What if the shark worked?

First off Happy belated 4th of July.

I'm celebrating my freedom by working on my movie.

I am looking over the footage we have for the final battle in REDD. Part of the final battle is when Smith (Chris Plouffe) faces off against Chapel (Richard Gaither). Chapel gets bit by a Werewolf and ends up turning into one. We've only shot about 5 minutes of this scene, and now the problem is that Richard is in Maine and may not be back in time for us to get the rest of his shots. So some creative problem solving is in order. But hey, that's pretty much all moviemaking is isn't it? Creative problem solving.

I've come to expect and almost love when we run into problems like this.  It's the blocks, the delays, the unexpected problems that are always great opportunities to come up with creative solutions and usually bring you to a solution that ends up being better than what you originally intended. This has happened to me quite a bit. Now I just get excited about what we can come up with. Not to say I don't get frustrated when things go wrong, you almost have to. It's just gotten easier to recognize the opportunity to turn negatives in to positives.

I always look to Jaws as an example.

If you're a fan of the movie Jaws as I am, you're familiar with the stories about how the mechanical shark never worked.  You've probably heard all the nightmare stories about shooting the movie, and what a pain in the ass it was to not have the shark functioning a good portion of the time. But it was their creative solutions that made the movie what it was.

Eventually they did get the shark to work, enough to get some key scenes, but I always figured if the shark did work the way it was supposed to, then perhaps Jaws wouldn't have turned out as great as it did. Many of my favorite scenes were minus the shark.

Some exciting news for REDD. Popular Author John M. Davis has agreed to work on the novelization of the screenplay for REDD. The novel will detail the entire story of the movie and give you more background and insight into the characters and the world of REDD. The novel will be available when the movie is released. You'll be able to get it as an E-Book as well as on paperback.  Check out the books of John M. Davis and his very popular Gunship stories.

You may notice on some of his book covers and art the image of our very own Amanda Elizabeth. She's done some modeling for a few of his book covers. Ain't she talented? Check out her site here.

I'm still making some casting decisions for REDD. Hopefully we can clear all that up and get to shooting in the next few weeks.

Now, if there was just some creative solution for beating this heat so we can shoot exteriors.

Circle of Influence

Working on the newer Werewolves for REDD. It should be noted there are a number of obstacles in my way right now. When you’re making a movie (or making anything for that matter) it can be very easy to look at your circle of concern rather than your circle of influence.

The Circle of Concern is everything you can’t control. Aka The Circle of Worry. For me right now that would be the Weather and cast and crew scheduling.  For the most part it’s either out of my hands or it’s something that I have to wait on to clear up.

My Circle of Influence is everything that I CAN control. What happens when the whether clears up and schedules get straightened out? Are we ready to go with everything? Is there anything I can be working on right now?

It can be very easy to get knocked down and then stay down as you bitch about what you can’t do. Concentrating on your Circle of Influence means working on what you can do.

So right now, that means preparing each costume, prop, and planning each FX shot.  Right now it’s all about the Werewolves.

We’ll be showcasing a couple different kinds of Werewolves, but it’s the Giant Werewolf beasts that get much of the action. The one I’m working on now is based on the same design as the Werewolves from the original short we made last year.

With minor differences like the shape of the Wolf’s head and this time I’m making the eyes glow green as opposed to red. Also I’m aiming to make the head much lighter as the original one could easily wear someone’s neck out. Here I’ve used less cardboard and duct tape and used light water foam for parts of the head, making it much lighter.

Next up I give it a paint job, get to work on the torso, and then I start the build on  a giant robot.

Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll have all our locations secured, schedules cleared up, and maybe, just maybe the heat will let up a little.

Casting Call

CASTING CALL:
Looking to fill the following roles for the feature film REDD. 

- We need to fill the role of Grand Pa. This needs to be an older gentleman late 50's on. Must have the ability to sit in a rocking chair and stare at nothing. Grand Pa must have a beautiful smile.

- We need men to play Werewolves and Grimm Soldiers. You'll be in make up and or in full tactical gear and we'll require you to do alot of running around, falling over, shooting at things, getting shot, blown up, clawing at things and or clawed to death.

- We are looking for women to play Vampire Extras. Sexy, creepy, Vampires that will eventually die gruesome deaths. 18 years and up. Some Vampires may be used for extended fight scenes and or death scenes.

- We also need men and women to play Tech Officer Extras, this will require you to wear black, pretend to do office work, and then die most likely by gunfire. There seems to be alot of dying in this movie.

- We also need extras to play townsfolk. Refreshingly, none of these people die.

We're shooting in and around Winston Salem, NC. We'll be shooting in July and August, but many of these roles will only require you to be on set for one or two days. If you're interested please send info, headshots, resumes, and any links to reels or video samples to reddghost@rocketmail.com

Kickstarted

Thank you to all who supported us and all who pledged. We're gonna wrap this one up in the next few months.

Enjoy our little celebration video:

Amanda Wants To Be A Vampire

Horror Talk Interview with Patrick

Steve Pattee was nice enough to interview me over at Horror Talk.

Check out the interview here: http://www.horrortalk.com/features/2369-interview-patrick-prejusa.html

I talk about REDD, Monster Cops, and raising money for Cancer Charities.

Quick Kickstarter Update Video