Quick and dirty zombies

Here's a quick and dirty edit of zombie shots from this week's shoot. Stay tuned for a more complete trailer!

Mind Rip Zombie Test from Mike Boas on Vimeo.

Meanwhile, I've posted a truckload of Frank Kielar's photos over at the Mind Rip Facebook Page. Check 'em out!

Zombies R Us

Thanks to everyone who helped with the Mind Rip zombie shoot Sunday night! My feet and fingers are still pruny, my voice is hoarse, and I've got blood and dirt in places you don't want to know about.

We had more than two dozen eager zombie volunteers. They were made up, slapped with mud, and told to walk through tall weeds in pouring rain. And they kept coming back for more. What's wrong with these people?

I saw the footage today, and it rocks! We got shots that any big budget production would be jealous of. It's really gratifying to see what we can do with a little talent, some elbow grease, and buckets of enthusiasm.

Special thanks go out to our make-up crew, headed by Terry and Mary, who made a little foundation go a long way. Thanks also to the gentlemen of the West Webster Fire Department and the staff of MacGregor's who put up with our shenanigans.

We have a few more scenes to shoot before the promotional trailer will be edited and made public. In the meantime, I plan to post some behind-the-scenes stills and video soon.

To stay up to date with the project, become a fan of Mind Rip here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mind-Rip/147839051857

If you have any snapshots or video from Sunday night, feel free to post them on our wall!

-Mike Boas

Upgrade Your Gray Matter

For one of our Mind Rip trailer scenes, we needed to put together a makeshift science lab. In the scene, the lab's psychokinetic test subject has just killed again, and tensions are running high.

We used an existing warehouse/tech space as a backdrop, then put a few tables and a computer in the foreground. But what about the reverse angle? What should we see on the computer monitor?

We're monitoring psychic energy, so we should be seeing brain scans. Lots of them.

So I went to the internet (you can find anything on the internet) and asked Bing for brain images. I then ran them through Flash and came up with some animation that looked pretty darn funky on camera.


Want to confuse your co-workers?
Click here, then hit F11 to fill your screen with brains.

The Vault of the Crypt of Terror

In one particular Mind Rip scene, Sheriff Edwards sits at his desk reading an old horror comic. So it fell to me to make a fake comic prop for the scene.

EC comics like Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror were an influence on writer John Vincent. He worked them into the story, giving one of the characters a comic collection. The film's monsters are spawned from the comics' nightmare images.

For a prop, we wanted to avoid using the trademarked EC Comics, instead giving the impression of those publications. Of course, we couldn't resist having fun with it. (The Vault of the Crypt of Terror? We loved the redundancy of that title.)

The back cover came from an actual ad seen in classic comics:


I cast myself (in various Halloween costumes) as the three ghost hosts:


The comic needed a dingy, used look. Here's a blow-up to show the applied texture.

Waiter, there's a severed head in my soup

The first of our trailer scenes takes place in a restaurant kitchen. Two smart aleck cooks insult each other while chopping vegetables. An unexpected monster-type noise from outside catches their attention... and a severed head smashes through the window, flying into the room. The head flips end over end, landing with a splash in a pot of lentil soup.

We began with storyboards, drawn by John. This gave him a way to demonstrate the proposed shots to the cast and crew. (See the black & white image below.) On the day of the shoot, we had extra time and inspiration, so we added some more shots, which I sketched out on site. (The blue boards below.) Click either image for a larger view.





This was a fun shoot. We spent all Sunday in a local restaurant, shooting the kitchen from every angle imaginable. We built a fake wall with a break-away window (more on that later). Our "Uncle Fester" head was provided by Michael Del Rossa, and it was a thing of beauty. A little goopy blood and a stick rammed in from behind, and that head was ready to smash through the window repeatedly.

Here are some pics from the shoot, courtesy of Johannes Bockwoldt.


John does surgery on the severed head.


Just another day on the job for Mikey.


Having fun? Oh yeah, fun!


A practice run, without the glass. For the final smash, Mikey wore a black mask to remain invisible.


Mikey is NOT a terrorist.


Applying the very important blood.


Getting the candy glass in place.


The wall? Fake. The glass? Fake. The crew? Real.


Installing candy glass, made from actual candy.

Stay tuned for more pics from the shoot!

Stop Motion for Mind Rip

The story of Mind Rip involves comic book monsters that are brought to life through psychic means. One such monster is "Boil Head," a slobbering hot rod driving fiend. Inspired by the legendary Big Daddy Roth's "Rat Fink" designs, the Boil Head will appear on screen as a stop motion puppet.

John began with a ball and socket armature, and now he's applying oil-based clay over the top of it. Eventually, when the sculpt is perfect, he'll make a mold from it.

It barely looks like anything right now, but I insisted we take some pictures for comparison purposes later. Also in these pics, you can see the original sketch and the hot rod model that Boil Head will be driving.

Shooting a grindhouse-style trailer

The overarching plan for Philrose Productions is to have several projects in the queue, ready to go. With the script for Lake Midnight completed, this summer we're turning our attention to shooting an updated promotional trailer for Mind Rip.

We'll be capturing new scenes to supplement our previous cemetery shoot, then cutting something in the style of drive-in/grindhouse trailers of the 70s and 80s.

I've been going through my own collection of trailers, looking for style influences. Below is a smattering of title cards I like for font styles and exploitation language. Yes, if you saw the Rodriguez/Tarantino feature Grindhouse, you saw some parodies of trailers like these.



I'll be posting more behind-the-scenes photos from this trailer project in the coming weeks. Check back soon for updates!

-Mike

John Vincent and Rochester Filmmakers in the News

This week's City Newspaper has a good overview of the local film community, written by Susie Hume.

Susie is the reporter who spoke with me last year for the Rochester Insider. This time, she took on the entire film scene and talked to tons of people. John Vincent and Matt Ehlers get some facetime, as well as The MAD DOG MOVIES Podcast.

An excerpt:

Vincent, a Rochester native, worked in both New York City and Los Angeles before eventually settling back here, his hometown. His long list of film credits includes visual effects work on cult classics like "Freaked" and sci-fi favorites like "Robot Wars" and "Prehysteria." He now works full-time as a writer, director, and effects artist, and as president of his own production company, Philrose Productions, which provides effects and production management for industrial videos, commercials, and feature films.

"There are other smaller cities with big film communities, like Austin and Portland, that are really promoting their work, and it pumps millions of dollars into their economies," Vincent says. "We need to promote that here. We're not Hollywood, and we never will be, so to people here it's very intangible to think of Rochester as a film city. But to us, it is what we do already, so we need to change the way they're thinking."

Vincent also remains involved with a core group of local filmmakers committed to boosting the Rochester film scene. He co-hosts a podcast on local writer/filmmaker/animator Mike Boas' website, maddogmovies.com, and will shoot a lower budget film ("100 grand or less," he says) with Boas this year with the working title "Lake Midnight." In addition, Vincent acted as second unit director to Matt Ehlers' recently premiered film, "Smoking Laws."

"People like Matt and others could be working in L.A. or New York, but the great thing here is that we just help each other out or work for free on each other's films," Vincent says. "It's a 'You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' mentality, because we're all in this together."

Read the entire article online here: "Rochester's local filmmaking scene" By Susie Hume.

Thanks for the press, Susie!

Links:

The MAD DOG MOVIES Podcast

Lake Midnight

Smoking Laws

Mad Dog Movies Podcast launch

After many months of John and I saying "We should do a podcast," we finally got our act together, sat down, and recorded ourselves talking shop.

The first episodes of The Mad Dog Movie Podcast are online at http://www.maddogmovies.com/podcast

The goal is to offer a behind-the-scenes look at independent filmmaking. We'll talk about issues relating to our own movie production, but also invite guests (and listeners) to take part in the discussion.

Those interested can listen online or subscribe through podcatching software like iTunes.

So come join the fun! If you like what you hear or have specific questions, write us at feedback(AT)maddogmovies.com

The beast revealed!

Behold! Lake Midnight's god creature from another dimension!




...Or at least the maquette the final beastie will be based on.

Rochester animator has a big head

The Rochester Insider just did a profile of yours truly for the August 31 issue. Yes, I really am that attractive.

Click here read the whole article.

A logline for Lake Midnight

How do we describe the story of Lake Midnight to total strangers without giving away all the twists and turns? Here's our synopsis:

A weekend in the mountains becomes a living nightmare for Wade Howard when a force from another dimension takes control of his life and reality. Wade must resist the evil and try desperately to protect his soul and the woman he loves.

Draft Dodging

I thought it might be a fun behind-the-scenes thing to share some script notes here on the blog. So here's a look at our attempts to get this Lake Midnight shooting script done in the last month. Each email reposted here accompanied a draft of the script. The first is John's. The rest are mine as I tried to suss out what needed to be done.

***

DRAFT 01 "JOHN IS TIRED"
Apr 18

Here is the finished first draft. The spelling and grammar is a mess, but its done. I'm tired now. Take a look and let me know what you think. Read from the beginning because of all the changes.

John V.

***

DRAFT 02 "GRAMMAR PASS"
Apr 23

Now that I read the whole thing front to end in context, it works a lot better than I thought it did when we were working on it piecemeal. It feels good.

We can still juggle some things around, and I've got pages of mish-mash to go through from that tear down I did a few months ago. I don't think I ever sent you any of that because it was jumbled and you wanted to concentrate on the end instead.

Overall, I think we need to adjust how the various people talk. They all swear and speak in a modern way, and it doesn't seem right to me.

I keep thinking of new things. You may want to slug these into the draft I just sent.

I already changed the line about "three weeks" to wait. I changed it to "tonight" but it should probably be "tomorrow." Your call.

Should Wade and Lilith address the corporeal/non-corporeal nature of the world? Why do stones matter? How does smoking weed really help, if the weed isn't real?

-Mike

***

DRAFT 03 "PARTIAL REVISIONS"
Apr 27

So far I've sifted some new and old stuff into the first twenty pages.

I want to try moving the Jack toe-chopping scene to later, but haven't decided where yet. To keep with Wade's point of view in the early part of the script, I think it's important that we meet Jack through Wade's eyes for the first time. The toe-chopping is all about Jack and Lilith.

-Mike

***

DRAFT 04 "WRITING ALL NIGHT"
May 2

Today the question is, what if we see Lilith swipe some pages from Wade before he realizes what he's written?

Then, later, she can be with Jack while Wade has his big zombie attack writing scene.

-Mike

***

DRAFT 05 "CUT THE TOE-CUTTING"
May 14

I've made changes throughout, except I left the crypt sequence untouched. There's some scene changes in the first 35 pages or so. Mostly just added or modified dialogue everywhere else.

Now that I've been through it again, there's a couple things I'm mulling over.

1) I cut the toe-cutting scene, with the intention of putting it back in, but didn't figure out where. Now I'm not sure we need it. In either case, the snappy insult-heavy dialogue doesn't feel right for Lilith.

2) I see how you dropped in hints to Lilith's shaman nature, but it might still be too subtle. Not sure what to do about that yet. Maybe someone can tell a ghost story at the campfire to give backstory to Keras vs. the Shaman. Okay, that's corny.

3) I think we need to introduce the Calknarian stones better. My idea is to use the latest pages Lilith stole from Wade. They can have info on the stones, and how to deceive Keras (of course, that info was "written" by Keras to mislead them.) Not sure whether to insert this into the scene on page 48 or 62.

4) As a follow-up, do we need them to go back to the typewriter and ask more questions? I like the idea of bringing the typewriter back in to emphasize Keras' trickery. It feels like a proactive idea, too. Rather than just another talking scene, it would be a discovery scene.

-M

***

DRAFT 06 "ROCK N ROLL"
May 24

Topping out at 83 pages.

I put the shaman story in Keras' voice. If it were told by someone else, it might look like the other text file (see attached).

Good golly, it feels good to get this draft off. Annoying problems would get solved on the fly sometimes. The answers sometimes occur to me spontaneously while I'm typing. It's like the computer HAS A MIND OF ITSELF!

A HA HA HA A HAAAA HAA HAAAA!

Sanity check. Good, no zombie self taking a bite out of my head. I'm off to watch Big Trouble in Little China again.

-M

Writing Lake Midnight

I just finished what we're calling Draft 06 of Lake Midnight. This is the first time I've collaborated on a feature script, and it took some sweat to figure out how to do it.

We began with the intention of doing a short film. We had a good location, a fun story idea, and a good supply of 16mm film at our disposal. For about a week, the project was called Lovecraft's Typewriter, as the writer H.P. Lovecraft was referenced directly in the story. At some point, our short morphed into a feature project. Our tale of a writer going mad would become a writer caught in a time loop (and going mad). The short could stand as the first cycle of time in the feature.

It was always John's story. During the brainstorming process, John and I would have meetings where I would take notes furiously. I'd go off and try to write some scenes. Inevitably, by the time I'd get them back to John for approval, he'd already come up with new ideas that contradicted what I just wrote!

Eventually, John took the bones of our original short film script and expanded on it. When John writes, he likes to begin with page one and push through until the end. He would call me up and say "I'm on page 60. Things are going good. Now we need a good action sequence for the end."

Meanwhile, I was taking his work and chopping it up into pieces, trying to flop things around so they made sense to me. I'm desperate to get the "cool scenes" to adhere to a sort of logic. I have to believe that everything in the film happens for a reason, so I do tons of research to back up the backstory. I get ideas from everywhere -- when I'm writing, it seems everything I read relates to the script somehow. Some of influences on this script: the works of H.P. Lovecraft, Dashiell Hammett, and other pulp writers; stories of North American lake monsters; references on Babylonian and Greek mythology; and paranormal stories from "Weird U.S."

I see a script as a jigsaw puzzle, so when John would ask me what page I was up to, I couldn't answer. I didn't start at the beginning, I've got holes all over the place. How can I have a page count? A few months ago, I felt like it was never going to come together. I tried to break it down into acts, but the script refused to behave for me.

Once John finished his version, I looked at what he wrote and saw it more objectively. It was more coherent than I had expected, considering the mind-warp nature of the story. It needed work, but at least I could pinpoint what needed fixing without tearing it to shreds.

In the last few weeks, I've built on his framework. I swapped a few scenes around, brought in some old dialogue from my days of noodling, and added crucial exposition and character details to tie our various story points together. John has been hands off, encouraging me to put in everything I think the script needs.

The next step? We'll be taking suggestions from an objective third party. Then we'll undoubtedly tear the whole thing apart again.

A touch of Lovecraft

Mike B here, with an update on what we at Philrose have been up to.

The works of H.P. Lovecraft have been a major influence on me in the last few years. Aside from my own personal projects, John and I are now working on a script together that pulls some ideas from the master of horror fiction.

What sort of ideas? Well, we have a pulp fiction writer who is seeing things that can't be true, and now he thinks he may be going mad. What does he see? How about a grotesque monster that is one giant tentacle, with some additional tentacles thrown in? Also relating to Lovecraft, we have an otherworldly being whose diminished powers require the will of men to break free from an alternate dimension. And did I mention the tentacles?

It won't be a straight adaptation, and we're not going for HPL's sense of universal dread. Instead, we have a more personal story of a man resisting evil and trying desperately to protect his own soul and the soul of the girl he loves.

We're trying on different titles right now to see how they fit. The current working title is "Lake Midnight." Check this space for future progress reports.

Kodak Film Demo

Philrose Productions has been conducting film tests for Kodak's Vision II stock in Super 8 and 16mm. Check out some sample video clips, now online!

Click here.

More Head Cast Pics

Here are some more shots from our head casting session, courtesy of Rick Shannon. Jason sat beneath the algenate for about 45 minutes. Not for the claustrophobic!

Casting the Spirit

As we move forward with our Haunting of Joshua project, it came time to cast an actor's head for the part of the Spirit. Jason was our willing victim, and we've got the video to prove it:



mdm004b Special Make-Up FX Video 1 from Mike Boas on Vimeo.

R&F Behind the Scenes shots

Here are some more shots from the Raymour & Flanigan job. These show the sets in various degrees of construction and dressing.

Raymour & Flanigan pics

In addition to feature film work, we at Philrose work as art department on a variety of commercial shoots. A recent job had us providing set construction for a high-end ad campaign. Here are some sample photographs from furniture chain Raymour & Flanigan's print ads.These sets were constructed to specifications suggested by art director Martha Stone. Each of the four sets was redressed 4-5 times during the shoot. Walls were repainted and moved, and window treatments were changed to accomodate different types of furniture and decor.Look for these sets and more in the latest round of television ads as well!