BZK! 2nd Day of Filming

We had our 2nd day of filming, looked like it was going to be off to a bad start when finally we had the very first Sunday of the summer that rained. Well, it was supposed to rain - we lucked out and managed to avoid it completely.

It rained while we were in transit from one location to the next. It was pretty grotesquely humid, which actually worked out great on the 2nd location.As you can see from the still from the footage below. There was an awesome fog that seemed to always be lurking on the edges of the shot and added a haziness to some of the footage, it looked pretty cool.

We gathered up for a quick shoot at Hardy Mill Pond with the leads, it went as expected, no problems whatsoever and we left slightly ahead of schedule.

While driving between the two locations we had a massive downpour and stopped in at my place along the way to wait it out, it put us a little behind schedule, but better to wait there than in the rain.

I've never shot here before, the 2nd location was Scales Pond. It's absolutely beautiful and rather grim looking at the same time. We also ended up swapping out canoes with inflatable boats. Might not have been the most brilliant idea, but I think in the end it made it easier moving things around.

I've also never filmed people in boats in the water, so this was a pretty new experience and one I really had misjudged just how difficult it would be.

While we shot some stuff with the leads, I had a couple makeup folks get the zombies ready in the background.

And that meant it was time to pile the girls in the boats. They weren't meant for 3 people, but they will hold them well enough.

And this is how I spent most of the day, in waders that had a leak in them. By the end of the day (and the zombies suffered much worse) I been walking around with one leg soaked to the knee in a boot full of water.

Even on the still camera the fog was pretty prominent.

That hardest part was resetting each time. I had a couple zombies get in the water and they were constantly pulling the boats back into position and letting them go while I tried to get a few shots. Overall I think it worked, might look a little awkward, but I'm hoping that translates to slightly silly looking.

Steve here, in the background was getting ready to be the first underwater zombie. He had to submerge himself and pop up at just the right moment, speed and position. It took only a few takes and it looked awesome in the end, perfectly creepy.

All day I was dreading the zombie attack sequence. There were so many things I couldn't show, didn't want to and had to hide it made the whole thing slightly stressful. Once we got all the zombies in the water and had very carefully shot some leadup footage I had no choice but to just do it. We also were constantly moving the boats into random spots of the river with different depths to accommodate what we needed. I don't think it shows, but I'm not going to pay too close attention - or even really care for that matter.

This was probably somewhat safer then putting the girls in canoes and tipping them, clumsy, but that makes it kind of funny anyway.

Everyone was incredibly patient, it was nice that despite it being such a difficult shoot, there was never a moment of tension or any time where anyone was very visible upset or put out because of something that was happening or not. Although I do believe the closeups of Heather in the boat when the zombies attacked her was genuine and not acting.

We had more to shoot after the zombie attack scene, but it was just taking too long to get what we had that I just didn't feel like I should expect anyone to want to stick around for another scene, so at the risk of falling behind, I decided it would be best to call it for the day and just deal with it later. We got some great stuff, but it was so exhausting - wandering about in waders all day certainly didn't make it easier on me and I doubt anyone else was really enjoying being cold and damp either.

We ended a few hours later than planned, even with dropping the next 2 scenes, we finished in the early evening I believe. And thanks to everyone who stuck it out, it was painful by times but this was the most difficult shoot on the whole series. The location was pretty remote and the weather was making everything damp, so I'm really hoping the next few shoots will be drier and easier.

And now for the best line of the day:

Props, lots and lots of props.

I've been making movies now for over 14 years. And today as I was working on some props for a shoot tomorrow, on the Bimbo Zombie Killers! web series (was making a impromptu MacGyvered bow and arrows), I started thinking about just how many props I've made over the years.

I've made some weird ones, like a plywood board with severed penises nailed to it (Man-Eating Hookers from Hell), some huge ones that took up a large portion of my living room, specifically a cockpit for a one man anime looking jet (The Supposed Prophets) to simple stuff like a gateway key to Hell (The Conspirators).

I wished I thought to catalog all these things. I supposed I could just go back and capture stills from the movies, but it's not the same. 

I've even had some costumes made, although not by me, a cloak for the Grim Reaper (The Last Days of Death), 5 identical dresses for a demon band (Bert Palmerro's Addicted to Love) and even some Viking and Barbarian garb (The Secret Lives of Demons). I myself made 4 demon suits of leather armor and various bits for 4 Lord of the Rings looking fellows (Malice).

I have probably most of my props, going all the way back to the Happy Fun Beer from Supposed Prophets, I wouldn't drink it, it's a little cloudy looking these days. I'm kind of curious just how many I've made in the last 14+ years, so I went to my film resume (as pretentious as that sounds) and went all the way back to the beginning.

My first completed movie (and hopefully lost to time),Grey, I made a few things, but I can only really remember this weird, bulbous device with an indent of a hand in it. Part of that stuck around all the way to shooting Cronus.

The Last Days of Death I don't think I made anything, I think even the cloak was from Grey. Aside from a noose and a letter of dismal from the DOD, I don't recall making anything.

Getting Dead, I don't think I made anything for that, aside from maybe a few weird little alien props - I don't really remember though. I think I took some parts from an old video camera that looked odd out of context, but I didn't really make anything that I recall.

The Conspirators I made "The Gateway Key", a black obelisk that would supposedly unlock the gates of hell.

Grim...Nope, don't recall much about that movie, other some it made no sense and I did make some fake blood for it.

The Supposed Prophets I think was my first prop fest of a movie. The whole cockpit was bizarre. We made a plywood shell, all constructed and housed in my living room at the time. We got a funky looking car set and scavenged parts from several different electronic devices. Made some guns. I know there was other stuff, but nothing's coming to me at the moment - aside from the Happy Fun Beer. There was a lot of digital stuff in that movie, so I could be confusing it with that.

Bad Karma was an attempt at one day filmmaking with my brand new GL1. No real props made, but I did make fake spit that got drooled on Greg Webster.

The next few, I won't bother mentioning because they were very simple "quirky" little movies. I bought, but didn't make stuff for Sinister Consequences. And then moved into some animated movies and more simple stuff. They That Did Dream has some weird little rocks that looked like large Skittles.

For The Scourge, a movie that worked so much better on paper, I made a whole leatherbound journal with Kim Bradford and a 4 or 5 foot seal painted with runes. I think it's finally long gone since I've moved.

I guess really until Malice I didn't make that much stuff now that I look back on it. Most was purchased Even with Malice I remember buying a shitload of stuff and probably only made a handful of things. I had a book stand made, a plant hanger reworked to stand alone on its own. The Voodoo Spirit Bombs were the first real prop I made from nothing I think on that movie, mostly it was a lot of makeup and props bought online. And a lot of weapons. There was a funky little Hellboy inspired talisman I made with a fingerbone inside - which I've since redesigned and now can mass produce.

There were some odd little background trinkets and stuff. The "prophecy" scroll which I still have framed and I was quite proud of. And still am, it looks awesome. A huge warhammer and lots of costumes for a flashback scene as well.

Demon Rum saw the creation of the Demon Rum bottle, which I still plan on recreating for mass production some day. I've the plans worked out, just need to put it all into effect.

For Cronus I did a lot. I would have to say that I did a lot. I reused the Gateway Key, but the entire office was almost a prop. The most detailed were the framed pictures you never really got to see that had Cronus photoshopped into real images of celebrities and prominent figures of the 1930s and 40s.

For Bimbo Zombie Killers! I made my first fake weapon, a foam axe. That was pretty cool. I had David Bennett make some authentic ceramic moonshine jugs, which I then moulded and produced almost a dozen duplicates.

The Invasion of the Horrible Alien Brain Monsters from outer Space in 3D, I created a lot. From the alien masks, to a lot of the funky gadgets Dr. Hammer used. That was kind of cool. I even created a little cheap-assed looking UFO and model of Earth.

Grayson and Gortch I made a few things. This was pretty makeup heavy as well. I made some severed Trolls feet, several of them still linger about in various place of the house. The Tibetan Fire Starter, used by Grayson. Some fake demon drug paraphernalia and some weird demonic CSI device.

Home Sweet Hell was meant to be assembled from stuff I already had, so there was really nothing new created there.

Man-Eating Hookers from Hell...yeah. This was weird. There weren't so many props as various makeups and stuff. Aside from the severed penises the best thing was the Fangina. I think I still have one copy, but I've since given the original away.

Bimbo Zombie Killers 2! Undead by Dawn, I made a pretty awesome (also goofy) severed arm stump. Reconditioned the backpack from The Alien Brain Monsters and parts of the cockpit from Supposed Prophets into a moonshine cannon. And some pretty nifty foam hammer heads - the handles were real wood, so they were only so stunt worthy.

Finally with Bimbo Zombie Killers! Undead in the Water, I've got a lot of stuff on the go, from prop zombie frogs, to the aforementioned bow and arrow. I'm doing a fake arm this week and eventually a fake severed hand. And a lot more I don't want to mention because it'll ruin some of the surprise.

I'm sure there's been way more, but I've also collected about three times as much stuff as I've made, and still have most of it all packed safely away. Might never use it, but it's cool it's there should I need some background stuff.

The worst part of filmmaking

So far scheduling on Bimbo Zombie Killers! Undead in the Water has been nothing more than an exercise in stress management. There is simply nothing more frustrating then having a shoot involving so many people, confirming all but one or two's availability and at then finally hearing back with a "nope, can't do it" or "I won't know until (one or two days beforehand)".

Now, I've said this before and never once do I take it personally and get annoyed with actors. It's just the nature of the process and sometimes it just doesn't go as smoothly or as planned. You either have to accept it and just move on to solve the next problem or you're never going to get anything done.

Given that our time was cut short due to other things that are just really boring and unnecessary to get into - we're getting backed into a corner and there's less wiggle room than there used to be. I've already had to recast just to get moving as late as we are. And now it's come time to do that again - luckily it's not the end of the world.

Without going into too much detail, I was actually able to juggle when characters are introduced in order to accommodate certain actors not being available. It should work just fine and be of no notice to anyone. There's another actor I've had to debate just writing him out entirely based on the short notice of his schedule - so the plan is to try a version with and without, however that in itself may cause problems since he's required for 2 key dates of shooting.

That's one option, the other is to shoot all their stuff on one day and potentially cause more issues should this one day be postponed. Blah, blah, blah. I hate it sometimes, not the people, just the situation.

BZK! Web Series, First day of shooting

We finally had our first day of shooting, only a few minor snags and bugger ups. I missed an entire scene and could've shot another as well, but overall it went off pretty decently.





Some pictures!

Hoping to get The Monkey Rodeo to HalCon this year!

Exactly as the title suggests. I'm hoping to take The Monkey Rodeo to HalCon this year, but money's tight and if I don't book a booth soon I might not get in. It's a niche business and I had no idea how hard it'd be to break into it, I'm really hoping something like this could give me the boost in exposure the business needs.

I only need $750, that's it. Just to get over there and sell some weird assed stuff and come back and hopefully have made some really awesome solid contacts that will help the business finally really take off.

New Prosthetics!

A few new pieces this week:

The Morg'Shath Parasite Demon - $55 (includes 9 resin teeth)

Zombie Collection #1 - $45

Individual pieces;

Forehead/Eye-$20

Left Cheek-$10

Mouth-$20

Zombie Collection #2 - $45

Individual pieces;

Forehead-$10

Left Cheek-$10

Nose-$10

Right Cheek-$10

Chin-$10

The zombie pieces are obviously great for anyone doing a zombie walk and don't want to spend a fortune - if you have a couple friends you can pitch in and buy the collection and each have a piece or two.

Zombie Viral Videos

As part of our attempt to draw a little more attention to the funding campaign for Bimbo Zombie Killers! Undead in the Water - go here to check it out, or use the link to the right - we made a series of "Viral video" inspired zombie clips.



If you go to the Vimeo page, you can also download the video and upload them to your favourite video site or even your most hated video site. Anything we can do to get the word out there would be awesome, so feel free to share them anywhere you can, or whatever else you can think of. Thanks!

Web Series Funding

We're slowly stumbling towards our goal. Thing is, I was really hoping to get more by now - not to dismiss what we've already received. So far it's been awesome. We've received enough to actually start filming.

I've got 10 zombie prosthetics made, various smaller pieces. A couple latex masks made - which I'm not really sure we'll be using aside from a couple scenes. I'm hoping to get to some other pieces this week, but scheduling has proved to be a huge task that's taking up a lot of my time.

I've got the whole script broken down now. Everything's cross referenced based on who we need, where we're shooting and what needs to be done before those sequences can be shot. Out of 12 shoots, I've got about 6 lined up. So far so good. But we're not out of the woods yet folks, we still need assistance.

We've already received a couple big donations, which put us over the top and got on on track. A huge thanks to everyone who has donated, regardless of the amount. While this might not seems like the most lofty of artistic endeavors - it's fun. If you like cheesy, campy zombie movies that has some respect by not insulting it's audience by just throwing crap at them (I think it's obvious we actually give a shit about what we're doing), you will more than likely enjoy this.

Here's the first two movies in case this is your first time here and you've no idea what I'm talking about. Both these movies were made with less than $500 each. We've got an opportunity to show that PEI isn't just about fart jokes, it's not an intelligent movie by any means, but at least it's different from the rest.
And I have a feeling I might insult some people with the "PEI isn't just about fart jokes" line, I'm not referring to anything or anyone in specific, so if you're offended - that's really too bad. If that's your style of comedy, good for you - but you really should have thicker skin if that's the case.

BZK! Scheduling frustration.

I think the worst part of the entire film making process, at least for me, is scheduling. At first you say, "We're shooting on Sundays" and pretty much everyone says, "Yeah, good for me." And then you say "How about this date" and everyone's onboard until one person says "Can't make it, busy."

Now, I'm going to state this before I say anything else. We're all volunteers, I appreciate that. So that means, if you're busy, you're busy. End of story. Sure I find it frustrating, but to be angry at someone for that I'd have to be a huge asshole. If I was paying people, that'd be a different story. I'm not, so we're stuck in scheduling hell.

The delays started pretty early on. My plan was to apply for a grant, which was normally due on May 1st which would have given us plenty of time to make to proposed start date of July 8th. Well, because of cut backs and other government related bullshit, the grant due date was pushed back and pushed back until July 12th - and with roughly an 8 week turnaround, that sucks balls. Still, I accepted that and applied and hoped for the best.

Also, back in the beginning of June, I started an Indiegogo campaign, which I thought with enough effort to promote it we might get just enough money to start on time. Nope. That didn't happen either. Now, not to discuss my own financial situation (which doesn't exist) but I don't have money to invest in this even with the notion of being compensated later.

So we're stuck with waiting. And waiting. While we've had several beautiful Sundays slide by where nothing could be done. Finally, enough donations came in through the funding campaign and it looked like we were all ready to go finally. Awesome. I picked a date about two weeks from now, which was the soonest I could get my shit together and get enough done to actually shoot - only to find out just one out of the 5 people needed was unavailable - and justifiably so too.

So, no problem, how about next weekend? The weekend after that? It was kind of like in high school when you asked someone out and you couldn't take no for an answer - not that I ever experienced that, mind you. Until finally I realized, everyone's schedule was so out of whack that I was now looking well into September before I could shoot with everyone. Not good at all.

So I had to do the one thing I hate more than scheduling and that's recasting. Just recasting one role made everything fall into place. Sure that feels awesome that everything's almost back on track, but shitty that I had to tell someone that just because they couldn't make one date, even though everyone else has shitty schedules too, they were the one that got cut because of it.

It sucks because the whole idea of doing this is to have fun, but the fact that it comes at a price like this tends to sour it a bit - regardless of how awesome it might be in the end, you can never forget you had to axe someone because of one day they were unavailable.

So we're looking at August 12th as our day now, working on July 29th for other stuff and hopefully some evening for another shoot that's been postponed twice. I'm going back on my original idea of Sunday's only because while Sundays are good for about 80% of the cast, I don't want that other 20% feeling like their being shit on. Ultimately everyone's going to have to suck it up a few times and shoot on a day they'd rather being sitting at home hungover.

Work and family obligations I have no issues with, people get sick and who wants to do this shit when they're sick? But when it comes to those few times, and it does happen, people would rather go out drinking because some friend of theirs they only see 50 times a year want to go out, that annoys me. It annoys me because then everyone else has to rearrange their schedule and then I have to do the whole process over again, only to find out the next proposed date is not good for someone else and then we're left waiting 3-4 weeks.

It sucks. I hate it. I'm actually good at it, but I hate it. I will go so far as to say, I fucking hate it. And having to recast to make my life easier, makes it worse. This is supposed to be fun, as I said before, but I guess everything comes at some small price.

Anyway, things are working out slowly, a little more messily then I'd planned, but they're working out. Let's just hope I survive this. I'm done ranting now.

Bimo Zombie Killers! T-shirts

If you haven't check out the Indiegogo fundraising campaign for the BZK! web series, you might not know one of the perks for donating ($50) is a DVD and a T-shirt. The main idea was to simply do a "Bimbo Zombie Killers!" shirt and leave it at that, then I decided to add a little something to the actors wardrobe and make some t-shirts, so I'm offering those up as well.

The "BZK!" shirt will hopefully be red on black, haven't had much success printing with red so far though. The "Clarence" and "STJ" shirts will be black on a lighter colour, not just white. And finally the "Zombie Girl" will hopefully be white on black.

Aside from the "BZK!" shirt, these will all be featured in the series. So if you've got a couple extra dollars burning a hole in your pocket (how money does that without itself burning up, I've no idea), head over to the Bimbo Zombie Killers! Undead in the Water funding site and donate, when the time comes I'll check in and you can make your final choice as the what shirt you want.

Picture of the actual shirts will be coming as soon as we begin production.

Retro Bimbo Zombie Killers! Poster

Just for fun I decided to do a retro-ish Bimbo Zombie Killers! poster.

Zombies! Sort of.

Finally started in on sculpting some zombie prosthetics for the web series this summer. I'm planning on doing several of them as small pieces - as well, when they go online they'll be a bit of a mix and match sort of deal. I do as many of them as I can in one mould, saves time producing them in batches and cuts down on wasted mould materials.

Just waiting on some more supplies and I'll be cranking out the rest this week and them hopefully getting to master mould them as well.

In total there'll be at least 15 new zombie prosthetics being added to the online shop very soon, and if you're interested in a full collection of them, you can check out the Indiegogo page for the Bimbo Zombie Killers! Undead in the Water web series, for only a $150 donation you can get the whole set, as well as a DVD - they whole set will actually retail for over $300, so it's a bit of a deal and you're helping us out.

Here's the link:
http://igg.me/p/110014?a=53757

Mid year review of search terms.

Normally I do this once a year in Janurary, but this year there were a few weird ones I had to bring up sooner.

The top ten offered no surprises;
1. Severed finger
2. How to make a fake axe
3. Severed fingers
4. Zombie photoshoot
5. Fox Henderson (seems reasonable)
6. Severed thumb
7. Monkey Rodeo Project
8. Demon ears
9. Bimbo Zombie Killers 2
10. Make a fake axe

And many variations of severed fingers/thumbs of both male and female varieties. As well as axes and how to make them and again variations on anything resembling an axe. A surprising amount and variations about "Tibetan Fire Starters" Are they actually a real thing?

There was the usual round of people's names as well, mostly the females who've been involved in my projects.

Then there was the weird ones;

finger monkey - ??? I'm not sure I want to think about this one.

men hookers - really?

golems for sale - because most people have then, just not for sale I guess.

silicone male ass - come on, there's no need for that

casting bimbo - not sure I get it

june 22 monkey rodeo - while it might seem odd, I assume it's a date when a real monkey rodeo was happening
  
latex hooker - because real ones are so tacky
  
who the actor for thork - must be something for The Guild I suppose?
  
ape giving the finger - is that something you search for?
  
fingerfuck male - seriously?

"project bimbo" - sounds awesome to me

the zombie killer from the dawn - not sure if this is a complete search term or not

most power hallucinogen - glad this phrase landed them on my site

zombie hooker demons pei - seems a pretty good set of words to find my site, I guess

painting zombie voodoo halloween - another good random set of words

horned girls - you misspelled a word there I think

nasty hooker makeup - is that something anyone really want to see?

zombie killers online monkey - it's like someone heard parts of names for stuff I've done

a picture of a monster horrobale - nice spelling

really odd family pics - yup, you came to the right place

how to cure a delvian - you do know they're not real, right?

 putting on prosthetis is a pain in the ass - why do you need to search this? Were you looking for someone to agree?


casting fake guy - because real guys are too hard to cast these days

casting hookers - since they're already for hire, seems like something that'd be pretty easy to do


men with hookers - you do one "hooker" movie and look what you keep getting

addicted to love halloween costume - okay, this is awesome, but do you really need to search the internet for a costume?

movies with x ratings - something tells me I'm getting a bad reputation


 mold ass in silicone - just stop it!


cool forehead prosthetics - yeah, because searching for lame ones is...well...lame

female anus fingering - I apologize for this, but the hell did I ever do to cause this search to land on my blog?

 

how to sketch cronus - my suggestion is to find him and ask him to pose. Seems pretty simple.

weird deformed zombies - as opposed to the normal deformed zombies


pretty male fingers - something tells me I just shouldn't ask about this

fox henderson hookers - I am now a pimp, muthafucka

monkey head for sale - do they actually sell these online?


men eater monkey movie - sure...?

awesome paint job go kart - how? I've never even made a go kart


demon eyeball cake - hell yeah!


images of thugs with hammers - regular thugs, not so interesting - but give them hammers and suddenly that's awesome


werewolf girl makeup prosthetic - so a real werewolf girl in prosthetic make up or a girl in werewolf makeup?

ass silicone mold - again?

where is the next monkey rodeo - right here, bitches! No really, I bet my name annoys people sometimes

why do i have demon ears - because your father was a very curious man in his younger days


i'm giving you the finger - that's not very nice

man eats out hooker - not cool at all. Really someone searched for this?

And there was the usual assortment of demons, ears, fingers, axes, monkeys, halloween, prosthetics and so on. So far it's been a rather creepy year.

 

WIP The Morg'Shath Parasite Demon

Finally got around to redoing this bad boy. It was originally done for the book "The Secret Lives of Demons" as a last minute shoot, but the mould was in pretty poor shape was was destroyed after 1 or 2 pulls. After having seen it I also realized I wanted to mess it up a little more, the edges were a little too clean.

So I re-sculpted it and here we go:

This is just a few minutes before I began working on the negative mould, which turned out pretty damned well. I'll be master moulding it in silicone tomorrow and hopefully crank out the first one over the weekend and then another quick photoshoot and it'll be going online for sale.

Here's a shot of the original:

The main differences are just a little more lumpy, the edges are a bit more messy and I added two larger teeth. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same.

Updated Vampire Brow Prosthetic and other stuff

As the title said, here's an image of the update Vampire Brow prosthetics, it'll sell for $25.

In other, less awesome news, anyone who finds there way here who might've been trying to access The Monkey Rodeo website would have noticed it's down for the moment. Yes it is down, for how long? I've no idea, maybe a week, maybe longer. Reason being, I am very poor and my host tends to be a little pricey compared to others I've recently noticed.

While the service has been excellent, the price is just too high for me so I couldn't afford to pay for another full year for something which is really just a presence - most of my business is wholesale so the website is really a pit stop/catchall for information, pictures and what stuff I carry. I've done some minor retail through the site, but not enough to justify paying over $200 a year any more. And yes, that seems like very little, and over the course of a year it is, but when it comes time to pay it, it's a lot.

I'm hoping to get it squared away and I'm thinking of trying some cheaper methods of hosting. We'll see what happens. In the meantime if you're trying to get a hold of me, you can use this address: themonkeyrodeo@gmail.com

Latex Zombie Mask

It's been awhile since I've done any work what with moving and all that but the move is more or less don and I'm attempting to get my workshop in order and trying my damnedest to get things moving for the BZK! Web Series. It's slowly grinding to a halt, but I've got to get to work and make things happen as best I can.

One of the things is this piece here:

Which is a latex zombie mask, the regular old latex kind not a prosthetic that will be used by the most background of the zombie performers in the series. As well this is being given out as a perk for a $50 on the BZK! Indiegogo campaign.

This is just a work in progress sculpt of the piece, I'm hoping to get a rough prototype version ready soon enough. If you're interested in helping out on the web series and getting one of these, check out the link on the sidebar.

Zombie Concept Sketches

Just a couple of the concept sketches for the zombie prosthetics being made for the web series.

Help us fund this web series!

BZK! T-Shirts

One of the many, many things I've got planned for the BZK! Web Series is a series of custom made t-shirts for some of the characters. Since we need multiple costumes on occasion and I've some minor experience in screen printing, I thought - why not?

I think we'll be doing 3 in all as well as an actual "Bimbo Zombie Killers!" t-shirt, that's being offered up as part of the Indiegogo funding campaign.

And in case anyone's wondering, would this eventually be up for sale? I don't know. Hard to say because I guess there's potential copyright issues. Maybe. I don't really know, but it doesn't hurt to ask I guess, does it?

Now, if you're looking at this and wondering "What's the point?" Then clearly you've missed the joke, such as it is, or the picture just isn't doing it justice...or you've never seen RoboCop.

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.

FREE STUFF!

So that title might've been slightly misleading since you will have to work for it.

Okay, here's the idea. Right now we're about a month away from shooting the Bimbo Zombie Killers! web series. There's a buttload of FX in it and it's going to be expensive - but it will also be awesome. We're using Indiegogo to raise money and it's only been a few days but so far it's been good. We've got about 118 days left I think.

Indiegogo lets you keep track of the amount of money each campaigner brings in on a project. I think you either have to be member of the site (it's free) or at least be added to the campaign as an admin I can do that, no problem if I have your email address). So what I want to do is make this a contest, to give a bit of an incentive to those folks out there who don't care to share or repost things.

The contest is simply this: the campaigner (on the Bimbo Zombie Killers! web series campaign) who brings in the most money wins an awesome prize. The awesome prize is still to be determined, but I can tell you it'll be worth over $250 and most likely a replica of one or several items from the series. Could be a collection of zombie prosthetics, a couple masks, some of the props (there is hopefully going to be a life sized alligator head prop being built - if we get the money), who knows. Might even just be stuff from the online shop if you see something you like there. Whatever it is, let's put a $250 value on it for now.

How you bring in the most money is up to you. Share it on Facebook every day, Twitter - whatever forms of social media you're into. Doesn't matter to me how you do it, so long as you actually do it. This is open to anyone and everyone, doesn't matter where you are in the world.

If you're interested in helping out, let me know at foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com and we'll set you up, answer any questions you might have. Whatever.

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.

A wee bit of a sale.

Got a few pieces I'm redesigning and there's some of the originals still in stock, just looking to move them before too long. They're all $10 of at the moment, if you're buying a lot of them I'm willing to negotiate within reason.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see what's on sale. Limited stock.
http://www.themonkeyrodeo.com/pros.html

The Borom Demon

Did the first shoot for what will eventually become "The Secret Lives of Demons, Volume 2". In reality it was a product shot and a character that was supposed to be in the first book, but because of a bad mould and time it got cut out, so here it is. And it's awesome.

Should you stumble upon this and wonder, "Where the hell can I get this?" Head over to The Monkey Rodeo and check it out. It's $55 and full of Borom Demony foam latex prosthetic-y goodness. Also it includes 12 resin teeth. Or you can email me directly from here with your order at foxhenderson@themonkeyrodeo.com, give me your PayPal email and your mailing address, specify you're looking this particular piece and I'll take it from there.

CASTING for Bimbo Zombie Killers! Web Series

This is really only open for folks who are going to be on Prince Edward Island this summer. For the most part, if you're not and you'd like to be in a cheesy horror series, there's more info at the end. The goal is a 12 part series, each episode 5-6 minutes long. It may be fewer episodes, but it the script is not totally finished at this point.

INFORMATION:
As of today, May 10th, we're still casting 3 more of the lead(ish) female roles.
Ginger: doesn't have too much dialog, the character's a bit of a prissy beauty queen type so it's more about her actions then how's she's written - at least at this point in time. ALREADY CAST

Roxxy: quite a bit of dialog. She's not part of the main group, but is used to bridge the gap between the main characters and what's going on. Lots of exposition.

Daisy: one of the evil rednecks, the only female of their group and it's unclear exactly what the relationship between her and the other area. Sister, wife, cousin? I don't know, doesn't matter. Sort of abrasive, den mother sort of a group of idiots. CAST on MAY12th.

The script is still in development, so more roles may be needed. I'll post any updated information here or on the Bimbo Zombie Killers! group on Facebook.

And of course there's zombies, a shitload of zombies are needed.

The way the scheduling will work is this: we intend to shoot on Sundays. And since it's a series so not everyone will be needed for every episode, the plan is to alternate as many people as possible every 2nd weekend. So hopefully no one will be expected to show up every weekend, but every 2nd weekend. And alternate shoots will be arranged depending on schedules, we might shoot a night here or there, or a Saturday. Or even just shoot a few minutes with someone on a Sunday morning before letting them go and shooting with another group the rest of the day. In short, this should be as flexible a shoot as possible overall.

FOR NON-ISLANDERS!
Alright, so here's something we're offering. I've got a couple friends who are not local who are participating in the project. They're going to be zombies in the series. So how is that going to work? Well, the overall feel of the series is meant to be as cheesy and rather clumsy as the two previous shorts that were made, so I'm not at all concerned about continuity anymore and that makes filmmaking so much more fun and this idea should work pretty well.

So how are they involved? I'm taking a few selected scenes where there's random zombie shots and letting them know, and to keep the look consistent, sending them some prosthetics and shots of our local zombies. Using their own HD camera, they will then do a few shots of their own that they will then send to me and will be inserted into the final piece. I'll colour correct and whatnot to make it match as close as possible, so it will appear, if you're paying attention, that they were part of the main shoot.

And that's it. If you're not on PEI this summer and you'd like to get in the series in a couple shots as a zombie, maybe your and a few friends just lumbering towards the camera, running through the woods, or getting shot - whatever. I'll pick out a couple shots, 4-5 and you can film them yourself and I'll edit you in.

If you're interested, join the Facebook group and post something about what I mentioned here and someone will be in touch to work out the fine details.

Fist of the Oni

 Got another new prop finally done today, the moulding process was just a little slow but I finally got it cast and painted up today and the first one from the mould was pretty much perfect.

This particular Demonic Antiquity is called the Fist of the Oni, they were created for demon hunters who needed a little extra oomph when fighting demons hand to hand. They're imbued with the soul of an Oni Demon, giving the user their power. find them online here for sale for only $20!

Shrunken Demon Heads for sale

Finally got them online for sale, they're $20 each. All hand made. They're made from latex, filled with flexible foam, hand painted and hand stitched. They're a lot of work, but well worth it.
Available online here

The Ugandian Vampire Head

 The Frell Beast Head

 The Korellian Rage Beast Head

Yeti Fetuses and Haitian Bloodworms!

I finally got these done after a lot of mucking about and failed attempts and just a big pile of annoying crap. The biggest issue was finding the right jar - still haven't, but I don't have to be as picky as I was being originally.

These are just prototypes, more or less. Although the look of the Yeti Fetus Jar on the bottom is most likely how they will finally look - just sealed better. These bad boys tried to escape on the trip to the conference in Hamilton. I had to go out and get new jars and some candles to fix and reseal them.

I'm just working out what size will be perfect and placing an order with a supplier next week and hopefully they'll be online for sale within the next couple weeks.

Demonic Antiquties finally online for sale!

Getting things back in order now that I've returned to normal from the conference last weekend. And finally got around to putting the new props for sale on the website.

The Golem Icon.

The Shamanistic Demon Head

A Calcified Vampire Heart

Not really Demonic Antiquities, but really Magnet Sculptures.

A Mayan Cthulhu Totem

Protective Reliquaries containing

vampire fangs and the finger bone of a saint.

I've got a few more oddities planned and in the works and I'm hoping add about one, maybe two more, per month until Halloween this year.

4 Days to go...

The clock is kind of winding down on me these days as the date I take off for the Canadian Haunted Attractions Conference looms closer and closer. I've still got a huge pile of work to do and I'm slightly behind schedule on a couple items. It wouldn't have been so bad had a few freelance things not popped up - but money is money, so things went a little off schedule.

Just got 2 items left to mould, one I should get done today, the other probably by Saturday it'll be ready to go and then I just have to make sure I have enough. That's been my ever flip-flopping concern about this, it's either "Am I making too much stuff?" or "Am I making enough stuff?" I reckon too much isn't that big a deal in the long run, what doesn't sell simple becomes stock - which is great for the resin props since they don't have a shelf life, they're pretty much permanent. If they don't sell next weekend, then they'll be around until they do, so nothing's wasted really.

Been taking a look at the list of items I wanted to make vs the items I did make. I made 3 foam weapons/tools, intended to do 5 but there wasn't time or materials. 17 props/Demonic Antiquities, ranging from a couple Cthulhu variations, the Cyclops Fingerbone Dagger, Shrunken Demon Heads, a Golem Icon and even (still working on it) a Calcified Vampire Heart. And there were 6 or 7 items I just didn't have time for.

I'd also hoped to make about 7 latex masks, 3 full 4 just a face. Never had a chance to even think about it those. But they're on the agenda for when I get back.

In total, I did make 20 totally new items for the shop in the last couple months, that's not too bad. Got a few ideas for some new stuff. And while I intend to keep doing the prosthetics, now that the book is done I'll be letting that slide for a little while, just producing them from the moulds I've got rather then cranking out new ones constantly.

Also I'll have some of the books, The Secret Lives of Demons, for sale and some DVD of some movies. And I'm hoping to have some prototype T-Shirts I'll be taking order for should anyone be interested and I'll even be showing off my silicone mask I made. I've never put that online for sale, mainly because it was being hidden away for a project that's now never happening, so it's going to see a little more daylight now. I want to see what the reactions to it will be, I've put it through some major abuse so I know what the problem spots are - so I'm hoping a few folks might be interested in one at the low price of $300 (most silicone masks are $600 and the material cost alone is pretty steep).

Now I just have to see how much more I can make. I'll either run out of time or supplies, whatever comes first.