A Nice Pace

Monday I posted about 800 views on YouTube for our Red Riding Hood Action Horror Short.

As I've just checked it, it is now at 9,572 views.

Not bad. And we seem to be gaining views at a nice pace.

And what's great is I'm actually applying alot of what I've learned about Viral Marketing to get more views, and each time I do, I can actually see those views come in.  But to reach 9,572 views since Tuesday, that's a pace I just wasn't expecting. The video has been up for 2 weeks, and we're close to 10,000 views.  I've never had a video reach 10,000 views that fast.  So let's hope the viewers keep coming in, and not only that, but they remember what they see, this will all help with the overall marketing of the movie.

Seems to be helping already. The REDD Facebook Page had only 80 likes just a few weeks ago. Now we're at 135 likes.  Again, not bad.

I'm really beginning to see the potential here, and how it all works together into actually making and marketing the full feature film.  I'm excited to go further with this.  Thankfully I'm feeling better. I was sick, then got better, then relapsed, and now I'm slowly getting better again.

Been hacking away at re-writes for the feature film.  Been trying to streamline it, make sure we're going to make a quality movie, and not spend too much money.  I'm so very excited to make this movie and get it out there for people to see. It's going to be fun and unique.

Of course the next step is to create the full concept trailer. Which I'm hoping to get back on next week, depending on my schedule. Still gotta work and try to get some money in.  With the Concept trailer we will explain the full plot, and what you can expect from the feature film.  I may very well cut together a pitch trailer, with me explaining the plot, just so I can get the online fundraising going.  I'm anxious to start up the kickstarter and start fundraising the first round of money. Wish me luck.

Everybody's Gotta Get Paid

I was just Twittering (or rather Tweeting, but really I prefer Twittering, it's fun to say outloud) about how Jott and Sprout are both going from a basic free service to a paid service. And I don't mind at all. Everyone's gotta get paid for their services and I will gladly pay for what I use. Jott I use every so often, for blogging from my phone or leaving notes for myself. Sprout is a service that allows you to create flash content with ease. I actually rely on Sprout quite heavily for much of my marketing, I use it on my blog, and throughout monstercops.com.

I can't imagine a world without Sprout, so I will most likely be paying for their services come February. Jott not so much. And I'm both glad and overwhelmed a little about so many sites I use switching to get paid. I completely understand it, but man it fell hard. I guess everyone got together and decided to start charging after the New Year started. Soundsnap.com is another site I've used for Sound effects and foley support for much of my video work, and it too is now taking away the free service. Now you can download 5 soundeffects a month for free, after that you gotta pay.

Even Brightcove has giveen up there basic and free services. And I was using them to post high quality videos extensively as well. Now I'm sticking to high quality and free video upload sites like Vimeo. And thankfully YouTube has enabled HD quality as well (although you can't embed HD yet, or can you, someone fill me in.)

Like I said, I understand it, and I don't mind it, I was even expecting it, just wasn't expecting to have to pay for it all at the sametime.


I just glanced at the date on the box of sugar free cookies I was eating, and realized the date expired. I bought these today. Neat. (sarcasm)


Anyhoo. Not complaining about the monetary system, just overwhelmed. Sprout I will gladly pay for. Jott I don't really need or use. Soundsnap.com I actually don't need, I just really liked how easy their site was to use. From now on if I need sound fx support I can still use The Free Sound Project. Wait. Lemme check and see if they're still free.

Yup still free.

And I've switched from Brightcove to Vimeo with some help from Vodpod.

Ok, I'm gonna go puke up some cookies, and get back to editing EVERYTHING.



Oh and thank you to all of you who have commented, viewed, and rated my videos. I really appreciate the support. Thanks guys.

Still Obeying The Master

It's been a while now since I've received the winnings from the HandK contest. The video ended up being showcased on joblo.com. Even got a great comment from one of the directors of HandK, Jon Hurwitz. Eventually the video would be one of the winners in both phases of the contest. I'm blown away. I made a simple tutorial on metacafe about making a rose out of a napkin. That video has also gone on to make a bit of money. I think about that paper rose video and this Obey The Master video, and I'm blown away by the idea that one can make money by making stuff out of paper, animating a Unicorn's head, and whispering odd quotes about punching a hamster. Cool. Odd, but cool.

I still continue to recieve messages and comments on youtube about the Obey The Master video, all of them talking about how much they love the video. And I am so very flattered. Didn't realize what would take me only one night to make and submit would reap me such great rewards and comments. So, thanks to everyone for their kindness. I'm glad my odd sense of humor paid off for something. And as strange a video as it is, I am quite proud of it.

Online No-Budget FX School part 1

Goddamn this has been a bit of a rough week. Tuesday would make it 1 year ago. Quite a weird day. Didn't know what to expect, what would happen, or what I would be doing to make sure Juli was ok. Thankfully we've survived without a scratch, well, no visible ones anyways.

Since all seems well on that front, I can go back to worrying about this current project. Thankfully as I budget this Monster Cops episode, I find a few resources online that help narrow down my budget. In this episode there will be some fx work that I thought I would have to pay an arm and a leg for. Now I've got my own bag of no budget tricks, but it's so nice to see others sharing online. Here are a few vids I find very helpful, and will certainly be taking note of when working on my monster fx.

Indy Mogul's Backyard FX is pioneering some really great no budget techniques. I posted their previous tutorial on builging a BIG FRICKIN GUN. Now here are two vids on some low budget zombie make up tips. These are steps I've actually used in the past. I did monster makeup back in high school and in college utilizing spirit gum and cotton balls with some black make-up and fake blood. Here, Backyard FX takes those techniques even further.


Here's part two of their Zombie FX, this time with guts and an exposed brain.


In the next Monster Cops episode there will be a large Grim Reaper like character. I've decided on this because of my past experience building a Grim Reaper like character for my previous series, The Living Dead Girls. You can somewhat catch a glimpse of it towards the end of this old Living Dead Girls Promo.


I'll be doing a similar version, but I found this video that comes a little closer to what I'd like to do. This is somewhat similar to mine except this ones jaws move. Very impressive. Find out more about this at villagehaunt.com


I'm going to aim to make the eyes move as well. Also I'd like to make the extended hands move using this technique I found on Metacafe. This is something I've fiddled with in the past as well, but this guy really nailed it.

Simple Animatronics - The funniest videos are a click away

Finally I'd been fiddling with Werewolf costuming for a long time. I actually built a Werewolf for The Midnight Special, but most of those scenes just didn't turn out the way I wanted them to, so they were cut. But building from those old concepts and lessons I've learned since then, I'll be attempting werewolf fx again. These videos have taught me alot about which direction I'll be going in for much of the mask and digigrade silts. Thanks gryphern!

Digigrade Stilts


Articulated Mask


These new techniques combined with some old tried and true indie lessons o mine has definitely put me in the right direction, and definitely cuts down on my budget costs. Next up, news on fundraising.