BZK! Moonshine of the Damned $10 Funding Campaign

I'll admit, I do get tired myself sometimes at seeing the endless stream of crowd funding campaigns for amateur web series and literally dozens of other things that may or may not be legitimate. And it's hard to run one, the hardest part are the rewards for donations. I ran one, it did okay, not great. After the site and Paypal took their bits, we hadn't raised as much as I'd hoped.

So I'm doing another one, much simpler - each donation is only $10 and you get, as quickly as I can make them, one of these:

Plus a "thanks" in the final credits and once it's all said and done, every person who donated will go into a draw for one of the larger props from the series, probably worth well over $100.

So, for $10 you'll get one (of only 200 being made) custom made, hand painted partially munched on brain key chains - as well as a "thanks" in the final credit of the web series. Payments (in Canada) can be made by Email Interact ($10+shipping), local orders (on PEI) can be made in cash and pickup or delivery can be arranged.

If you don't live on PEI and are concerned about the shipping costs, than feel free to share this with a few friends, not only will you be helping out the campaign but you'll be saving money on shipping costs if you split it.

Also, they're made from a hard resin and finished with a gloss coating.

Note: While this is open to anyone, anywhere that sees this, the main idea is for local sales in order to cut down on extra expenses. So, in other words, PayPal orders add an additional $0.50 to cover their fees and shipping is additional as well - for this reason, bulk orders by mail are preferred.

To order your partially eaten Brain Key Chain, (or if you have any questions) you can email in your order here: brains@themonkeyrodeo.com.

Day 6 with zombies

Day 6 on BZK! wasn't as productive as I'd hoped.I happens sometimes and it's really no one's fault other than mine in thinking we can get x amount done in y amount of time. Some days we can, some days we don't. This was a "don't" day. We didn't miss much, just a couple short scenes and one pretty long one. Probably could've used another 3 hours - but given it was not the warmest of days, it probably worked out for the best.

And one thing, I've always known this, but I feel like admitting it, I hate feeling rushed when I'm filming. I can only think of how much time there is left and I can't focus on just getting what needs to be done, done. And done right. So as a result things get a little sloppy - and that's the other thing I think about too. Plus, I really hate having to drag everyone out for something we had planned on doing on this day - it just annoys the hell out of me.

Anyway, we did get some good stuff, I already edited the one scene I really felt was sloppy and it wasn't that bad. I might get a few quick insert shots to make it work just a little better, maybe not. I don't know yet.

So anyway, it's done and on with some pictures:

These shots, other than Julie in the jacket, make it look like it was pretty warm out there. It would've been okay, since it was 22 degrees, but the wind was rather brutal.

Our zombies for the day. My blood is getting thinned out so they weren't as gory as I'd have like, not happy about that but there's nothing I can do now.

This stuff was a pain to shoot. I hate fight scene or action scenes of any sort, they are really the hardest thing to shoot and shoot well. This was okay, not great, but passable at least. The insert shots might help though.

And the cast for the day, I think everyone seemed to have a good time, like they're really going to say otherwise I guess. Anyway, they were all awesome and did a great job.

And of course, the best line of the day:

BZK! 3rd Day of Filming

Day 3 almost didn't happen, long story but it was due to waiting on finances - luckily it all worked out and it did happen, with an added shoot later in the day making up for the one missed on Day 2.

Another cloudy, damp, humid day - but what else could I really expect, the previous two movies took place under the same conditions. We were shooting in the forest with a pretty thick tree canopy so I wasn't too worried, so far rain hasn't cancelled anything.

Since the first scene was pretty simple as far as zombies went, I decided to just go with facepainting instead of full prosthetics - the zombies will appear for less than an minute and their involvement was only half an hour or so - in fact we were ahead of schedule upon finishing with them.

We shot out of sequence to accommodate the fact one of our actors/makeup artists had to get to work. Awesome of her to come out early and get covered in fake blood though and then have to go to work.

I decided to test out my new method of hosing down zombies with blood. Just a $7 pressure sprayer. Not perfect because it creates too much of a symmetrical spray, but still it does the trick.

Everyone seemed a little too eager to get messy - but that's what zombie movies are all about.

Today would have actually been cancelled if not for our lead actor, Tim Wartman, wrangling up enough zombies for us. I have nearly 60+ people supposedly who have signed up and most of them pretty much consistently ignore our calls for zombies. I'd like to say I'm surprised by that, unfortunately it's typical around here.

Upon seeing this picture I was rather disturbed that Krista's leg could do that with any discomfort - at least she never said anything and it was totally her choice to do it. Don't know how well it reads on camera, but it looks messed up here.

Shooting this was all based on that one severed arm prop Tim's carrying there - without it the shoot was pointless. I got it made in time and it looks pretty decent on camera. I actually have a whole post I was debating on about these kinds of props and their place in a movie like this. We'll see I guess.

The full cast from the first half of Day 3. A pretty awesome, eager bunch and hopefully what turns out to be one of the more memorable scenes from the whole series.

There are more images of the sequence we shot with Tim after the rest of the cast left, but I'm keeping them all under wraps until the series goes online - I don't want to spoil it, but I think it'll be pretty awesome.

We finished WAY ahead of schedule, 2 hours in fact. So I was a bit relieved and was able to take a break before getting back into things for the second part of the day. Which was pretty easy as well and turned out good I think.

We hauled most of our leads back to Scales Pond for a quick scene.

Here they all are - so far they've been a really patient bunch, putting up with most anything I've thrown at at them. I think they really hard stuff is behind us now and we're into the just regular stuff on dry land.

Overall it was an easy day. There was a bit of confusion with the second half, not sure what happened there still, but it's over now.

Now onto prepping for Day 4 - which is going to be a bit of a nightmare. Technically it should be easy, but there's just so much to do and too many zombies needed it could be a disaster. Here's hoping for the best. And I'm going to do that other post I was thinking about. See you next week and I'll leave you with the Best Line of the Day. Tim might've found his calling as a physical comedic actor.

Not technically the BEST line, but just silly out of context (and even in context):

Cheap eyeballs.

Another exciting, half-assed "how to."

There's a scene we're shooting tomorrow that had an eyeball in it. I debated if I really needed it, since it was only there as a bit of a joke. In the end I decided I needed something, so if I could make a fast cheap eyeball - an eyeball it would be.

This was made from stuff I had lying around and pretty much anyone could make from stuff bought at any craft store. I already had a bag of styrofoam balls, might not be the perfect size, but they're pretty damned close so I went with them. I had some thick twine, the kind that's all splintered looking and rough. And a few paints and latex. And a tack and some hot glue.

Now this doesn't result in a perfect up close quality eyeball - but a nice cheap gag eyeball.

First I painted on the iris, didn't bother with anything else, just that. You could do more detailing if you wanted, but from the viewing distance and amount of time it'll be onscreen - it didn't matter to me.

Then I tied the end of the twine in a small knot and trimmed off the excess, stuck a flat tack into it and hot glued it in there. The resulting "optic nerve" was a little off centre, which was fine because I want the iris to be visible and it wouldn't have been so much had the twine run perfectly straight from the back.

Once the glue was dry I tied another knot on the other end, coated the twine in red tinted latex and let it cure. i made sure to make it nice and lumpy on the back of the eye and added some somewhat veiny bits. And that was it.

If you had the time, you could make a shitload of these for under $10 if you already own a glue gun and paints. And I suppose not everyone has access to latex, but I would think any glue that dries flexible would do it.

The reason I went with the twine was because I wanted the nerve to be thick and it helped create a lumpy, kind of ropey looking nerve.

Took very little effort and it yielded a nice campy looking eyeball prop. All the while I was making this I kept thinking of this scene from Blade Runner:

Call for International Zombies

I've briefly posted about this before, but I thought I should do a proper outline on it so people are aware of exactly what I'm talking about.

In regards to the upcoming web series, Bimbo Zombie Killers! Undead in the Water, we are looking for folks all over the world (currently have people as far as Scotland participating) in shooting some zombie footage that will be used in the series.

We're not looking for random footage or for you to submit you own ideas. What we're looking for is very specific and will be outlined further once the script is finalized. It has to match our own footage as well. Nor are we looking for folks to design their own makeup, I myself do prosthetic makeup and I'm creating all the makeup used in the movie, so a batch of prosthetics will be sent out to keep our undead looking consistent.

To further break it down in bullet points:

1. We will send you a list of shots needed.
2. We will send you stills from our footage in order to make it match in look and location.
3. Must be shot in full HD (1920x1080, 30fps - progressive, non-interlaced)
4. We're not looking for "character" zombies, must be simple in order to blend in. So no Mexican Fiesta Zombie or Polka Zombies please, the footage will just be unusable.
5. We will send you a batch of pre-painted prosthetics, you will need to only apply and blend them in on your own. Some makeup ability and supplies of your own will be necessary.
6. Method of delivery, or format, of final shots has yet to be determined
7. If you're concerned about your camera handling matching our own, we'll be shooting in a similar style to BZK2!. Mostly handheld and no camera zooms, it just doesn't look at all that good.
8. Footage can be shot over the course of the summer and submitted no later then mid-September.

Overall we're looking for probably 4-5 shots from everyone. Should you decide to shoot more just for fun and submit it, go right ahead - we might even do a gag reel or compilation of all the extra footage (with your names and locations even) just to do it as maybe an extra episode if we get enough.

That should answer most questions. If not, feel free to email me and ask anything else.

BZK! Undead in the Water Indiegogo Campaign.

While the movies might look cheap, they're not, especially this one. We've got a massive pile of FX planned and we can't do it without funding. We can do a lot with a little though, so every little bit helps folks.

You might notice the perks don't go that high up in amount, but there's more to come as things progress. So if your pockets are feeling heavy but you're just not seeing what you'd like there, check back later.Or, if you'd like to help out but aren't feeling so rich, please share, repost, or whatever to wherever. We need to get the word out as far and wide a possible.

PEI Needs Zombies!

So, we're shooting a web series this summer, based on the two Bimbo Zombie Killers! shorts (you can see them here and here) called Bimbo Zombie Killers! Undead in the Water. It's the final chapter and will undoubtedly be the most elaborate web series ever produced here on PEI to date, until next year maybe.  We have a cast of almost 20 people and another 30-40 zombies (and still more are coming onboard each day).

We're doing all our own FX, and we're not talking crappy half-assed face painted zombies - but fully made up in custom made foam latex prosthetic makeup. There'll be strange voodoo props, fake weapons (shotguns, axes and sledgehammers), as much blood as we can possibly produce. Fake arms and legs, as much gore and odd little bits and corpses as we can stand. Even an undead frog.

And a whole lot more I don't want to mention since it'll ruin the surprise. Now the thing is, there are some folks who would love to be involved but simply can't because they live too far away. NOT A PROBLEM! I have a few friends who live out of province and  overseas even who are going to be in it. I'm sending them shots of the areas we'll be shooting, they will then go out and find something comparable in their area. I will send them a care package of zombie makeup and a description of some shots I can use. Using an HD camera they'll simply shoot their own zombie footage, send it to me and after a little editing and colour correction, they're in the movie.

So if you think you might be interested and have an HD camera (and a good internet connection to upload the footage) get in touch and let me know (foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com). If you have any questions, please let me know. We'll be shooting throughout July and August and possibly September with an October 31st, 2012 release date in mind.

And, if you are on PEI and you wanted to get involved, we have a Facebook group we're using to keep track of everything. And remember, while it's awesome to have more zombies, keep in mind we are tying to make a movie so you will be expected to act accordingly.

Bimbo Zombie Killers! Undead in the Water Teaser

Things are slowly progressing on this project. Not slowly in a bad way, but in the right sort of way. I have just the ending to write, basically the the last episode and a half. I've a few ideas that'll be tricky to make just right. We'll see how it all goes.

There's going to be massive amount of stuff generated for the online shop. A whole line of mix and match generic zombie prosthetics, plus a few full face character ones. A couple latex masks, not the pullover type, but a full face and ears with an elastic strap. I'm hoping a silicone mask. And several little props as well, hopefully including severed arms.

We did up a quick teaser this weekend as well a poster.

And now, the teaser.

The script for the Bimbo Zombie Killers! Web Series is coming along pretty well. There's going to be a decent sized cast needed for this as well as a pile of other folks most likely needed to pull this off. It's all on a volunteer basis - we do this for the fun of it and the experience, and I don't mean experience in become professional filmmakers or actors, but the experience of getting covered in blood and gore, killing zombies or whatever the hell I decide to write.

Given the scope of it, 12 episodes, each 5-7 minutes long, there's a lot of work and scheduling could prove tricky. If you're someone with a tight schedule, it's up to you if you want to be involved, but you are going to have to work with us in order to make sure everything goes smoothly.

This is going to be a little more violent, gory and possibly creepy and slightly scary, to some, in places then the previous two movies. While it'll be just as stupid and goofy and b-movie-esque as ever, I'm hoping to give this a bit more atmosphere. Think of this as our Army of Darkness addition in the Evil Dead Franchise, I'm really looking to up the overall movie experience this time around.

The plan is to shoot over the course of this summer, starting first weekend of July, mostly on weekends, but that plan could shift and alter as the project proceeds. I'm keep the script more or less a secret for now, those involved will only be getting scripts to the episodes they're in. I'll be posting a cast list eventually and deciding who works best for what and working with everyone to make sure they're doing something they're happy with.

Most of the lead roles are already cast, but I haven't finished writing it, so who the hell knows how many people, living or undead, I'll need. You might be needed for only one episode, (one days shooting) or the whole thing. No idea yet, just want to see who's interested.

So if you're up for it, let me know. Send me an email at casting@themonkeyrodeo.com, let me know what you're interested in doing. If you're waiting an acting role and we've never met, send me a picture and an acting resume if you have one - not that I give a crap about acting experience, but I do like to cast people accordingly. If you look the part, that's enough for me, no auditions necessary. If you want to help out behind the camera, we're mostly covered, but an extra random hand or two here and there is always an asset.

And that's it. I'm hoping to get the first episode out in time for Halloween, although there's the possibility for those involved of having a special screening with the whole thing mashed together as a feature length movie.

"Man-Eating Hookers from Hell" trailer is finally online.

After all this waiting, it's finally online! The only place the trailer is viewable is on the actual site:

http://www.themonkeyrodeo.com/MEHFH

I've also started up an Online Funding Campaign to turn this crap into a feature. The campaign will run for the next year, or until we reach our goal. Although in order for us to reach that goal, this site needs to get out there as much as possible - so feel free to repost the link EVERYWHERE!

I will be making another version of the video to upload to other sites, including the URL to this site to hopefully draw in more traffic. $10,000 is a pretty reasonable amount, I can do A LOT with $10,000 - it's pretty easy when you come from the Roger Corman mentality of film making.

So enjoy the trailer, it's probably not safe for work, depending where you work.

Holy crap I'm busy

Yes, I am busy these days. That's not a complaint, far from it. With the fake movie trailer project I'm working on and the pile of photo shoots I've planned to finally the massive orders coming in for prosthetics, I'm a little swamped these days.

The trailer is coming along, we have 2 more days scheduled, the next is pretty shot and the 2nd is going to be another huge day of blood and gore and demons in lingerie - and yes, I am aware how awesome it is that this is now pretty much my job.

The photo shoots are coming along well, I have 3 (?) lined up, maybe more, I can't even remember specifics anymore sometimes. A couple are going to be pretty awesome, some a little more understated but definitely cool.

And in shop news, I am busy, the business is doing really well. I'm almost surprised in a way - but I guess I shouldn't be since I was hoping I'd be this busy. It's been a great learning experience and I've definitely sussed out some weaknesses in my production methods and whatnot. Ones that are easily corrected for next year so I'm not rushing to fill orders as soon as they come in.

My next big plans are for an industry trade show in May in Toronto, not my favourite city but it should be a decent experience. And the Bimbo Zombie Killers! web series which starts shooting in July with a hopefully release date of Halloween Day 2012.

That's it for now, I have to go make more little resin spikes and start working on a master mould, then make more prosthetics and probably other stuff I've already forgotten about.