A few notes on Special Effects

When I first started my fascinations with movies, I wanted to be Ray Harryhausen.  Not just an animator, but  the greatest animator in the world, a man who captured the imaginations of three generations.  I wanted to make monsters that stalked city streets, and magical skeletons that could carry on an epic sword fight, and creatures from myth and legend that would interact with my human characters.  I wanted to BE Ray Harryhausen.

There was only one problem.  I didn't have the patience to be Ray Harryhausen.  I tried.  I did, but my animation was herky-jerky, my models began leaping around the set, teleporting rather than moving.  I just...I wasn't good at it.  Now, I can actually take the time, and add a little animated piece to a feature, but then, no way.

So I began learning about special make-up effects.  I'm not the greatest sculptor in the world, but I can still create an effect that works.  I can also create miniatures (left over from my wanna-be animation days, I suppose).  But somehow, while learning and working on effects, I got into acting, which led to directing.  I've always, through it all, been a writer.

So, I wanted to show off a little of those talents in our Cheapest Movies Ever! concept.  I decided our first movie would be a monster film set on a distant outpost hidden in some Godforsaken location.  I live in Dallas, TX.  I like it.  I don't consider it Godforsaken.  But I was going to need to show our distant outpost.

I built a miniature.  I built this miniature on four pieces of cardboard, to which I had taped down an interesting piece of plastic packing material.  I built up the landscape
using that home-haunters favorite, GreatStuff Foam, and then I also
added cheap dollar store kitty litter for additional landscape material.
Painted the whole thing black to create shadows, and finished off
with a drybrush of light brown on the rocks and blue/grey on the building.
Add a dollar store LED flashlight into the port and you have a distant outpost.
Now this photo does not have the lighting we'll use in the short, or the particle generated dust-storm, but for a few hours of work, I have a location that is three dimensional, and takes up only three and a half feet in my storage closet.  And I really had a good time creating it.

I need a monster next.  Something gross and nasty but unique.  Something that will startle people, make them uncomfortable, but, remember, folks, it's got to be cheap.  How about $27?  Yeah, that could work.
Now, I'm not going to show you the whole suit here (you'll have to see the short which shoots on the 22nd of September), but I will show you the monsters head.

The materials to make this head cost about than $15, folks.  But it took some time.  I went to a hobby store and purchase a foam pirate hat for...that's right, $1.  Cutting the brim of the hat off, I had a helmet that I could glue the face onto.  The face is made from two different monster masks that are vacuform plastic.  They were both too small for an adult to wear, but by carefully cutting them up I was able to remove the jaws and split the face.  I was also able to cut the devil horns and the eyebrow section from one and glue it onto the other at an angle.  Now comes the time-consuming part.  Using a package of dollar store napkins (100 pack, you can use toilet tissue or paper towels as well, but I find napkins prevent you from having to tear sheets off a roll, which adds to the process), I would paint white home exterior latex paint (the cheapest you can find, mine was about $4 at a home repair store) in a thin layer over part of the mask, and then apply a torn sheet of napkin to the paint.  Then, using very little paint on the brush, glue down the edges of the paper towel in an outward motion.  This prevents the napkin from bunching up, and if the layer is thin enough, it will begin to dry while you're preparing the next area.  With more latex paint on the brush, gently paint the napkin so that it is coated in paint, but not dripping with it.  This creates excellent detail on the skin of the mask, tiny little vein-like texture.  Overlapping the napkins, continue this over the entire mask.  Where there are holes (such as the brows protruding from where I had glued the front edge, leaving a gap at the back edge near the temples) fill with cotton balls by painting a thin layer of paint and adhering the cotton to the mask.  A light layer of paint on the cotton (this is tricky to do, but you will get used to it quickly) prepares it for more napkin skin.  Certain details, such as the aggressive cheek lines, were created by tearing small strips of napkin and rolling them up into a line, painting them on, and then adding a little cotton at the top and bottom to blend them, and then adding more skin on top.  I used a dollar store jello mold of a brain (there are much better molds out there, but they are more expensive), liquid latex painted in thin layers into the mold and after about three layers reinforced with paper towels, to create the exposed brain of the monster.  At the edges of the latex brain, I used cotton to blend it in, and skinned the whole thing.  It took a few days to do the entire head.  For the cheeks, by the way, I used pieces of foam from the brim of the hat I cut off.  Next up, I spray painted the whole thing black (spray paint is $.99 a can at Wal-Mart), and used the same light brown latex paint I used on the miniature to drybrush the skin.  The light brown is a more than reasonable skin tone on this mask.
For the record, my can of light brown paint is oops paint from Wal-Mart.  I've used it to create a Crypt-Keeper for a friends Halloween party, and now this.  It's still VERY full.
I think that's enough for now, don't you?  And I really don't want to reveal to much until the show comes out.  But let it be said that the dollar store (especially the incredibly fine people at the Everything Is .99 Store) is your low-budget movie makers best friend.  It's Halloween season, and stocking up on items they have now will save you a ton of money down the way.
Until next time.

From this moment on...

The posts are going to focus on the particular webisode (what an odd term, but I was told today by the extremely nice people at SAG/AFTRA that our internet distributed idea should not be referred to as a short or an episode, as those do not fall into our "New Media" contract) we are working on.  Our next update will focus on the special effects we will be using on our first webisode.

These effects will include miniatures, a monster suit, digital effects and mechanical effects.  Stay tuned...

Casting Concerns Revealed

So, I have to admit that I was fairly concerned about how we were going to cast for such a large group of actors willing to work for free.  My hope was that we would get  maybe 15 or so.

Of course, I tried posting in the Craigslist Talent Gigs.  I learned a lot about CL by doing this.  I learned that advertising for a sugarbaby is considered the same as advertising for a model or actress.  I also learned that "Busty" is considered a talent.  Who knew?  I didn't.  I thought at best it was genetics, and at worst it was just lucky.

But then I found a site that features Texas-based actors.  I put up an open call for talent and waited.  I didn't have to wait long, either.  I started getting emails fairly quickly.  A few told me straight up, despite saying in the original listing that this was a one-day shoot and would have no pay, that they would not work without payment.  A couple said they would "do the first one" without pay, but would expect payment from then on.  Let me tell you how that normally works, guys.  A talent like that will usually show up for the shoot after accepting the role, they might even do half of the shoot for you.  At that time, they will demand money to finish, or they will walk.  Anyone who didn't seem to understand that we were going to shoot for about 8 hours, and give them featured roles, well-shot, and well-edited that they could freely use on their reel, but we weren't going to pay them, didn't get a response.

Speaking of responses, I wrote three of them.  These could be broken down into three categories.
1) What are we doing?  This explained the style of the shoot, the time it would take, and what the project actually was.  I ended it with "Let us know if you're still interested."
2) Why are we doing this?  This basically explained our reasoning behind making this project.  It showed the benefits to both the project and the actors.  It was completely honest.  It was based on reassuring our actors that we weren't somehow secret adult film-makers ready to steal actors and sell them into the adult movie business, or something.  I guess it made sense because we had originally posted in the Craigslist Talent Gigs where "Busty" is a talent.
3) How we expected our talent to respond.  This was a response to our actors who had questions about scheduling, and a couple who decided they wanted to be a little diva-ish.  I told them the truth.  I explained how to respond when they were offered a role, and the time limit they had to respond.  I again tried to reassure them, but I was firm about it, too.

Here's the funny thing.  The response wasn't good.  It was overwhelming!  It turns out that a couple of the local talent agencies got wind of the project and began sending their actors that didn't have much on their resume or reel to us.  It made sense, too.  You can more easily get someone a job if you have something to show them, and we're offering footage for a reel with very little time to give up for free.  It is a totally symbiotic relationship.  We also made contact with musicians, and crew people, as well as a couple of writers who were also interested in the project.

So after three VERY grueling days of merely contacting actors, I was able to put together the cast for our first shoot in two weeks.

AND, we have a talent pool that only appears to be growing.

Next up, we'll talk about special effects.  See you soon.

The Show Goes On...FINALLY!!!

So, life kicks us around, and eventually, tired of being kicked, we stand up, dust off our ideas, and kick back.

Which leads us to where we are today.
So, a couple of years ago or so, I posted that we were going to make five movies, in five months, for $1500.  Yeah.  Well, as we all know, that didn't happen.
BUT!
Here's what IS happening!
One year.
26 shorts (that's one every two weeks, by the way.)
Distributed freely through the internet.
Cost?  $1300.

Why the change?  Money, mostly.  Losing my job made it impossible to afford the $1500 going out of my account so quickly.  But $100 a month?  I believe I can afford that.  At this time, I'm not going to look at Crowdfunding.  However, if it turns out that people really like our shorts and trailers, we may consider that to fund an entire film based on whichever trailer people most want made into a movie.
Right now, though, I just want to make a few cool movies to put on my reel.

I need to take a moment here, and thank some people who have kept me pushing towards this.

Joe Sherlock is an independent movie-maker who has been a follower on this blog for awhile.  We've never met.  But he's also a friend on Facebook, and he's been very supportive, never pushy, but...It's obvious to me that he wants to see what happens with this.  Because he told me so.  Thanks, Joe.

My daughter.  Yeah, I know, it sounds cheesy, but Lil has been really wanting me to make another film, and she doesn't care what it is, she just knows I'm not happy unless I'm trying to be creative.  Here you go, honey.  I think you're going to enjoy this.

A few years ago, I bought this book called SHOCK FESTIVAL by some shmoe named Stephen Romano.  It's a fictional work about the exploitation business from the late 1960's to the present.  It's fake, but "true", if you get that.  The book was my original catalyst for trying to form Cheapest Movies Ever in the first place.  I got to meet Mr. Romano, and not only is he NOT a shmoe, he is one of the coolest cats I've ever seen.  Just awesome, passionate about exploitation, and a whirlwind of information.  I told him about CME, and he said "Whatever happens, man, make sure you send it to me.  That sounds awesome!"  So...I'm wanting to send it to him.  Because he supported me without even knowing it, and then he supported me when he met me.

Fred Olen Ray.  Fred Olen ray barely knows I exist.  I've been a fan of his for years, used to chat with him on his forum occasionally, and every now and then I get updates from him through his Facebook Fan page.  Fred Olen Ray is simply one of the most bad-ass film guys in the world today.  He doesn't sit around waiting for some suit to decide to give him money to make a movie.  He makes movies.  ALL THE TIME.  He makes action, horror, sci-fi, T&A, kids movies, and now, even light romantic comedy.  He grew up at the drive-in, he likes exploitation, and his commentary tracks are the single most informative, no bullshit things you'll ever hear.  I owe him.

James Esely needs to be on here, too.  James is a great actor who has been waiting patiently for me to get off my ass and do something for two years.  I'm going to kill him this year.  In fact, I'm going to kill him a lot. Just you wait, James.

And finally, I owe Adam Gaulding a ton.  He's a bad-ass too.  This is partly for you, Adam.

Now.  I have a monster suit to make tomorrow, and I need to get to bed.  Keep your eyes open, true believers.  Because there's some stuff on the horizon.