Wednesday, December 24, 2008

The two Walking Distance trailers are making their rounds, and response has been phenomenal. Glad I went through with the dual trailer idea - people seem to be digging it/them.

My favorite quote so far:

"
Man, I've seen both Walking Distance trailers now, and I feel like I'm putting together a puzzle without the border... and I love that." - Matthew Orsman

Here are a few more online mentions:

Arrow in the Head
did a story on the Black trailer.

Our friends at Horror-Movies.ca did a piece on the Red one (and reposted the Black).

Dread Central ran a piece linking to the Red trailer as a companion piece to their earlier Black trailer exclusive.


Icons of Fright reposted a link to the Dread Central story.

Horror Yearbook also did the same for us.

Totally bitchin', as the Regman would say. I'm extremely pumped that everyone is so excited to see Adrienne, Reggie, and Debbie go after it (which they do, with gusto).

Quick answers to a few repeat questions that I've recieved:

Q: I thought there were supposed to be zombies in Walking Distance?
A: The first few drafts I wrote in the late 90's had zombies. Actually, it was envisioned as a zombie movie. Then we had a couple of really good zombie movies come out, re-igniting interest in the sub-genre. THEN we had a shit-ton of bad ones come out. I got pretty sick of zombies/infected/the walking dead, so I began an overhaul around the time we started Closet Space. And here we are, sans zombies, and all the better for it, I think.

Q: Wow, it looks like a REAL movie.
A: I hired a great DP by the name of Philip Roy.
Check out his other projects. Hopefully I can continue to "borrow" him from the other Phillip :). We agreed early on to step outside of the accepted "context" of horror movie cinematography. Additionally, my goal is to keep raising the bar as far as production value - steadily climbing as we go along. That seems obvious, but a lot of folks are content with spinning their tires (or "waiting for funding").

Q: How'd you get all those people in your movie?
A: Have you ever read Faust?

Seriously, everyone pretty much responded to the script. Which was kind of a shock to me, because I figured it was too esoteric, personal, and dark. Apparently they all like projects that are esoteric, personal, and dark. Who knew?

Q: Where'd you get the CG for the liquidy trailer stuff?
A: If by "CG", you mean "Carport Gestated", then you'd be right. Dwayne, Chris, Melanie, and I did it using an aquarium and some basic science I picked up when I was almost an engineer. I also shot it overcranked on the HVX200 at 720p to make it look even cooler.
If you want more details, you can email me about it.

Q: Why "Red" and "Black"?
A: Have you looked at the poster?

Q: Why do two trailers?
A: 'Cause there's a lot going on. I preferred to do two shorter trailers that give you some info/background, rather than one overstuffed one, or one with just a bunch of flashy shit and no story beats at all. There are other reasons as well, but the depth of the story is the main reason.

I almost did a trailer as Mel House, head of the House Travel Agency, enticing you to come take a trip to the community featured in the movie. Then I realized that I
had heard that one before.

Q: Why no "Made In Texas" tag at the end?
A: Lots of reasons. Some personal, some professional, some probably irrational. But that's how I roll.


Q: What's the movie about, really?
A: Anger, family, racism, something evil, arson, sexual deviancy, emotional stuntedness, betrayal, revenge, selfishness, pseudo-science, sickness.

Among other things.


Q: What's next?
A: Fangoria Chicago. Another trailer ("White") in Spring 2009.


Q: YOU SUCK, YOU TALENTLESS, ELITIST, SMUG, HOMO BASTARD!
A: Mom?

Walking Distance trailers are up and running.

BOTH trail​ers are now live:

​The BLACK trailer is right here on Dread Central.

The RED trailer is right here on Fangoria.com!

Make sure you watch​ both,​ as they are total​ly diffe​rent.​ Each accom​panyi​ng story​ and pictu​res are diffe​rent as well.​

Many thank​s to Dread​ Centr​al and Fango​ria for the love!​

On a side note, these trailers are causing some really...uh..."strange" things to happen. I guess they're not all that strange, but still. "Funny" might be a better word (in the Funny Games sense, of course). Maybe I'll get into it later. For now, back to editing the movie proper.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

December '08 is looking to be a fitting epilogue to a pretty bitchin' year.

A few movies that I'm associated with in some capacity are hitting the streets.
Electric Purgatory, the documentary on Black Rock that I DP'ed a few years ago is now available on Amazon.com. Pick it up, and see where all those whigger White bands that you love ganked their moves from.

While I'm on the subject, if you want to be schooled in person, you should check out the
Fishbone show next week (the 8th) at the Meridian. Fishbone is the greatest live band on the planet. For real.

Anyway, as I was saying...Marcus Koch's 100 Tears hits DVD on Tuesday the 9th. You can find it at
Amazon, at Best Buy, and on Netflix. Check that one out, too.

Gerald Nott's The Flesh Keeper is
out now via CreateSpace, and you can visit that link to get your own copy. I was the Unit Production Manager, made a cameo as "Angry Black Bean Farmer" in the AWESOME FLASHBACK SEQUENCE (TM), and nearly had to earn the title of "Official Bull Murderer Via Shotgun". I also killed a snake or two.

Gerry/John/Clint/etc...I hope the movie has a commentary track to explain all that anecdotal yammering I just did.

Also coming out soon is The Lawless, which you can
find on Amazon right here
, and on Netflix over here. The Upstart connection begins with the film's lead, Denton Blane Everett, who is also one of the leads in Walking Distance. Distance's Eryn Brooke also stars in the film....Eryn was our A.D. as well as the actress portraying "Tracie" in WD...and I definitely would have had a harder time on set without her - as an A.D. she kicks major ass. And you'll notice James LaMarr is a producer on The Lawless as well. It seems like just yesterday that I met James at the Closet Space casting call....

In addition, a good deal of the behind the scenes crew on The Lawless worked for us on Walking Distance. In addition to James and Eryn, there's our amazing D.P. Philip Roy, and sound guru David Frost. I'm not sure if our Assistant Camera Zach, or 2nd A.D. Natalie worked on Lawless, but I think they may have. Director Philip Guzman also gave us some much needed assistance on the first day of WD shooting. At any rate, these guys take/took the idea of an "indie film crew" to the next level - pretty much negating the "indie" tag. They are all bad asses, and it totally shifted the whole paradigm for me. If you want to get a sense of what Walking Distance is going to look/feel like, then check out Lawless. And add more blood and melty stuff.

As for my own movie(s) - I think Closet Space just got into another festival, and I'm an hour and a half into the first pass edit of Walking Distance (which leaves half an hour or so to go). I'm very excited about how WD is shaping up so far, and once again I have to effusively thank the cast and crew that made it possible. That's definitely a big reason why 2008 ruled for me. Can't wait to get that first trailer out there. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but it's coming, man.

I'm also considering the possibility of having a birthday shindig in the Upstart Warehouse this year. My birthday (the 27th) falls on a Saturday, so I kind of feel obligated to do something besides eat a lot of broiled flesh at either the Taste of Texas or Fogo De Chao. Although I'll be doing that as well, I assure you. At any rate, I may put something relatively low-key together for that night, so consider yourselves warned. I've got the space, so why not? It might be kind of cold, but I don't think it would be too bad. Maybe we can cook up a little Acoustic Alchemy, or project a movie on one of the walls or something. I'll know for sure within the next week or so. There's some heavy stuff coming up next year on all fronts, so perhaps I should try to enjoy life a little while I still have time to breathe.