The first draft of this post got way out of hand. I just wanted to ramble about the quality of the props given the quality of the movie and the possibility of the criticism of the FX overall. It was way over the top and I deleted it all and I'm cutting it back to something simple.
Ultimately I feel with this project (BZK!) and most of what I do, the props are "part of the joke" so to speak. BZK! isn't meant to be taken seriously and because of that it shouldn't feel too realistic, it'd throw everyone off as far as I'm concerned. I began to really think about my choices while I was making an eyeball from a styrofoam ball.
It's meant to be a cheesy, campy throwback to an age of horror filmmaking when everything was done on a low budget and actually had a bit of charm to it just because of that. Maybe as FX get more expensive and more realistic they start to alienate people somehow - it stands to reason since let's face it, stop motion skeletons aren't anymore realistic looking than mediocre CG effects, but why do people rag on the CG and then moan about not seeing stop motion skeletons anymore? The quality is usually better with CG and I don't ever recall hearing people get pissy about how the original Clash of the Titans was just another pointless "stop-motion animation fest".
I don't know if people really stop and think about why they don't like CG, or at least an overabundance of it in favour of a sometimes awkward and very obvious animatronic creature. It sort of doesn't make sense. CG looks better and more realistic, plain and simple - but people love seeing a guy in a monster suit, good or bad it doesn't matter.
So my whole thought process here was to try to deliver a little bit of that old school, quick and dirty looking special effects fest of a movie. On a much lower budget mind you. And the idea further came to me that, it's not so much the dialog that makes this a "horror/comedy" if you can even label it that, I call it "stupid horror" personally, it's the props. How can you not laugh at a ridiculous looking rubber arm being waved around smacking zombies in the head? Odd sized goofy looking eyeballs? Rubber zombie frogs? It's like watching a live action cartoon, albeit a poorly drawn one.
If you watch the series and criticize it because you think the props and FX are shit and sit there like grump hating it for that reason, as much as it's a dick thing to say - you didn't get it. You don't have to like it, in fact you can hate it so much you run out an start punching goats in a blind rage, I really don't care. But if you hate it because you think it looks silly, then you missed the point. It's SUPPOSED to look silly, it's supposed to be cheesy and campy and goofy. If it was ultra-realistic it wouldn't be funny at all, would it? If that doesn't appeal to you, then I warn you now, don't watch it - it's not for you.
We've got a lot more in store than what I've mentioned and lot will be kept under wraps as much a possible until the series airs online. It's going to be ridiculous, but nothing done is ever meant to alienate the audience just remind them of an age of simpler, more accessibly feeling FX based movies that were just plain fun to watch, even if the seams on a mask showed or the wires on a flying creature were painfully obvious.
It's a tricky line to walk though, you go too far and it's retarded and insulting, you actually have to make the audience realize something, and that's that you actually give a shit about what you're doing and that it's obvious everyone had fun doing it - beyond that, it doesn't really matter.
PS. None of this makes for a guaranteed good movie - I'm sure someone out there will still think it sucks. That's just the way it is.
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