Zombie Nest Found

Uploaded another quick clip. This time of the Camera Probe entering a deep cavern and capturing the discovery of a Zombie Nest. This piece of footage can be seen in the last episode of Monster Cops: MONSTERS Vs. COPS.

Working on the upcoming episode Monster Cops: DREAD.

WTW Productions

Still only inching forward with Monster Cops production, but we have resumed editing for the next few episodes.  And while you wait for new content on the MC front, we'd also like to point out what else is going on in other productions.

Firstly if you're not aware, our little company is called WTW Productions (Whether The Weather Productions). Haven't registered a domain yet, but feel free to take a look at our preliminary site here:
http://wtwproductions.blogspot.com/

I threw together a small demo reel.

If you check out the site you'll see a list of some of our other projects, most notably a short film I've been planning to shoot since last year called REDD. It's my little twist on the Red Riding Hood story, a more of an adventure, horror, action version where our Red Riding Hood (aka REDD played by April Crum), takes on an evil forest filled with demonic Werewolves.  Check out some of the stills I took this past week.

REDD is going to be about 8 minutes long, with a shorter 4 minute viral version. It's part short, part mock trailer.  It's an idea I've had for a while, and the point in producing it is to really create something big budget cinematic using all of our no-budget resources. The costumes, fx, props, all of it done like we do Monster Cops, with no money, and a ton of work and creativity. I really want to show how we can make a big movie for nothing.

This is being shot using the Canon T2i.  A really great camera which I've already used to shoot this commercial for Midway Wicked Woods, which is airing on the local Fox Affiliate WGHP here in the Triad, NC.

 

So we've got alot going on, but we haven't given up on Monster Cops. There will be more soon, and definitely a new episode up before the year is over.  Thanks again for all the messages, through our contact, our facebook and on youtube. We're glad people are still excited about Monster Cops and we hope you'll enjoy Redd as well as our other upcoming productions as well.

- Patrick

Quick Update for July

July is a busy month for me anyhow, seems to be the Birthday month, not only for myself, but alot of people. On top of all that I do have alot of video work, projects and ads to finish up, and of course, Monster Cops.

Working on editing an episode right now. Getting ready to start shooting another one. We'll have a good amount of content for the DVD coming up this Fall, and yes, as some have asked, there is already one planned screening for 3 episodes in North Carolina. More on all that later.

Just know we're hard at work, and of course, we are still fundraising. So here comes the obligatory Fund Raising Widget.



Special Thanks to Marcellus Suber for making a $50 pledge. THANK YOU SIR!!!!!

Please make a pledge to secure your DVD, become a Monster Cop, Get a T-shirt, and or become a producer. And PLEASE Spread The Word!

- Patrick

New Round Of Fundraising

New fundraising page. New cycle. NEW PERKS! Make a pledge, help us out, and get great perks like DVD's, Credits in the episodes and on IMDB, personalized short films, T-shirts, and now you can be a part of the series. You have the opportunity to become an Officer, a Monster, or a Victim, and have your picture used in an episode.

So what are you doing? Help out an independent web series and make a pledge now!

The Wheel In The Sky

Yup, it keeps turnin. Right off the bat, gotta say, we need your pledges.

Working to put things together for the first round of festival submissions and we could use your support. Make a pledge, get a credit in episodes, on IMDB, get T-shirts, DVD's, and possibly more. This is a great way to make sure you get your DVD copy of Monster Cops Series 1.

Currently doing re-writes on the next few episodes. Getting things ready to start shooting, hopefully soon. But how soon we get started really depends on our funding situation. So we shall see what transpires in the next few weeks. In the meantime, there is plenty to prepare for. As I said, doing re-writes, our make up artist is prepping, I'm trying to schedule some second unit shoots.

Stay tuned for a Video Blog, as many of you seem to like it when we do those. Glad you're having fun with those. Please, please, please, help spread the word about our fundraising, click on the IndieGoGo widget and pass it around. While your at it, click on our links to the right and subscribe, follow, like us on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc.

The more followers, subscribers, and YouTube views we can get in, the better.

And if you haven't yet, make some time to watch our latest episode, Monsters Vs. Cops.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT IN HD OVER AT VIMEO.

Still Working

In the middle of it all. Working on rewrites for the next 20 minute episode. We start shooting next week. All locations are accounted for. I think. A GIANT monster is being built for this one. In the middle of finishing the rest of the props and weapons.

Still looking to cast a few more parts, Vampires, Zombies, and a few officers. If you're in the Winston Salem, NC area and are interested in auditioning, feel free to contact us through Myspace. http://myspace.com/monstercops193

I hope to have at least 3 more webisodes up before June, as well as this 20 minute episode finished by mid may. Gotten some great feedback on the webisodes, but mind you, the webisodes are all comedy based. We have yet to display the full span of horror, action, and comedy in the webisodes, which I hope to do in the next 3.

All the webisodes are in the process of being uploaded to Blip.tv. So if you go there, right now you'll only find the MC Intro. The more content we create, the more I'm leaning to putting it also on a program loop on http://www.mogulus.com/. Although we post everywhere, you'll find everything that needs to be seen at http://monstercops.com

Also, you should be able to see the newish Monster Cops Twitter feed somewhere to the left. Feel free to follow us at http://twitter.com/MonsterCops

And we'd love for everyone to subscribe to our YouTube Channel.

We also have a screening of Monster Cops: Shadow Compnay coming up at STARFEST/HORRORFEST in Denver. More details coming soon on that.

Back to work I go, and please keep checking back for updates.

- Patrick

Shadow Company Episode is Live!!!

The 24 minute episode, MONSTER COPS: SHADOW COMPANY is now ONLINE for all to see. Check it out at Monstercops.com





CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE EPISODE NOW!

DIY NECRONOMICON The Video

And here it is finally. For those of you that have been asking me for one. All 6 of you. Make your very own Necronomicon Ex Mortis, BOOK OF THE DEAD.

Edit:

It's now being featured on INSTRUCTABLES.

Necronomicon: Book Of The Dead. 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.

EDIT: 10/22/08
Video Is Done.



EDIT: 6/1/10
I had re-edited this for Indy Mogul and had successfully become a finalist to be the next host of Backyard FX. Didn't get the job, but the exposure was great, and I had fun doing it. Here's that version.

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

Vampire Brides, Take 1

The Dead By Dawn episode requires three Vampire Brides. 2 of which I had cast for sure. The third, I'm still looking for actually. I wanted to stick with the traditional look of the Vampire Brides (aka Dracula's Brides) each girl very beatiful but with different looks. Normally each girl has different hair color, dark, red, and blonde. I have a few choices right now for a blonde, but I have yet to actually talk to those choices. We'll see how it works out.

Let's focus on the two we've got. Kelsey Granger, our dark haired vamp. And Cat Degroot, our red head. I was going to wait til I had found the blonde and shoot the three altogether, but Kelsey had to head back to school soon, so I decided to go ahead and shoot Kelsey and Cat together. Now I didn't have the location I wanted yet so I had to do something I was trying to avoid. Green screen.

Green screen means shooting your actors in front of a green (sometimes blue) screen, and then do composite work in editing. Meaning I remove the green screen from behind the actors, and then place any background I need behind them. I've seen it done very well, and I've seen it done badly, and I've done it both well and badly. Either way, for a project like monster cops where I'm trying to get the most realistic feel possible, using a green screen wasn't something I wanted to do (you never see any bad cg fx on Cops now do ya?). I was already rolling my eyes at the crappy cg'd gun fire I put in The Midnight Special. This time around, I was determined to keep any cg or compositing to a minimum, and try to do every single effect practical and on set.

But in some cases you are left with no choice but to do the best with what you've got. So some cg and compositing would now be required. The thing about The Midnight Special was, I didn't have the best computer resources in the world. I was using a somewhat satisfactory program for my fx work, and I'm quite surprised I was able to edit a 90 minute movie on that frickin computer (80 gigs/256 ram, I pushed it to it's limits.) Now I'm blessed with a computer that is entirely too powerful to exist, oh, and a little something called Adobe After Effects CS3. So now I'm ok with doing a bit of CG and composting if I can do it well and only where it's needed.

Did you hear that Hollywood? WHERE IT'S NEEDED!!!!

Majority of the FX would be done on set. Any monster fx, most of the blood squibs, any gore, etc. would be done live. CG would be used if absolutely necessary, and only as a tool to help tell the story or achieve the scene if we couldn't achieve it any other way, and not just for the holy hell of it (see Van Helsing 2004).

So a green screening we went. Sadly I had to use the same green material I used back in the days of Living Dead Girls. Does anybody remember my Living Dead Girls series? Either of the 2 of you reading this? No? Me neither. Thankfully the creases in the sheets won't matter much. The solid green background is going to be helpful enough in compositing. Also most of the pitfalls you get when green screening on a low budget can be avoided since many of the Vampire Brides scenes are fairly short, and also take place in deep dark hallways and tunnels. Hopefully you won't even be able to tell the difference when I actually start editing.

Here come the pics. Including a few frames where I decided to play with the compositing software a bit.

Two of the three Vampire Brides in front of our amazing green screen. Cat on the left, Kelsey on the right. Aren't they adorable?

Arlanda doing the make up thang.

Me directing Kelsey

I think I made some kind of joke about Vampires making bunny ears.

Could our green screen have anymore creases?

Not only does Arlanda do make up but she knows how to fix costuming issues as well. She rocks.

Still messing with the costume.

Cat is trying to seduce the camera.

Arlanda applying more make up to Kelsey's arms. Because a Vampire with a sun tan just isn't very realistic.

She had a very even tan.

Cell Phone Camera Pics.
The fangs are great, but ya gotta hold em in place forever.

If you didn't know already, there's always alot of waiting around on set. Brandon and Chris on set as well.

Cat being Cat.

Kelsey minus the green.


Threw in a bit of a glow here.

Cat minus the green. Although I do notice some of it, but that's me being picky.
Horrible edge work here, something you won't see in the final cut.

Did a color correction just to see if I could bring out her hair color. Make it pop.

Just a little test to see what you can do with a green screen. Here are the two girls in front of our crease filled green sheets. Let's take out the green. You can see a bit of an outline of the green, especially around the hair, but it's fine.
Let's throw in a public domain photo of a cemetary.
And let's smooth it all out with a few filters. Black and white, with a blue tint. Went for that old, old, antique film look. Really we could have done much more, but you get the idea behind using a green screen.



A few more shots.






Overall I had a good time shooting that day. Hopefully the girls had fun too. They were wonderful to work with. I'm confident we got some great shots, and the footage should look fine in the final product. Ah the final product, can't wait to see what that looks like.

And if you haven't yet please help us out by registering at project breakout and voting for the monster cops WOLF HUNT short. Everyone get's 15 votes a day, so feel free to vote for us 15 times every day. Click the banner below.