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NEWS December 25, 2008 - "If I don't get Internet access and post something soon, they're going to think that I've either died or abandoned the film." (Neither of which are true.) This is roughly the conversation that I had with my fiancee two weeks ago, and yes it has taken me that long to get Internet access. See, I actually moved to a new residence at the end of November, and have been engrossed in extensive renovations almost continuously since then. (The renovations were largely completed three days ago.) So, November was almost taken up with preparing to move, and December was almost entirely taken up with doing renovations while essentially living on a construction site. As you can imagine, it leaves one somewhat isolated from the rest of the world. That being said, there has been progress, even if that progress has been somewhat delayed due to life circumstances. (What can I say? New job, new house, renovations, book chapter authorship, impending wedding and film editing all within a six month period leaves one with a need to prioritize.) So, where do we stand right now? The last half of Act 2 is mid-roughcut. Most of the dialog is voiceover narration by Winter, and that audio has been cleaned and fully assembled. Right now, about half of the inserts into the scene (which include flashbacks involving the Archangel Simon, Amy Klein, etc.) are assembled. There's still a lot of work to be done, and though it's being done a bit slower this month than in months past, it is definitely being done consistently... Thanks, all, for your continued patience and support... and happy holidays. Screencaps from Act 2 to follow soon... November 08, 2008 -
Alright, I ended up taking an extra week to finish not only Act 2 but also to
clean up the audio to Act 3. I've put together the first 14 minutes of the film
and have sent it off to Adonis for scoring... So, I'm waiting to hear back his
thoughts. There are a few surprises in this Act, including some cenobite footage that I hadn't expected to put into it, but I'm pretty excited about it and am pleased with the way it looks, so I'm going to hold off on posting the screencaps and let people see the cenobite clips after the film is done. So, here's a few screencaps from the final cut of Act 2. None of these should come as a big surprise...
October 09, 2008 - Just a quick note this time... Wanted to inform that the (very) rough cut of Act 2 is assembled. It's clocking in at 6 minutes, 11 seconds. This number will fluctuate by about 5 seconds or so in either direction, depending on visual effects, changes, etc., if I don't decide to change something a bit more radical, like pacing. Will keep posting updates about progress with a cleaner cut... Most importantly, a hearty congratulations to friend, colleague and fellow Hellraiser fanfilmmaker Mark Adams, for completing and releasing his first (of, hopefully, many) Hellraiser fan films, THE HELLRAISER CHRONICLES: LIFEBRINGER (2008). This British production is the newest episode in the anthology that began with RN Millward's THE HELLRAISER CHRONICLES: A QUESTION OF FAITH (2003). Bravo and kudos to the cast and crew of LIFEBRINGER! Information on the film and the DVD may be found at http://www.cenobite.com/forum/showthread.php3?threadid=7618 October 04, 2008 - First off, a warm and grateful welcome to our newest Co-Producer, Mr. Brad Garris. Thank you, sir, for your generous support and kind words. :) Secondly, on to news about Act 2. I'm about 65% done with the rough cut, and that 65% is clocking in at about 4 min, 15 sec. I'm not sure how we did it that day, but we had about 25 setups, about 20 of which are being used in the cut. (I'm exhausted and my brain hurts.) Again, my kudos to D.P. John Hudak, gaffer Dan Weiss and the talented actors and crew who volunteered on that grueling day. Now, even when the rough cut IS done, there's still 1) lighting corrections, 2) sound editing and 3) visual effects that need to be done before I can send this all to the composer. I'm aiming to have the rough cut done by the end of the coming week, but I'm starting a new job on Monday, and I'm not sure how that will factor into my existing plans. That being said, the gameplan is to have Act 2 tidied up by Halloween, at which point the footage of the first three contiguous acts gets sent to the composer, and I dive into Act 4. Still aiming for the end of January for the full assembly (minus music.) I was going to include screen captures, but because I haven't corrected most of the lighting yet, I don't want to throw in any final caps, but here's two more screencaps that were between takes. (#1 - I show Monica how she should restrain Spencer. #2 - Pete and April after one of the takes came to an abrupt halt... Hint: this one's going in the gag reel.)
P.S. All this editing while riding the Long Island Railroad has made me long for the days of editing poolside at a resort in Curacao... :)
In the script, the Act comprises scenes 5 through 11. This was Day 3 of filming, and was easily the longest, in terms of actual footage captured (even though Day 6, with Pinhead, was a longer day, due to time for set preparation, makeup and cleanup). The dailies for Day 3 took up almost 3 digital tapes, so I've begun by parsing the dailies for Day 3 into its component shots: 10 in all on the first tape, not sure how many yet on the second. I'll be back home tomorrow night to take care of tape 2. I'm shuffling many files off of my laptop onto temporary storage to make room for all of the shots. It's too early to tell (because I've only begun to edit this act together) but it's looking like this act will run about 8 minutes or so. All in all, I'd say that we're doing pretty well. Acts 1 and 3 are done. Acts 5 & 6 have been (very) roughly cut. I'm starting Act 2 now, which leaves Act 4. Still, we're on track to get the assembled film over to the composer by the end of January.
So, some stats: Scenes 12, 13, 13B, C, D and 14 were shot at four locations, and run at 5:53, bringing the total runtime of the edited footage so far to 7 minutes, 54 seconds. In debating between finishing the last 30% of Act 5 or going for broke with Act 2, I'm aiming for the latter. When Act 2 is complete, that will give us the first 40% (or so) of the film contiguously complete, which I can give to Adonis Aletras for scoring. Right now, it's still piecemeal, so I'll try to bridge the gap. I've got some screencaps from Act 3 below,
hopefully not enough to give too much away. In truth, I thought Act 3 was done
this past Wednesday, but when I decided to view it on a TV screen (for scale), I
found a few items that needed adjusting... The most notable adjustment was the
use of a moderately tight shot that was filmed outdoors. It turns out that there
was dust on the lens, and the particular angle that we shot at had the dust
glowing from the reflecting sunlight, tracking all
My immediate plans for the next week are actually
to wrap up the PASTICHE OF THE DEAD DVD as best I can to get it off my sodding
hard drive. This should give me enough space to work with Act 2, which is fairly
long, and probably has a greater number of shots than any other Act in the
film... but again, I'm eager to do this, if for no other reason than to work
with the Bobbi Merchant, Jack Merchant and Angelique footage.
July 22, 2008 -
Well, doing editing every morning/evening on the
Long Island Railroad cannot begin to hold a candle to doing editing at a resort
on the south coast of the island of Curacao, located off the northern coast of
Venezuela between snorkeling excursions. Good times, indeed. good times. (Here's
me editing.) Anyhow, I lied. It turns out that with the PASTICHE OF THE DEAD DVD remaining incomplete I have a limited amount of space on this laptop's hard drive, and I couldn't fit all of the source files for Act 2 onto here, so I decided to move on to Act 3 instead, the library scene. Having worked on this on and off for the past few days, I cannot begin to express what a relief it is to do editing rather than visual effects. (That, and the island setting helps. And the alcohol.) Here are a few screencaps. So far, so good, only two obstacles so far: 1) having worked with the Act 1 audio previously and now switching to Act 3 makes me wish that we could have secured Allison Jackson to do sound on the entire film, rather than just Act 1/6... Still, under the circumstances, it's going pretty well. 2) I've got a single "crossing-the-stage-line" issue to resolve, which I'll come back to, but for now, I'd like to finish the rough cut of this act... Will keep people posted...
July 16, 2008 - First off, many thanks to our new associate producers Darrell Ray Herman and Jose Leitao. Thanks for coming aboard! Act 1: As I've mentioned before, the visuals are done, and it's about bloody time. It's been two months of continuous work specifically on this Act (particularly Scene 02), and now I'm actually happy with it. The audio is done as well, and a special thank you goes out to Charles Hall who emailed in after the last news update and recommended that I visit SoundDogs.com, where I found the two sound effects I needed. Mr. Hall, a hearty thank you, sir. Boulder hits, rocks and debris, hm? Never would have come up with that on my own... So, I sent Act 1 to Adonis Aletras (our composer) a few days ago... We've had some hearty discussions about Because there's so much of the film left to go, I've left it up to him to decide whether to work his magic now on what's done, or to wait until more of the film is more available for him... Right now, there's no rush on music, just a rush on editing. And we know whose responsibility editing is. The response we've had on Facebook has been far better than I'd hoped... We've got over 200 fans now! Also, I'm almost done paying off the rental fees on the equipment from the shoot... Many thanks to my D.P. John Hudak for his faith and patience. I'd also like to shout out to our #1 fan, Michael Waskelis who has thankfully reminded me that another Producer Newsletter is probably quite due... I will definitely try to put a more comprehensive update together with a few exclusive screencaps for them, as time allows. Lastly, and most importantly, I bid a fond
"until-next-time" to Hermann Eppert (in pale green, below, between takes
adjusting Drummond's costume, with Pete looking on), who plays "Ivan" and who
helped us with the production design for Day 5. Not only is he a gifted actor,
but he drew upon his prior experience as a furniture maker and volunteered his
time and skills to draw us a set of blueprints to use for constructing the
Pandora Estate set... Hermann, I wish you well on your return to Germany! Don't
be a stranger...  
May 29, 2008 -
Act 1 proceeds. To say that I'm thrilled to have Michael Joseph
aboard as Visual Effects designer is an understatement... He rendered us a
fantastic blood eruption from Winter's mouth, and a fantastic chain to follow...
(If you're reading this, I'm assuming that you've already seen the original HELLRAISER: DEADER, so you already should know what happens at the end.) In
either case, I threw in some color correction, some digital blood on his robe,
some motion tracking (halfway there) and a timecode overlay and
we've got ourselves a good work in progress... Anyway, I wasn't really looking to show these cards quite so soon, but the truth is that I've been spending a lot of time tweaking this, and I did want you to know that there's definitely progress, and again, that my absence from updates is not an absence from work. It may be a long bloody road, so to speak, but believe me, every day we're getting one step closer... Act 1 - Completion of remaining Pinhead adjustments (motion tracking for
first five seconds of footage) and sound editing. May 14, 2008 - Well, it's about 1 in the morning, I've got to get ready for work in five hours, and here I am writing a quick update. Today was interesting, as it marked my return to Adobe AfterEffects, to delete a lighting rig that appeared in the top of the frame in Act 1. It's been a while. A long while. But, it's like riding a bike. So, my meeting with Michael (Visual Effects) is tomorrow. I'm very confident that he'll do a great job with the single blood-effect in Act 1. After that gets dropped in, all that's left is a timecode overlay, some foley work (recorded my chattering teeth just a few hours ago) and sound cleanup. I'll send the rough cut of these scenes off to Adonis (Composer) but I'm not certain we need the music this early in the assembly. Really, I'd just like for him to get a feel for the mood of the film, as it develops. Quite pleased with Act 1. Next I'll re-attack Act 6/Finale. I had some interesting ideas on how to address the continuity issue that's remaining, in a way that will be visually interesting, and much less cut-and-dry than how it was scripted. Some sleep would be nice. April 28, 2008 - One hopes that silence is not mistaken for absence. Apologies for having been so lax on adding news lately... Well, to begin with, editing is going fairly smoothly. Currently in the pipeline:
ACT FIVE - The hotel room scene. This was the first day of shooting, and arguably the most problematic. The rough cut is almost done, all but the end of the scene, and several more insert flashes need to be added as well... ACT SIX - So, we filmed two different endings for the film. Originally, the goal was to include one ending after the end credits, and save the other ending as a "supplemental ending" to be released on the Internet or with the DVD. Problem is that I really like both endings, and they're not mutually exclusive. So, I've threaded one ending into the end credits, and am editing together the supplemental ending to run after the end credits finish rolling. That being said, the first ending is done, but I may need to shoot some inserts to bridge some continuity problems in the supplemental ending... We'll see... So, believe me, much is indeed being done... March 28, 2008 - A few quick things of note... Editing effort continues; we've added a Gallery and Links page to the website. But most importantly... ...the trailer is done! You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npExTO0fSxw March 20, 2008 - I'm very gratified to announce that our crew is now joined (at a significant remove) by Cypriot composer Adonis Aletras. And he's actually IN Cyprus, not just FROM Cyprus. This will be my second Internet scoring collaboration, and I'm excited to have Mr. Aletras aboard. Our first job will be to complete the trailer, and then we'll move on to the rest of the film. I've started a bit of editing in Act 5, which was the first day of shooting. That will likely be the first scene to be done... As to the website, I'll be adding a Links page soon (note: actress April McCullough has launched her website), as well as a FAQ page, mainly to address comments/concerns that I anticipate fans will have... Please note that the Credits page is incomplete, and does not include several crew who joined us for Day 6. John has actually compiled the list of those not yet included, and I hope to have those up soon as well. I may put up some additional photos here soon, but I'll likely put existing photos in the Gallery section (which I'm also working on) when I have a chance... Will keep you posted, especially on the trailer! March 13, 2008 - Well, the video for the trailer is done, now I'm cleaning up the audio as best I can... The ad for a composer that I put up on Craigslit a little over 24 hours ago has met with surprisingly prolific response! It'll take me a while to go through the submissions, but it's good to know that I have options... Many thanks to all who have submitted so far. The truth is, I haven't had time to look/listen yet... I'm actually on deadline for a website launch tomorrow for something else entirely... Just finished. For now. :) On the other hand, I've located the missing behind-the-scenes tape from Day 6! The footage is not lost after all! :) Right then, so a trailer should definitely be ready either at the end of this month, or early next month... (In fairness, the reason for the quick turnaround is that this trailer has been planned since before we started filming. So it was kind of a leveraged project.) Anyhow, I'm off to Monster Mania X this weekend, but I'll be back to work on Monday... March 10, 2008 - So, there's good news and bad news. The bad news is that all of the behind-the-scenes video footage for Day 6 was lost. Right now, our best guess is that we taped over it for Day 7. Ah well... The good news is that Christina Purpi has sent me 250 behind-the-scenes pictures, some of which I'll share here. (Thank you, Christina!) In other news, Allison, John and I are meeting up next week to transfer the DAT footage for use in editing. That notwithstanding, I've already begun editing together the trailer. It's about a third of the way done. I'm hoping to have the video set by the end of the weekend, and the audio set by the end of the weekend after. So, hopefully, by the end of the month, we'll have a trailer. My next step, as I continue editing the film proper, will be to find a composer. Our tentative composer is still tentative, and with all gratitude and respects to him, I'll likely begin the process of looking elsewhere. ...but I will say that it's a damn relief to be done with production. :) Right then: pictures! (Note: 1) they're not really in order, and 2) Don't get the wrong idea: this day was an insane amount of work and time for everyone involved, but these scenes are by NO MEANS the center of the story. Remember: The Cenobite scenes are crucial, but ultimately this is a story about Winter...)
March 03, 2008 -
Well, it’s done. Production has concluded, following three very successful days of hard work by over two dozen people. ...still, I wasn't vomitting enough to stop myself from showing up at Drummond's apartment at noon with Ms. Plum and my sister Christie who drove in all the way from Freehold, NJ just to do the fittings. (Granted, for most of the fitting, they had to put up with my whining as I was curled up in a fetal position on his couch,) but I did manage to take a few pictures. Left: Christie repairs the Spike mask and costume. (It's the first time it's seen use since 2005... Storage has not been kind. It needing some patching.) Right: Drummond during costume fitting for her Pinhead costume; the mask prior to alterations. (The grid will be less dark, and the nose/upper jaw will be applied separately).
I'll have more costume pictures for you shortly (tomorrow?)... I'm grabbing the very last costume pieces that we've been missing (fishnets for "Despina," gold-rimmed sunglasses for "Joey," gloves for "Spike" and "Chatterer," etc.) Sets are about 60% built. Those 60% will be painted tomorrow, and the remaining 40% will be built, we'll see if we can get to painting them... Some would say that this is last minute, I say that it's the price of doing a fan film of this scale on zero budget, with essentially 2-3 people working on it after work. Still, either way, it will be done. :) The good news is that all fifteen cast (which includes background and understudies) have checked in for Saturday, so we're good to go. I'm working on confirming the remaining crew, as well as cast for Sunday. Right, back to work... Three days left for prep... February 23, 2008 - Set construction continues... We have 12 wooden frames, 12 sheets of sheet rock and 6 days left.
All but two or three people have checked in, so we're in pretty good shape... A lot to take care of between now and then. Drummond, Christie, S. Plum and I are meeting in Brooklyn tomorrow for makeup/costume fitting. February 17, 2008 - Alright, we've had to reschedule some of our scenes (Act 3B) to March 2, due to an illness, and we've therefore decided to combine the NYC scenes into one day (March 1), to reduce transportation, location and makeup costs. The bright side is that we really did some good work today... Pictures follow below. :) Right, with two weeks left, we're constructing set pieces in earnest for the Pandora Estate scene. Christie is coming down to do makeup/costume fittings with Drummond on Feb 24th, and we're good to go!
February 11, 2008 - Or, again, more like 1:16AM on February 12... Well, our four-day marathon of filmwork is done. :) I'm exhausted, but exhilarated that we're more than halfway done with filming. The past four days were grueling, but we've covered most of the script. Today's thanks go, of course, to John, Dan W. and Pete, but more importantly to Allison Jackson who joined us today as Sound Recordist (she will be back on March 1/2) and Brittany Mosher who stepped into the role of "Natasha." Also, innumerable thanks to Katie of Mamma Cucina Restaurant for being so hospitable. We were very disruptive to the restaurant during the dinner rush, and despite our blocking of the hallway to the bathroom, they were not only exceedingly kind, they even agreed to lower the volume of the music to minimize its presence on our audio track. The large number of patrons did make things challenging from an audio standpoint, but in the end, it ended up being an ideal location for us. Thank you again, all! It wasn't the easiest day, but we all pulled through! Not too many pictures from today, but here are a few: (#1: Brittany Mosher goes blonde for the role of "Natasha." #2: Brittany and Pete before we got started. #3: Back row - Dan Weiss, Jonathan Kui, Pete Mizzo. Front row - Allison Jackson, John Hudak, Katie of Mamma Cucina's and Brittany Mosher)
Still to come: Re-storyboarding for Act 3B (library now, not antique store), set construction for Act 1/6. To everyone involved over the past four days: THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK. Alright, I'm ready for some damn sleep... Update: I was going to hold off on this picture from yesterday to save for a later date, but Pete requested that it be put up, and how can I not, in thanks to his hard work:
February 10, 2008 - Well, more like 1:30AM on February 11, but who's counting? Today was our longest shoot by far, and probably the longest on the entire projected schedule. (March 1/2 will be more complicated, but the days won't be as long.) We shot over 2 hours of film today, covering all of Act 2 and the beginning of Act 3. It was extremely productive, and again, my thanks go to S. Plum, S.T. Kui, Kerri McKenna, April, Pete, Spencer (and Lane) Hall, Monica and, of course, Dan and John. The most important thanks of the day, however, go to Erin Coughlin and family, who allowed us to take over their house to film all day. Erin, I am deeply grateful, truly. Well, we started at about 10:30AM and wrapped at about 8:30PM, which was a good, solid day. Tomorrow, call time isn't until a leisurely 2PMish, but I'm definitely looking forward to working with Brittany Mosher as our new Natasha. (She's come all the way down from Ithaca, NY to film with us!) Extra thanks go to Katie and Michael of Mamma Cucina Restaurant! Once again, Erin: our entire cast and crew thank you for making today possible. Here are some pictures from today:
February 09, 2008 - Day two is complete. We got absolutely everything we needed today, and we finalized arrangements with Mama Cucina Restaurant in Lake Ronkonkoma for photography on Monday. Many thanks to S. Plum and S.T. Kui for making today possible, and to Seema, Nadia, Dan M., Spencer T. and John H. for making today complete. Tomorrow will prove to be an extremely busy and extremely challenging day, as it is our most packed filming day yet. Let's do it. In the meantime, here are some images from today. (In chronological order, from left to right: 1) Seema Ramji in costume as the Puzzle Guardian. She'll next film with us again on Feb 17th. 2) Nadia Suen at the end of day, on location, as Yolanda. She'll film with us again on March 1. 3) Jonathan Kui, S.T. Kui and John Hudak holding up a scafolding that was used for... well, it would take too long to explain. This shot actually finished what was left of the blood from the gallon we originally bought for Hellraiser: Prophecy. 4) Dan Moody as the Archangel Simon, John Hudak, Spencer Teplin as the late Colonel Hawthorne and Jonathan Kui on set at the end of the night. Dan will be filming with us again, as well as helping with makeup, on March 1. Spencer may help us out with set construction as well.)
A very special thanks, which I shamefully almost forgot, goes out to Hermann Eppert for helping design an incredible set for the Pandora Estate. I was blown away by the work he's done, all for the love of the project, and I hope that we will at LEAST come close to what he's drawn out for us... We're certainly going to give it our best! February 02, 2008 - Day one of Principal Photography is complete. And boy, was it memorable. I suppose it began a little before midnight, when Siu-Tsang and I left for Manhattan to pickup our D.P. (John Hudak Jr.) and the equipment. It was nothing short of miraculous that we were able to fit three tripods, three C-stands, the video camera, a monitor, about half a mile of cables and extension cords and all three of us into one Saturn Ion. (S.T. is a wizard at packing in.) (Sadly, none of us had a camera on us.) Gaffer Dan Weiss followed us in to Ronkonkoma and we checked in the equipment at the hotel at about 2:30AM... About four hours later, I was back on the road to Manhattan to pick up actors Hermann, Oleg and Pete in Manhattan. We made it back to the hotel at about 9:30AM, where we met up with actress Meagan, makeup artists Pam and Dan M., Erin C. and Craft Services Siu-Tsang Kui and S. Plum. So, it was a pretty crowded hotel room. The day was a very strong success, and we captured about 90% of what we needed. We're still scheduling out the remaining inserts; they'll probably be shot on March 2nd, but the plans haven't been finalized yet. So, I don't have very many pictures on me yet (I was a bit occupied), though I'll endeavor to get a few up here in the next days, and maybe a screenshot or two as well. In the meantime, here are two quick photos. (Left: Pam and Dan Moody apply makeup to Meagan Moir, as "Despina," while Oleg Volinsky and Pete Mizzo look on from outside. Right: Director of Photography John Hudak Jr. sets up a kino with a green gel.)
UPDATE: Here are a few more. (#1: Jonathan S. Kui directs Pete Mizzo and Meagan Moir. #2: Oleg Volinsky, Gaffer Dan Weiss and John Hudak. #3: Pete, Meagan and Oleg.)
January 30, 2008 - Three days left and counting. I'd like welcome aboard Dan Weiss, our gaffer and associate producer, who comes to us by way of John Hudak. Our deepest thanks go to them both for their assistance! Plans for this Saturday are pretty much set, as you can see from the pictures of provisions, some of the props/equipment (not including John's camera kit and Dan's lighting kit), and some of the costumes.
We're already pretty deep into planning for the weekend of Feb 9/10/11. Transportation details have been released for the ninth, though I'm still waiting to hear back from one person. The plans for the 11th are done (though haven't been communicated yet), and I'm working on firming up details for the 10th. On the bright side, the storyboards for Act 2 are done. There's 73 frames, but here are a few:
Three days and counting to begin production on a project that I've been planning for about two years... Good times. (I'll sleep next month. :) ) January 22, 2008 - Two weeks until we start filming, and things are going well. We are all set for Feb 02. Transportation, food, props, equipment and actors are all good to go. Our Myspace page is up and running and the Facebook page is almost up. We've also pleased to have aboard Allison Jackson as sound recordist. Additional thanks go to our newest contributors, Steven Feldman, Stoney Buckler and my friends at Auricle Media, as well as our newest (and first!) Co-Producer, Geoff Varney. Less than two weeks to go! January 08, 2008 - With less than a month before principal photography commences, we have a lot going on behind the scenes. Most importantly, heartfelt thanks go to Pete Mizzo, Jaclyn Reid and John Hudak for helping me out with the schedule. The complete schedule is as follows:
So, with that in mind, we're almost good to go. Hermann Eppert and I are meeting on Wednesday, and he's going to give me some advice on my set piece ideas for the March shooting dates. Christie Bialowas contacted me today with progress on the two cenobite costumes. (Two, because the Spike costume is still here from HRP). S. Plum and I went shopping for cases of water, food and soda on sale this weekend. Remember, folks, it may be a low budget independent fan film, but the least we need to do is make sure that the people who are volunteering their time aren't hungry and thirsty. When I asked everyone if anyone had any nutritional requirements I should adhere to for food services during the shoot, I did receive this:
"I'm
glad you mentioned dietary needs. Mine are as follows: HEHEHEHE outSTANDing. I did have to do some rewriting this week, however. The antique store scene isn't working quite as planned. An antique store which gave me the tentative go-ahead a few months ago backed out. (They decided that a film with "Hellraiser" in the title and the words "pleasure," "desire" and "temptation" in the dialog would not "work" for them. Not kidding. Nice.) That being said, Ms. Plum and I scouted out about half a dozen other antique stores in a twenty mile radius about two weeks ago. Of the ones that actually weren't closing down, one was not very sanguine about the prospect, and the other would allow us to film on a Monday. Unfortunately, asking volunteers to donate a second Monday to film an unpaid nonprofit project (with Feb 11 being the first Monday they were asked to donate) was not really tenable. So, the simplest thing to do was to rewrite the scene. Losing an antique store as a setting takes away from a bit of the ambience, but under the circumstances, I'm just grateful that everyone's still aboard. Our Myspace page is pretty much complete and viewable at http://www.myspace.com/hrdwinterslament/ Also, with production underway in February, this is the last month to make donations for producer credits at their current levels. When February comes, Special Thanks will go up to $30, Associate Producers will go up to $50, Co-Producers (which we have none of yet :) ) will go up to $100, and Executive Producers will go up to $150. So, our immediate concern is securing the remaining props, costumes and transportation for the Feb 2 and Feb 9 shoots, and working out of the design of the set pieces for the Pandora Estate scene in March. December 17, 2007 - Heh, this prop came in the mail today... Yes, we're definitely on our way...
December 14, 2007 - Alright, so, what news? Well, to begin with, the latest Producer's newsletter was completed two nights ago, with, among other things, a cast/character comparison, a link to a short clip from April McCullough's audition (for Marla). So, to our producers, enjoy!
As for shooting schedule, we've finalized our third weekend out of four. The last weekend of shooting will be the weekend of March 1st, 2008, at a rehearsal studio in Manhattan. (I had originally scheduled us for Mar 22/23, which would have been ideal. Thankfully, Christie Bialowas warned me, within 12 hours of emailing out the dates, that March 23, 2008 is Easter. (A bit early, no?) So, the only other suitable dates are the weekend of March 1/2. Also, a restaurant scene featuring Natasha (from HRP, now played by Brittany Mosher) will be shot on Monday, Feb 11 at a restaurant called Mama Cucina's in Lake Ronkonkoma. Many thanks to Katie, one of the two owners, for being incredibly generous and flexible! Three weekends scheduled. One left to go...
Costumes are about 40% done, props as well... It's all coming together. :) In other news, I apologize for not mentioning an extremely artistic Hellraiser fan film named Lemarchand Scrolls. Please give your support and encouragement to Hellraiser artist Lich, the filmmaker. Wonderfully done... November 20, 2007 - Marla, Marla, Marla... Difficult choice, Marla. I met with our final Marla candidate this afternoon, and with that being the last of the auditions, I have to say that the decision on Marla is going to take a few more days... We've narrowed it down to three very, very talented actresses, each of whom would make an excellent Marla for different reasons... The difficult decision now will rest upon which reason will ultimately be the most appropriate for the scenes... This is probably the most difficult casting decision I've faced so far, and I'm not looking forward to having to choose. A few days reflection and some input from the D.P. will probably help nudge me in any given direction...
I'll say this... Having chosen to go the path of auditioning trained actors for the lead roles, I never expected how difficult both the process and the decisions would be. Still, I'm grateful for my friends in the cast who have agreed to be a part of this film (especially to Monica Dus, Matthew Bialowas and Meagan Moir who are returning from HELLRAISER: PROPHECY) and am even more grateful for the new friends and colleagues that I've made in casting the lead roles in this film... I cannot thoroughly enough express how excited I am to be working with everyone... A quick shout-out to my trans-Atlantic friend Mark Adams (director of the forthcoming THE HELLRAISER CHRONICLES: LIFEBRINGER) over at The Hellbound Web for keeping its members so well abreast of the latest news... Also worth mentioning are a few videos out there that I'll link to later (when I'm not doing this on a dial-up connection). HELLBENT: A HELLRAISER CHRONICLE, one of the earliest Hellraiser fan films, has surfaced on YouTube. A fan film based on the Hellraiser comic "Wordsworth," with the same title was made just this past summer and is definitely worth perusing. Internationally renowned (and I daresay infamous) Hellraiser aficionado Jose Leitao (of The Hellraiser Gallery) has posted a negative of Clive Barker's original THE FORBIDDEN for study, also on YouTube. (I'll post links later. I'm doing this from memory, so if I've missed anyone, my apologies.) News on Marla casting will follow by the beginning of next week, once a decision has been made... November 18, 2007 - So, a lot can happen in a few days. First off, John Hudak (D.P.) and I had an extremely productive meeting earlier this week, where several issues were discussed, including camera and lighting equipment that's available to us, the possibilities of securing a soundstage for two days to film both Marla's interlude segments as well as the Pandora Estate re-creation. These possibilities are very exciting and are in the works. The good news is that even if a particular soundstage falls through, there's another soundstage that I might be able to secure, and, failing that, Studio A or Studio B and Center Stage NY (which is very affordable!) may also be an alternative. In short, we WILL have a location to film the Pandora Estate scenes. The bad news is that the re-creation will be somewhat minimalist. This isn't exactly "bad" news, but it's more disappointing than saying, "Yes, we will be re-creating the set replete with gothic stone architecture and columns." But, with a slightly modified, minimalist set, we'll be relying upon the actors, the set pieces and the lighting to establish for the discerning audience exactly where and, more importantly, when we are. Still, the possibilities are exciting, nonetheless. Also, regarding filming, we have additional dates secured. To summarize:
The other big news is that the John and I both agree that the remainder of the film can be shot in two additional weekends, rather than three. That will cut down tremendously on cost. Those two weekends will be in March. Once we've scheduled the soundstage weekend (at whichever soundstage we're able to secure) I'll then turn my attention to finalizing the time/location of the non-Pandora Estate scenes. And, yes, we did indeed have auditions today at Center Stage NY in Manhattan for the roles of Marla and Ivan. I'd like to thank the actors who trudged out to Chelsea for the auditions. (edited) Producers: Thanks for your patience. I'm afraid that the Producer Newsletter #2 has been delayed and delayed due to other pressing issues (including casting). Once we've finalized the Marla role, I'll finalize the newsletter... there will be a news announcement when that Newsletter goes out... Also, my thanks go out to renowned fan film director Chris Notarile, for his sage advice, experience and wisdom...
It's also confirmed that we will be filming Act 2 (of 6) in Port Jefferson Station, NY, on February 10, with a backup date of February 24. More news to follow soon, no doubt... October 29, 2007 - So, our first round of auditions was this weekend, in Flushing, NY. I'm very, very pleased to inform you that we've cast Pete Mizzo in the role of Winter, April McCullough as Bobbi Merchant and young Spencer Hall as Jack Merchant, and Nadia Suen in the new role of Yolanda. (I also had the opportunity to meet face to face with Irina, who was cast as Katia a few weeks ago, and I'm very delighted for the opportunity to work with her as well.) The auditions were both challenging and exciting, and I thank the many actors who came all the way out to Flushing. That's a great sign out commitment and dedication, and I look forward to working with each of them in the coming months. That being said, the roles of Darren, Marla and Ivan are still pending, and I'm delaying the casting of Anna until the next set of auditions (which will primarily be for the Marla and Ivan roles) in Chelsea, Manhattan, NY on November 18th. But, as you can see on the cast page, the cast is almost complete. To accomodate the schedules of the actors cast, we may shift from our original plan, which was three weekends in Feb, two in March, to a new plan of two in Feb and three in March. We should have the two February dates narrowed down by the end of the week...    
October 7, 2007 - Rest assured that the silence of late is not due to inactivity, but rather to its opposite. Many things have been moving forward; I just haven't had the time to report on them. First off, the script is now registered with the WGA East. Good times.
Second, the cast notices did indeed go up on
Craigslist and Mandy.com at the end of September, as planned. The responses
we've had have been quite significant. There's been a paucity of applicant ...and thanks to the casting notices and the submissions we've received, the roles of Katia and Shanta have been cast. We're excited to have Irina Belkovskaya (right) in the role of Katia. (You may remember Katia as the Deader who resurrected in the early scenes of HR: DEADER.) We're also excited to have aboard Veronica Carr (left) in the role of Shanta.
The shooting dates are getting very much narrowed down. We are on track for a February start. I'm aiming to have all costumes and props ready by Christmas, or thereabouts. In other news, we're switching from Little Sister cenobite to Chatterer cenobite, for a number of reasons, most of them easily assumed. Christie Bialowas will work on the Chatterer costume, while Anthony Rockey continues on the Pinhead one. Sadly, we may also be cutting out the Natasha flashback scene from the film... Would've been a nice touch for continuity, but I haven't been able to secure Lori's return... Welcome to our newest producers, Paul Forrest from the UK. All contributors should be expecting a more detailed newsletter later this month. The wheels of progress squeak forward along their inexorable way. September 4, 2007 - I'm extremely pleased to announce that John Hudak, Jr., has joined the crew as Director of Photography. John comes to us as a candidate for Master of Arts from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA, and brings with him a great deal of training and experience as a D.P. on several commercials, short films and independent feature films. He already has had excellent advice to impart on pre-production, and I feel confident that I will make his job as easy as possible, as he helps elevate the realization of this script to a higher level of quality. I very much look forward to working with him. One of the changes that we'll be making is to schedule the shoot for five weekends rather than the initial three that I had initially planned for. Upon discussing the possibilities with John, we've decided to move the shoot forward a few weeks, and shoot in February and March, 2008, rather than March and April. My immediate goals are to resume storyboarding, and begin the casting process in two weeks time. August 11, 2007 - Well, I guess it's been a while since I've updated... Many thanks to our #1 fan for reminding me to put up a bit more info. :) First off, the search for a Director of Photography has begun. The ad itself is pending approval on Mandy.com, and I'll be placing an ad on NYCastings.com on Sunday. If I don't hear back from too many applicants, I'll follow up with a Craigslist ad, and flyers at local film schools later this month. I've spoken with the head of a fraternal organization about renting out their Meeting Hall for a weekend in either March or April as a location for the Pandora Estate scenes. (It's a fraternal organization, like Veterans of Foreign Wars or Knights of Columbus, that sort of thing. They haven't approved yet, so I don't want to specify which one.) In either case, I have to present myself in front of their board in early September and describe eXACTly what I'm intending to do, and then they'll let me know. No word yet on rates, but we'll see. The casting notice is ready, but I'm not going to post that up until September. I think that finding a D.P. at this point in pre-production is probably more important right now. On the other hand, I've managed to secure Spencer Teplin to play the corpse of Colonel Arnold Hawthorn (a character you may recall from THE PROPHECY (1995).) In Producer news, our thanks go out to our newest contributors, Joey Gowdy and Streetball Canada. And, btw, the first Producer Newsletter, though delayed, will be out to donators on Tuesday. I'll have a bit more to report soon...
Just to give you an idea of the locales we'll be dealing with, some of the locations you'll see (though not necessarily in chronological order) will include:
Again, I'll start looking for a D.P. in August/September, and then start auditioning actors and casting extras in September/October. Also, I'm also trying to put together a small info packet that will provide quite a few more specifics regarding the story and the film that will go out to Producers in the next month or so. In the meantime, I'd like to give a shout-out and moral support to director Mark Adams over in the U.K., who's in post-production on his fan film THE HELLRAISER CHRONICLES: LIFE-BRINGER (200?). He's working damn hard to bring to screen a completely original Hellraiser story, and the early shots of it look absolutely first-rate. Hell, I WISH that I could write an independent HR story, but so far all of my passion has sprung forth from a revisionist union of ideas, rather than synthesis. (Hey, if it's good enough for Gregory Maguire...) Also, my thanks and apologies to screenwriter Jose Leitao for my decision to delay the filming of his adaptation of Peter Atkins' Hellraiser story, SONGS OF METAL AND FLESH, until after WINTER'S LAMENT. I decided that if I were to split my attention between two projects while filming, I'd be doing a disservice to both. So, Jose, thanks for your patience, old friend. June 05, 2007 - Seema Ramji is definitely aboard to play the Puzzle Guardian, marking an interesting departure from the style of Puzzle Guardians that we've traditionally seen. Outstanding. Shing Chan is tentatively aboard to help out with set design for the big prelude/finale. Recreating the Pandora Estate state is going to be a big challenge, but again, the main challenge lies not the construction, but in securing a location where we can actually construct a set of that size. Brainstorming for ideas right now, and am going to start contacting rental halls, warehouses and school auditoriums... Our producer list is slowly growing. Many thanks to our newest contributors, Executive Producers Michael Waskelis (our #1 fan), and Sveinung Svea (from Norway); Associate Producer Larry Gevirtz, and contributors Thomas James Scott (from Ireland) and James Magnum Cook! May 21, 2007 - We've secured a few more locations for the film. Many thanks to the Huntington Antiques Center and 105 Harbor Restaurant, both in Cold Spring Harbor, NY, as well as the Coughlin Family of Port Jefferson, NY, for tentatively granting us permission to film at those locations in March. Producer info is now online, for those who'd like to a part of this project. We're still short one or two locations, but if I can those hammered out, the next step is to find a Director of Photography who I'll work closely with... May 11, 2007 - So, this is the first entry for the news on the HR7 fan film prequel. It was originally entitled "HELLRAISER: DEADER - ASCENSION", and now has been changed to "HELLRAISER: DEADER - THE DEAD OF WINTER." I'm still toying with the idea of changing it again to "HELLRAISER: DEADER - WINTER'S LAMENT." We'll see... Anyhow, the shooting script is done, although minor revisions are still added periodically. There are seven acts which span several years from 1996 through 2005. The story structure is atypical, and was influenced by Christoper Nolan's MEMENTO. It was originally set to start shooting in summer, 2008, but for practical reasons, we're taking steps to move it back to March, 2008. In taking advice from feedback on HELLRAISER: PROPHECY, I'm going to use Craigslist and New York Casting to find actors who would be interested in the lead roles. I'll also try to secure a Director of Photography as well as some lighting crew, if I can... We've already secured a shooting location for Winter's house, an office building and a street, and we're hoping to use the same library that we did in HELLRAISER: PROPHECY for a flashback scene. I'm going to try to go location scouting in Huntington, NY again in a week or so; we still need a restaurant, a warehouse and an antique store... I'll shortly begin using eBay to secure a budget for this film, using an up and coming method: placing film credits up for auction. Before production commences, we'll be offering Special Thanks credits for $20, Associate producer credits for $40 and Executive Producer credits for $75. The credits will appear in the film credits, and will be submitted to IMDB upon release. These preproduction donations will be used to secure filming equipment, lighting equipment and makeup. So, check back regularly for more news and info...
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September
16, 2008 - Alright, I'm back on the horse, beginning the editing for Act
2. It takes place in Winter's apartment and contains a great deal of background
and exposition. The questions of who Winter actually is and how he came to be
involved with the Lament Configuration get answered here.
September 01, 2008
-
For those of you living in the States, Happy Labor Day. :) Speaking of labor,
one might wonder, in looking at my last news posting, whether or not I've
actually been working at all. Rest assured that I haven't been on the coast
since the end of July, and that this past month has been spent finishing Act 3,
which I am happy to say is now complete.
over the shot. And though I
spent two days arguing vociferously with Adobe AfterEffects in an attempt to
"Remove Grain" from that shot, it was utterly futile. My attempts to remove the
dust also removed any detail from Winter's face, and while I could go and
manually remove the dust speck-by-speck, that would take the better part of 2-4
weeks that could be better spent on further
editing. In the end, I replaced that shot with a wide shot, which I'm slightly
less happy with, but the scene ultimately still works... The resulting cut
actually adds a layer of symbolism to the imagery, which works for me. Still,
I've retained the original cut (dust and all) for either an Alternate Scene on
the DVD (way ahead) or to edit out the dust and cut it back in, in the future
(the DVD version.) Either way, it will be seen someday...
ACT ONE
- The first half of the Pandora Estate scene. Well, the rough cut of Act 1 is
done, and it's clocking in at a little under two minutes. The audio track has
been mostly cleaned up and Pinhead's voice has been reasonably lowered. I still
need to layer on chain sounds in the background, a scream and perhaps a little
bit of chatter (literally). Visually, I need to edit out a light source that
made its away into frame (twice). Also, our visual effects artist, Michael
Joseph, will be working on some blood effects in the next few weeks.
So, those who've been keeping track of the credits page may have noticed that we
have indeed cast Marla, in the most difficult casting decision thus far. Our
congratulations go to Gina Montrone, and our thanks go to all of the Marla
candidates. With that, we've now cast all 21 roles. Christie Bialowas is
returning (from HRP) for alterations, costume design for Pinhead and Chatterer,
and makeup design for Pinhead. Fortunately, we've got Matthew Bialowas returning
(from HRP) to play Spike, and I've still got his costume and makeup, though the
makeup needs a tad of patching up. All in all, we're in reasonably good shape.
On the other hand, I'd like to introduce Hermann
Eppert (left, who hails from Austria!) as our Ivan, and Drummond Doroski (right)
as Pinhead. The funny thing is that Drummond actually came in to read for Ivan,
but upon the merest bit of reflection it was very clear that his presence (both
theatrical and physical) would make him an excellent foil for Pete Mizzo's
Winter. It will be a clash of the titans, indeed, but we all already know who
wins that particular battle.
November 5, 2007 -
Though slightly late in announcing, I wanted to welcome aboard Oleg Volinsky
(pictured at right) for the role of Darren. I very much look forward to working
with him! Thanks to
all who made it out to Flushing for auditions... The remaining auditions (for
Ivan and Marla) will be on November 18... Brittany Mosher is tentatively aboard
to step into the Natasha role. And I bid a warm welcome to our newest
contributor, Charles Hall of Canada!
s for
the Archangel Simon role... Any Eric Stolz lookalikes in the vicinity?
The nonspeaking roles of Joey, Yolanda and
Anna are less clear-cut and will take a bit more consideration. Auditions (by
invitation) for the roles of Winter, Marla, Jack Merchant, Bobbi Merchant, Ivan
and Darren will be held on October 27 and 28, in Flushing, NY. Organizing the
script excerpts and reference video clips for the candidates as we speak...
In Producer news, our thanks go out to our new
contributors, Joseph Pozo, Hirokazu Arai (Japan) and Shawn Peach (Australia), and to our contributors who have upgraded:
James Magnum Cook (Associate Producer) and Larry Gevirtz (Executive Producer).