New Forum

Just spent the last few hours tweaking around trying to get a new forum for Jinx Media. I've set one up and there's a link to it at the bottom of http://www.jinxmedia.co.uk

Go, sign up and start talking, otherwise it's just me talking to myself and what fun's that? Well, other than this blog, obviously, which is a whole ton of fun with a slice of lime. As a special incentive, there's a video clip linked to in the TrashHouse thread that was removed from the Behind-The-Scenes documentary due to a very high swear-count. So go and join up, watch the clip and then talk about it. Go on, otherwise I've wasted a whole fucking afternoon when I should have been editing Hellbride.

Screenings, screeners, screaming...

A good few folk have seen KillerKiller now. There's a review over on the IMDB at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848551/ from a chap who was at the HorrorFest screening, and there will be more going up online over the next few days, I should imagine. A couple of other reviewers also now have screener DVDs, and I'm sure they'll be letting the world know their thoughts before too long.

Oh, we had a Fangoria News item go up last week, too. You can find that over at http://fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=3200 if you fancy checking it out.

'Crazy Man Michael' also posted a nice review of TrashHouse on the British Horror Films boards... You can find that at http://britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/board/index.php?act=ST&f=25&t=7438&s=2104f51d27390b30851fabfa47bea956

I've been having trouble staying focused over the last few days. Trying to juggle screenings, sending out screeners, keep KK's profile high whilst actually working on Hellbride to ensure that we make the delivery date. I wish there was more than one of me; I wish the company was bringing in enough money to have more than just me as an employee! Hey, maybe you can help. Go and buy copies of TrashHouse for everyone you know, seeing as it's under a fiver. Go on... I'll wait. Just click here...

http://tinyurl.com/y24mob

Oh, you're back already? How many did you buy? Really? That many? Maybe you should go back and buy one more for luck. Even if you fucking hate the film, the special features are really good. Honest.

Ok, now that you've helped me on my path to world domination, maybe I'll share a secret with you. I'm probably having the most difficulty focusing because I've got a project rattling around inside my head that's just desperate to be produced. I've been working on the treatment for BrainBath for a little while now, and it's something very very special. But it's going to take money. More than the last three flicks combined, to be honest. But, my God, it's going to be worth it.

I don't want to be in post-production. I want to be back in pre-production on a new one. But I guess that's always the way of things...

KillerKiller is locked

All done and dusted. In the bag. A finished feature film, all shiny and ready for its first ever official screening tomorrow.

The screening at HorrorFest is apparently at around 5pm on Saturday, for anyone who was planning on making the trip just for us. There's loads of other brilliant stuff on that day, mind you, so you might want to turn up for the whole thing regardless, (apparently, that day's screenings now start at 12.30 rather than the advertised 2pm). Going to be great to see it with a horror crowd, and I'm interested as to what they make of it!

A bit torn as to how best to spend my day, to be honest. Cutting KK meant that every day had a structure. I'm torn between badgering more industry types to come to next Thursday's screening and doing a few casual passes at cutting the new Hellbride scenes that we shot last week. Hmm. It's nice not to feel like the clock's ticking away quite so hard!

This week...

KillerKiller leaves the comfort of the Jinx Media office and gets seen by people. Actual, genuine people.
First up, we have a tiny cast & crew screening on Friday, followed by the public premiere in Portsmouth this Saturday at HorrorFest, ( http://www.horrorfest.co.uk ), and then a couple of industry screenings for press, distribution companies and so on next week.
Is it finally finished? Neeeeeeeearly. I need to tweak 12 different things, (mostly sound levels), before I consider it finished. Only a day's work, and by tomorrow the sucker should be locked.
So, has anyone seen it yet? Other than those working very very closely with it, (Phil Sheldon, for example, who has produced a wonderful score to accompany the spectacular soundscapes of Crystal Plumage Musics), the only person to have seen it is M, (who you can find out about at http://www.jinxm.co.uk ), who saw a very nearly final fine cut last week and really dug it. Which is good.
We had reshoots for Hellbride last week, too. One scene was being reshot because the lighting on the original shoot for that particular scene was awful, (my fault entirely; it was a second unit thing and our DP wasn't even there), and another brand new scene with a brand new character was filmed to help expand a section of the film that felt a little rushed in the first assembly. I'm chuffed with how it all went, and it was great to see the cast and crew again. Bless 'em, they all rock.
Now, time to get these 12 things sorted out!

Good couple of weeks

Things have been great, and the lack of updates has been due to... (Drumroll) Me forgetting my Blogger password. And username. I am an idiot.

OK, first things first. The first public screening of KillerKiller is happening on Saturday 18th November at the HorrorFest festival in Portsmouth. The cost of a ticket? Simply a donation to Children In Need. More info is appearing slowly but surely at http://www.horrorfest.co.uk

Other great and groovy stuff; the final sound mix is approaching. The extraordinarily talented Phil Sheldon has been putting together some score elements to compliment the lush soundscapes that we already have in the flick, and we're very much hoping to be able to use a song by the wonderful and mighty Jim Bob, (http://www.jim-bob.co.uk), over the end credits.

We're also hoping to have an industry screening in London for reviewers/potential distributors, so folks fitting that general description can feel free to drop a line to killer@jinxmedia.co.uk for more information.

Had an interview with a rather large and long-running magazine last week, (which I won't name just on the offchance they don't run the article!), which was good fun.

Press

From today's Brentwood Gazette, a nice article about Cy Henty's role in KK.

Mid-Cut

Blazing through post for KK at a million miles an hour. Pip and I sat and watched the Mid-Cut yesterday. Working fantastically in most respects, with only a couple of sound problems, (largely echo related), some edits on the cheerleader sequence and some score elements stopping it from classing as a borderline Fine Cut. In other words, we're on schedule for delivering the Final Cut by the second week of November.

Hellbride is taking a little longer. I've enlisted another fine editor, Mike Borland, to do some additional work on it to stop it from falling behind schedule whilst I busy myself with KillerKiller, and we've got a couple of days of reshoots and additional scenes scheduled for next month just to get it perfect.

I'm hoping to be able to announce the first KK public screening within the next few weeks, which will certainly be one for your calendar.

We rock fairly often

Had a 'we rock' day yesterday, where I felt unstoppable. KK was cutting like a dream and all was well with the world. I've been playing around with some of the soundscapes which have been kindly provided for the movie by a chap called Patrick who works with a team calling themselves Crystal Plumage Musics. You can hear some of Patrick's work on the trailers, and its fitting the KK vibe very nicely indeed. Scenes that were merely 'working' are suddenly 'rocking' and it's a pretty damn good feeling.

Been putting together a press release for the local papers this afternoon. They were always nice to us last time around, so hopefully they'll run a little something for these flicks too. Oh, and that reminds me... If any folks out there happen to run websites or magazines and want to interview any of us Jinxy folks... You only have to ask!

How far is too far?

See, I'm presented with interesting choices when cutting these movies. I can't explain many of these situations without blowing scenes from the movies, which I have no desire whatsoever to do, but every day I'm faced with the question of how far is too far.

That's not to imply that these flicks are ground-breakingly horrible, or anything like that. It's just a matter of keeping the mood at the right pitch. It's a really fine line, especially when dealing with violence in a horror-comedy, because nothing can make a laugh die quicker than hoding a shot of someone suffering for too long. Unless, strangely enough, you hold it for MUCH too long, after which it starts to become funny again.

I recut the opening scene of KK today, substantially changing it from the first assembly. In the course of these alterations, it lost one extremely nasty shot but gained another that seems edgier somehow even though it involves no actual violence.. Ah, it's tough to explain this stuff without actual examples. Maybe in a few months time I'll get to waffle on about it at length in a director's commentary.

I'm still getting that impatient feeling in my gut where I want these movies to be finished so that I can watch them with other people. Ridiculous, considering we only finished shooting last month, but I've been licving with them for a lot longer than that now and I kind of want them to be done. The fun stuff is pretty much over, and the post schedule is, actually, bloody hard work. You get a few good bits each day; making something flow that didn't previously, getting just the right sound sting on something, but it's all a bit of a grind compared to shooting.

Ah, pay no attention to me. When I'm shooting I usually claim that editing's my favourite bit.

Trailers

They're officially out. You can find them via the links on http://www.jinxmedia.co.uk or via the news page of http://www.horrortalk.com and I very much hope that you like them.

Sat and watched the first assembly of Hellbride last Friday, and it's the funniest of the three movies that we've shot so far. Hands down. KK might have the nastier gore and the cooler location, but Hellbride has the laughs covered. I sat throughout the screening frantically scribbling down ideas to tighten it; things that need to be done, things that could be done, just so the final product is as tight as we can possibly get it. I'm hoping to gather folks for a couple of days of pick-ups in the not-too-distant future, but it might prove tricky, and I might have to swap my plans around a little depending on who is available and who isn't. We'll see.

Every now and again, an old project and forgotten project starts calling to me. The WitchPit script, which had been sitting on my hard-drive for about four years, started calling to me earlier in the year and we've plonked it firmly into our development slate. Suddenly, last week, however, a treatment that I had for a film called BrainBath also started calling. The call is getting louder and louder...

On that too, we'll see. Always fun to find out how things turn out...

Leaking

Gonna be honest here, because it's what you folks expect. I've been leaking. Just a bit, just a little. Just enough to get people interested.

Christ, that sounded disgusting. I'd really best clarify. The last thing in the world that any independent producer wants is for folks to be bored of hearing about the product by the time the product hits the market. Similarly, the other last thing would be for nobody to have heard of the thing at all. So it's a balance.

It's probably a bit early in the day to be releasing too much stuff from these flicks, but sitting on brilliant trailers and cool promo artwork gets to be difficult. So occasionally, I leak. Somewhere on the internet, on a message board or forum, I leaked the URL for the trailers for both movies. And now, of course I've just leaked the KK promo poster. All over this blog.

I'm sure at some point I'll stop finding the word 'leak' amusing, but it hasn't happened yet.

Oh, and the wrap party was great. It was terrific seeing so many folks again, and I was a very drunk bunny indeed by the time I crashed into bed.

Back to the edit suite. I might as well save that as my automatic signature from now on...



,

Promo posters, postcards and possibilities

I've been wanting to get promo posters done and dusted for a while now, so that I can get postcards printed. Postcards are fantastic for low-budget movies; spend a couple hundred quid and you can get 5,000 full colour postcards with loads of info and a cool looking poster on each one. We've still got a few of the TrashHouse ones. They were the best investment ever. The idea is simple; every time you send correspondence to anyone regarding the movies, stick some postcards in the envelope. Every time you need to publicise a screening, send out postcards. Postcards, postcards, postcards, so that everyone knows the name, the slogan and the poster image. Postcards rock, but before I can get the postcards printed, I need to decide on a poster image.

And that's what I'm having trouble with.

Several of the guys who used to write for http://www.jinx.co.uk with me have been helping me by coming up with designs, and I've been messing around with a couple of my own. I just can't make up my mind at the moment. And until I can make up my mind, I can't get the postcards.

I'm going to look through the options one more time.

Doing the trailer tango

First up, I claimed at the end of the Hellbride shoot that my lovely cast and crew drenched me in fake blood. Many might believe that such a wonderful bunch of folks wouldn't be capable of such a dirty deed, so I thought you might like evidence.

Second up is the matter of trailers. I've been editing like crazy to try and get a trailer for each flick ready for next Friday's combined wrap party. I wish I could post these efforts online, but my marketing gurus advise me 'not yet, not yet, you impatient youngling'. Because marketing gurus all talk like rejects from The Dark Crystal.

Spent last week in Italy, relaxing and recuperating before the real meat of post-production begins. Italy was gorgeous; first time I've been, and I don't think it'll be the last. Been sorting out a few bits of paperwork that have accrued in my absence, but I'd really better get back to that pesky edit now.

Wrapped up

Like a Christmas present.

Digital technology being what it is, I've already been able to cobble together and view a first assembly of KK. First assemblies, for those who've never seen one, are the part of the filmmaking process where the director claps his hands over his mouth, screams silently and weeps that he's made a piece of shit. It is the worst a movie can look; cobbled together with no care or attention, no sound mixing, no special effects, just one scene after another - Bang, bang, bang. It's really just meant to give an idea of how the thing is shaping up in terms of running time and pacing, and it's usually horribly depressing. I barely spoke for days after the TrashHouse first assembly. I just couldn't believe that there was a film in that wreckage.

The KK first assembly played better than I could have dared hoped. It actually made me happy rather than making me depressed. If Hellbride slots together even a fraction as well, then the next few months might be rather more fun than they have any right to be.

Redesigned http://www.jinxmedia.co.uk today, but there's still a lot of work to be done.

Tomorrow we wrap...

The asylum's already a distant memory, the footage has mostly been digitised and tomorrow we wrap. How bizarre. Got nice and drunk last night on the basis that I could lie in today, but didn't manage to lie in because my body is still geared for getting up by 5am.

Finding it slightly difficult to contain my enthusiasm regarding KK and HB, and am trying to keep my ego in check. I'm not used to feeling quite this proud of myself, and I hope it doesn't keep spilling out of my mouth sounding like ego-wanking. I'm trying to resist the temptation to post any more images up at the moment too, so that I can offer exclusives to sites and magazines, but dammit it's tough.

Dozens of hours of HD footage mean that my ass-kicking editing m0nster of a Mac is filling up alarmingly quickly..

Asylum time

And, after all that, we finally made it to our disused mental hospital location today. The location has cost me an arm and a leg, (half the budget of the movie for THREE DAYS filming), and the paperwork elements have been extremely frustrating at times. But, this morning at 6.30, our happy band rolled up to our fog-shrouded location and shot an absurd perecntage of a movie in just one day.

See, I'm getting that feeling that things are going too well again. I really don't want to get another avalanche of bad luck like that miserable Thursday on Hellbride, but dammit if today wasn't one of the very best days' shooting I've ever had. We got a huge amount done and it looked great.

I'd best get some sleep, though...

Sen-fucking-sational

Here's the God's honest truth. For all the occasional spills and heartaches, for all the broken mains connections and irritating location paperwork, this is proving to be an absolutely amazing summer. The KK footage that we've got in the can thus far feels alarmingly like it's come straight from my brain and onto the screen, thanks to the tireless work of the folks on the project. I have such hopes for KillerKiller and Hellbride; I want them to kick the hinges off the doors that TrashHouse edged open. If folks don't like them, then I think it's fair to say that they'll probably never dig my movies.

We're off to the asylum location tomorrow. It's finally time for the bit of the shoot that everyone has been looking forward to. The bit that's going to set the mood for the whole movie. The bit that's costing half the bloody budget.

The picture at the top of this entry is the first image from KK to be made available. It's of Danielle Laws, who is proving to be absolutely fantastic in this flick; alternately sexy as hell and utterly terrifying.

KillerKiller is go...

Although our weird, weekend-heavy schedule meant that today consisted largely of the cast working together on tightening up various scenes, followed by a tiny bit of actual filming at the end of the day.

Tomorrow is straight into two major kill sequences, though... Not sure whether we'll be posting photos from either of those just yet. We shall see.

One last Hellbride image for the moment...

Before everything goes all KillerKiller around these parts, thought I'd post one final image from the Hellbride set. This one was snapped by Debbie Attwell, (http://www.debbieattwell.com), and features the wonderful Eleanor James as Josephine Stewart...

KillerKiller on the horizon...

OK, so KK finally hits the lens on Monday. The biggest deal of the shoot, however, is the days that we're spending at our mental hospital location next weekend. They're going to be looooong days, and we need to get so much footage in the can. Going to be somewhat terrifying.

Having finally digitised all of the Hellbride footage, I threw together a crash edit of the first twenty five minutes yesterday. Damn, the film moves fast. TrashHouse takes over half an hour to hit high gear. Hellbride takes, like, 7 minutes. Might try to ease off the throttle just a tad when I come to edit properly, otherwise it's likely to leave folks with sore heads. Still loving the footage.