Mushroom Zombies

Well folks, I'm happy to say that the first week of principle photography on my feature film is wrapped!

We shot a little over 65% of the movie (23 tapes on 2 cams) in 8 nights and 7 days. It cost just under $1500 including SPFX, food, transportation (well, a little more with everyone pitching in, but it cost ME that much, LOL). With a truly amazing cast and crew, we had a TON of fun... it was indie-filmmaking at it's finest!

The shoot was up at Dome Country in Barrie, ON... home of the Captain and the Wreck Beach International Film Festival and most of us stayed at location in tents and the main dome. Uber thanks to our gracious host, Captain, who not only let us basically live with him for a week, but also played a great role as the nobel prize-winning scientist in the movie!

We've got about 9-10 days of shooting left on weekends for more scenes and pickups, but the hard part is over! After almost 2 years of writing the script through it's various drafts and saving money for the production it finally paid off and we had a great time making it! This was my feature directing debut and I felt it couldn't have gone better. We had "glitches" every night, but triumphed over all of them to get 'er done! Truly one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences in indie film that we all bonded over. Although a small cast and crew by industry standards, it was the largest I've ever worked with, and despite the coordination nightmares, we pulled off almost everything I had scheduled for that week with a focus on quality!

So while there's still a long way to go to finish shooting and the whole post production process left, I'm absolutely thrilled to have had both the hardest and most fun week of my life. All I could possibly recommend to those in similar situations is: build up experience on shorts, plan ALOT, put EVERYTHING you've got into your production, and find the right PEOPLE. The reason we pulled this off is because we had an amazing cast and crew- I can't stress it enough.

I'll keep you guys (and gals) posted... for now, I've put pics up on***(Link removed. If you want it replaced have a mod move this to Promotion. Thanks)

Stay tuned for more....

-Spatula
 
Bully! Can't wait to see the progress and the finished product!

Bully??? Don't be bitter- get inspired! If a chump like me can pull it off, anybody with enough determination, blood, sweat and tears can! Everyone on the cast and crew kept telling me that they were getting inspired to dust off old ideas and get working on them... which is the greatest thing a filmmaker can ever hear!

Inspiration is contagious, just like Mushroom Zombie infections. Catch it and run with it!

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(and rather then move this to promotion, because I ain't promoting it, if you want to see the BTS pics then I guess you'll have to email me @ god_of_wine007@hotmail.com or find them somehow)
 
Just use the IMG tags here in the thread ;)
 
Just use the IMG tags here in the thread

Fine, you win, LOL. Here's some of my favs so far (we had a professional BTS photographer too, so more is en route)

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Ready to chop!

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Our make-up artist and fellow zombie, Jenn!

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Head explosion rig = PVC air chamber with ball valve and hose, air compressor, blood filled tube, duct-tape dummy, styrofoam head (hollowed out and dressed)

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Night set.

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Johnny, hooked up to our "mushroom tendrils"...
 
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The Mushroom Patch...

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Rehearsing on set....

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Rehearsing with the Captain. Note my silly-looking headlamp... GET ONE. If you have to use your hands at night, those things are invaluable!

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Captain and his fake head... SEAMLESS!!! LOL

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Prepping the dummy to blow!
 
There's Cappy from Wreck Beach! Cool.
 
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Cleaning the blood off the ceiling...

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Ok guys, here's the plan...

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Alex shares his audio world with Amanda...

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The mushroom braaaaiiiinnnn....

Oh, and BTW, Indietalk is SO getting a Special Thanks credit!
 
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