Studio President's Blog
Studio President Frank McEnulty's Blog
August 18, 2011
We will be filming the final scenes for the “Cheerleaders vs. Zombies” Proof of Concept on Sunday so that we can finally get it done and out. We had it done, but one of the memory cards went bye-bye and we lost that critical scene. Oh well, once more into the breach and then onward and upward. As soon as the Proof of Concept is complete it will go up on the website and also onto a revised Kickstarter page. Should be fun and a whole lot different than Rancho D ‘Amour.
Speaking of Rancho, we now know that our film will be shown at the festival on September 10th at 3PM - http://filmfesttwainharte.com/schedule.php . If you live or know anyone that lives in the central California area please let them know about the showing. We are waiting to hear back from some other festivals and should have another update for you by the end of the month.
“Walk In” has been submitted to Sundance and we have high hopes that the film will meet the criteria or that film festival. Literally thousands of films get submitted, so being selected for Sundance is a truly major accomplishment. We are holding good thoughts about it and hope you do as well. We should have a “Walk In” specific website up soon so you can see much more about the movie and who was involved with it.
August 12, 2011
It's been a long couple of weeks here at I Made A Movie, but we've gotten some good results in the last couple of days from our efforts. I know a lot of you have all your focus on our upcoming movie, Cheerleaders vs. Zombies, but we've been working very hard the last couple of weeks to get things moving forward on the marketing of our first film, "Rancho D'Amour". Part of that effort has involved the submitting of the film to various film festivals around the country and that's what we've been doing.
We had to get the film and everything about it up on the website, www.withoutabox.com and from there we've been submitting to film festivals. So far, we've gotten into one festival and we hope that we will hear positive results from a couple more in the near future. If any of you live in he Central California area we will be at the Twain Harte Film Festival the weekend of September 9th through the 11th and it would be great if you can come to the showing and support our film.
We made the decision today that we've submitted to enough film festivals for now, pending the outcome of those we have already submitted to and will now focus our efforts on getting a distribution deal and sales agent for the movie with the goal of having things come to a focal point at the American Film Market here in Santa Monica in early November.
But back to Cheerleaders vs. Zombies. Nikki will be sending out the new sides to those we want to participate in the call-backs at this time and asking for them to submit new videos. We will also be calling some people who are local into the office and will continue to move the movie making process forward. We will have some very nice updates coming for you in the next couple of weeks.
August 4, 2011
Sometimes it doesn’t pay to be too cheap when you are doing things. We’ve been submitting Rancho D ‘Amour to film festivals around the country and to save a few dollars and since we have DVD burners on our computers we’ve been burning our own copies of the movie. Sounds like a reasonable idea, but I’ve already burnt out one DVD player and now the worst thing that could happen, has happened. One of the festivals that is very interested in the movie can only see half of it because the DVD they got freezes up at the 45 minute mark and the deadline for viewing is NOW.
So today is the big scramble to get them a good copy of the DVD (I sent them two by Express Mail) and we’ve also sent them the trailer for the movie through YouSendIt so that at least all of the members can see our trailer right away. Like I said, sometimes being too frugal (ok, cheap) backfires.
Talked with Director Bill yesterday and he is well into the audition notes and the new scenes that we will send to the people on “Cheerleaders vs. Zombies”. Yes , the name has already morphed once in that we have shortened the “versus” to “vs.”. Who knows what else it will change to before we are completely done.
Editor John also told me yesterday that he should have the edits done to the “Proof of Concept” in the next few days so we will have that soon as well.
Should also start to get some art created for the movie that will be used to spice up the website.
Thanks
August 3, 2011
The Cheerleaders Vs. Zombies “Proof of Concept" video is almost complete. We have the first cut and all it needs is one scene cut (really bad) and some more shots of zombies added and we will be ready to both show it to potential distributors and on our website. I do apologize for our being so quite. I’m working hard, but it’s sort of like “nodding yes” when you are on the phone – no one else knows what is happening. Just not fully aware of the “fact” that I actually have to let everyone know what is happening and just not do it.
I have also asked Director Bill to work up some “notes” for the audition call-backs. Given that we got auditions from all over the county and even Puerto Rico, we are going to try to hold some virtual call backs. We are going to provide notes on the actors submission so they can do them again and resubmit. That way we give everyone a chance to fully participate and not just those who are local or can get here for call-backs. We will also hold some call-backs in person, but we want to give this a shot to see how it will work.
We’ve also been doing a tremendous amount of work on submitting “Rancho D ‘Amour” to film festivals. We’ve got a really nice Press Kit for the film and we are fully up and organized on Withoutabox.com. I believe we are up to 10 submissions already and we continue to scan the festival sites looking for events where we believe our film would make a good showing and where we would fit in. We are really quite proud of our re-edited version of the film and trust that we will have some great news to share with in the future about where “Rancho D ‘Amour” will be showing.
July 12, 2011
Spent about 10 hours on the road yesterday looking at a potential site for filming up in the wilds of Ventura County. Not sure how much filming we will do there for the Zombie movie, but at a minimum we may do whatever motorcycle work we need up there so we don’t have to worry about getting the bike over to Arizona. It’s amazing when you start looking at the outdoors from a filming prospective how you can take a part of Southern California and when the shots are blocked out properly, make it look like it can be just about anywhere.
While driving there we went through a forest where there had been a forest fire a few years back. Most of the dead trees are still standing and even in the bright sunlight of midday it was very easy to imagine them as a very spook forest. Whether we need a spooky forest for the Zombie movie or not is still up to how the script progresses, but at least we know where one is we can use if we need it for this or a future movie.
Since the property we visited has a shooting range on it I also threw a couple of pistols in the car so we could have a little fun for our efforts. Bill really liked shooting the single action 22 and I realized that I need to use a different bullet when reloading the 45 auto as the ones I used have too much lube on them and it gums up the works.
We took a few still shots and Bill shot a lot of video which we will get up on the site in the next few days. A word of caution, we aren’t cameramen so try and ignore the quality of the videography. The purpose of the filming is mainly to get a record of what is there so we can refer back to it for future thoughts when talking about the film and how we might want certain shots to look when they are included in the movie. Of course some will say we just went out there to goof off for a day and shoot guns, but believe me we could have stayed much closer to home and done that.
Now Bill and I need to get to work on the call-backs so we can start casting this movie.
July 7, 2011
Well I’ve made my way through all the audition videos up on the website. Some were quite interesting and definitely deserve a second look. One thing that occurred to me while watching the remainder of the submissions was that this is one more reason we really need to get more of the script done because how the script develops will definitely make us lean more towards one or more of the actors that we see. Are they a big, hulking character or smaller. Do they need to have a funny side or are we looking for serious? All of these things will play into who we start to have in for call-backs or who we ask to submit further videos.
As a micro-budget film we also face a lot of constraints that a big budget movie doesn’t face. While we pay the actors it is minimal so we also have to look at where an actor lives and how will they even get to the set. Will a certain person be available when we are planning to shoot the film? That is also a fluid situation right now since we need to see when we can get the behind the camera people we need.
Once again, it will depend almost more on the availability of the camera and sound people we want to work with as to when we actually shoot the movie. The people we are talking with are professionals in the business and we need to work around their schedules to make things happen. The greatest acting job in the world won’t be any good if we don’t have good camera and sound people on the job.
So, like I said yesterday, there are a lot of moving parts that we are now in the process of trying to pull together. It will take some time and I’ll try to keep you up to date as we move along. We will be calling some of the auditions back in for call-backs, it just might go slower than the hopefuls are hoping for, but isn’t that always the case?
July 6, 2011
Well, I’m back from a week off and trying to dig out from everything that went undone last week and also trying to get the “Zombie Movie” back on track and moving forward.
Got a lot of audition submissions while I was gone and really intend to try and view all of the ones I haven’t seen by the end of the day tomorrow. I’ve heard some of them are pretty good and we should be able to start setting up call-backs and calls for second submissions in the next week or so.
Had a really good meeting with Director Bill today and one thing we decided was that we need a title for the movie for a wide variety of reasons so that is also going to be decided fairly soon. We’ve been watching our poll to see what one you guys like best. That, of course, will weigh heavily on our decision, but we also need to make sure that title is available (yep, we should have done that already) and we need to make sure the title we end up with fits the movie.
That, brings me to the next point, we need a script and Director Bill is going to start blocking one out. We are going to do a location visit next week to look at a potentially new location that we may use for some scenes and that may adjust part of how the movie progresses and the script gets written. In ultra-low budget films a lot depends on when and where you can film most efficiently and the script may have to be adjusted to reflect that.
We’ll also start to post parts of the script on the site as they are developed to get input from you as to the direction you think it should take or you’d like to see it take. In the end all the moving parts have to work well together or we just get a train wreck so even though I’m sure we are going to get a lot of great ideas, we won’t be able to use them all, but we might use them in the future for other films.
All in all, we think we are making good progress. We are working on some very exciting promotional ideas for the film and as they become more solid we will also pass those along to you. Our goal is to keep you involved in every part of the process as much as possible and that’s what we are going to try and do.
June 24, 2011
It’s summer time and even I get to take a vacation now and then so now is the time. The music on “Rancho D ‘Amour” is finished and the movie has been re-edited so all we need now if for our sound guy to mix the new music in with the new version of the film and we’ll have a completed version. Once that is done we will resubmit to some of the movie festivals that we fit and start talking to the distributors about potential outlets and sales ideas.
“Walk In” is 95% done as well. The finishing touches are being put on the editing and music of the film and we are looking forward to being able to see the final cut. Reaction to the film so far has been extremely positive and we have high hopes for its success.
By the time I get back in the office we should be getting very close to the first edition of the “Proof of Concept” for “The Zombie Movie” and that will also be very exciting to see. I was there for all the filming and we got some great footage (when we weren’t being threatened with police intervention), but it always amazes me what the editors and sound guys can do to make things look and sound absolutely great. As soon as the proof of concept is completed we will get it up on the website and are also working on building a separate site dedicated solely to the movie.
The schedule for the filming of “The Zombie Movie” has slipped a little and will now probably occur in October. Just a lot of moving parts to pull together and we really want to give all the auditions we’ve received a good review. I know some of the people who have submitted will be in the movie.
We are looking forward to a fun rest of the summer and we’ll do our best to keep you informed of all of our progress.
Thanks
June 16, 2011
We’ve posted our first call-back videos up on the audition page. As I may have mentioned before Lily was in town for a vacation and meetings so we had her into the office to meet the director and do a couple of readings just so we could see her in action. I have to apologize for the camera work. I guess that is why I’m not a camera man. Heck, I didn’t even know the camera had a function where it would actually follow the motion so that every time Lily jumped up and down so did the camera as it tried to follow the action. This doesn’t mean that auditions are over. We’ll continue to take auditions and do call-backs as the opportunity arises. If I remember correctly, one of our last auditions for Rancho actually ended up being in the movie. Our goal is to have at least two potential actors for each main part so we know we’ll have at least one when we get down to the actual filming. A lot of it has to do with timing – whether or not the actor has a conflict – so we have to be prepared and have a back-up plan.
Bill, our director, and John, the film editor, are getting together this afternoon to work on the “Proof of Concept” video. We posted some photos from that shoot on the site yesterday and I’m excited to see what they are able to come up with.
June 13, 2011
We are getting into the meat of things now. Lily Haze, one of our early auditions on the website is out visiting Los Angeles and we had her in for a call back interview and reading. Both Bill and I really enjoyed her work and meeting her and we hope to have a follow up meeting early next week. As we continue forward on this movie we’ll be having more and more people in for callbacks and we’ll try to get them in at the same time so we can see who works well with each other as that chemistry is important. As I’m sure you’ve all seen by now, we have a new poll up on the website to help us decide on the title of the movie. Will be nice to actually get a title settled on so we can get away from the generic, “The Zombie Movie”.
“Rancho D’Amour” should also be getting its final music score settled on next Monday. Then all we need is a quick sound remix and we’ll have a great picture that will be ready to share with the world.
May 23, 2011
Well this past weekend, Saturday to be exact, we filmed a great deal of our “Proof of Concept” footage for the Zombie Movie Trailer. In honored microfilm production tradition we didn’t get arrested, but we did have one very irate citizen calling the cops on us when, well I guess I shouldn’t incriminate our actor so let’s suffice it to be said that no one got hurt and no property damage was incurred. Just some innocent use of a perfect location that we weren’t really supposed to be at. Can’t have any fun at all these days without someone calling the cops.
Beyond that, things went rather well and we hope that we got everything that we will need to make a great “Trailer” for the movie and show people what we can do before we even do it. Our zombies were great. Nikki Marrone was her excellent self when it came to the make-up and we even had a jello heart that the zombies ripped out of my chest and chewed into. Even the Director’s dog got in on the action as we had one of the zombies chase good old Luke to show just what despicable characters they are that they would even try and eat the dog.
Zombies, a cheerleader, guns and a dog – what more do you need to have a good day?
May 20, 2011
The last couple of days have been spent reviewing audition tapes and getting ready to shoot some scenes for our “Proof of Concept” video on Saturday. This will be an interesting process for all of us as no one in our group has ever tried to do something like this before and a lot of the success for a successful trailer coming out of this whole experience will fall directly on our editors shoulders. Only through the magic of the computer can you actually create a trailer for something that doesn’t yet exist.
However, it makes sense to do this. The goal is to have something that not only can we show to the general public to generate more interest in the film, but to also show potential distributors so we can start to line up interest in the selling of the film ahead of time. Enough interest may even give us a little extra money to shoot some extra scenes that we may really want to do. On a $30,000 to $50,000 budget an extra $10,000 is a big deal. On a major studio film they spill that much.
So tomorrow, Saturday will be a hectic afternoon as the shot list below shows.
ZOMBIE SIZZLE:
TIME LOCATION
|
12 – 12:30 |
Set up initial shots (Nate into makeup) |
Int. house |
|
12:30-1:30 |
Series of shots: |
|
|
|
1) Jacqui holding cans (shoot against wall) |
LR (15 min) |
|
|
2) Audition piece (Kirt into makeup) |
LR/shotgun (30 min) |
|
|
3) Cheerleader outfit beauty shots |
(15 min) |
|
1:30-2:10 |
Series of shots: |
|
|
|
4) Cheerleader outfit beauty shots |
Backyard (10 min) |
|
|
5) Cheerleader doing cheers for intro |
Backyard (30 min) |
|
2:10-2:25 |
Break |
|
|
2:25-4:10 |
Series of shots |
|
|
|
6) Jacqui reactions in multiple locations |
Int./Ext. (30 min) |
|
|
6a) Jacqui looking through window |
Bloody hand gag (10) |
|
|
6b) bloody hand on window |
Bloody hand gag (10) |
|
|
7) Zombie rips Jacqui’s shirt |
Ext. (30 min) |
|
|
8) Jacqui racking shotgun |
Ext. (10 min) |
|
|
9) Blood splats on Jacqui |
Ext. (15 min) |
|
4:10-4:40 |
Break/clean up/Eat |
|
|
4:45 – 5:00 |
Move to second location |
Ext. (15 min) |
|
5:00 – 6:00 |
10) Jacqui dirty, disheveled, scared |
|
|
|
11) Jacqui running scared thru woods |
Ext. (15 min) |
|
|
12) Zombies chasing Jacqui |
Ext. (15 min) |
|
|
13) Zombie shots gore |
Ext. (15 min) |
|
|
14) Zombies eating victim |
Ext. (15 min) |
|
|
15) Zombie Nate crawls out of sewer |
Ext. (10 min) |
|
6:00 – 6:30 |
16) Nate’s spelunking vlog |
John’s video camera |
May 17, 2011
We are hard at work this week getting ready to shoot some more footage this weekend so that we can put together our “Proof of Concept” for the Zombie Movie. A proof of concept is basically a trailer for the film that is done before the film is even started so you have to get a little (ok very) creative to make it work. How exactly do you make a trailer that purports to show “the film” if the film hasn’t been shot yet. As an example, since a good portion of the movie will be taking place out at the same location in Northern Arizona where Rancho D ‘Amour was filmed we have some footage that we can use from there, we just have to scary it up a little.
As an example, our editor has taken a couple of clips that were filmed during the day and through the magic of computers he has made them into night. So when the girls (from Rancho) are driving up to the motel for the first time in the daylight and the statement is made, “Let’s ask at this old motel”, it seems perfectly normal and safe. Change that same scene so it looks like the middle of the night, add a little spooky music, ask the same question and you’ve got some girls headed for horror movie trouble. As we get further down the road we show you both scenes so you can see exactly what I am talking about.
I’m also very excited to see that people are going to do with all the new sides that have been posted on the website for audition purposes. I think we’ve added a side for an older guy, for two guys, for two girls and a guy and a girl.
Thanks,
Frank McEnultyMay 13, 2011
Figured now that we are starting to get some serious attempts at submitting audition videos for the Zombie Movie, I’d better get started on my blog for the film.
First some audition filming advice for all who are thinking of preparing an audition video.
- Try and do your audition in front of the most neutral background as possible. The audition is all about you. Having pictures or windows of whatever behind you just distracts from your efforts.
- Talk to a spot just beyond the camera lens. Don’t talk to the lens, talk to the person behind the lens. If it helps have a friend stand behind the lens so you can talk to them as you would during a normal conversation.
- Know your lines. Don’t do it unless you know your lines. If you make a small mistake just go on, they don’t need to be perfect for this part. But think about it, if you can’t remember your lines for one scene, how will ever get through a whole movie. Nothing pisses the crew off more than an actor that shows up and doesn’t know their lines.
- Relax and have fun. Do the scene several different ways with several different types of emotional emphasis. Some will work, some won’t, but you won’t know which one will work until you try.
- Get into the part. For the scene with Lorena, she’s not sitting on a chair, she’s up and moving. You are Lorena so be her in the scene. A cheerleader never tries to get the crowd going while seated.
We’ll be putting some more sides up on the site soon so we can have some other scenes for you to do. We also need to start working on the actual title of the movie and we’ll be asking for your opinion and ideas on that soon. One suggestion has been, since I tend to say this a lot and it may end up in the movie is the title, “Oh Crap, Zombies – Not Again”.
Thanks,
Frank McEnulty
Aka – Cavernsboy – That’s another whole story.
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written by Ven Michaels , July 09, 2011
written by John Scillieri , July 07, 2011
I'm actually from Northern Arizona. My parents live in Flagstaff, AZ and I would have no problem staying with them if it will save the production company some money. I also live 2 hours from L.A. in San Diego, and can make it there as well, in the event that I am cast. It's really exciting to see this project come together.
http://www.imadeamovie.com/viewvideo/1366/sam-lead/john-scillieris-audition-for-sam-barlow-i-made-a-movie
written by Doc B , June 15, 2011
The full length is 20 minutes, but I need a mailing address to send it to for consideration.
Doc B
written by Jeffrey , May 29, 2011
written by Cutter Two-Bears , May 15, 2011
P.S - could you please remove the Walk-In roles. Too many people still auditoning for those parts.
Thanks anf have a good one!
written by Antonio , May 14, 2011
We know from previews movies you seeing different types of zombies; from slow minded, fast moving, bloody meat eating, grave coming of ground corpses, and too of course turning in front of you eyes type of zombies. This movie should differ from all the rest of the other Zombie movies by increment all this types of Zombies and grasp them all together in one movie.
For Example,
From what I read on the symphony of the movie is that Zombies are going to be created by the cause of a Bio Organic Weapon (B.O.W.) that misfire its primary target and landed in a small town/population turning everyone into B.O.W. zombies. This cause might be made intentionally or not intentionally by a rouge government agent (it’s still unclear). Anyhow, this outbreak should turn any living thing from the soils depths of the earth and everything ground bound into man flesh-eating zombies. Every B.O.W. should be in stages of a proper zombie.
1. Dead corpse from the Grave – Turn to slow minded eating brains zombie (like night of the living dead
type)
2. Dead people/fully develop zombies (after a couple of hours) – turn into “Fast moving killing anything in
its path zombie” (like the 2004 Dawn of the Dead/28 days later/Resident Evil 4 and 5; The Video game)
3. Person/dying person/Animal/Bug/Insect/Mammal/fish/Plant/and any living organism (Transitioning into a
zombie) – Are the stander man eating Zombie.
Now the interesting ways for a zombie to die would be old fashion ass kicking (martial arts or some type of self defense move by severing the top of the spinal column or massive trauma to the brain are the most effective methods for our acrobatic women that are Cheerleaders/Coeds/are in the bikini team/PhD Candidates/and Sororities sisters). What better way of killing a zombie by sexy beautiful women that can kick ass with a possible deadly weapon in her hands.
How our heroes would meet one another:
Cheerleaders – Training at their private location which coincidently is in the location where biggest spring break party held every year.
College Coeds – have a loft were self defense experts can train and is nearby the biggest spring break ever taken.
Bikini Team – Every year there is a tournament event at the biggest spring break ever taken so as defending champions they must go.
PhD Candidates – Want to release steam and enjoy spring break at the biggest party every taken.
Sorority Sisters – Well known for hosting every year the biggest party ever (somewhere in Nevada, Las Vegas)
I believe this is one possible scenario that our Heroes are involve the most popular extracurricular activities can meet up one another and battle the damnation of the walking undead. With their expertise of acrobatic movements, agility, self defense, and wits have what it take to save the world and be the saviors of mankind.
The title of the name that comes to mind for this movie is simply one word "Genesis" which translated into English as "In the beginning, God created the heaven(s) and the earth." And since “MAN” thinks that he/she is a God when creating anything extraordinary, even though everything in life comes with a flaw, I personally believe it suits it as a title of a zombie movie.
Thank you for taking the time checking my ideas. If you want to contact me, email me at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or email me here.
written by Danny Bevacqua , May 13, 2011
I like the idea for the name too... But what if it was just.... "Oh Crap, Zombies!" Leaving it open for a second film... "Oh crap, Zombies! - Not again!"
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