Birth x4

It has been a while since I wrote a little something in here. I have been waiting for Arlo and Chad (the star) to have time to finish the Dirt Nap project. With nothing but time on my hands I cleaned out the garage. I was surprised when I found two small white eggs under the wood next to where I park my car. I also found two more small white eggs where the garage door meets the foundation. I grabbed a jar from the pantry, put some dry grass in it and placed the four eggs inside then I waited. A week goes by and nothing. Well on Monday the first two baby lizards hatched. Then today the second pair hatched. So I took some pictures, tried to film the little ones then released them into the garden. I never would have thought I was a lizard wrangler. Here is a picture of the first one born. The other three looked identical to this little one too.

J. Allen

Flash Flood !!!

Today I paddled from Fort Worth to Dallas and it took me about 2.5 hours to do so. I heard on the radio that Texas had received a good 5-6 inches of rain and the ground was soft. Ok, well that makes sense as water is wet and dirt mixed with water makes mud. It does not take a genius to know this but apparently the weathermen think we are idiots. These same weathermen go on to explain how telephone poles and electrical poles are falling over due to the ground being so saturated. Alright, enough; I do not for one second believe that a telephone pole is buried so shallow as to just fall over if the first six inches of dirt get wet. All summer long these same weathermen complain that we need a good long wet rain to really penetrate the ground, yada, yada, yada. Now if these alleged poles are really buried shallow enough to just fall over when wet then it is high time to start firing some useless workers who cut corners when possible.

Before I forget, Arlo edited the first two minutes of Dirt Nap and it looks pretty good so far. I am still on the fence as to how long the finished film will actually be but it will be over ten minutes for sure. I am hoping for 15-20 minutes. We will know more when we film our missing segment.

J. Allen

Score one for Dirt Nap!

We have a composer who is working with us to score the film: http://mariolanderos.com - take a look.

We're going through the creative process to get an idea of what the right flavor of music should be. I'm still working on the rough cut of the film, but once it's locked for the final cut we'll really get moving.

Clipping Along

Arlo has been busy throwing some rough cuts together. I still can't decide if we will have enough footage to hit ten, fifteen or even twenty minutes but time will tell. On the audio front we have located a person who seems willing to produce an actual score for Dirt Nap. I am very curious as to how this will turn out. The direction we had been trying up to now was contacting the owners of certain songs and asking about using them in this non-profit film. So far each person or business has wanted thousands of dollars to use the song with the crazy limitation of Texas only, twelve months, no internet and only one film festival. I don't agree so I simply won't do business with them.

J. Allen

Edit, cut, splice, review

There is lots of editing to do and many sound fx to gather to get the film complete. We still have to shoot a missing scene that was skipped the first day but it is a small car scene and should not be difficult to add in later. I have a small raw trailer posted at http://www.zombiesquadron.com/downloads.html so feel free to download it and give it a watch. Yes, I do know the trailer is vague and does not give away any secrets but that is how I plan on getting each of you to watch the entire polished film. On a side note, I was asked a couple of days ago what was the hardest part of the film. That is an easy question, the heat. At one point during the second weekend I think it reached 104 with 110 heat index. Next time I think I will have an air conditioned trailer follow us around (wink).

More to follow.


J. Allen

What's a wrap ?

Having just woke up from a nap I realized that shooting the film is over. Well it was actually over as of Sunday at eight pm. There are a few scenes to film once more and a couple of scenes that we just did not have time for but the film is mostly complete. Sound and editing are next up and much needed rest for our tired bodies and aching bones and I mean that is the most literal sense. I learned quite a bit about making a film and I would not have the slightest hesitation in sitting on a panel talking to new directors about to take the plunge for the first time. Heck, I wish I knew someone like myself who could have pointed out a few things but would I really have listened? The real trailer is being made right now and we will have it up very soon, the footage you will see is right out of the film and I hope you enjoy it.

J. Allen

Round 2 (ding, ding)

We are geared up for round two and see some holes we need to fill and a few pickup shots that will need to be addressed but otherwise we are doing well for our first film. This weekend should be easier as there is no special fx work needing to be done so we won't sit around waiting for four hours. Plus, we shot a few extra scenes as time allowed to give us some breathing room for this weekend. For those of you who really read this blog and actually keep up with the story so far, this weekend will have some 'fun' built into it. You will all just have to wait and see.


Later

J. Allen