who showed.

NOW FALL!!!

play dead

once more, with feeling.

kill em.

Gotta get that master shot.

The guys pointing out my baldness.

Ok now, die.

Finish em off Jacob!

Brandon went rabid.

Seriously, thank you to everyone who came out and helped.  To all the zombies, to Megan for getting all the signatures, to Brian and Deanna for applying the make up, to Arlanda who although couldn't make it provided the make up, of course to Kelly Emerson and Fam for letting us take over their place yet again, To everyone else for falling down on the grass over and over again mainly because I'm a sadistic bastard and I like to watch you all get injured.  I had a great time, I hope you did too.  I hope there was plenty of drinks, pizza, and cookies (which disappeared in the first hour.)  Of course thanks a bunch to Julie Keels, last time for filling in the Vampire Vixen role, this time around for your amazing photos, it's such a relief having an actual proffesional photographer on set.

Ok  hope to see most of you again for our next few big shoots. 

And thanks to everyone for voting on projectbreakout.  It was a close one, but unfortunately not in the cards.  It's all good though, winning contests, although a nice bonus for Monster Cops, is not part of the overall plan.  But it's nice to know there is much support for MC.  Thanks everyone.