Creepy Voodoo Chick

So now we've finished getting Vascara looped into the movie so that completes that whole redub the whole movie thing that we neurotically decided to do. Why? Well, you got to love it when you rent a flick and you can't understand a damn word the people are saying and of coarse there was the whole "hey, I can hear every sound on the planet in the back ground, including me weeping."

So we've replaced all the lines of dialogue with fresh shiny new ones and now we do need to grab a few more lines from the bit players, but that's like a total of three lines and no big jump there.

I'm meeting with the Green Machine next week to pick up some effect shots that he's been hammering away on as he moves his stuff in to Atlanta from Pittsburgh and New Orleans. I like working with roaming gypsies, they bring a certain salt of the earthness to the work.

I've told the rest of the peeps (music and titles) to continue on in their secret labs and to surprise me with wonderful gifts of movie stuff as it comes to them, as I will be deep into foley and synching and all sorts of technical mumbo-jumbo while also having my first child, a girl, due the thirtieth of this month. Exciting stuff and I can't wait to teach her how to be a sound editor so I won't have to mess with that crap again.

BUT! it seems like we may have a new guy on the film that will be creating a CG skull for the film to lay into a few thingies that will make some cool widgits seem more, how you say... um, fantastico.

FIGHTEVIL
SDROG

Melissa Looped Out

So we have just finished looping out our BBQ waitress / zombie killing actress Melissa Gilbert (not the president of SAG, the other one). So now we just have Vascara left to come in and deliver her long soliloquies on the virtues of the devil EXACTLY LIKE SHE DID IT A YEAR AGO! Piece of cake.

Elsewhere in beak world, music continues to come in from San Fran, and now we have a quicktime version of the trailer on our website! So get groovy with your bad self.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

SO here is the big update.

We have 90 percent of the looping done, and we are now getting music in from our genius in San Diego Charles Hume. It is finally starting to FEEL like a movie as the rough edges are being striped off and the whole thing starts to gel.

It's like plaster drying.

So besides looping and listing to the music, not much more to tell ya, I don't think we're going to have the thing ready by tonight, but ya know, Evil Dead spent three years in post.

I'm hoping to have it done in a few months, here's all that has to happen:

1. looping finished
2. Foley finished
3. jee-wizz digital effects finished
4. opening title sequence finished
5. color correcting finished
6. music finished.
7. sound mix finished.
8. then just watch it one more time and kill the last of my darlings.
9. then the big premiere with lights and paparazzi and crew members overdosing in back alley.

HOORAY! So I think I might actually be able to finish this by Wed.
FIGHTEVIL
SDROG

Loop'n Mo-Fo

So I'm laying in Barry's tracks after spending about a week off. My brain just wanted to destroy. Felt about as creative as a turnip (not very).

BUT MAN! Is the looping of Lucy/Samuel a lot of damn fun! Putting in his dialogue isn't as challenging as far as syncing, because he's wearing a mask most of the time, but the challenge is laying in non stop breathing for all his scenes and not letting on that it's the same breaths, and also making them react to the stuff going on. It's like creating dialogue, and really helps the mood.

Samuel is like a force of nature, and even when off screen, you should be able to hear him breathing and reacting, like a lunatic Greek chorus.

FIGHTEVIL
SDROG

Waz Up

So we have Jason Von Stein looped out and funky, and I vomited a gallon of green tea this morning, so

a) I'm really glad to have another actor's ADR done and
b) you CAN drink too many antioxidants.

Yesterday I met with a cool guy who worked on a flick called Jack O’ Lantern which stars some of the folks from Zombeak! (Tracy and Melissa). I went to pick his brain about distribution and share horror stories. He gave me some cool advice at Chilies.

So right now I'm cutting up the dialogue track for Fasmagger, then we'll get him in here, then finish everyones ADR, then dredge the effects off the mud caked bottom of New Orleans (where Matt Green was working on them), then music, then titles and some screenings, then releasing the thing to a drunken Halloween party somewhere in your future.

Oh yeah, we did do Dragon Con this year and canvassed the place with our fliers. It was cool to see the gang from another Atlanta project GEEKIN. We have Zombeak! actors in this one too! (Adam and Jason) Here's some websites to check out!
http://www.us.imdb.com/title/tt0405055/combined
http://www.geekinmovie.com/

Adam Looped Out!

Hey! Guess What?!?

I finished looping all of Adam's dialogue. Well, I recorded it and stuck it all in the computer, logged it up, just have to sync it now.

I'm doing this not because all the location sound was garbage, because a lot was fine, but man when you compare on set sound to studio sound, there is no comparison. Sound is tricky, and if not nurtured can really wreck your film. I hate the crappy reverb we got in the old house, I didn't notice it until I started replacing it. I love the obsessive compulsive control I can have over every word now. I can make the levels just right, and not have to worry about making the crickets from a mile away getting louder or softer as well.

I got an e-mail from producer Wes telling me he has a grab bag of effects for me, and my heart goes aflutter.

The freaky thing was that Adam was moving this Friday to New York! I though it wasn't until November so when he told me the news, I nearly had a heart attack.

This weekend is Dragon Con! I hope to be a small presence there, even if it's just walking around in a raincoat and whispering the title in rubber tipped ears.

FIGHTEVIL
SDROG

LOOPING UPDATE!

One down, seven to go! Finished Barry the other day, and it is awesome how much looping the movie has improved the whole enchilada.

But, a funny thing about having a lengthy post production, eventually people's lives change and they leave you. Here's a recent e-mail I sent to Adam to arrange his ADR sessions.

Hello!

I hear crazy things the other day while Barry was over looping (yeah, I said looping, can ya dig it!)

I hear you're moving away from the roost and going to the big city with your lady Jennifer, thus beginning a new and exciting chapter in the odyssey of your life. That is beautiful...

AND COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!!!

What if in seven months I need you to do some obscure promotional stunt for a couple of hours and you're in New York. THANKS A LOT DUDE!!!! No one can move forward with their lives until the movie is done, which I'm shooting for (around) Halloween 2015!

Oh well.

So let's get this crazy thing done with. I need you Adam more then I've ever needed anyone. Please come back to me so we might consummate this movie, and loop your dialogue. Ask Barry, it's a trippy process.

So I see from an email (from six months ago) that you are free Sundays and Mondays! Lets do this on the next Monday you are free. It should only take a day, Barry took longer, but he breaths through the whole movie.

CALL ME XXX-XXX-XXXX

OR

Answer this email with a phone number that works, the one I have for you brings me to some archaic mail box that requires an MIT Degree to figure out.

FIGHTEVIL
SDROG

FAST UPDATE!

1. Began looping Barry "Samuel/Lucy" Bishop's dialogue. This is an intense process that strains the brain and twists the nerves. It's nothing you can just crap out, but will all be worth it though once it's done. Nothing worth doing is easy.

2. I'm starting to get effects in from Green Machine EFX located in New Orleans. I have been told that all the gunshots have been rendered and are in route by mail, and I've seen some tests of some floating Satan presence that is pretty exciting, so we are good in that area.

3. The opening title theme has been put together and I'm waiting to get over to the composers place to grab a listen. Can't wait.

4. The next thing to do will be to put Barry's new lines in the flick and get them to match up and adjust some levels and blah blah blah. He's coming back in in a week to finish up and to edit in the gun shots once they arrive. Oh yeah, and then get the title theme to the title guy so he can start the title sequence for real though.

ROCK!

Breakthrough!!!

Here's an email I got from a cool dude named Tracy from Unspeakable Mag!

hello,
i was curious if you could give me some info on Zombeak...is it available yet, i'd love to check it out....please fill me in when ya can...thanks. Tracy

www.unspeakablemag.com

Unspeakable Magazine
c/0 --Necroscopic Unlimited--
Tracy Crockett

http://www.theancient-movie.com

http://www.unspeakablemag.com
http://www.spellcaster.addr.com http://xsorbit28.com/users5/unspeakableindies/index.php
www.horrorchannel.com
www.everythingscary.com

AND HERE'S WHAT I TOLD HIM!

Greetings Tracy,

Love the trailer, very rad. Damn good idea, a great way to make a movie. Crazy enough to work. Gotta love the people crazy enough to try and do this for a living.

So Zombeak!

It's been cut together and has a nice little flow to it all. For the last two months I have been working on the sound edit; basically teaching myself how to do such a thing, gathering equipment and trying all sorts of different set ups and so forth. Finally I had a break through this very same day when I received a new mike in the mail that has solved all my problems.

So the next step is getting all the actors in for some ADR, I refuse to be one of those low budget movies where you can't tell what people are saying.

On other fronts, we are gearing up for a test screening the first weekend of August to a select group of 17-22 year olds to see how the movie plays. The opening titles are being plotted out by a mad genius. Digital Effects are being hammered on somewhere in New Orleans. Tomorrow we are having a big music jam session to generate ideas and get a temp track for the test screening.

Thanks for asking, we just eat this elephant one bite at a time, it will all be worth it once people everywhere can sit back and enjoy it.

Keep Rock'in
SAM DROG

AND I RECOMEND EVERYONE to check out the sites he mentioned, they be cool brothers.

PRODUCTION E-MAIL!

here's a snipit from my e-mail:
anyone like the Misfits?


-----Original Message-----From: p@yahoo.com [mailto:phibes13@yahoo.com] Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2005 8:43 PMTo: b@hotmail.comSubject: Check out Misfits Meet the Nutley Brass!

Dear john

Have you heard about the new Misfits Lounge CD? It's called "Misfits meet the Nutley Brass: Fiend Club Lounge" and it's a Loungecore tribute to the legendary horror-punk band! The CD is an official Misfits Records release and comes with a free limited edition drink coaster. 'Fiend Club Lounge' includes 11 classic era Misfits favorites interpreted in retro-lounge style! Original Misfits guitarist Franche Coma even commented on the CD saying 'I was truly, truly impressed!'. Check out the eCard and preview 3 songs in their entirety plus see flash animations of the incredible cover art by legendary horror artist Basil Gogos by visiting http://www.rykodisc-media.com/misfits/

and here's what I said

That's hysterical!!!
Hawr hawr hawr!

I'm going into the movie to add some dramatic pauses in the last half, nothing major and nothing that will affect the footage you gave to Matt, just something to give a little more body and atmosphere to the film; it kind of races by like a strobe light. I ain't touching the opening up until the chicken shows, but we need a little more dramatic pausations.

Does the crapping corpse work for you? I might try the scene without it.

Also the title guy is doing storyboards.

The music guy is setting up his studio with a crap load of equipment. He owns the rights to a song that's really big in Greece.

I have the sound board thing set up and humming, it's cool! We'll be able to do so much to the Zombie voices and chicken stuff. Now just sound proofing the room.

Looking forward to ADR, and hearing music, and seeing the effects filter in.

FIGHTEVIL
SDROG

Testing 1,2,3... testing

Wow, sound editing is driving me INSANE! I put a clip on loop and tweek tweek tweek until the words have lost all meaning. It's fun actually, but I know I'm dring the house nuts.

So the computer is taking the mike, but here's the probelm. It gives a decent sound, but the level is low and there is a electrical whine in the background.

I have a camera mike that I could use, gives a strong signal but records every sound in creation.

My camera has no external mike jack. How did I miss that?

LAND OF THE DEAD tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, huff... huff... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FIGHTEVIL

Summer Con Complete

So we came, we saw, we kicked it's ass!

Summer Con was a lot of fun and gave us a great forum to spread the word of our little killer chicken movie. Thanks Danny, and thanks Summer Con for the invite.

Wes "producer" Campbell and I rambled for a bit, showed a scene, a trailer, some bloopers, and a "on the set" documentary.

It was great to see Susan Waters, one of our actors in the crowd and catch up with her.

Cindy Morgan, the girl from TRON was there, but I was too shy to come up to here and tell here how in love I was with her back when I was eight. It just makes things SO UNCOMFORTABLE! I vowed never to approach another actor I liked from my childhood after blathering infront of Bill "Choptop" Mossely at last years Dragon Con.

Nice dealers room, some great Godzilla merch.

The video presentation went fine, the sound was bad, but it gave me opportunity to blabber more.

Thanks Jayson for coming out, I owe you one.

FIGHTEVIL
SDROG

UPDATE OF THE LIVING DEAD!

So here's what's new!

Sci Fi Summer Con is coming up this weekend. As it turns out the panel will be just Wes Campbell the producer and I. I wanted everyone who had anything ever to do with the film on board, but there really isn't enough room for such a large family. Wes and I aren't too pretty, but we'll be able to ramble on pretty good about the ends and outs of making a low budget horror movie. Hope to see you guys out there, I'm sure the video tape will make it on the DVD regardless. Thanks to SCI-FI SUMMER for inviting the demonic chicken into their house. Oh, and here's the corrected website. http://sfscon.tripod.com

We have a new man on music. His name is Kevin Scott, and is a noted musician here in the Atlanta area. The man is a horror fanatic and a brilliant guy and I welcome him aboard. Charles Hume, who did a fantastic job on the trailer, and who is an awesome guy, was swamped with other film projects and had to bow out. The man is awesome and everyone should check out his website at http://www.broadjam.com/artists/artistindex.asp?artistID=6331

Our motion graphics genius is working out the opening title sequence. His name is Jeremy Sewell and the guy has an eye for cool. We talked last week about Saul Bass if that's any indication on the direction we're going. Here's his website, don't bother him, he's busy http://jeremysewell.com/

I've been working on getting the video presentation ready for Sunday, we'll be going on at 11am, and also I've begun the sound edit.

ROCK AND ROLL
SDROG

kick it!

So everyone check out Sci-Fi Summer Con the first week in June. Zombeak will be represented by a panel of principle cast and crew. We'll show some scenes, the trailer, some behind the SCREAMS, and some bloopers. There will be Q&A and everyone will get to know alittle more about this crazy little movie we're cooking up.

Here's the web site.

www.scifisummer.org

FIGHTEVIL
Sam

new stuff

So the effect shots have been sent out, I have the manual to the sound board, and a big gooey sty in my eye right now. Fun stuff. I have one more scene to tweak, then the sound editing, then the soundproofing, then the looping, then the foley, title sequence, and score. I'm meeting Jeremy Sewell the title guy this week, and the score guy Charles Hume if he has the hole in his schedule, and Nancy Miller the art director for gossip and cheese.

the ravings and droolings

Here's something new. I showed the rough cut to my producers S.C. Caruso and Wes Campbell last week; and prepared myself for a royal shelling. Eight months of work boiled down to this first screening and I really wasn't looking forward to being disemboweled and picked apart.

Well, scratch that, part of me was dying for it. Sitting alone with this thing for so long, how can you keep perspective. You get used to some glaring errors that only jump out again when you have someone else watching. On the other hand, some of the things that have nagged at you go by unnoticed, and when you bring it up later, they say that they didn't even see it. A lot of this is slight of hand I suppose. Look at the pretty bunny while I pick your pocket.

So what was the reaction from two people who have never blown smoke up my ass just to make my ego feel better, two people who will call shit by its name and won't hand you a complement unless you've earned every breath?

They were shocked and awed.

They are the third and forth people to see the film at this state. The first and second were the documentarian Jayson Hammett, who is right now hard at work cutting the hours of behind the scenes footage into an entertaining feature; and Mike Jackson the pre-production conceptualist who's fantastic drawings can be seen on the website.

I love these guys and they would never say anything to do me in, but I have made films in the past that have gotten nice but tepid reactions, and I know what it feels like. Feels like shit.

They freaked. And that's no lie. This is without music, folley, or special effects. I think we have something special; a killer chicken movie to set the bar for all killer chicken movies to come.

Now if I can just figure out how to run this sound board.

The Next Ten Steps

1. Set up the recording booth.
2. Get rough cut to the following people: SFX guys, music guy, opening titles guy.
3. isolate all the actors voices on separate tracks
4. loop the dialogue
5. gather room tones
6. gather sound effects
7. reveiw incoming effects work
8. work with the composer until he wants to kill me
9. mix the sound
10. mess with the color in some scenes

That's the next ten things. Then we get into festival play and getting it out to you, the drooling maniacs who should be in prison.

Completomatic

ROUGH CUT DONE!
Now just a million more things to do and the movie is ready to go!
FIGHTEVIL!

What's New?

Well, the movie is over an hour long now, and I’ve been spending my days cutting the last act while recutting the first act. Everything is starting to flow together in a big kamikaze free fall into hell. Zombie and chicken action abounds. We were also contacted by another distributor. Just waiting to see and getting the movie ready for a test screening.

FAINT!

Now, I could cry. I just finished cutting together the most intricate scene in the movie, the midpoint when everything goes to crap for all the characters. I broke my two pages maximum for scene length on this scene, and it took forever to shoot, and we had to keep going back to it and snagging little bits and pieces of it as the shoot when on. It has everything in it. Blood, Guts, Comedy, SFX, seven characters standing around a table, a major nightmare basically. I guess it is inspired by the Texas Chainsaw diner scene. But there is also some Thing in there. And some Re-Animator. This scene nearly killed me, and so right now I am celebrating the completion of the scene, that it works for me, and that it didn't kill me. There was no practical way to shoot this scene, so much damn coverage. So much blood and guts. I have learned to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER write another scene like this. I apologize to the cast and crew for putting them through this scene without giving them heavy drugs first.

Fun Times!

The movie is really cooking along now. I just cut together a chicken transformation and it turned out fine. Phew. The scenes are coming together quickly now and it's all fun and ho-hos until the sound editing starts.

SPEED DEMON!

So all the shots are cut, put into scenes, and now I'm arranging them and tweaking. This is the fun part. All the drudgery of loging and sorting and organizing leads up to this, a headbangers ball where I wheeze a sigh of relief that the scenes are cutting together and I might actually have a good movie at the end of this process. Everything is speeding up. I hope to have the movie done by June.
FIGHTEVIL

Finally!

I've dedicated this week to getting back on track, of coarse as soon as I decided that the whole world turns it's attention to you. The world is one big distraction. I feel that I live with a siren in my head that won't shut up. I type this with a mouth full of novocaine, and in a few hours I'm going to the doctor for him to check out a weird growth that has sprouted out of my back. But enough of that. The movie is almost finished. I'm chopping like a maniac and will be done with the rough by the end of the week.

By the way, I've decided to start a separate blog for movie reviews. It's called Ten Good Reasons and no matter what the movie is, I'll find ten reasons you will have to see it. The first movie is Paranoia 1.0. Check out the review here ---> www.10gr.blogspot.com

Back to Boring

Thank goodness. The last few days have been apocalyptic. Right in the middle of the big move we had a death in the family that was earth shattering, and I can't wait for life to get back to normal. At least I can now chill and let the world speed by me, and not think to much, unpack and start back up on the editing. Friends have moved back to GA that I haven't seen in a while, and it will be nice to hang with again and drink a cup of Joe with. And I've got some really weird projects that I've started to write for the next thing. The goal is to make two movies a year, of course I'll have to work quicker then I am now, but that is the goal. I mainly want to write the scripts, and find some brilliant cat who loves bossing people around and being center of attention to direct them. All I need in life to be happy is to write horror, watch horror, and drink a lot of coffee. I'll produce too just until I can find someone who will do it for me. The ideal would be to live in a bubble of quiet stillness, and type away, and occasionally going out to grab some coffee or see a movie or take a road trip, and only that when I feel psychoticly adventurous.

Three More Daze

So we are almost done moving, this has nothing to do with the movie other then it is keeping me from working on it physically, but last night I was wide eyed in the new house just playing it over and over and over again in my head different cuts I'm going to make and how some scenes will slice together, praising my ingenuity one second and damning my incompetence the next. A sleepless night. Maybe this is how it goes, you work until you're sick of it, then sit back from it until there is nothing else on your brain but "the it". This is theory and thus a waste of time and keystrokes.

Calm Down

There are more posts these days just cuz it has become one of the few creative outlets I've got for now. Packing, packing, moving, moving, slap me in a dress and call me Cinderella. Sinderella. Blah-blah-blah.

Estimated Completion Dates

Just moving and packing, nothing interesting going on. ECD - February the 17th.
ECD on the movies first cut, third weekend of Feb.
ECD on the ADR, end of March
ECD on sound effects, end of April
ECD on effects, I'm handing that off to others so I'm not sure, before the June premiere is all that matters.
ECD on the score, as soon as the rough cut goes through a polish run, then we'll hand it over to the bloke doing that and he had scored a film in a week before this. I'll guess this one will take three.
There will also be a day of inserts to help gore the move up more. These will be shot in a garage and shouldn't take more then a day.
Enough of me yack'n.
FIGHTEVIL

Reel Life (cliche)

So after all that I still have three hours to cut. It's in the computer and sitting there waiting for me to chop it up and rearrange it, but of coarse a little real life has intruded into my hermetically sealed fantasy world and I have to address these issues. Crap. This is the most challenging thing about making a film, or doing anything worthwhile, and anyone will agree with me on this, the persistent encroachment of external reality. Why won't it just go away! No matter what I do to block it out, it creeps back in through the cracks in the window, under the door jams, wherever it can get a foot hold. Give reality an inch, it takes a foot, then it crams it up your ass.

So these days I am packing up the house and moving to another house down the road. No matter how much I stare at my belongings they don't disappear or pack themselves, so I guess I will have to deal with them. Bummer. And then I go,"Great! I'll simplify my life!" But it doesn't work like that see. I see every emotional connection to every scrap of paper and every illegible post-it. Every VHS tape, every cassette, every book, comic, whatever, it all seems too important to throw out. I have so much trash that means too much to me. I envy the Buddhist on the hill that has nothing and wants nothing. I suffer greed and envy all at once. Is this rambling entry procrastination to keep from packing? Sure is.

Chop Shot

So I just finished lacerating another tape. I'm listening to KFDM while I write this. This band is funny. I feel so E-V-I-L listening to them! RAWR!!!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!

While I cut I'm listening to the "Escape from New York" soundtrack cause it helps to remind yourself of just why the heck you wanted to do this ridiculous crap in the first place.

I actually met Carpenter back in '98 at Dragon Con here in Atlanta. I had a complete fanboy breakdown that made Carpenter very nervous and other fanboys feel pretty good about themselves. The level of drooling blind devotion I showered upon Carpenter (or Johnny McCarp as I have tattooed on my ass) left me feeling like a real champ. It's hard to look like the biggest nerd in a room full of 54 year old men wearing Peter Pan costumes.

I still have the cigarette butts that I swiped from Carpenters ashtray.

DON'T JUDGE ME!!!!!!

seven hours

Things are progressing fine, some stuff is easier to cut then others. The thing I'm dreading is this large conversation between four principles that is spoken in a huddle. A lot is said and a I covered it in two reversals with a difficult composition in the frame to maintain. Everyone had to stand exactly where we put them or they would be blocking another's face, and when they moved (because the conversation involves also three more principles in another room) they had to go back to the exact space they were in, and make it look natural. This was all in a feeble attempt to honor (rip off) John Frankenheimer who I love because of his deep focus compositions during conversations. I tried to do this elsewhere in the movie, but this was the most challenging spot. I'm dreading cutting it together.

LAST DAY

So this is scheduled to be the last day of the rough cut so I'm am working around the clock to get it done by midnight. I was so nervous putting in the last of the footage because I hadn't seen certain scenes that I knew we shot, and I freaked and wondered if I had lost a tape, and what if I had, and what would I do!?! And so I started tying a noose, just in case that happened, with notes to the producer on how I would have finished the project had I not been met with such an unfortunate event. I wrote down phones numbers to the location contacts and such and the pages to the missing scenes. But it so happens that on the last tape I put into the hard drive all the holes were filled and thus the noose has been put back into the drawer until the ADR sessions start up.

I will be making several entries this day to keep for prosperity the long last day of the first cut. Well this only took five and a half months to get to this point; frame by frame, shot by shot, scene by scene, act by act, sequel by pointless sequel.

FIGHTEVIL
SD

Home Stretch

So I'm motivated and focused on getting this rough cut done by the end of the month, nothing going to stop this nutball from getting to the sweet spot it so desires! If I have to edit around the clock, the flick will have a cut ready by Feb 1st. Then of course it will be torn apart by my preview screeners, and it still has sound work to be done, and the rest of the digital effects to be put in, but that stuff is cool and fun, especially adding the sound effects. The rough cut is tough because you are constantly facing reality, not idealism, and that is something I hate doing. Never liked doing it, don't have a taste for it.

FIGHT EVIL!

SICK AS A DROG

Last few days I've just been bleeding mucus out of every orifice and my head has felt like hot mashed potatoes. I've been doing life things, but fell behind the schedule as far as the movie goes. But the nice thing is that I'm filling in a lot of the narrative holes now in editing. New footage comes in and plugs a gap and I get a better sense of how this whole thing will flow. Also I'm finding pick up and close ups that I had forgotten I had done, so the scenes are becoming better and better in terms of coverage.

In terms of length, I'd like the move to run exactly 90 minutes with credits included.

The hardest thing about editing is dealing with the enormous work load. This can be intimidating, especially since we shot 21 hours of footage. I've never edited something this big. The last film was a short with 9 hours recorded. Simple stuff. And that took months. I'm not sure how long this stuff is supposed to take, but we are at the five month mark now since we stopped filming. I guess that's not too bad. Every shot I put in lightens the load just that much.

I have several screenplays gearing up for the next project. I've learned so much as far as how to write a filmable scene from this movie. I want the next one to go smooth and fast.

The website for the Sci-Fi Summer Con where Zombeak! will be promoted is here at http://www.scifisummer.org/.

67%

That's how far along we are in the cut, with seven tapes to go and an hour running time. It's been fun the last few days as I've been pulling all nighters on the puppy, working from midnight until 8am. I blew through footage doing this, no distractions and no sounds or light, just me and the movie. Of coarse doing this means you live like a vampire and sleep through the day and wake as the sun is going down. That has been a blast and something I haven't done for years. The world conformed me into a nine to five mentality.

The cool news is that Zombeak will be represented at the Summer Sci-Fi Con 2005 in Atlanta, GA! The event takes place in June and we will be talking up the movie for an hour to hungry fans in the southeast. Also, and this is a maybe depending on what kind of venue they are able to come up with, there will be a special preview screening at the con. I haven't enough info right now to give a thumbs up or down, and it won't happen if it is just a tv in a meeting room, but if we can get an auditorium with a screen and a projector, this very well might happen.

FIGHTEVIL!

SFXplosion

I'm so excited right now. I just got back the tests for some special effect shots and it feels like a thousand pounds are off my shoulders. They look awesome! It was some shotgun blasts and some head damage that I was really wondering how it would turn out, and I give props to Wes and Matt for making it look really neat. I forget how FX intensive this thing really is, and to finally see some of that, not just actors reacting to nothing, is a real hoot.

The movie is an hour long now, and I still have eight hours of raw stuff to go. The final running length I'm shooting for is standard exploitation 90 minutes. Does anyone really want to see a three hour mood piece about a killer chicken?