DISMAL (The Lowdown) – Part 1

So it’s a fact that in all film productions, no matter the size, something will go wrong. You can’t fight it….or avoid it. Something wrong will happen. It’s just how you deal with it that makes all the difference between a ship that makes it to port, or sinks in the middle of the ocean.

For DISMAL, my DP (Shawn Lewallen) and myself had about a week to prep for the shoot….with only 3 days at the actual locations to tech scout and finalize the shot list. The major roadblock during the 3 days in Blakely, GA was that the only cell phone carrier on that area was VERIZON — which both Shawn and I…and 80% if the crew for that matter didn’t have. That was a BIG PROBLEM. No one could get a hold of anyone — and when you need things done…..that’s bad. Really bad.

We somehow managed to make it through, but here’s a picture of Shawn and I during a location scout wondering what was going on….

It was an adventure that only got better once the cameras started rolling…..

TO BE CONTINUED

DISMAL Makes An Appearance

I have the great pleasure to announce that DISMAL will have its first preview screening at the HORRORFIND WEEKEND CONVENTION which is held during the weekend of August 15-17 in Maryland. The convention has a slew of diehard horror fans who will get their first glimpse of the film in a 700 seat room — we hope to pack the house with fellow gore enthusiasts!!



HORRORFIND WEEKEND CONVENTION
www.horrorfindweekend.com

SCREENING INFORMATION:
Saturday (August 16)
5:00pm-7:00pm
Fearmakers Studios Presents Dismal (90 min)
w/ 30 min Q&A/Commentary
www.horrorfindweekend.com/eventpages/movies.html

During the convention weekend, the producers (Bo Buckley, Christopher Cook, Justin Soponis), the hot CAST and myself will be available doing some PR which will include panel discussions and meet & greets at our very own DISMAL booth — it should be a blast.

We’ll also have a 30min Q&A session after the screening of the film which should be very interesting.

If you can — please stop by, come see a scary movie and say hello!!

RELATED LINKS
www.fearmakersdismal.com
DISMAL IMDB PAGE

DISMAL (Teaser Trailer No. 1)

Creepy

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Notice the number of plays that DISMAL has — I had to take a screenshot for the memory. Scary.

This Is The List (Part 13)

DAVID WINNING (David Bultmann)

David Winning was not the original age I had in mind when I wrote the screenplay for NEW YORK LATELY. In fact David was probably about 20 years younger than what I had pictured….but this is one of those cases when you can’t really go into the casting process with a tightly sealed preconceived notion of who the characters should look like — at least at this low-budget indie level.

David has a great, leading man look — and that’s why I thought he’d be perfect to cast in the role of a cheating husband with no real “Winning” qualities (notice the pun?). Anyway, David came in like a professional and nailed the role. The most fun I had with him was once he was cast, we developed an additional scene to add to his character development — the scene was created through some improv rehearsals with Ashley Moss (Becky Bultmann). I think this was one of the most enjoyable experiences during the whole casting/rehearsal process. To me, I love working with actors who are not afraid to bring their own ideas and interpretations to the characters.

David is getting a lot more commercial and filmwork as I write this — so I’ve no doubt that he’s got a nice career ahead of him.

DISMAL Buzz

DISMAL is starting to get some pre-buzz before its actual sneak preview screening in August and eventual release later this year.

Here are just some of the horror fan sites that are talking about us!!

Some particular quotes I enjoy from the entries are:

“And from the look of DISMAL’s trailer, I’ve gotta say that this one seems to be serving up an ideal horror platter from hot chicks to hellish carnage. Good stuff!” –JoBlo.com

“A sharp looking trailer…” –shocktillyoudrop.com

www.joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=13066

www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/12942

www.midnightmoviemassacre.com/bloody-disgusting/swamp-cannibals-in-new-indie-feature-dismal

www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=7000

On The Road Again

I was in beautiful Wilmington, NC again to supervise the editing of DISMAL. We’ve come close to a picture lock and there is a lot of excitement!! It’s shaping up rather nicely so everyone is eager to premiere it.

I can’t wait to see it in front of a live audience…..more on that later where you can catch a sneak preview next month before its release!!!

In the meantime, I was interviewed with the producers while I was down there and you can watch it here:

Juggling 2 Feature Films Is No Joke

Here I am sitting in post-production for 2 feature films — NEW YORK LATELY and DISMAL — thinking I’d have some time to breathe and catch up since I’m not the team actively working during this stage. I have some insanely talented people working on the editing, scoring and sound work…..so I thought I’d have some free time to develop my next feature film.

WRONG!

I think I somehow forgot that I’d have my hands all over the films as everything (approval-wise) still goes by me at the end of the day. There are a lot of decisions to be made to make sure that everyone is on the same page — not that I micro-manage (that’s the furthest thing that I do). But still I discuss and review things with various teams for both pictures.

I do have to say though — what a problem to have right? I mean I’d rather be busy dealing with trying to complete 2 feature films than not having anything going on and still trying to get one made. Getting a film made is tough. It’s just plain tough — so much so that it already scares me to think of how my next one is going to be made after NEW YORK LATELY and DISMAL are all finished.

Coming up — once the dust settles a bit — I’ll be doing a push for PR/Marketing to get NEW YORK LATELY some more exposure with the press and segment of the population that digs indie film. It is definitely not a “mainstream” film, but yet it’s not too out there so that general audiences wouldn’t enjoy it. I’m really looking forward to seeing how people respond to it. My fingers are crossed.

Wow

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

For some reason I find this very inspirational. Thanks to my friend Mike Wood for finding it and sharing it.

July 4th Accident

Over the July 4th holiday weekend we had an unfortunate accident. We were playing with fireworks (ghetto style – ok they were expired flares) — and this happened…

My wife blew up my sister-in-law. Send flowers.

DISMAL (Week 3)

The last week of production for DISMAL found us working with a skeleton crew. The original plan was to shoot the last week back in North Carolina with minimal crew…..but that changed as we found local locations in Georgia. However, a good portion of the crew came from Orlando and were only signed on through the original schedule which had us leaving GA after the 2nd week…….long story short (too late!!!) we had about 2 PA’s and our Key crew along with DP for the last few days which made things pretty tough.

However, we toughed it out and got some real gems in the can — some of which I know won’t make it into the final cut of the film…but possibly the deleted scenes section. The crew did our own version — or rather a re-envisioning — of a few small scenes which came out rather nicely. Let’s just say that a good example of what kind of scene we’re talkin’ here is our DP (Shawn Lewallen) flung around a toy lawnmower a la “Leatherface” from the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. It was a hoot!

Everyone was extremely happy that the shoot was coming to an end due to exhaustion….but of course were also bummed that good friendships and working relationships were made. I made a ton of new friends on this shoot that I hope to keep in touch with and work again with in the future.

I think (or rather I KNOW) I passed over a lot of the stories regarding the roadblocks, mishaps and stumblings along with way for this 3-week shoot — which I should address in another entry. Things like the rain, the locations (or lackthereof), scheduling, and the ever elusive stalker in the woods. Until then, here are pics from the last week.

LAST SETUP OF THE SHOOT

JUSTIN SOPONIS (Producer) AND ME HAVE A MOMENT

ARMONDO (Wardrobe) AND ME ON THE LAST DAY

WES AND THE LADIES

MY HEROES (WES AND NICK)

BRENT AND ME ON THE LAST DAY

JIMMY (AD) AND ME

ONLY IN THE SOUTH BABY!!!

TIM AND ME BEFORE THE 12 HOUR RIDE BACK TO NORTH CAROLINA

CAPEL AND ME ON THE LAST DAY IN BLAKELY, GEORGIA