Teeth

So I think I'm finally at the tail end of a nearly 2 month long creative block/slump - whatever you want to call it. It hasn't been especially fun when you consider how much I intended to get done. Can't say what's broken it, maybe finally getting some new supplies in, I don't really know. Then again, I haven't exactly done anything yet that makes me perfectly sure it's over - the next week or so will tell.

So today I tried out making fake teeth, sort of. I got as far as getting the mould made as you can see by the upside down picture below - not perfect, but it's a pretty quick process if I really feel like doing it again. Plus it takes very little material to do this.

I'm hoping to get back to make a few new pieces and doing the photo shoots again soon as well. And if all goes according to plan this week, you might see some new stuff - a video or two by the weekend. Hard to say, just taking things as they come and making it up as I go along for the moment.

And if you read the post from earlier today I'm seeing if I can put together another feature movie, this one will be pretty epic if I can get it organized - and get the grants I'm applying for. That's pretty much the lynch pin, no grant - no movie.

Other then that, not much else to go on about. Got a near final edit of Grayson & Gortch, that's nice to be so close to wrapping that up. I've got another order of makeup supplies on the way and if that works out I might be trying to reorganize Home Sweet Hell pretty soon as well.

I plan on doing a bit of an update to the website depending on certain things happening this week. I've got several other projects I need to start revisiting in order to get them ready for shooting this summer, a couple of grants to apply for and probably whole pile of other things I've forgotten about.

I guess we'll see how it all goes.

The Brotherhood - Looking for Cast and Crew

Looking for cast and crew for an upcoming feature tentatively called "The Brotherhood", a fantasy/adventure movie. It's a cross between "Fellowship of the Ring" and "HellBoy 2". On the epic scale of "Fellowship" with a design style similar to "HellBoy 2". No script yet, so I can't go into more details on that.

I am in the middle of writing up a grant proposal for the Canada Council of the Arts in order to fund this project. If I get it, pre-production will start this summer with shooting to commence spring/summer of 2012.

Right now I'm looking for people who are interested in helping out in any capacity. I have letters of interest that I'll get everyone to sign, and a resume as well. Download Letter of Interest doc. Arrangements can be made to pick up the letter and resume, you just have to print it out, signed and let me know it's ready. The deadline for the proposal is March 1st, so I want to make sure I have everything by mid-February.

Also, this is not full time work, so don't shy away thinking you're making a huge commitment. Right now there's no commitment to anything. I'm looking for a show of local support in the project to add to the grant application, I'm hoping it'll increase the chances of it actually happening. If I get the grant, we'll worry about the details then.

Actors

Since there no finished script, I'm not officially casting right now, but getting a list of those interested would help of course. Below is a quick outline of the various potential parts.

Human of all shapes and sizes, most of this could simply be extras.
Pale Elves - thin, pale-ish types, blonde hair and blue eyes would be awesome, but that can be remedied if need be.
Dark Elves - almost the opposite of the Pale Elves, while still thin, they're darker complected, dark hair and eyes and eventually not look like anything resembling elves.
Dwarfs - Stocky type folks, through the magic of makeup, forced perspective and green screen you will be about 3 and half feet tall.
Various demons - for the most part this is way up in the air, hard to tell what sort will be right for what, so if you want to be onscreen and would rather not be recognizable, this would be for you.

Costumes

Anyone into costume design and creation. This will range from simple costumes, to mass producing more elaborate costumes all the way to creating armour for a small army of demons. I want costumes to reflect the various races in the movie, humans, various demons, dwarfs and two tribes of elves. Material would range from simple fabrics, to leather to working with fiberglass to create lightweight armour. This is obviously part of pre-production and production.

I'm looking for 4 people to work on this, some will work designing specific costumes for specific characters, others will be needed to create general/stock costumes.  There are 3 open spots for this department.

Makeup

While I'll be overseeing most of this, I will need help running foam, and mostly makeup application. There will me a huge amount of makeup needed for a large cast for several scenes. Makeup ranges from various demons, elves and dwarfs and includes small prosthetics appliances, full head pieces, gelatin ears and noses, fake teeth, wigs and beards. I'll be doing most of the pre-production work, however I will need assistance when production time comes around.

I'll be overseeing this department and all spots are filled as of now.

Props

Without a script it's hard to determine exactly what props will be needed, however there are a large amount of weapons to be created. Some weapons will be purchased, some need to be designed. I'm hoping to find a blacksmith or even some similar craftsman to assist with this.

Some props will be created, moulded and mass produced, some might have to be purchased. I'd like to have a few people taking care of casting moulds and tracking down and organizing props and weapons

I'll be overseeing this department as well to some degree, one thing I am looking for specifically is someone with some blacksmithing skills and of course a place to do it. I am tracking someone down, but they might not be available, if you know someone, please try to get them in touch with me or whatever works.

Set Design/Construction

The only major set I have plans for right now is a tavern interior. Without a script it'll be hard to figure out what sets need to be built. They'll need to be done as cheap and as quickly as possible. And I'll also need storage space big enough to build the tavern set in. If you have a warehouse or large, dry barn, please get in touch with me if you're willing to rent it out for a summer.

I have a few names I'm hoping to nab for this department, otherwise I have 4 spots open if you're interested and have some experience, let me know.

Various production workers

I'm looking for any behind the camera type help, organizing, camera people, assistants, lighting, visual effects, special effects, location scouting, extras, animal wranglers (specifically horses for the moment).

There are 5 spots open for crew, this will involve more of a commitment then the other jobs since depending on the job you'll be needed every day of shooting and some before and maybe even after.

There will be more as the project progresses. So if you have any interest, please contact me at foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com, or even through Facebook, and we'll go from there. Should you know someone who might be interested, please direct them towards this. Download Letter of Interest doc

I'm planning on making this the biggest project I've ever done and there's no way I can do it without a lot of help. Keep in mind this request is not for volunteers, should I get the grant everyone involved will be paid for this project, don't expect to get rich though we're working with a limited budget.

Officially starting "Demons" by Karl Wenham...after all this time.

Seems like a few projects have been hold or delayed or canceled although this past year. Demons hadn't officially started yet, even though I've been doing a few shoots, mainly I need some images to sell my prosthetics online so the shoots sort of had more to do with that - in any case, the hold up was a grant which I finally got word on today so as of today I am officially starting "Demons" by Karl Wenham.

A little anti-climactic since it sort of seems like I've been doing it for months now. All technicalities and whatnot. With the money I'll be able to start cranking out prosthetics a lot more frequently, I've got a few new ones in mind but haven't been able to do anything because of lack of funds.

There's already one shoot lined up for sometime within the next few weeks, I'm looking forward to finally getting some major progress made on this.

As well, and this is rather huge, I'll finally be doing the actual Karl Wenham makeup for myself and doing a quick video/shoot with Karl - so expect to see a video or something withing the next few months.

In other projects, Grayson & Gortch is coming along really well. Just 2 scenes left to edit and do post on and then I'll be starting in on the relooping - could only be a matter of another couple months for this as well.

And, if all goes well we'll finally make a start on Home Sweet Hell after all this time too.

If this is your first time reading this and you're local to PEI, I'm looking for models for the Demons project.

Nothing interesting

The title pretty much sums it all up. It has been an incredibly dead, unmotivated couple weeks. All this waiting around to see if I got a grant so I can move ahead with the "Demons" project has become tiresome as well. Waiting around for that wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't piled on top of waiting around for word back from a couple companies that are supposed interested in carrying my stuff - interested, but not in a hurry obviously. The whole thing is a load of balls really.

However, I did find some ambition today to work on Grayson & Gortch a bit more. I've got half on one scene left to edit, the big final showdown scene. And after that, about 50 or more FX shots, most of which are contained within 3 scenes - so I'm getting closer to have a final edit so I can start in on relooping all the dialog. That'll be awesome fun. Which reminds me, I really need to wrap my head around Cronus again sometime soon.

That's really all that's been happening, just waiting around to see if I'm going to be poor a little while longer. We'll have to see how next week pans out, it'll either be an awesome week and you'll start seeing a whole lot more going on here or it'll turn even quieter then before.

So until there, here's a random cat video - that's really not so random, it's my cat.